Close your eyes and imagine downtown Minneapolis. What's missing?
Parking, you might say. Granted. But something else is largely absent, something that's found in every other neighborhood.
Utility poles and their attendant wires.
Never noticed that before, eh? But it wasn't always so.
In the early days of the city, the streets bristled with poles carrying dozens of wires. A late-19th-century civic improvement project put them underground, in tunnels that were called "the subway."
There was some early talk about building an actual subway — an underground commuter rail line — in the Twin Cities, however.
In April 1907, the Minneapolis Tribune had a small notice (on page 7) of a remarkable plan:
"Plans for the Minneapolis subway are rapidly nearing completion. Official announcement can be expected shortly. Two or three railroads are said to be back of the project and they are willing to spend approximately $600,000 to secure what they want."