Hiawatha (train) Hiawatha (train) The Hiawathas were a fleet of named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road) between Chicago and various destinations in the Midwest and Western United States. The most notable of these trains was the original "Twin Cities Hiawatha", which served the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The train was named for the epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The first "Hiawatha" trains ran in 1935. By 1948, five routes carried the "Hiawatha" name: The "Twin Cities Hiawatha" was the original "Hiawatha", beginning service between
The Song of Hiawatha south shore of Lake Superior for a figure of their folklore, a trickster-transformer. But in his journal entry for June 28, 1854, he wrote, "Work at 'Manabozho;' or, as I think I shall call it, 'Hiawatha'—that being another name for the same personage." Longfellow, following Schoolcraft, was mistaken in thinking the names were synonyms. In Ojibwe lore the figure of Manabozho is legendary but the name Hiawatha is unknown. The name Hiawatha derives from the name of a historical figure associated with the League of the Iroquois, the Five Nations, then located in present-day New York and Pennsylvania. The popularity