Posts Tagged ‘transit’
Tales from the Cemetery: Tragedy Travels by Trolleycar
Mike Misura's marker is located next to the fence on the cemetery's east side (21st Avenue). He was killed in a work-related accident on May 5, 1911. Photo: Tim McCall By SUE HUNTER WEIR It can be hazardous moving around the city during road-repair and construction season. It is even more dangerous for the men and women who do that work. That is nothing new. On May 5, 1911, eleven workmen were repairing a streetcar track on Washington Avenue when they were struck by a streetcar. One of the men died, two others were seriously injured but survived, and the rest were not seriously injured. The accident occurred late in the evening but word of what had happened spread quickly and within a short time, “nearly 100 infuriated Slavonians ” arrived on the scene. They surrounded the car and dragged the driver, Julius Risan, out and beat him. It took four policemen to disperse the mob. They took Risan, who was described as heartbroken, to the South Side Police Station pending an investigation and, no doubt, to prevent him from coming to greater harm. Witnesses claimed that the streetcar was traveling too fast and that the driver didn’t give the men warning by “ringing his gong.” In his defense, Risan claimed that he hadn’t been notified that men would be repairing the tracks on his route and that the workmen hadn’t displayed any lights as they were required to do. He also claimed that he was temporarily blinded by the light of an oncoming streetcar. By the time that he saw the work crew, it was too late. Michael Sedjo Misura was dragged for more than 100 feet. He was taken to City Hospital where he died without regaining consciousness. He was 42 years old. Newspaper accounts of the accident were riddled with errors: incorrect names, incorrectly identified victims and incorrect nationalities. The Minneapolis Tribune initially reported that the man who died was George Goblack but it is more likely that his name was Gabrik or Gabrak since those were [...]
You Can Gamble, Your Kids Can Have Fun
METRO TRANSIT By John Charles Wilson Are you any of the following: A transit dependent parent who wishes to be able to take his/her kids to Valleyfair? A teenager who”™d like to go to Valleyfair by his/herself without being driven there by a parent? An adult who”™d like to check out the races at Canterbury Park without a car? Or an adult who”™d like to go to Mystic Lake without a car and without being beholden to the casino bus schedule? If so, the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) has a solution for you! Route 410, also known as the “4FUN” bus, is a new weekend express bus from the Mall of America to Valleyfair, Canterbury Park, and Mystic Lake. Buses leave the Mall of America every hour from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and again from 6:23 to 10:23 PM (though skipping the Valleyfair stop in the evenings). Return buses from Mystic Lake run 9:44 AM to 5:44 PM and again from 7:01 to 11:01 PM (though the last one to pick up at Valleyfair is the 8:01 PM bus which leaves Valleyfair at 8:20). Of course, from the Phillips neighborhood, you will need to take either the Metro Transit 5 or the Blue Line to reach Mall of America to transfer to the 4FUN bus. In other news, Metro Transit is adding back service that has been cut during the pandemic. The following improvements involving the Phillips area as of 21 August 2021 are: The Blue Line will run every 10 minutes during the morning rush hour. Route 2 will add trips to the University of Minnesota. Route 5 will adjust northbound afternoon trips for dismissal times at Heritage STEM Academy. Route 21 will adjust westbound morning trips for start times at Southwest High School. Also, construction on the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit, which will stop at the new Lake Street bus stop in the middle of I-35W (in place of the shelters that used to be at the sides of the freeway on top of huge and crumbling flights of stairs), is almost completed. We should expect to [...]
