Winnipeg, like Seattle, has a plan for a subway that was never built. In 1959 the designer of the Toronto subway submitted a plan recommending the construction of a subway (over elevated rail, “mono-rail”, rubber-tired subway, or commuter rail).

Future Development of the Greater Winnipeg Transit System by Norman D. Wilson, 1959

Transit Rider’s Union of Winnipeg maps of the subway on modern (2009) maps

South Minneapolis neighborhoods

Google Maps always seems to be changing, often for the better. I’m not sure exactly when this changed, but today I noticed that the 81 official neighborhoods of Minneapolis now had their names on the map. Checking the Google Map for Seattle, I see that the (not officially “official”) 106 city clerk-designated neighborhood names are on there as well. Official neighborhood names, like townships (cf. Missing Municipalities), are often not the first thing that comes to mind when someone describes where they live. Technically, I have lived in Excel Township and St. Anthony East, but I was more likely to say “Thief River Falls” (or “Holt”) and “Northeast Minneapolis”. But now, it’s easy for someone to see they live in St. Anthony East, so why not get a little more local?

For informal names, I like Capitol Hill Seattle’s sociogeographic approach (including the neighborhood “watering hole”, for example). While I might not expect those names to show up on Google Maps, I do appreciate that Google hasn’t removed widely-used neighborhood names. The center of Uptown in Minneapolis, for example, is actually the intersection of the East Calhoun, CARAG, Lowry Hill East, and East Isles neighborhoods. Neighborhood neologisms like Madison Heights don’t make Google Maps either, but for those wondering what they should call their neighborhood other than “15th” or “19th” or something, Google Maps reminds them that, as far as the city is concerned, it’s Stephens.

Click the image for a larger version or view an even bigger version.

August 16, 1926.

At the regular monthly meeting of the Seattle City Planning Commission, held August 10, 1926, the following motion was carried unanimously:

That the report and findings of the Rapid Transit Committee be adopted and transmitted to the City Council with the following recommendations.

1st. That the City council of the City of Seattle should at once proceed to the end that adequate rapid transit facilities shall be provided the citizens at as early date as possible.

2d. Adequate rapid transit facilities for the immediate future can be attained, with reasonable and practicable financial accomplishment of construction and operation, as shown in the report hereto attached.

Respectfully submitted,
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION,
By
B. S. GOODWIN,
President

CHAS. H. ALDEN,
Secretary

By 1928, there was a comprehensive proposal that included station drawings, route maps, projected traffic graphs and numbers, and lots of stuff you’d see in modern transit planning. More info on the 1926-1928 “Trimble plan”:

• The proposed lines on Google Maps
• Original University/Westlake map
• Original Downtown/South Lake Union map
• Subway station drawing
• Subway station/tunnel cross-section

In 1957, planning for I-5 was underway and a engineer M. O. Anderberg authored a plan to run rapid transit via I-5 from Tacoma to Everett, with a tunnel through downtown. North of downtown it would have ran on the lower deck of I-5 with the express lanes. In other sections, it would have run in the median, similar to Chicago’s Blue Line. See the 1957 plan on Google Maps for route and station details.

In 1967, the newly formed Metro (Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle) put forth a transit plan that’s probably an ancestor of the light-rail now under construction. By 1985, the plan envisioned a rail transit line through downtown, Queen Anne, Magnoila/Interbay, Ballard, and Greenwood, another line from downtown through Capitol Hill to the U District, with a potential extension to Bothell, another line through Beacon Hill and Mercer Island to Bellevue, with potential extension to Redmond, another line through Rainier Valley to Tukwila and Renton, with potential connection to the Bellevue segment, and potential spur to West Seattle. Needless to say, the Metro plan 20 years after 1985 is significantly less ambitious. Check out the 1967 plan on Google Maps.

In 1979, there was a modest proposal to extend the monorail by adding a loop around Seattle Center, connecting the monorail to the edge of Queen Anne, and adding a stop in Belltown.

In 1997, Initiative 41 proposed a 40-mile two-line monorail, criscrossing the city. That led to the more modest Green Line, which, while closer than most of the other plans, never saw the light of day. Check out the Green Line on Google Maps.

Finally, I find that the more I dig, the more plans I find. I’ve seen references to a plan from 1920, Historylink reports a 1910 monorail plan, plus there have been various intermediate and scaled-back plans from Metro (like the Northwest Corridor plan) and others, and more informal plans and even a student thesis on the subject.