Banking on the West Bank Then and Now
This view across Cedar Avenue hasn’t changed much in the last 58 years or so. After a couple coldies at the good old 400, it’s easy to imagine the view hasn’t changed at all. Northwestern Banks used logos designed after the famous weatherball on the roof of their downtown headquarters until 1983. I’m pretty [...]
WPA Riots
When employees of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) showed up for work on the morning of July 5, 1939, they found bulletin board notices announcing a reduction in hourly wages and an increase in the number of required work hours. Rumors spread that many would soon face termination. It didn’t take long for the unhappy [...]
Frank B. Semple’s Mansion Then and Now
Frank Semple, was a partner in a wildly successful wholesale hardware firm. Janney Semple and Company, began on the Mississippi riverfront in 1866 and operated under different names until it was acquired by a national retailer in 1960. Framk and his wife Anne built this imposing Beaux-Arts mansion on the corner of Franklin and [...]
George Putnam Presents “Perversion for Profit”
Born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, George Putnam began his radio career at WDGY in Minneapolis when he was in his twenties. In 1951 he moved to Los Angeles and switched to television. Putnam hosted the highest rated newscast in California and anchored all four of Los Angeles’ major independent stations. He is fondly remembered for [...]
The Covered Wagon
The Covered Wagon had two twin city restaurants, one at 110 S. 4th Street in Minneapolis, and the other at 320 Wabasha in St. Paul. The decor was that of a wagon train, with items on the menu like Mallard Duck, Ring-neck Pheasant and Partridge. Red checkered tablecloths covered the tables and in the 50′s [...]
The Pond Brothers Rock
In the 1830′s Samuel and Gideon Pond helped establish missions at Chief Cloud Man’s Dakota village on the shore of Lake Calhoun. The Pond brothers came from Connecticut in with high hopes of converting the Dakoyta to Christianity and New England farming practices. They also devised a Dakota alphabet and began translating the Bible [...]
Meet Me in the Park!
The land around old Johnson’s Lake was the first parcel purchased by a newly formed Minneapolis Park Board in April 1883. Central Park became a popular destination almost immediately. After the lake was expanded in 1884, the park board created a skating rink. Electric lights for night skating were added the following year. The [...]
One Dale Down
Brookdale was the second of the four “Dale” shopping malls developed by the Dayton’s. After the success of Southdale Center, Knollwood Mall and Apache Plaza, the Dayton’s Co. looked to the Brooklyn Center. The city boomed in the immediate post-war years and was seen as a prime location. A site was chosen near Highway [...]
The Big River in ’52
In 1952 the Mississippi flood waters managed to work their way over Robert Street and almost halted traffic in Saint Paul’s Loop district. The First National Bank building was never threatened. Spectators crowded the edge of downtown as the Mississippi approached a 14 foot flood stage and overflowed its banks. On April 9th water [...]
Naomi’s Family Center Then and Now
The building originally opened as a motel in 1959, but I remember walking by this little tower in the middle of the 1980′s after it had been converted to apartments. There was a big old banner hanging the length of the building advertising studio apartments for $299. It seemed like a heck of a [...]
The Hotel Nicollet
After the old Nicollet House was torn down in 1923 it was replaced with a grand new hotel. In addition to housing guests and bringing in notable performers to entertain customers a, the new Nicollet was the home to WCCO radio for many years. By the 1960s the Nicollet was facing difficult times in [...]
When it really was an island…
The park at Harriet Island was built by Dr. Justus Ohage, St. Paul’s health officer, who donated the land to the city in 1900. His idea for the park was to build a place for healthy living in the center of the city. The park originally had a public bathhouse and beach, along with [...]
The Granada Theatre Then and Now
This little Moorish mansion movie palace opened as the Granada Theatre in 1928. The building was designed by local architect Jack Liebenberg. His innovative design featured stadium seating in an atmospheric theater giving the illusion that viewers are seated outdoors in a Spanish courtyard. Until recently the original stars still shone and projected clouds [...]
When Lake Harriet Wasn’t Good Enough
Here’s a 1907 map of planned park improvements around Lake Harriet including boat landing, bathing beach, bathhouses, rose garden, picnic grove, tree, shrub and flower garden, trolley station, and paths. Theodore Wirth thought Harriet’s shoreline was a little too monotonous and dreamed of adding a peninsula on the lake near the Beard Plaisance on [...]
Florence from Mankato
Born in Mankato in 1892, Florence Macbeth studied in New York and Paris before making her 1913 debut as as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Theatre in Braunschweig, Germany. Florence joined the Chicago Opera in 1914 and appeared annually at the Summer Opera in Ravinia near Chicago until 1930. She .In [...]
