Twin City Rapid Transit map print, 1948

The Twin City Rapid Transit Co. provided comprehensive mass transit for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul until it was taken over by the Metropolitan Council in 1970.  In 1948, depicted here, streetcar systems were being replaced across the country, and the company was the subject of a takeover bid from a man named Charles Green.  Green would complete his takeover the next year, announcing that Twin City Rapid Transit's enormous streetcar system would be shut down and replaced with buses.  Green's tenure lasted less than a year.  He was forced out by the Minneapolis mob, which had originally backed his takeover.  The mob took control and accelerated the pace of the streetcar shutdown. Six years later, none of the lines depicted here would remain.  The godfather of the Minneapolis mob, Isadore "Kid Cann" Blumenfield, was later arrested on streetcar-related fraud charges. Kid Cann beat the charges, only to be convicted shortly after for transporting a prostitute across state li