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 Much later, Mary Montgomery Koppel (b.1982) incorporated Ojibwe flute music for her setting of "The death of Minnehaha" (2013) for two voices with piano and flute accompaniment. The most celebrated setting of Longfellow's story was the cantata trilogy, "The Song of Hiawatha" (1898–1900), by the Sierra Leone-English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The first part, "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" (Op. 30, No. 1), based on cantos 11–12 of the poem, was particularly famous for well over 50 years, receiving thousands of performances in the UK, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Though it slipped from popularity in the late 20th century,