To commemorate
the Battle of Fort Griswold
fought September 6, 1781,
this tree
was planted in historic earth
from the thirteen original colonies.
by Minneapolis Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution.
Tablet placed . . . — — Map (db m229542) HM
The Eagles installed on the Convention Center Plaza are artifacts removed from the 1927 era Auditorium which was located on the nearby site now occupied by the new Minneapolis Convention Center. The old Auditorium was bounded by Grant Street on . . . — — Map (db m91399) HM
John H. Field · O.L. Loberg · Dr. F. Moody
S.A. Nelson · Oliver Prestholdt
Dr. Ivar Sivertsen · Dr. C.O. Solberg
J.S. Strate · E. H. Sund · Dr. A.C. Tingdale
R. T. Tingdale · Christian Wangaard
Founders
————————
Central Lutheran . . . — — Map (db m91375) HM
Construction on the Basilica of Saint Mary, 88 North 17th Avenue, began in 1907. It is the country's first Basilica and acts as an anchoring landmark on the north side of Loring Park.
The church was planned by French architect Emmanuel . . . — — Map (db m91409) HM
Loring Park has 14 historically designated buildings as well as the Harmon Place Historic Auto District. Some of the designated buildings include the Minneapolis Woman's Club, the Basilica of St. Mary, the Loring Theater, the Wesley Methodist . . . — — Map (db m91408) HM
The Loring Park Development District was created in 1972 to plan and underwrite high density residential and commercial building through tax increment financing. Ten blocks were demolished and redeveloped in an area roughly between the south end . . . — — Map (db m91435) HM
The Loring Park neighborhood is home to one of the city's oldest neighborhood organizations. In 1972, neighbors banded together in a successful fight to prevent the demolition of the historic 1906 Loring Park Shelter Building. Forming the group . . . — — Map (db m231726) HM
Surveys conducted in the early 19th Century identified several significant geological features of the area now known as the Loring Park neighborhood. One was "The Devil's Backbone," a long ridge located about one mile south of the Mississippi . . . — — Map (db m91406) HM
The heavy cruiser USS MINNEAPOLIS was the second US Navy ship to bear the name. She was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and commissioned 19 May 1934. MINNEAPOLIS was at sea off Pearl Harbor when Japan attacked on 7 December 1941. . . . — — Map (db m91372) HM
The battleship USS MINNESOTA was the second US Navy to bear the name. She was built at Newport News, VA, and commissioned 9 March 1907. MINNESOTA sailed in late 1907 as a member of the 16 ship "Great White Fleet" on a round-the-world . . . — — Map (db m91371) HM
The story of this place begins as an encampment for untold generations of the Dakota People. Located near the ancient trail that was later to become Hennepin Avenue, the encampment lay beside a spring fed pond, at the base of the rolling oak . . . — — Map (db m91440) HM
This church stands as the first Minneapolis Methodist Church founded west of the Mississippi River. It has been the site of several Annual Conference sessions and twice Methodist bishops have been consecrated at its altar. Having brought scores . . . — — Map (db m122510) HM
A Grade Separation Campaign
As part of its westward expansion, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad (CM&StP) built its Hastings and Dakota line across south Minneapolis in 1879-81. The tracks crossed what was then the city's southern . . . — — Map (db m201047) HM
Elevators and Rails
By 1890, 20 railroad lines stretched from Minneapolis in all directions, and more than 1,000 railcars entered the city each day with passengers, grain and other agricultural products, building supplies, and household goods. . . . — — Map (db m202890) HM
On September 15, 1890, the Alpha Phi Fraternity installed its sixth chapter, Epsilon chapter, at the University of Minnesota.
One of Alpha Phi's most influential members, Henrietta Coone (Beta 1887) played a vital role in the chapter's . . . — — Map (db m230364) HM
Here You Are Here, by the only natural waterfalls on the Mississippi River, the town of St. Anthony Falls got its start in the 1850s. The falls, considered sacred by the Native Americans who once called this area home, powered the mills that . . . — — Map (db m238160) HM
Cal Ripken, Sr. signed his first baseball contract in 1956. Over the next 36 years, he served as player, coach, and manager within the Baltimore Orioles' organization. Every step of the way, Cal Ripken, Sr. led by example - loyalty, hard work, . . . — — Map (db m232304) HM
"It is urged in support of the idea that it would be the favorite Sunday resort for the entire easterly portion of the city."
Minneapolis Tribune, December 19, 1892
Rolling along the River
The Mississippi River was an important trade route. Dakota, Ojibwe, and other American Indian people had moved along the river in canoes for thousands of years. Settlers began to arrive on steamboats into St. Paul . . . — — Map (db m235665) HM
In honor of the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Major League Baseball, the Minnesota Twins, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the Pohlad Family Foundation, and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation provided substantial financial support . . . — — Map (db m231942) HM
Community Design Process
In 1911, a four-span Howe truss bridge became the first of three to carry passenger traffic across the Northtown Yards. In 1925, it was replaced with a wider five-span Warren truss bridge. This bridge—then part of . . . — — Map (db m232388) HM
The first bridge at 33rd Avenue N.E. (1911) before dismantling, June 1925 (NP Archives, MHS)
Crossing Northtown Yard: The St. Anthony Parkway Bridge
Three bridges have spanned the wide expanse of the . . . — — Map (db m242658) HM
"This section of the Grand Rounds is of outstanding importance to the city, but more particularly so to the East Side... A very interesting feature of this drive is the wonderful view it affords of the network of railroads and shops . . . — — Map (db m245371) HM
Named by its owner, showman-entrepreneur R.F. "Fish" Jones, in 1906, Longfellow Zoological Gardens was part amusement park and zoo, and part formal gardens. Jones was reputed to be a devotee of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but it may have been his . . . — — Map (db m244053) HM
Nicollet Island bears the name of a French scholar and scientist who explored the headwaters of the Mississippi for the US government in 1836. Accompanied by some Ojibway friends and two hired voyageurs, Joseph Nicollet camped by the falls for . . . — — Map (db m38455) HM
The Nicollet Island Pavilion building was built in 1893 as the William Bros. Boiler Works. The Nicollet Island Inn was built the same year as the Island Sash and Door Company. Nearby was the large Island Power Building which was torn down in 1937. . . . — — Map (db m99665) HM
Midstream in the Mississippi River, Nicollet Island served countless generations of Indian people as a crossing point and camping spot. After Europeans assumed the right to make boundaries, the island lay between lands claimed by England, France, . . . — — Map (db m155492) HM
Do you know why there were no playgrounds in the first Minneapolis parks?
Because the concept of a playground did not exist in 1883, when Horace Cleveland designed the first parks for the newly established Park Board. Parks were quiet . . . — — Map (db m176877) HM
In July 1931, Arthur and Edith Lee and their 5-year-old daughter Mary, an African-American family, moved into this home at 4600 Columbus Avenue South which they had purchased that spring. Immediately, their white neighbors mobilized to drive them . . . — — Map (db m205392) HM
Because of the rapid growth of population, agriculture, and industry in the Upper Midwest after 1900, Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to construct the Mississippi River locks and dams. The Mississippi River, once the principal artery of . . . — — Map (db m232537) HM
Transportation & Industry
The streetcar system began in 1875. Where tracks were laid, people built homes and businesses. Each night they patiently waited at the corners where every hour they could ride the trolley for work or pleasure. The . . . — — Map (db m232205) HM
Northeast Homes Have Distinct Differences
Northeast Minneapolis housing is distinctly different from that in other parts of the city. The upper-middle class and business owners built the older houses in much of Minneapolis. But in old St. . . . — — Map (db m232206) HM
This site was originally used as a quarry in the early 1900's. Material similar to this stone was mined and used for the foundations and exterior finishes on many of the buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
"The Quarry" retail center . . . — — Map (db m232204) HM
Which were used on parkways first, bicycles or cars?
The first vehicles to use the new parkways were horses and carriages, but bicycles soon followed. In 1887 the Park Board formally approved the use of bicycles on parkways, which fed . . . — — Map (db m164138) HM
Charles Ingebretsen came to the United States from Norway, working first in New York City as a dockhand, then as an apprentice meat cutter in Fargo. He arrived in Minneapolis around 1907 and entered the meat-selling business. He owned . . . — — Map (db m213245) HM
Ray Truelson, together with his father, Roy, opened drive-in restaurants throughout the Twin Cities, including a Porky's Drive-In at 2107 East Lake Street. The drive-in restaurant concept gained popularity after World War II as Americans . . . — — Map (db m134583) HM
In 1911, Axel Anderson established his lunchroom to serve railroad and streetcar workers employed at the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad yards, located just a few blocks to the north and at the Lake Street Station of the Twin . . . — — Map (db m134582) HM
In November 1882, Harriet Walker, a civic leader and health care advocate, summoned 44 women to lay plans for what would become Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children. It opened in a rented house at 2504 Fourth Avenue South, . . . — — Map (db m245213) HM
From 1880 to 1930, Minneapolis was the flour-milling capital of the United States, thanks in part to the abundance of wheat grown in farms dotting the state. Introduced by a Mendota fur trader around 1820, wheat quickly became Minnesota's . . . — — Map (db m213825) HM
Upon their arrival in the United States, many rural Greek immigrants demonstrated a preference for the city and its promise of a better life. Like other newcomers, they quickly established culturally supportive organizations. In 1909 a . . . — — Map (db m213679) HM
Norwegian immigrant sisters Pauline and Thomane Fjelde gained renown for winning a gold medal at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago for embroidering the first Minnesota State Flag, which was used until 1957. Pauline's . . . — — Map (db m234625) HM
New Products for New Consumers
During the 1920s, manufacturers and producers reached mass markets like never before. Newspaper, radio, and billboard advertising urged consumers to buy goods ranging from bread to automobiles. Mail-order . . . — — Map (db m236671) HM
The developers of the Minneapolis Street Railway Company gained control of the Saint Paul City Railway Company in 1885 and incorporated the Twin City Rapid Transit Company two years later. The routes of both systems were integrated over . . . — — Map (db m243249) HM
For longer distances, travelers could ride the "Motor Line"—a hybrid of a horse car and train, propelled by a steam locomotive. Tracks extended from downtown Minneapolis to Lake Calhoun by 1879, and reached Excelsior by 1881. Four years . . . — — Map (db m245093) HM
This is the first horse car in the Twin Cities, July 15, 1872.
Credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections
"The large 46-spot cars, built by the company in its own sheds, are of the most modern and . . . — — Map (db m245324) HM
History of Lake Street
When the City of Minneapolis was established in 1856, Lake Street was a mile beyond the southern boundary of the city.
Early Lake Street was home to dance halls, lumberyards, churches, horsesheds, blacksmiths, . . . — — Map (db m213113) HM
New Goods for a New Era
The pace of life in Minneapolis quickened in the decade between 1910 and 1920. The population expanded from 301,498 to 3...82, and the ... factories, railroads, and ... nks m... it ... with a trade ... n stro... ng .. . . . — — Map (db m240652) HM
Infant Carlton Cressey was the first person to be buried here on September 11, 1853. Cressey's family knew the landowner, Martin Layman, and when the child died, Layman offered part of his farm as a burial site. Several more burials took . . . — — Map (db m245403) HM
Originally developed to be a stylish boulevard lined with architect-designed homes situated on large lots with generous setbacks, Park Avenue once ranked as Minneapolis' most prestigious residential street.
Throughout the late . . . — — Map (db m233946) HM
The neighborhood is edged by Interstate 94 on the north, Interstate 35W on the west, Lake Street on the south, and Hiawatha, Cedar Avenue, and railroad tracks on the east.
The neighborhood's name honors Wendell Phillips, a . . . — — Map (db m231957) HM
The Chicago line reached 35th Street by 1890, 46th Street by 1904, 48th Street by 1922, and 54th Street by 1928. Each extension opened up new areas to development, making it easy for people to commute to jobs and go shopping. As historian . . . — — Map (db m240773) HM
Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company, owned by Clinton Odell. The brushless shaving cream was advertised in an innovative way: small signs were posted along the edges of roadways, spaced for sequential reading by . . . — — Map (db m134584) HM
Opened in 1910, the Lake Street Station was one of six carhouses used by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) streetcar system that served Minneapolis and St. Paul. At its peak in 1920, TCRT had nearly 530 miles of track and 1,021 . . . — — Map (db m134460) HM
The James J. Ballentine Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 246 was founded in October 1919, in the aftermath of World War I. It was established with 50 charter members in memory of James J. Ballentine, a popular local boy. Born in . . . — — Map (db m239124) HM
Did you know that 'Washburn Fair Oaks' was originally the name of the mansion that once stood here?
One of the largest homes in Minneapolis in the 1880s, it was built by William D. Washburn. His brother Cadwallader Washburn founded the . . . — — Map (db m156784) HM
George N. Boosalis founded the Town Treat Café in 1940. Boosalis emigrated from Greece in 1914 at age 16, eventually landing in Minneapolis to join the growing number of Greeks working in the restaurant business. He started at his . . . — — Map (db m213171) HM
Did you know that Powderhorn Park has hosted U.S. Olympic speed skating race trials?
A beautiful setting and a pristine sheet of ice shaved smooth, in the early years by a horse-drawn blade, pushed Powderhorn Park to prominence in the world . . . — — Map (db m201355) HM
The Witch's Hat Water Tower was designed by Norwegian architect Frederick William Cappelen and constructed by the city of Minneapolis in 1913. Occupying the highest natural land area in Minneapolis, the water tower was built to improve water . . . — — Map (db m176758) HM
A Dakota word for "falling waters"
described Saint Anthony Falls, an untamed cascade extending form shore to shore until the mid-1800s. Major Thomas Forsyth visited the falls in 1819:
The complexity of the company's history reflects the transformation of the electric power industry since the late nineteenth century as smaller utilities were consolidated into larger ones.
Created in 2000 by the merger of Northern States . . . — — Map (db m235069) HM
In this 1928 photograph, men work on the horseshoe dam that extends from the trash sluice on which you stand. Hennepin History Museum
The first major attempt to tame the river was a rare collaboration . . . — — Map (db m240532) HM
The Saint Anthony Falls Water Power Company (SAFWPC) and the Minneapolis Mill Company (MMC) were chartered by the territorial legislature in 1856, two years before Minnesota achieved statehood. The companies were on the frontier of America—and . . . — — Map (db m235347) HM
"Colonel Farquhar said to me that, in his opinion, only eternal vigilance would keep the falls in existence..."—William de la BarreWater poured through the collapsed tunnel in 1869, undermining foundations of some . . . — — Map (db m230028) HM
"The astounding fact about Minneapolis in 198 is that men live there today who can remember when Minneapolis was not. Sixty years ago there was no Territory of Minnesota. These are matters for marvel as one sees this vast expanse . . . — — Map (db m243714) HM
By 1860 St. Anthony had become a favorite summer resort for wealthy southerners who traveled on steamboats up the Mississippi. Often they and their black slaves stayed at the Winslow House. One such slave was Eliza Winston. Slavery was illegal in . . . — — Map (db m42714) HM
This was the site from which Father Louis Hennepin, the Franciscan Priest, first viewed the Falls of St. Anthony in June of 1680. He named the falls after his patron saint St. Anthony of Padua.
The famous waterfall was responsible for the birth . . . — — Map (db m225467) HM
1882
Tunnel finished; 2 Victor turbines power the Pillsbury A Mill. Low water levels soon raise concerns about the reliability of waterpower
1884
Steam engine installed to supplement waterpower—a move towards less . . . — — Map (db m243558) HM
1882
Tunnel finished; 2 Victor turbines power the Pillsbury A Mill. Low water levels soon raise concerns about the reliability of waterpower
1884
Steam engine installed to supplement waterpower—a move towards less . . . — — Map (db m243531) HM
A young Pennsylvanian won the race to grab land at the Falls of St. Anthony after the area was opened to settlement in 1838. Franklin Steele, the sutler (civilian storekeeper) at Fort Snelling, staked his claim in a moonlight caper that beat out the . . . — — Map (db m155490) HM
"As you travel across this country you will notice the high steel towers, carrying slender copper wires in all directions, bearing in their veins that mysterious fluid that sets the wheels a moving, turns night into day, brings . . . — — Map (db m234157) HM
Lumbering was the first major industry at Saint Anthony Falls.Detail from Map of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1885 Minneapolis Public Library Special Collections
In 1847, scouts . . . — — Map (db m241803) HM
–William de la Barre, Report upon the Projected Addition to the Water Power at the Saint Anthony Falls at Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1894
The river . . . — — Map (db m239759) HM
Minneapolis boasted the nation's first central hydroelectric station.The mast carrying the arc lights towers above downtown on the company's letterhead.
As sawmills adopted steam power by the 1880s and . . . — — Map (db m238433) HM
In commemoration of the courageous French explorers whose discoveries inspired French settlement and anticipated the growth of the City of Minneapolis, this plaque was dedicated by His Excellency, Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet, Ambassador of France . . . — — Map (db m238142) HM
The Falls of St. Anthony is the only true waterfall on the 2,350-mile length of the Mississippi. It has eroded upriver many miles in the 12,000 years since humans first saw it. The falls then may have been as much as two miles wide and 200 feet . . . — — Map (db m238159) HM
Did you know that this park began as a power plant easement? A local amateur historian, Lucy Wilder Morris, convinced the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company to grant an easement for a small park here in 1924. Lucy's interest in local . . . — — Map (db m155469) HM
The village of St. Anthony was platted in 1849, and by 1855 a number of frame buildings stood along Main Street. In that year brothers Moses and Rufus Upton constructed a fine business block from locally made brick and opened a store on the ground . . . — — Map (db m155483) HM
A natural spring flows from the rock at the base of Hennepin Bluff below this spot. According to tradition the iron-red mud at the spring provided pigment for Native Americans. White settlers of the 1850s believed the water had medicinal qualities. . . . — — Map (db m21033) HM
Has been designated a
Registered National
Historic Landmark
Under the provisions of the
Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935
This site possesses exceptional value
in commemorating or illustrating
the History of the United States
U.S. . . . — — Map (db m95383) HM
For untold generations of Indian people the Mississippi River was an important canoe route. To pass around the falls, the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibway (Chippewa) used a well-established portage trail. Starting at a landing below the site now occupied . . . — — Map (db m21032) HM
During the nineteenth century, mills at the falls were driven directly by waterpower. Sawmills were often on platforms built out over the river, where water drove machinery through systems of shafts, gears, and belts. In the flour mills, water was . . . — — Map (db m155494) HM
In 1860, Silas Farnham bought a sawmill on Hennepin Island that had been built four years earlier, and soon J.A. Lovejoy became his business partner. The long pond leading to their mill was a prominent landmark. Its west wall formed part of the . . . — — Map (db m235753) HM
The University of Minnesota's first building, a preparatory school, was located on this site from 1851 until the University moved to its present location in 1855.
When the city of Minneapolis acquired the land for a park in 1903, it was . . . — — Map (db m37825) HM
Long before farmers plowed Minnesota's western prairies, lumberjacks were felling pines in its northern forests. Beginning in the late 1840s, trees from Ojibway lands upriver were being cut into boards by sawmills at the Falls of St. Anthony. But . . . — — Map (db m155493) HM
Several structures have dominated the crest of the hill above this spot. The first was a luxury hotel named the Winslow House, built in 1857 by James M. Winslow while St. Anthony was still a favorite resort and health spa. Its style of . . . — — Map (db m50208) HM
Built in 1848, the Ard Godfrey House is the earliest frame house still standing in Minneapolis. An example of Greek Revival architecture, it originally occupied a site in the vicinity of Main and Second Streets Southeast.
Ard Godfrey, a . . . — — Map (db m37774) HM
Near this spot in 1630 Father Louis Hennepin first sighted and named the Falls of Saint Anthony.
This is the oldest standing church in the city of Minneapolis. The front rectangular nave, built of native limestone, was opened by the First . . . — — Map (db m238143) HM
Geology
The river flows over land, once a seabed, laid down 500 million years ago. The top layer, covered by soil left much later by glaciers, is hard Platteville limestone, which is up to 35 feet thick beneath much of . . . — — Map (db m243666) HM
Here at the Falls of St. Anthony, where waterpower, river transportation, and eventually railroads came together, the industrial heart of the upper Midwest began to beat in the mid-1800s. Keen-eyed factory and mill owners from the states of the . . . — — Map (db m155495) HM
The Pillsbury A Mill, built of Platteville limestone, was the world’s largest flour mill when it was completed in 1881. The design by LeRoy S. Buffington is considered a classic of industrial architecture, and the interior of the mill boasted . . . — — Map (db m40687) HM
Reaction turbines are used at Saint Anthony Falls. Water flows to, through, and out of a reaction turbine as a liquid column, tightly constrained and carefully directed to capture its force. The column starts at the penstock's intake, positioned . . . — — Map (db m234949) HM
In 1879 St. Paul railroad magnate James J. Hill opened his "Manitoba line" to the Canadian border, linking the wheat fields of the Red River Valley with the flour mills of Minneapolis. To improve railroad access at the falls he built this 2,100-foot . . . — — Map (db m21031) HM
"The falls are going out!" cried the alarmed citizens of St. Anthony on October 5, 1869. A tunnel being dug under the river bed to bring waterpower to Nicollet Island had collapsed. A giant whirlpool formed
below the island as the river rushed . . . — — Map (db m42741) HM
The CM&StP: A New Route to the West
The CM&StP Railroad's Short Line bridge across the Mississippi River, completed in 1880, was the first of three important bridges in the vicinity. In 1888, crossing at Franklin Avenue and Lake Street also . . . — — Map (db m200507) HM
By the 1960s, generations of heavy use had taken a toll on the houses. Fewer families remained. Many homes became rental properties for students and artists. As front porches were enclosed and deteriorated brick was covered with stucco, the area's . . . — — Map (db m151471) HM
