You Are Here… Bohemian Flats

You Are Here… Bohemian Flats. . , Wedged between the Mississippi River and the steep river bluffs, the isolated but legendary district known as Bohemian Flats flourished for nearly 70 years., English scholar George Tuthill Barrett traveled through Minneapolis in the early 1860s. In his memoirs he wrote, "Along the edge of the cliff, I sat until the sun went down. It was one of the prettiest scenes I have met with on this continent. The river ran beneath me at the bottom of a narrow gorge, its banks wooded to the water's edge and dotted with an occasional house that peeped forth from the dense dark foliage.", According to one Thomas Shafer who … to the area in 1869, a Danish couple was the first family to settle on the … known for a short period of time as "Danish Flats". A pioneer … had remarked in his memoirs that, "The Bohemians must have … about 1869 or 1870 and were soon followed by groups of Sla… and French.", Early Bohemian Flats settlers grew … they had little money and land rent was very affordable… ated banks., The village was laid out along the … streets, all running parallel with the river. Rent was highest, about $… per year, on … Street, which hugged the bluffs. Along Cooper Street, $18 per year would pay for a parcel of land large enough for a shanty and a small backyard. Housing along Wood Street, which skirted the water's edge and was most vulnerable to spring flooding, went for about $15 per year., In July of 1887, Northwest magazine described the district, "Not far below the St. Anthony Falls and within the Minneapolis City limits, you can see from the bluff on either side, a curious little village, low down by the water's edge.", An early resident described the shanties of the district as looking "like little cigar boxes on a stage street." In time, color came to the drab wooden shanties - fences, sheds, and houses received applications of blue, yellow, red, green, and pink paint. Flowerpots and embroidered curtains appeared in the windows and the little gardens blossomed in the brightest colors., For years, the settlers in this district lived undisturbed by progress. By 1929, however, the city had made plans to increase barge terminal facilities on the Flats and in February of 1931, 50 eviction notices were issued, and demolition began. By the spring of 1931, almost all evidence of the Bohemian Flats had vanished. In 2001, the last trace of the Flats disappeared when the wooden steps climbing the bluff to the west bank beneath the Washington Avenue bridge were demolished., The Flats children got the greatest joy at the time of the annual floods. They stayed home from school to help in the emergency and spent their time splashing around and dragging huge cakes of ice and old logs out of the water. Lacking foundations, houses would occasionally rise with the floodwaters and simply float away. One house floated away form its lot every year while the family remained in it, cooking, sleeping, and watching the annual drama from their own special vantage point.,

There are many persons living in and around the Twin Cities whose relatives lived on the Flats. Many of them, prominent in the city's civic and cultural life, experienced meager beginnings there; others knew the Flats only from the Mississippi River Bridge. From the vantage point of the high cliff on the university side of the river, generations of students, too, stealing a few minutes rest or holding a tryst on a sunny knoll, have looked across to observe the activities of the Flats. In the old days the idling students always saw something to hold his attention - chickens, ducks, dogs, and goats, once in a while a stray cow, a yard full of driftwood or lines of washing, innumerable children. He looked down upon a peaceful, quiet world, far afield from the university rush and the bustle of the city life just over the hill., The Flats settlement in Minneapolis is unique. In other communities throughout the country there have been similar sections settled by foreign groups who came to make their homes in America. Other cities have had their own little Europes along the river or across the tracks or in the hollow. But this Bohemian Flats, always physically separated from the metropolis growing around it, has had a peculiarly arresting history and a persistent appeal., It is the duty of the historical societies to have such stories written and preserved for posterity. In a real sense they are wonderful stories. They are the records of citizens and local history in the making, of common folk whose influence has been felt over an entire locality., Selected text taken from the 1941 publication "The Bohemian Flats" , Robert E. Scott, President , Hennepin County Historical Society , 1938