I Love a Parade
Forty years after the The American Legion held their charter convention in Minneapolis the organization returned for their 41st national meeting. Over 50,ooo visitors and delegates came to town for the convention. Minneapolis seated 3,000 delegates. Speakers at the event included Vice President, Richard M. Nixon, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, former President Harry S. Truman [...]
Cinerama at the Century
The Century Theater opened as a vaudeville house called the Miles in 1908. In 1915, the place was rebuilt, and reopened as the Garrick Theater. In 1929 the Garrick was gutted and The Century Theatre was created in the old theater’s shell. The Century proclaimed the most modern movie house west of Chicago. The new [...]
Calhoun Boulevard and 36th
Originally called by the Dakota “Mde Maka Ska”, which meant White Earth Lake, settlers later named it with the Dakota name “Medoza” or Loon Lake. The United States Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, sent the Army to survey the area that would surround Fort Snelling in 1817. Calhoun had also authorized the construction of [...]
At the Edge of the Richest Shopping District
The Sheridan was built around the corner from the old Minneapolis Auditorium and Lyceum Theater in 1926. The hotel was one of at least six brick courts at the southern edge of downtown. In 1938 one could get a single with a bath of $2.00. Many of these old places became residential in the [...]
Where Men Meet Men
Built at 9th and Lasalle in 1919 the old YMCA building in downtown Minneapolis originally had a low-rise wing to the north which contained the swimming pool. The wing was demolished for the construction of LaSalle Plaza in 1989. The Gothic Revival tower was renovated as 121-unit apartment complex in 1994 and added National Register [...]
