Minnesota Monorail (of the 1880s)
The South Saint Paul monorail was constructed in 1887 to help spur development of the newly established suburb of South Saint Paul. Incredibly, the monorail predated the first electric streetcars in Minnesota by 2 years. The South Saint Paul monorail had a 0.75 mile line; traveling on 16th Avenue North from Thompson Avenue to Bryant Avenue. Before the line turned east along Bryant Avenue until the terminus at Concord Street. An extension of the line into downtown Saint Paul was proposed, but the city refused. The monorail had a successful inaugural run on May 10, 1888, but the venture was not successful as the end of the line atop of the bluffs did not have any development to encourage ridership. With few riders, the venture went bankrupt and operations ceased after a short period of two years in 1889. The Enos Railway Company of Saint Paul was the railway to bring this type of service for the short time.
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