Getting around town quickly, efficiently, safely and affordably proved a challenge in the early days of Brainerd’s history.
But entrepreneurs, dreamers and city planners were among those who believed in developing a streetcar system to move Brainerd lakes area residents from one end of the city to another.
The Brainerd Electric Street Railway Co. had its start when Charles F. Kindred, who lived where the parking lot of Sawmill Inn is today across from Brainerd's historic water tower, was granted franchises to build and operate a horse-drawn streetcar line within the city.
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“The line was built during 1886-87 from a turntable near the Northern Pacific’s Headquarters hotel-depot … then east on Kingwood Street, across the city’s wagon bridge (on A Street) … to a second turntable at the end of the line near the middle of Ash and Third avenues,” according to the Minnesota Streetcar Museum.
Ties for the street railway were sawed out in August of 1887, with an estimated 3,000 ties required for the endeavor. By September of that year, the then-new streetcars arrived at the freight depot and included such then-modern amenities as stoves to heat them in cold weather.
Local historian Carl Faust said the establishment of a streetcar line was a sign of progress for the 5,700 residents of Brainerd in 1890.
“They knew they were in the big time once they got their streetcar, whether it was horse-drawn or electric,” Faust said.
Streetcars left the North Pacific depot every 40 minutes during the day, beginning at 7:20 in the morning, according to the May 18, 1888, edition of the Brainerd Dispatch.
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John C. Luecke wrote about Brainerd’s streetcars in a publication by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum.
“A major setback came to the horsecar line in June of 1888 when the Villard Hotel, the anchor for the company's trade, was consumed by fire. From then on the 1.5-mile line did not fare well and by 1888, Kindred's company went into receivership and he left Brainerd for Philadelphia in disgust,” Luecke wrote.
The city ordinance granting a franchise for an electric street railway was passed in 1892. Charles N. Parker was given a 30-year franchise and was to have a line in operation by July of 1893 but he had to build his own power plant.
Carl Zapffe wrote “Brainerd 1871-1946,” which was published in 1946 by Colwell Press Inc. of Minneapolis. He also offered background on the electric railway.
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“The route of the Electric Street Railway would begin at Willow and South Sixth thence north to Front Street; turning east at the First National Bank corner and going to Eighth Street [Broadway]; then it would go north to Kingwood and east to the ravine,” Zapffe wrote.
Parker erected at the ravine a private timber-trestle about 100 feet south of the city’s wagon bridge for the 4 miles of track that continued from the end of the bridge to Third Avenue, then north to H Street, east on H Street to Mill and north on Mill where it ended.
Parker erected a car barn and an electric generating powerhouse, and on the east side of Mill Street, the Brainerd Lumber Co. and affiliates were erected and to the west of Mill Street was the dam and the city power plant, according to Zapffe.
But Parker’s electric streetcar railway did not last.
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“On (June 2) 1898, the big windstorm hit Brainerd. It blew down both bridges over the ravine. Parker said the street railway business did not pay, he did not replace his bridge and sold his cars and motors and abandoned everything else,” Zapffe wrote.
FRANK LEE may be reached at 218-855-5863 or at frank.lee@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchFL .
