From 1891 to 1937, the Rainier Valley was served by the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway, an interurban railway on Rainier Avenue that traveled to Downtown Seattle, including a stop at McClellan Street in the vicinity of the modern light rail station. A failed rapid transit proposal published in 1928 by the Seattle Traffic Research Commission recommended that a future southern extension on Rainier Avenue terminate at either McClellan or Winthrop streets in Mount Baker.