Seven Corners Then and Now
Seven Corners in 1934 and 2010
Although much of the layout has been bulldozed, paved-over or other wise altered, Seven Corners still manages to knit together Washington Avenue, 15th Avenue South, 19th Avenue South, and Cedar Avenue on the West Bank. In the late 19th century these streets began to fill up with saloons and single room housing for Swedish immigrants, mill workers and domestics. The Southern Theater opened in 1910 and established the area as an entertainment district. During the Depression Hubert Humphrey worked his way through college as a pharmacist at Brown Drug on Washington Avenue. In 1969 Bimbo’s Pizza Parlor and Dance Emporium’s fire-damaged warehouse and restaurant was renovated and became the new home for Theatre in the Round. The noisy intersections were declared part of the West Bank Theater District about twenty years ago. The area is still has plenty of single room housing and saloons, but the immigrants are no longer Swedish.
