With Grand Old Day expected to bring thousands to St. Paul’s Grand Avenue on Sunday, a glimpse of the city’s streetcar days was briefly visible recently on a closed portion of the street.
As Grand Avenue undergoes its first full reconstruction in at least 70 years, workers ripped out the last of the street’s corroded metal tracks and wooden ties between Fairview and Snelling avenues near Macalester College.
The section is being torn up and rebuilt with funds from the 1-cent sales tax St. Paul passed in 2023 to take care of the capital city’s aging and notoriously potholed streets.
The $6.7 million project will mean new underground utilities and foundations for the first time since streetcars ran down the middle of Grand.
Streetcars once operated from what is now the University of St. Thomas to W. 7th Street and into the heart of downtown St. Paul.
The streetcar lines were paved over in the 1950s, and the cars eventually were burned at a streetcar garage at University and Snelling avenues, according to Minnesota Star Tribune archives.
Work on Grand Avenue between Fairview and Snelling will continue all summer. The street is largely closed to traffic, but the sidewalks are open.
Because of the construction, Grand Old Day events, booths and food will end at Snelling Avenue.
