The Streetcar Boat Minnehaha and Excelsior's Streetcar History, Explained

The Minnehaha is a 1906 steamboat, one of six identical "Express Boats" built for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT). Wayzata boat builder Royal C. Moore designed them, and they were painted yellow-and-red to match TCRT's streetcars.

They were not pleasure cruisers. They were public transit on water — the last leg of a trolley trip. A rider could board a streetcar in Minneapolis, ride it to the lake, and step straight onto a boat that carried them across to a lakeside town.

From May through September, from 1906 to 1926, the boats met arriving streetcar passengers at the Deephaven and Excelsior stations. For twenty summers they were how you crossed Lake Minnetonka without a boat of your own.

No. As of the 2026 season the Steamboat Minnehaha is not sailing. Do not plan a trip around riding it this year.

The reason is practical, not financial: it lost access to its launch ramp, and no other marina on Lake Minnetonka has a ramp that fits the boat's size and draft. Without a way to get her into the water, she cannot run.

She is not gone — she sits in heated storage undergoing maintenance, cared for by the Lake Minnetonka Historical Society, which was formed in an October 1, 2023 consolidation. If you want the trolley-era experience today, ride the Excelsior Streetcar Line instead (details below).

The streetcar boats ran for exactly twenty summers. As automobile use rose and ridership fell, TCRT retired the fleet. In 1926, three of the boats — including the Minnehaha — were purposely scuttled in deep water north of Big Island.

That should have been the end. Instead, the Minnehaha spent more than half a century on the lake bottom before anyone brought her up.

The raising began on August 25, 1980, and took five days to bring the hull off the bottom. Volunteers then spent years on a full restoration, and the Minnehaha returned to passenger service in 1996 — ninety years after she was built.

That arc is what makes her worth knowing: built 1906, ran until 1926, scuttled near Big Island, raised in 1980, back in service by 1996.

You can still ride a real streetcar in Excelsior. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum runs the Excelsior Streetcar Line on a half-mile of track built on the former Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway right-of-way.

Here is what to know before you go:

- Boarding is at the Water Street platform, next to the Excelsior Library at 337 Water Street.

- Fare is $2.00 per person; children 3 and under ride free.

- It operates May through October.

- The ride is about 15 minutes.

At the carbarn stop, a photo gallery shows 1800s hotels, trains, and paddlewheel boats, plus a streetcar restoration in progress. It is the same TCRT streetcar system the Minnehaha was built to connect with — so a ride here and the boat's story are two halves of one history.

Excelsior is a lakeside town of just over 2,000 people, and the streetcar line drops you a short walk from the water and Water Street's shops.

A few honest picks within walking distance:

- Adele's Frozen Custard, right on the lake at 800 Excelsior Blvd, has run 35-plus years, makes every batch fresh daily onsite, and posts rotating daily flavors on an online flavor calendar.

- Excelsior Bay Books is an independent bookstore at 36 Water Street.

- The Excelsior Farmers' Market runs Tuesday afternoons downtown.

- Excelsior Commons is a 13-acre lakeside park with two swimming beaches, a band shell for summer concerts, tennis courts, ballfields, playgrounds, and public docks.

One correction worth making, because old guides still list it: the Old Log Theatre in nearby Greenwood — Minnesota's oldest professional theater, open since 1940 — closed permanently, with its final production on March 2, 2024. It is not an active venue anymore.