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 house, was also epic. The monumental quality survives into the 20th century in Frances Foy's "Hiawatha returning with Minnehaha" (1937), a mural sponsored during the Depression for the Gibson City Post Office, Illinois. Parodies of the "Song of Hiawatha" emerged immediately on its publication. "The New York Times" even reviewed one such parody four days before reviewing Longfellow's original poem. This was "Pocahontas: or the Gentle Savage", a comic extravaganza which included extracts from an imaginary Viking poem, "burlesquing the recent parodies, good, bad, and indifferent, on "The Song of Hiawatha."" The "Times" quoted: In 1856 there appeared a 94-page