INTRODUCTION

This Timeline is intended as a chronology of some of the major events in the history of the Brookside neighborhood of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. For the purposes of this document, the boundaries of Brookside are Highway 100 to the east, West 44th Street to the south, Colorado Avenue/Meadowbrook Blvd. to the west, and Excelsior Blvd. to the north. It also includes Highway 100 from the Edina border to Highway 7, and all of Excelsior Blvd. from the Minneapolis to Hopkins lines. Although these stretches of road extend beyond Brookside’s area, they are included because they constitute two of the neighborhood’s borders, their intersection constitutes the neighborhood’s northeast corner, and their histories are just so darn interesting.

It takes some time for civilization to get to Brookside, though, so I’ve started with some Minnesota history, a bit about Minneapolis, and then on to the fascinating history of St. Louis Park at the turn of the century. Brookside’s history starts to heat up in about 1907, and the events described from about 1915 become much more local. National and State milestones are thrown in to provide some context.

Some technical notes:

· As events and places overlap, I have created links, mostly to the website of the St. Louis Park Historical Society at www.slphistory.org.

· This is one very long document. I considered breaking it up, but decided that if one wanted to search for something, it would be better and easier to search through the entire document.

· Actually, this used to be a much longer document, before much of the information was moved to the SLP Historical Society site.  Therefore, this document is heavily linked to the SLPHS site.  I urge you to follow the links, as they help spice up this rather dull timeline.

· This information has been been collected by a great number of sources, some of  which are contradictory.  I welcome any corrections and additions. 

This Timeline is continually growing, and will be updated periodically to reflect new information, corrections, etc. Please see the last page for acknowledgements and sources, as well as information about how you can contribute to the collection of information and history of the City of St. Louis Park.

Jeanne Andersen

MILESTONES
 

You can start at the beginning by clicking the Formation milestone below or any of the other milestones to drop down to the timeframe you want. The Timeline itself starts right after the following list of milestones.

Formation

Exploration

Settlement

The Booming 1880’s and early 1890’s

St. Louis Park Becomes a Village

T.B. Walker’s Failed Dream

Boom and Bust

The Beginnings of Brookside

The Great Depression

World War II

The Postwar Boom

The 1970’s

Notes and Conclusions

Acknowledgements and Sources

FORMATION

Minnesota first came on the scene about 4.5 billion years ago. The first water appeared about 3.5 billion years ago, and the first known life (in the form of algae) appeared about 2.75 billion years bce. Glaciers appeared between 2 and 2.5 billion years ago. The first river dates back to 1.1 billion years ago. The first known animals with hard parts were trilobites, ancestors of spiders, appearing about 500 million years ago. Dinosaurs appeared about 90 million years ago, along with sharks and trees. The first mammal was a giant beaver, the size of a small bear, that lived about 10,000 years ago. Mammoths, mastodons, wolves, bison, and musk oxen also date to about 10,000 years, along with the first people. These Indians were descendants of the Asians who came to North America across the Bering Strait about 20,000 years ago. The bones of the so-called “Browns Valley Man” indicate that he lived about 6,000 years ago. The first dog may go back to 7,000 to 5,000 bce. The first game in Minnesota was apparently dice, made out of antlers, dating back to 500 bce.

In the Park, the area north of Minnetonka Blvd. is characterized by rolling uplands with well-drained loam soil, along with lakes, bogs, or other wetlands.  The area south of Minnetonka Blvd. is part of the Mississippi Valley Outwash Plain, and has nearly level to gently rolling hills with intermittent wetlands.  Sand and gravel deposits are found in several locations throughout the City.  The highest point is just east of Westwood Lake at the Westwood Nature Center.  The lowest point is within the Bass Lake Basin.  The difference between them is about 130 feet. Remnants of presettlement vegetation can be found along railroad corridors and along Minnehaha Creek.

EXPLORATION

The history of early Minnesota is really the history of two separate entities, east and west of the Mississippi River. The land to the east had first been claimed by Virginia before the Revolutionary War, while the western portion was part of the Louisiana Purchase. The following chronology focuses on the west side of the river. Much of the material for this section was taken from Minnesota: A History of the State by Theodore C. Blegen, 1963/1975.  But I may not have interpreted it right, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Dakota occupied southern Minnesota and to the west, to the Tetons, after 1000 A.D. The branch that controlled Minnesota in the 17th Century was headquartered on Lake Mille Lacs at the mouth of the Rum River. The term Sioux comes from a Chippewa word meaning snake. Although the preferred term now is Dakota, the tribe is referred to here by its historical name, the Sioux.

1650's - '70's
White explorers first encounter members of the Chippewa and Sioux tribes in the area that would become Minnesota.

1671

The French claimed the area west of the Mississippi. French explorers searching for the Northwest Passage had been the first white men to visit the region.

1680

Father Louis Hennepin named the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua. Hennepin was a Franciscan missionary who came to the area from Illinois in 1680. He and his companions were taken captive by the Sioux in April, and as such became the first white men to see Lake Pepin. It was during a hunting expedition that he and his companions became the first white men to see the falls. They were freed in July by Sieur Du Luth, and Father Hennepin returned to France.

1745

Chippewa Indians from Wisconsin won a major victory over the Sioux at the Sioux village of Kathio on the western shore of Mille Lacs, in large part because the Chippewa had guns. Chippewa was a bastardization of the word Ojibway. As a result of this defeat, the Sioux were pushed to the south, into the populated areas of Minnesota.

1762

France secretly ceded its possessions west of the Mississippi to Spain. Spain secretly transferred the land west of the Mississippi back to France in 1800.

1776

The U.S. issued the Declaration of Independence, starting the Revolutionary War. Britain signed an agreement recognizing U.S. independence, ending the War in 1782.

1787
Lands controlled by the Chippewa and Sioux were included in the Northwest Territory.

1803

The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase; the U.S. bought the area west of the Mississippi from the French for 80 million francs.  828,000 square miles of land were bought between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, much of it occupied by Indians.

1804

The Louisiana Purchase was split in two and western Minnesota became part of the Indiana Territory (est. 1800).

1805

Zebulon Pike signed a treaty with Sioux Chief Little Crow III and Stands Suddenly, who ceded an area nine miles wide on both sides of the Mississippi between St. Anthony Falls and the mouth of the Minnesota River and nine square miles at the confluence of the Minnesota and Minnesota Rivers. The treaty called for the tribe to get $200, and an additional $2,000 worth of goods and 60 gallons of whisky were used as incentives. The treaty was ratified by the U.S. Government on April 16, 1808. 

1812

The Missouri Territory was created and western Minnesota became attached to it.

1818
The 49th Parallel was established as the northern boundary of the U.S. from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.  This was established by an agreement with Great Britian.

1819

Fort St. Anthony was built in 1819 - 1821 at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers on the land negotiated by Pike in 1805. The name was changed to Fort Snelling in 1825. It was abandoned in July 1858, and purchased by Franklin Steele, a Minneapolis land speculator, for $90,000. Steele wanted to start a town on the property, but he was unable to keep up payments, and it reverted back to the Federal Government just before the Civil War.

The first white woman to arrive in present-day Minneapolis, a Mrs. Gooding, came on August 28, 1819.

1820
The Missouri compromise banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the southern border of Missouri.

1821

Missouri became a state. Since there was no more Missouri Territory, western Minnesota was unorganized until 1834.

1822

In May, two 17-year old boys, William J. Snelling, the son of Colonel Snelling, and Joseph Renshaw Brown, a drummer boy from Maryland, followed Minnehaha Creek up to Lake Minnetonka. The word Minnetonka was Dakotah for water-big. Snelling couldn't take the mosquitoes and headed back, but Brown and two soldiers from the fort made it all the way, past Indian settlements, up to Gray's Bay and Big Island, where they encountered a Chippewa village.

1823
Although their 1823 map inaccurately described the course of the creek, they are thought to be the first white men to leave a record of having passed through the area that was to become St. Louis Park. For years afterwards, the creek was known as Joe Brown's River; in 1853, surveyor Jesse T. Jarrett called it Brown's Creek. The source of the Mississippi River was eventually discovered at Itasca in 1832 by Henry R. Schoolcraft.

Joseph R. Brown was eventually discharged as a soldier, and was given permission to live near Minnehaha Falls, within the Fort Snelling grounds, making him the first person that lived within the limits of Minneapolis Township. Brown had a checkered history; in 1839 he was both an accused whiskey peddler and a justice of the peace. He died in 1870.
 

Lake Calhoun was named in honor of John C. Calhoun, former Secretary of War. The lake is nearly round, has a circumference of over 3 miles, and is located a little more than one mile from the our city Limits. In 1879, the Minneapolis, Lyndale, and Lake Calhoun Railway brought people from the City to the resorts, hotels, mineral springs, etc. along the lake's shoreline. The official count of lakes in Minnesota is 12,034, with 18 in Minneapolis.

St. Anthony Falls was first used for power by soldiers from Fort Snelling, who built a gristmill on the west bank of the river.
 

The first steamboat came up the Mississippi into Minnesota, carrying Giacomo Beltrami, looking for the source of the Mississipi River. He didn’t find it.

Major Lawrence Taliaferro came to Fort Snelling on May 2, 1823, bringing the state’s first slaves. He sold some of his slaves to friends at the Fort and freed the rest.

Fur trade peaks in the 1820's in Minnesota.

1829

Major Taliaferro, U.S. Indian Agent, opened a farm on the east side of Lake Calhoun called Eatonville, named after John H. Eaton of Tennessee, Secretary of War from 1829-31. Eatonville established as a place for Indians to settle and farm, and be assimilated into the white man's way of life. Philander Prescott was the first farmer there.

1834

Missionaries Samuel W. and Gideon Hollister Pond arrived from Connecticut, becoming the first civilians to erect a dwelling in Hennepin County. A description written in 1885 praised the Ponds for working "hard and persistently to improve the condition and the morals of the savages..." From 1836 they worked with the Indians and learned their language, even putting out an English and Dakota language newspaper, but became discouraged and "began to realize the untamability of the Sioux nature." Eatonville was abandoned in 1843 when the Indians were removed to the banks of the Minnesota River in Bloomington. In 1849, Charles Mousseau built a shanty on the abandoned site, and in 1877, it was the location of the Pavilion, a large public building erected by Col. W.S. King.

Gideon Pond (b. Washington, CT. 1810; d. 1878) went with the Indians to Bloomington in 1843, and built a house for himself and a schoolhouse for the Indians. He served in the first territorial legislature in 1849. In 1852 the Indians were moved again, but Gideon stayed behind, and after going back east to be ordained, he became a minister in a local church in Bloomington. Eastern and Western Minnesota were both assigned to the Michigan Territory, the first time they were united.

1835

Reverend J.D. Stevens, from New York, set up a school for half-breed girls in a house in the woods on the western shore of Lake Harriet.

1836

The Wisconsin Territory was established, which included all of present-day Minnesota.

1837
White settlers are able to populate east-central Minnesota and adjacent Wisconsin following treaties with the Sioux and Chippewa.

1838

The first squatter shacks built within present-day Minneapolis were constructed in the summer.

The Iowa Territory was established in 1838 and included western Minnesota until 1846.

1842
The Senate considered a treaty with the Sioux to create a permanent area of Indian residence in the area to become southern Minnesota.  The Senate later rejected the idea.

1845

The first permanent house in St. Anthony was built by Pierre Bottineau.

1846

Iowa became the 29th state, but without western Minnesota. Stephen A. Douglas had prevented Iowa from extending its state line north to include Fort Snelling and St. Anthony.

The Mexican-American War began.

1847
Stephen A. Douglas prevented Wisconsin from taking in St. Paul and the Falls by supporting a bill for the organization of the "Minasota" Territory.  The bill was tabled, but Douglas brought it up again in 1948.


1848

The first industry in present-day Minneapolis was a sawmill run by Franklin Steele and Ard Godfrey.

The first land office was opened in St. Croix Falls, selling land for $1.25 and acre.

A war with Mexico ended in February, with the US winning Mexico's northern frontier from Texas to California.

Wisconsin became the 30th State; Minnesota had no government.

1849

Minnesota became a Territory on March 3 when a bill creating the territory was passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President James K. Polk (elected 1845). Its name means "sky-tinted water" in the Dakota language. The area had less than 5,000 people. 

President Zachary Taylor (Whig/elected 1849) named Alexander Ramsey, originally from Pennsylvania, as the first Territorial Governor. The population of Minnesota was 4,000.

The Minnesota Historical Society was established, with Alexander Ramsey as its first president. Colonel John H. Stevens, with his party of ten, arrived in Minneapolis in April and occupied Minneapolis's first house west of the Mississippi, built by Charles Mousseaux, a settler from Montreal. It was originally located near the banks of the Mississippi River near the main post office, and was the site of the organization of many entities, including Hennepin County, the School District, and courts. Mary Stevens, the first white child born on the west side of Minneapolis, was born there on April 30, 1851. The house is now in Minnehaha Park.

The first white child born in present-day Minneapolis (presumably east of the river?) was Harriet R. Godfrey, born on May 30, 1849. It was also the year of the first protestant church, the first store, and the first school.

1850

The first national census showed a Minnesota population of 6,077. Nationwide, the population was 3.5 million.

1851

In 1851, Congress signed treaties with the Sioux Indians, opening up 24 million acres (19 million in Minnesota) for occupation by whites. The upper bands of the Sioux were to get approximately 7.5 cents an acre, paid out in an annuity of $1,665,000, payable over 50 years starting on July 1, 1852. The lower bands were to get $1,410,000. This action made the area safe for white settlement and started a land rush. The Sioux were relegated to two reservations, 150 miles long and 10 miles wide along both sides of the Minnesota River. In 1858, Joseph R. Brown induced the Sioux to cede the northern half, leaving the Sioux with only the southern half.

Hiram Van Nest came to Minneapolis in 1851 and recorded the first warranty deed in Hennepin County in 1855.

John Berry took a claim on the west side of Cedar Lake in April, and raised the first crop on the west side of the river. His son, Mark T. Berry, bought land in the same area in 1855. John Berry sold his claim in 1867 and moved to the city.

1852

On March 6, 1852, the Territorial Legislature granted permission to formally establish the boundaries of Hennepin County. Previously, the area had been in Dakota County. In the spring, rumors of the reduction of the Fort Snelling reservation, which would make part available for settlement, resulted in massive claim staking of property within the boundaries of town. Soldiers ran them off until the next spring, when the reduction took place and the land was available to be legally claimed.

Minnesota citizens vote to outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol on April 5. The law was declared unconstitutional in November.

Franklin Pierce (Democrat) was elected President.

1853
Democrat Willis A. Gornman was elected Governor, replacing Ramsey.

Southern Minnesota was purchased from the Dakota, the settlement was not legal for another year and a half.  Settlers came anyway, going to far as to torch Indian homes

 

SETTLEMENT

1854

William and Mary Ann Laycock are generally believed to be the first husband and wife settlers in the area that would become St. Louis Park. Laycock (1808-1882), born in Yorkshire, England, married Mary Ann Rye (1830-1917) in 1848. Laycock sailed for America in 1849, worked digging sand in New York for a time, and when Mary Ann followed they lived in Providence, RI, from 1850-53. They came to St. Anthony Falls in the fall of 1853 and spent the winter in a log cabin built by Minneapolis pioneer Franklin Steele.

In March 1854, the Laycocks moved to their shanty on the 40 acres of land (that he preempted the following year) in the area of present-day Lake Street and Pennsylvania Ave. The Laycock's only child, Emma Tyler Laycock, thought to be the first white female child born in the area that would become St. Louis Park, was born in that shanty on January 2, 1858. They later bought a second 40-acre adjoining tract. Laycock had suffered an injury from a falling rock back in New York and was confined to crutches for much of the 20 years before he died. After an operation and an 11-week stay at the College Hospital, he died of "blood poisoning" on April 15, 1882. Mary Ann married John Ludlum in 1884 and survived him as well, living to the age of 87 in 1917.

The City of Minneapolis was established. The word, dating from 1852, combines the Sioux word for water ("minne") and the Greek word for city ("polis"). One legend has it that Charles Hoag suddenly thought of it while in bed. Other names considered were Albion, All Saints, and Lowell. The town was chartered, its boundaries defined, and its government established, in 1867.
 

The first commercial flourmill was built on the east bank of the Mississippi at St. Anthony Falls.

The European-American population of the Minnesota Territory was 30,000.  Just three years later it would top 150,000.

The 15-section area that includes present-day St. Louis Park was surveyed in 1854 by William R. Marshall and several deputy surveyors in anticipation of opening it up to private ownership. Jesse T. Jarrett send his field notes to Surveyor General Warner Lewis in the Dubuque office, where they were recorded on February 27, 1954.  Surveyors noted that most if not all of Richfield Township had already been claimed, and some improved.
 

On August 4, Congress passed the Preemption Act, which guaranteed that Minnesota settlers who had been squatting on unsurveyed land could purchase their land. Settlers had to have been on the land for at least one year.

1855

Surveyor's maps were registered at the land office in Bridge Square (Washington and 7th Street) in Minneapolis, which meant that legal titles could be filed starting in April or May. Settlers could buy land directly or through auction, or through the Preemption Act (see above). By 1855, all of Richfield Township had been claimed or preempted at $1.50 per acre.

On May 16, 1855, 15 sections of the county were subdivided into present-day St. Louis Park. The area west of the fifth principal meridian (approximately Highway 100) was designated as Township 117, Range 21. The area east of the 5th pm was Township 28, Range 24. Brookside was included in Section 21, which is bordered by Highway 100 to the east, Goodrich Avenue to the north, Dakota Avenue to the west (approx.) and the city limits to the south. Section 21 had 8 Government Lots, and Brookside is included in Government Lot 8, which is comprised of the 45 acres in the southeast corner of Section 21.

Many of the early settlers were from New England, especially Maine. (The first known Swede to live in the area, Nils Nyberg, lived in St. Anthony in 1851. Scandinavians didn’t descend onto the region until after the Civil War.)

Edward and Thomas Self, two bachelor brothers from England, were first to file claims for ownership of property: 40 acres in Section 7, which was near the creek and south of present day Excelsior Blvd. They had come to the area as early as 1851, trading with the Indians. They may have been the first white men to live on the land, trading with the Indians. The Self brothers were gone by 1886. 

Job Pratt filed for a 45-acre lot in section 21 on September 7, 1855. His wife Polly was said to be the "first to be taken to her long home," passing away in 1856 or 57. (He must have had a previous wife named Mary who passed away before he moved west - see Olivia Pratt, below.)

On May 20, 1855, Joseph Hamilton of Maine took a claim and farmed 160 acres on land just north of present-day Highway 7, south of the High School, and either side of Lake Street. In 1886, Hamilton established the Village's first General Store, about a mile from his farm. In 1890, Hamilton sold his land to T.B. Walker and built 16-18 large two-story homes, located south of the tracks and north of the Industrial Circle. In 1892, he built the red brick, two-story Hamilton Building on Broadway [6509 Walker Street], part of the so-called Brick Block. It burned to the ground on December 25, 1858, and in its place the Masons built the current one-story Masonic Lodge in 1960. Hamilton was one of the instigators behind the incorporation of the Village and served as the Village Council’s first president, a position he held from 1886-93, 1895-96, and 1899.

Irishman Jeremiah "Jerry" Falvey (b. Ireland, 1825; d. 1884) and his wife Hanora were married in 1854 in New York and came to Minneapolis that fall. In the spring of 1855 they settled on his farm on Section 8. An 1889 map shows the Falvey land to be on either side of the Great Northern tracks, northeast of the Center. Falvey was an early member of the school board and served as a justice of the peace. Unlike most of the early settlers, Falvey was a Catholic Democrat.

Of their 11 children, son Daniel J. Falvey, born February 24, 1857, is in contention with Chesley Hamilton as the first white boy born in the future St. Louis Park. Daniel was elected "roadmaster," grading many of the roads in and around the Park, including Excelsior Blvd. in 1902. An 1883 biographical sketch paints Daniel as an "outspoken advocate of temperance who had done all he can to sustain the village against any intrusion of the liquor traffic." Upon the death of Jeremiah, son William took over the family farm.

John Chamber received his patent from the U.S. Government on land that would later be part of the Henry Brown farm in 1874.

William H. and Mary E. Lauderdale homesteaded north of Bass Lake, adjoining Christopher Hanke's farm, on March 20: temperature, 40 below.

George and Bethina Drew established their 170-acre farm in the Brookside area on June 15, 1855, building a house on the creek south of Excelsior Road. The house at 4262 Yosemite, said to have been built in 1883, may have been the home of the Drews.

This was a cold winter to be out in temporary quarters. The cold wave started on December 22, 1855, and except for a few hours on January 1 and 2, 1856, the temperature at Fort Ripley was at or below zero for the next 20 days, with many afternoon readings at minus 10 to minus 20 degrees.

The City of St. Anthony was incorporated in 1855, with H.T. Welles as Mayor. It was soon linked to the village of Minneapolis on the west bank by a suspension bridge.

Mexican War veterans were given certificates for the purchase of government land.  Much of the land had already been bought by speculators, who made a killing.

The Minnesota Republican Party was organized in 1855.  The national party was formed the year before.
 

1856
James Buchanan (Democrat) was elected President.

1857

Waterville Mill, located just across the southern border in Edina, was built.

The St. Paul and Pacific Road ran east-west through the Park. The line began in 1857 as the Minnesota and Pacific Road, with one line from Stillwater to Breckenridge and another line from St. Anthony to St. Cloud. Only 62 miles were graded when the depression of 1857 hit. In 1862 the St. Paul and Pacific was organized to take over, and the first run from St. Paul to St. Anthony took place on June 22, 1862. The St. Cloud branch was completed in 1866. The Breckenridge line was completed in 1871. The Panic of 1873 forced the railroad into receivership, and was bought by James J. Hill. In 1876 it used the Minneapolis and St. Louis lines; it had its own line as the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, aka the Milwaukee Road by 1891.

The line provided service from Chicago to Seattle. Regular passenger service was established in 1893, with two trains per day to and from Minneapolis. It continued until 1955, although by the end passengers had to flag down the train or it wouldn't stop. Freight service continued until 1968. In 1980 the Milwaukee Road 18-track classification yard between Highway 100 and France Ave. was removed and made available for development. The right of way was sold to the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Commission to be used for light rail transit.

The St. Louis Park depot was built in 1887 near the intersection of Wooddale and 36th Street on Alabama Avenue, a block east of Jorvig Park. Jack A. Felber was the depot agent for the Milwaukee Road from 1925 to 1966. In 1968 the depot was closed and scheduled for demolition. In July, 1970, with the help of a Federal grant, the depot was moved to Jorvig Park (6210 West 37th Street) and became the first St. Louis Park property on the Register of National Historic Places.

The Panic of 1857, which began in August, was precipitated by the bankruptcy of the New York Branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. The first Minnesota bank collapsed in August, others followed in October, and businesses failed. Land values fell by as much as 90 percent, and when landowners found themselves owing more on the land than it was worth, many abandoned their claims and left the territory. Although the effects of the depression were felt mostly in the Northeast, the crops of 1857 were poor, exacerbating the situation in the Midwest. The effects of the depression persisted until well into the Civil War.

An important economic boost for Minnesotans was the presence of Ginseng (also called wild sarsaparilla or "sang") in the Big Woods around Minnetonka. "Sangers" would dig up the roots and bring them to Wayzata where brothers Edward and Joseph B. Chilton operated a Ginseng buying and drying station. There, the root could be sold for "real money" to men in the East who exported it to China. It was used for a variety of purposes: as a medicine, intoxicant, stimulant, and even an aphrodisiac. The name Ginseng is a corruption of the Chinese word meaning "man like," after its shape. The plant had bright, green leaves and red berries that were easily seen. The bounty only lasted for about 18 months; by 1859, word got out and the woods were full of sangers. The wild supply was exhausted by June 1859, the market in the East was glutted, and the five or six-week boom was over. Digging did continue at a lower level up to about 1863. In 1865, the State legislature passed a Ginseng Law to preserve and protect the growth of Ginseng in order to assure dealers a quality product and to prevent the plant from dying out. The law provided that Ginseng could not be harvested between May 1 and August 1. Ginseng digging went out of style, but it did its part to get many Minnesotans through the hard times around 1857.

For the second year in a row, the winter was exceptionally cold. At Fort Ripley, temperatures were recorded at minus 50 degrees in February. And it continued – that April was the coldest April ever in the Twin Cities.

On February 26, Congress passed the Minnesota Enabling Act that began the process of statehood. The state legislature passed a bill to make St. Peter the state capital, but the bill was stolen before it was filed with the territorial secretary of state, so that didn’t happen. The constitutional convention held on July 13 ended up with open warfare between Democrats and Republicans, which each passed their own constitutions. It took till October 3 to come to an agreement and elect officers.

The Minnesota Territory had a pre-statehood population of 150,037.

1858

Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. Henry H. Sibley, a Democrat from Michigan, was named the first Governor. Iowa had become a state in 1846 and Wisconsin in 1848. North and South Dakota didn't become states until 1889.

The State of Minnesota adopted a Sabbath law forbidding all work and public sales on Sunday except for work of necessity and charity.

The Board of County Commissioners established Richfield Township on April 10, 1858. Present-day Park was located within this very large area. Bloomington and Eden Prairie were also established as townships on that day.

Lumbering was the primary industry of Minneapolis from 1851 to 1858, but from 1858 on, when the first shipments of flour were made, milling has been the main industry. 1858 was also the year that reapers replaced cradles in harvesting grain, adding to production. The price of wheat increased significantly during the Civil War, allowing farmers to pay off the cost of their land and taxes.

On February 24, Minnesota was nicknamed “The Gopher State,” and it wasn’t meant as a compliment.

1859

The one-room Pratt/Prattville School was built in the fall.

In 1859, Jonathan T. Grimes and William Rheen bought Waterville Mill and 160 surrounding acres. They built a new dam and operated the mill for 10 years. During the Civil War, they supplied the troops at Fort Snelling with grain from the mill. The diagonal Pleasant [Wooddale] Avenue was cut through the woods by Grimes as a path to Pratt School on Excelsior Blvd.
 

October 11: Alexander Ramsey was elected Governor.

Abolitionist John Brown raided Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, in the hopes of starting a race war.

1860

On May 16, 1860, Albert Harrison Baston and wife Elizabeth bought 80 acres west of the Pratt farm. When Albert died, Elizabeth gave 20 acres to each of her children.

Son Charles married Ora Z. Baston.  In 1935, Charles and Ora’s original house at 3805 Wooddale was moved or razed for the building of Highway 100. From 1935 to 1947, the family lived at 5220 Excelsior Blvd. (later the site of Ruth's Toggery). It was across from the sand pit, in front of the water tower. This house may have been moved. From 1949 to 1961, Ora and daughter Ethel lived at 4111 Brookside.

Martin Van Buren Pratt was born in Clinton, Maine on November 10, 1833. In 1860, he and wife Harriet settled on 210 acres in Section 6, with a farmhouse on Excelsior Road. An 1881 directory also lists an R.L. Pratt with 40 acres in Section 17 (by the Creosote Plant) and Stephen Pratt, also in Section 17 but with no acreage. David Spearin Pratt obtained 120 acres from the U.S. Land Office on November 7, 1854. Although it appears that Pratt conveyed the land to H.B. and Sarah Wright on June 28, 1858 for $3,000, when Pratt died in 1864, the land went into probate and was sold to Christopher Hanke.

The County started keeping tax records in 1860, although they do not indicate whether the taxpayer lived on the land.

The average life expectancy was 42 years.

Abraham Lincoln (Republican) was elected President.

South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20. Governor Alexander Ramsey promised President Lincoln 1,000 volunteers; Minnesota was the first state to offer such troops.

1861

For his health, author Henry David Thoreau took a cross-country trip to Minnesota. His stops included Lake Harriet, Edina Mills, and Lake Minnetonka. There is no record of a traverse over St. Louis Park, but he did visit Edina’s Jonathan Grimes, just south of Park’s border, in the summer of 1862.

The siege of Fort Sumter on April 12 began the Civil War, and Minnesota was the first state to offer troops when Governor Alexander Ramsey offered President Lincoln 1,000 men on April 14. They left Fort Snelling on June 22. 21,982 men from Minnesota eventually served in the Union Army, including Park residents Job Pratt, Thomas Gaffney, Peter Hannan, Mark Berry, William Calahan, George Williams, future Park resident Charles Rye. Walt "Grampa" Rice lost his leg in the war and spent part of it in Andersonville Prison. Martin Pratt served in Brackett's Battalion. Colonel Joel Barber Clough was an engineer in charge of building military roads in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

1862

The Sioux Uprising began on August 18. The trouble started when five young Sioux men murdered a white family on a dare. Knowing that trouble was coming, and angry over a delay in their annuity and the refusal of the BIA to distribute food until the annuity arrived, Sioux leaders declared war. Panic set in, and although there were no Indians for miles, many St. Louis Park residents fled to the city or Fort Snelling for safety. In the end, 1,400 whites and Indians were dead. 38 Sioux were hanged at Mankato on December 26, 1862, the 1851 treaties were revoked, and the Sioux were banished from the state altogether, first to Nebraska and then to South Dakota.

Joel Barber Clough, from Massachusetts, bought a claim in section 17 (approximately by the Creosote Plant).
 

The first train arrived in Minneapolis in July 1862.

The Minnesota regiment was heroic during the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, April 5-6.  They took massive casualties as they were in the middle of the attacked Union line known as the "Hornet's Nest."

1863

Lazurus A. Tilleny (b. 1831, Plymouth, England) and his wife Lydia Stanton established his 115-acre farm on Sections 6 and 7, between those of Baston and Hanke. He bred Norman and Clyde horses from imported stock. By 1889 his land had apparently been sold to E.D. Smith.

1864

One of the most important families in the history of eastern Excelsior Blvd. were the Hankes. Christopher and Frederika Hanke were born in Germany. They bought and farmed 205 acres west of Lake Calhoun/south of Bass Lake in 1864. An 1889 map shows that he owned a 115-acre parcel on either side of present-day Excelsior Blvd. from Joppa to France Avenue. The original farmhouse was located south of Bass Lake, on Excelsior Road [Blvd.]. It was a two story Victorian with an old fashioned porch in front. It is unclear where this house was located. The famous Hanke barn was built in 1876. It measured 88 x 36 ft., was four stories high, and was considered the second-best in the country. It is also unclear where this structure was located, although one picture indicates that it was on France Avenue.

It appears that the selling off of the Hanke farm began in earnest in the teens. West Minikahda, Hanke's Minikahda Terrace, and Minikahda Terrace 2nd Addition were platted in 1916. They were so named because they overlooked the Minikahda Golf Course in Minneapolis, which dates back to 1898. An undated advertising pamphlet for the new development listed "Twelve Facts to Consider Carefully." One promised "Building restrictions of $5,500 to $6,500 to protect your home investment" - no Brookside shacks here.

Bass Lake, which bordered the Hanke land, was located just west of France Avenue, half a mile from Lake Calhoun, and south of the Milwaukee tracks. In the 19th Century it had an area of about 80 acres, reaching as far north as Minnetonka Blvd. Its waters flowed southeasterly through nine active springs in the bottom. At one time there had been a Libby’s Bass Lake resort located at the end of France Ave. Many remember swimming and skating on the lake.

Col. Stephen Miller was inaugurated Governor.

Abraham Lincoln (Republican) was reelected President.

1865

The Hennepin County Poor Farm (located in Hopkins) was opened on January 4, 1865.

William Wallace Cargill established the Cargill Elevator Co. in Conover, Iowa in 1865. In 1869 the company moved to Albert Lea, and then to Minneapolis in 1890. It is now headquartered in Minnetonka, and is the world's largest privately held company.

Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14 and died on April 15; Andrew Johnson (Republican) became President.

1866

On February 13, “Minnesota’s Great Blizzard” struck, raging for three days. Severe cold, as low at 30 below, followed. The storm struck at night when people were safe at home, limiting casualties. The word Blizzard hadn't actually been coined yet.
 

Cadwaller C. Washburn opened his first flour mill at St. Anthony Falls, starting the company that would become General Mills. In 1880, Washburn Crosby introduced its Gold Medal Flour after it won the gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Millers' International Exhibition.

Col. William R. Marshall was inaugurated Governor on January 8.

1867

The city of Minneapolis was chartered in February: the second coldest city in the United States (or, as one booster put it, "extremes in all climactic features, a changeable weather that is stimulating and invigorating.").

The State Legislature first gave the name of Brighton to the area outside the Minneapolis city limits, but in response to objections, the name Minneapolis Township was restored on March 7, 1867. Also on March 7, the two northern tiers of Richfield Township, which included the future St. Louis Park, were added to Minneapolis Township. [However, a map from 1874 shows the area that would become SLP to be in Richfield Township.]

The State legislature created the State Board of Immigration to encourage immigration to Minnesota.

1868

Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, as commanded by General Order Number 11, by General John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. Its purpose was to “strew flowers or otherwise decorate the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land…”
 

Governor Marshall was elected to a second term.

U.S. Grant (Republican) was elected President.

1869

The University of Minnesota opened for college courses; William Watts Folwell (known by students as "Uncle Billy") was inaugurated as the first President on December 22, and also taught math. About 300 students, including those as young as age 13, were enrolled. Tuition was $4 per quarter, with dorm space in Old Main (which burned down in 1904) going for $3 per term. Classes were coed, but not held on Mondays, for fear students would do homework on the Sabbath.
 

Charles A. Pillsbury bought a minority interest in a run-down mill at St. Anthony Falls, starting the road to the company that bears his name. His Best XXXX Flour began production in 1872. By 1988, the company had been purchased by Grand Metropolitan Pic for $5.8 billion.

On January 1, 1869, black residents of Minnesota held a convention at Ingersoll Hall in St. Paul to “celebrate the Emancipation of 4,000,000 slaves, and to express… gratitude for the bestowal of the elective franchise to the colored people of this State.” Locally there were 16 black families that lived in Edina from the end of the Civil War until the late 30's, when they moved to Minneapolis.

1870

St. Louis Park began to keep birth and death records. Not sure if we still have them.

On March 14-16, 1870 blizzard hit Iowa and Minnesota, dumping up to 16 inches of snow. The term blizzard was reportedly coined by a newspaperman in Esterville, Iowa. It was a boxing term, meaning a volley of punches. Others claim it was derived from the German word "blitz." The term gained official acceptance on December 8, 1876, when it was used in the Weather Bureau publication “Monthly Weather Review.”

Horace Austin was inaugurated as Governor.

1871

Hopkins Station, named after H.H. Hopkins, a prominent local farmer and postmaster, was established on the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway. The post office, located at the depot, was established in 1873. As of 1881, there were "no stores or public buildings." The town did not take off until 1887 when Minneapolis Moline Threshing Machine Company built a factory and the West Minneapolis Land Company built tenement housing for the workers.

 The first parcel of land that would become Lakewood Cemetery was purchased in 1871, and the first burial took place in 1872.

1872

Minneapolis, west of the river, and St. Anthony, east of the river, were merged into the City of Minneapolis in 1872.

Horace Austin entered his second term as Governor in January.

Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) was reelected President.

Yellowstone was established as the first national park. The National Park Service was founded in 1916. Minnehaha Park was established as Minnesota's first State Park in 1885, but the designation was removed shortly afterward.

1873

A great blizzard immobilized the area on January 8. The day started out bright and sunny, but they say the temperature dropped almost 40 degrees in one minute, and by 4 pm it was 14 below zero. The wind blew in gales, and the snow fell for 52 hours. The Mail newspaper reported that although 70 people died around the state (some of whom were not discovered until spring), nobody was hurt in the Park.

The Panic of 1873 was precipitated in Europe as a result of the Franco-Prussian War. Other causes were Civil War inflation and speculation and over-expansion of the railroads. Although the nationwide depression lasted until 1879, it had a minimal effect on the self-sufficient St. Louis Park farmers, except that the area was “overrun with tramps.” When a tax was levied by the state to pay interest on $5 million in bonds, which were given to railroad promoters such as Jay Cooke, taxpayers protested when few railroads were completed.

The Minnehaha Grange #398 was organized on December 23, 1872, with members coming from Edina Mills, Richfield Mills, St. Louis Park, and Hopkins. The Minnehaha Grange Hall was built in 1879, on the corner of 50th and Wooddale on land donated by Bull. The first Grange meeting held in the new building was on February 27, 1879. Joseph Hamilton of St. Louis Park was elected secretary.

The National Order of Patrons of Husbandry had been started in 1866 by Oliver Hudson Kelly of Elk River, Minnesota. Soon called the Grange Society, it was the center of social and civic activity for farmers, taking on issues such as railroad prices, serving as a fraternal organization, and providing education for member farmers. From 1888 to 1942, the Grange building also served as the Edina Village Hall. Grange Hall has been restored and in 1970 it was moved to Frank Tupa Park at Eden Avenue and Highway 100.

A Grasshopper Plague invaded Midwestern farmland, particularly in southwestern Minnesota. From 1873 to 1877, swarms of grasshoppers (aka Rocky Mountain locusts) landed, destroyed crops, and laid eggs for next year. Finally, in 1877, after yet another crop was devastated, the newly-hatched young did not move on as usual but swarmed in the air for weeks until one day they just flew away. Many ascribed it to the official day of prayer held on April 26, 1877.

Hennepin County suffered slight grasshopper damage only in the year 1874; southwestern Minn. crops were destroyed in 1875. In two of the grasshopper years, they came alarming close to the City, but there doesn't seem to have been any reports of grasshoppers in St. Louis Park, which may be because local farmers specialized in truck farming, which wasn't as vulnerable as grains and cereals.

In a biography of T.B. Walker, it is said that after he made a personal inspection of the area, he speculated that a late crop of turnips and buckwheat would be possible. He purchased all the seed he could find in the Twin Cities and Chicago and "personally distributed" it to the farmers. The crop was successful and helped alleviate the suffering of the people and animals. Although farmers had pleaded with Governor Pillsbury for monetary relief, he refused, calling the phenomenon an act of God and unwilling to set a precedent. (the "Pillsbury no-dough boy?") For the complete story of the grasshopper plague, see Harvest of Grief, by Annette Atkins, 1984.

1874

William P. Day and son Horatio N. Day, who had come to Minnesota in 1849, built the Globe Mill on Minnehaha Creek. Ten acres on the west bank of the creek were purchased from Johnston Mealey on March 24, 1894 for $1,000. A two-acre tract on the east side was purchased from Calvin Goodrich for $150 and used for Day’s residence. The mill and pond were on a naturally occurring oxbow on the creek next to the Excelsior Road, but not where Excelsior crosses the Creek. The Creek itself was moved into a straight ditch at some point, and the old creed bed in the swamp on Excelsior Blvd. across from the golf course.

The frame structure had “four runs of stones and a capacity of 125 barrels a day.” When waterpower was not enough, a steam engine was used. A side track of the Mpls. and St. Louis Railroad served the mill. After several changes of ownership, in 1882 the entire site belonged to Peter Schussler. (Schussler was elected Justice of the Peace in 1886.) In about 1890 a bridge and dam further upstream reduced the water flow, and Schussler installed a steam engine for power. Finally, the dam built at Gray's Bay in 1895 made all Creek mills infeasible. The mill was sold to Joseph Tyczynski through foreclosure in 1896 and dismantled in 1898.

The oldest house still standing in St. Louis Park was built at 8550 Minnetonka Blvd. in 1874. One of its major past lives was as the Belmont Tavern and Riding Stables – purportedly a speakeasy during prohibition.

Cushman K. Davis was inaugurated Governor on January 9, 1874.

1875

The Cities experienced their coldest winter ever, with the temperature below zero for 68 days from November to March.

Oswald's Summer Garden, located on Cedar Lake Road west of the Minneapolis City Limits, was established. A report from 1881 describes it:

With its attractive drives, walks, and rustic decorations, it makes a pleasant place of resort. Connected with it is a green-house, 12 x 32 feet, containing four thousand plants.

1876

The Hastings and Dakota railroad line made a contract with the Minneapolis and St. Louis to use its lines from Hopkins into Minneapolis and began to run trains through the Park. The line began in 1857 as the Hastings, Minnesota River, and Red River of the North, renamed in March 1867 the Hastings and Dakota Railway Co. By 1872 it had built the line from Hastings to Glencoe. In June 1872 the line was sold to the Minneapolis and St. Paul Railway Company. After it had built the western end of the line to Ortonville, the railway decided to build its own tracks and no longer use the Minneapolis and St. Louis tracks. In January 1880 the line was sold to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, aka the Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee depot was located at Bass Lake, opposite the grain elevators.

The Younger Brothers camped with their horses in a ravine that was west-to-northwest of Lake Harriet. From there the 7-8 men went on to rob the Northfield Bank – September 7, 1876.

John S. Pillsbury was inaugurated Governor on January 7, 1876. He died in the whooping cough epidemic in 1899.

Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) was elected President.

1877

Nathan ("Nate") Shepard (b. 1823, Bedford, VT) arrived in the area in the fall with his wife Lydia Newcomb. In 1878 he started the "North Star Fruit and Vegetable Garden," specializing in Wilson and Albany strawberries, Philadelphia and Turner raspberries, and Brittania blackberries. He also grew a great variety of vegetables, including asparagus. His land eventually became the site of Lilac Lanes, and at one time the land that would become Miracle Mile belonged to the Shepards. The couple had one son and three daughters.

The Minnesota chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was formed on September 6, 1877.

1878

On May 2, Minneapolis’s Washburn A Mill, which was the largest flour mill in the country, erupted, along with two other mills. It would come to be called "the great mill explosion." The entire roof of the mill was raised some 500 ft., and fire was everywhere. 18 men died, and the tragedy made international news. As a result, mills were fitted with devices that controlled dust.

Governor Pillsbury entered his second term.

1879

Oliver Keese (O.K.) Earle (1857-1932) married Emma Tyler Laycock on January 2, 1879, at the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. Earle (b. Worcester, Mass.) came to Minneapolis in 1877 to visit relative Henry F. Brown, and stayed to raise Shorthorn and Jersey cattle, sheep, and hogs on his 89 acres in Section 16. Earle was a major instigator in incorporating St. Louis Park as a village, served on the Village Council and the Board of Education. He was also appointed the first Postmaster, although Joseph Hamilton was the first to do permanent service. He was an incorporator of the St. Louis Park Land and Improvement Company, established in 1886. The Earles had six children.

The Washburn Crosby "A" Mill was built at 701 S. 1st Street, and operated until 1965. It was damaged by fire in 1991, but is being restored as a milling museum by the Minnesota Historical Society.

THE BOOMING 1880’S AND EARLY 1890’S

After reorganization efforts, the railroads got back on their feet, and in the 1800's, over 73,000 miles of track were laid. Railroad and industrial magnates got rich in these days before income taxes, maximum hours, minimum wages, and other protections for workers.

Drawn by posters and literature distributed in Europe by railroads looking for passenger and freight business, millions of immigrants, particularly from Scandinavia, arrived in America and settled in the Midwest. Also spurred by the tremendous expansion of the railroads, many new towns sprung up - the Panics of 1873 and 1893 explain why so many of the existing buildings in present-day small towns were built in the 1880's, and not before or after.

1879-81

The St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba single-track rail route was constructed east-west through town. It originated as the Minnesota and Pacific Road, chartered on May 22, 1857 to provide service from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. It went bankrupt during the panic of 1857 after 62 miles were built and was taken over by the St. Paul and Pacific in 1866. In 1873 it was taken over by receiver Jesse Farley, who represented Dutch bankers. In May 1879 James J. Hill and a syndicate of St. Paul and Canadians formed the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba. The new owners relocated the line, which originally ran south of Cedar Lake, to pass north of the lake. The southern rails were removed and the land returned to farms. By 1889 it was known as the Great Northern.

In the 20's, the tracks made it difficult for people to travel north/south. The few crossings were a wooden bridge close to France Ave.; at another wooden bridge at Falvey Ave. [Louisiana]; and in a narrow underpass at about Virginia Ave.

In 1970 the Great Northern became the Burlington Northern, and is now the BNSF, the SF standing for Santa Fe. The so-called Hutchinson Branch, turning southwest at Virginia Avenue, has since been abandoned. In 1978 the Burlington Northern receiving yard between Highway 100 and France Ave. was removed and made available for development.

1880

Not one graveled road existed in the Village.

Charles Rye and family moved to Park from Iowa. His sister, Mary Ann Rye, had been one of the very first pioneers in the area that would become Park. Charles Rye’s farm was near 28th and Joppa. Rye signed the original petition for the formation of the Village of St. Louis Park in 1886.

James A. Garfield (Republican) was elected President; he was assassinated on July 2, 1881 and succeeded by Chester A. Arthur.

Thomas Edison announced that he had developed the electric light.

1881

A directory published in 1881 lists the following residents of Section 21, which encompasses the Brookside neighborhood:

J.R. Bowman, dairyman, 2 acres Catharine Byrnes, farmer D. H. Coats, farmer, 70 acres

The Pillsbury "A" Mill was the world's largest and most advanced flour mill, located at 301 SE Main St. By the next year, Minneapolis was the nation's milling leader, and stayed that way until yielding to Buffalo in 1930. The A Mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

President James A. Garfield was shot on July 2 and died on September 19.

1883

The Union Congregational Church was formally organized on March 14 [15], 1883, with 17 charter members, including the Bastons, Craiks, and Hankes.

The western border of Minneapolis reached France Ave.  Incorporation of the Village in 1886 would prevent Minneapolis from moving further west.

1884

Tax records indicate that the house at 4131 Excelsior Blvd. was built in 1884, but its origins are mysterious. Although descendants of the Hanke family don’t remember the house, it was definitely built during the time that the Hankes owned the land. It was sold out of the family in 1920.

Minneapolis General Hospital built the notorious "Pest House" (more formally known as the Minneapolis Small Pox Quarantine Hospital) within the St. Louis Park Village limits. This facility and the adjacent "Potters Field" (perhaps more formally known as Bass Lake Cemetery) had a colorful history.

The Hinckley Fire swept into town from the nearby tinder-dry forest on September 1, 1884, killing 413 people. A train loaded with 276 passengers crossed a bridge out of town five minutes before the bridge collapsed.

Grover Cleveland (Democrat) was elected President.

1885

North (Side) School was built near the northern boundary of the township in the "Falvey District" at present-day 6800 S. Cedar Lake Road. This school burned down in 1926; legend has it that a janitor fell asleep and his newspaper caught fire. When it was rebuilt it was renamed Eliot. 20 more classrooms were added to the building in 1952, but in 1977 the school was closed.

The Minnesota State Fair opened at its present location for the first time on September 7, 1885.

Labor Day was first celebrated in Minnesota by 3,000 people gathered for a picnic in White Bear Lake.

1886

The St. Louis Park Land and Improvement Co. was incorporated in 1886. An advertisement listed C.G. Goodrich as President, with offices at 360 Temple Court. Incorporation papers list five men from Minneapolis and O.K. Earle and Joseph Hamilton from what was then part of Minneapolis Township. They envisioned heavy industry, and worked for incorporation of the Village. (In 1933, the President was E.A. Hurlbutt.) The ad read:

The finest suburban residences place in the vicinity of Minneapolis. New depot completed facing both the M&St. L. and M & St.P. Railways; Church, School House and many fine homes there. The Lake Attractions of Cedar, Calhoun and Harriet are near by, and Lake Minnetonka also only thirty minutes' drive to the west.

A subsequent ad in the Minneapolis Evening Journal (November 9, 1886) promised that buyers could have five years to build a house. Interest rates were 7 percent, with a discount if the buyer would build in 1887. (Only Hamilton's house still stands from 1887.) These terms were for the land only - buyers would have to find their own financing to build their houses, which could be difficult in the days before Federally insured mortgages.
 

ST. LOUIS PARK BECOMES A VILLAGE

The movement to incorporate the village began in 1886 when Oliver K. Earle, Joseph Hamilton, and George E. Goodrich conducted a census in August and found a population of 350 persons in 45 families. 31 residents signed their petition to the Hennepin County Commissioners to incorporate, first as the Village of St. Louis, later changed to St. Louis Park to reduce confusion with St. Louis, Missouri.

The election was held at Pratt School on October 4, and the majority of the 66 voters opted for the incorporation of the village. On November 19, the County Commissioners registered the petition for incorporation, officially making St. Louis Park a Village. Originally, four sections (6,746 acres) were incorporated, and the eastern boundary was established at France Avenue. Incorporation prevented Minneapolis from expanding westward. More land would eventually be annexed over the years. St. Louis Park is at 45 degrees north latitude, 93 degrees west longitude, with an elevation at the MSP Airport of 830 feet above sea level.

An election of Village Council members was held on December 6th, with officers formally inducted on December 10 in the Mpls/St. Louis depot. Joseph Hamilton was elected President, a position he held until 1893. Trustees were H.C. Butler, O.K. Earle, George E. Goodrich; Treasurer was J.J. Baston. The first ordinance addressed breach of the peace and disorderly conduct. Curiously, the Council’s second ordinance defined and prohibited disorderly houses, houses of ill fame, and common prostitutes.

The Village of Golden Valley was also incorporated in December. Hopkins wouldn’t become incorporated until 1893, and it was then called West Minneapolis.

On January 25, 1886, a six-day bicycle race was held at the Washington Avenue Rink in Minneapolis. These races were a big fad at the time. Contestants rode their high wheel bicycles around the track. The winner, a chap from Chicago, won a medal and an “elegant suit of clothes, which will be presented by Oscar the Tailor.”

The very first St. Paul Winter Carnival opened on February 1. 1886. The celebration was intended to prove to the world that winter did not slow down Minnesotans. A huge gothic ice palace was built out of 100 tons of ice by 200 men.

1887

The very first ordinance was passed by the Village Council on April 6, 1887. It was oddly preoccupied with prostitution and other quite immoral conduct. See Police.

Central mail service was established at what was called the Elmwood Post Office on October 20. The Village itself, which had incorporated the year before, had never been known as Elmwood. In March 1889, the Village Council passed a resolution requesting the U.S. Postal Department to change the name of the Post Office from Elmwood to St. Louis Park.

St. Paul grocer P.J. Towle mixed maple syrup and cane sugar to create Log Cabin Syrup, which came in a tin log cabin.

The City of Minneapolis extended a road from Lake Calhoun to connect with Excelsior Blvd.

1888

On January 12-13, the “Blizzard of ‘88” hit the Great Plains. It struck during the day, and many of the 200 dead were children on their way home from school. Subzero temperatures followed, recorded at 37 below in St. Paul.
 

Edina Mills, with a population of 485, incorporated as a Village on December 12 and changed its name to Edina. The only settlement at the time was at the crossing of Minnehaha Creek, where a post office, store, and the Edina Mill were located. A contemporary account describes the Village's "numerous farms [as] well cultivated, and... occupied by intelligent people, who appreciate education, and surround themselves with the accessories of a highly refined society."

St. Louis Park's Independent School District was organized with two schools (Pratt and North).

Joseph Hamilton established the village's first General Store, about a mile from his farm. Although his prices were higher than those at the Great Northern Market downtown, Hamilton delivered groceries to homes and provided weekly credit.
 

Donaldson's Glass Block, at 6th and Nicollet, was the first modern department store in the Northwest. It was established by Lawrence S. Donaldson.

Benjamin Harrison (Republican) was elected President.

1889

Lincoln School was built at a cost of $8,500 on three lots donated by the SLP Land and Development Company: 5925 W. 37th Street at the corner of Alabama. The school opened January 6, 1890, with James T. Davis as Principal. The school district and the village council split the cost of the building, and the Village Council held its meetings on the second floor. In 1938 the building was sold for $1 to the village and was used as the Village/City Hall until 1963. An article from 1961 describes the building as a fire hazard that sways in a hard wind, with a floor that ripples like waves on the ocean. In 1966 the building was sold to Minnesota Rubber and then demolished.

Frank Scott owned the land east of present day 100. South of Scott was the farm of Henry F. Brown, who also rented additional land. The map shows no sign of present-day Vernon Ave. Instead, at the Edina line, the beginnings of a road came up north parallel to the Creek, but then went around the bend of the creek up Vermont, meeting up with Brookside up to the boundary of the Center at 39th Street. The main crossroads of the area was the intersection of Excelsior Avenue and Wooddale to the south and Pleasant Avenue [now also Wooddale] to the north, which went through all the way to Dakota. Homes indicated on the map congregate along Excelsior Blvd.

Nate A. Shepard owned the wedge of land that would become the Lilac Way Shopping Center. Ellen Poole owned the land that would become Miracle Mile, although it may have been sold to Shepard first. Other farmers along the northern section of Excelsior were William Gould, Ora Z. Baston, Sarah E. Waddell, and Emily Rixon. The land that would become Aldersgate Methodist Church was also Baston property. The land on either side of Excelsior between Quentin and about Joppa was owned by Martin V. Pratt and E.D. Smith. The next 12-acre narrow piece of property belonged to D. H. Tifany. And Christopher Hanke owned the land on either side of Excelsior between about Joppa and the France line.

What had been called West Richfield became Edina.

1890

The Minneapolis Box Lumber Co. (incorporated August 31, 1889), purchased 7 acres in Section 6 from OK and Emma Earle. The company was insolvent by January 1892.

The population of St. Louis Park was 499, although another statistic is that there were over 600 industrial jobs.

T.B. WALKER’S FAILED DREAM

Although Brookside may not have even been a part of St. Louis Park in the 1880's and ‘90's, the story of T.B. Walker and his plans for the Village is crucial to understanding the history of the City. The following is a brief summary of this important episode in the life of the Park.

Thomas Barlow (T.B.) Walker was born in Xenia, Ohio in 1840; his parents had traveled west from New York, and soon afterwards his father died of cholera while preparing to join a wagon train west. Thomas finished college at age 19, and after hearing a glowing description of Minneapolis, he proceeded there in 1862. Within an hour of arriving he was hired as a deputy surveyor of pine lands in the north. As a result he knew the location of good timber close to water transportation, and in 1868 he went into the lumber business. He formed the Red River Lumber Company and made a vast fortune logging the timber.

Back in 1863 in Ohio he had married his college classmate and boss's daughter, Harriet G. Hulet, and despite the time he spent up north while she made their home in Minneapolis, the couple had eight children. He returned to Minneapolis around 1881, determined to build up his adopted city.

Walker's first strategy was to build up the industrial base in St. Paul. Said Walker, "St. Paul had the wholesale trade, the retail trade, the railroads and the banks. We tried five years to arrange an amicable interest in building up the industries of both cities." They had a false start when the Minneapolis men tried to work with their counterparts in St. Paul to lure a factory from the east to merge with a Minneapolis plant, but were double crossed when St. Paul ended up with both the eastern and the Minneapolis factories. Another story is that the Minneapolis contingent put considerable funds into the Midway area, only to have it annexed by arch rival St. Paul.

It was at that point that the Businessman's Union was formed, on March 31, 1883. Walker was its President for all 15 years of its existence. The group chose the area west of Minneapolis for their industrial site, in order to prevent any possibility of annexation by St. Paul. The area's borders were Minnetonka Road on the north and Excelsior Road on the south. Walker said that "some of the men in the union who liked changes made a social club of it, in the Guaranty Loan Building. This practically closed out the Business Union."

In 1886, a smaller group formed the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company, again with T.B. Walker as President. Others included local landowners Henry F. Brown and Calvin G. Goodrich, "gentlemen whose energy and influence have been felt in the growth of Minneapolis." The company bought up 1700 acres of land in the center of town from farmers, an area so large that it took two years to replat the land.

In 1888, the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company filed a plat of 12,000 lots on their 1700 acres. An advertising map from the time shows a completely zoned and platted town: the Industrial Circle was "in the marsh," the commercial area centered on Main Street and Broadway [Dakota and Walker], and the rest was residential.

The Industrial Circle was a tilted oblong between the tracks and Walker Street, Monitor and Taft Avenues. The Industrial Circle remains today; the top of the circle is the curve in Walker Street. The intersection of Highway 7 and Louisiana is at the center of the site, with South Oak Pond a reminder that it was indeed "in the marsh." Residential lots were as small as 22 feet; supposedly builders would build houses on every other lot and leave room for gardens. Village Roadmaster Daniel J. Falvey graded the roads.

To house his workforce, Walker built about 100 so-called Walker Houses west of the industrial circle in Oak Hill from 1888 to 1900. Renting for $9-$14/month, the houses were identical, narrow, two-story affairs with two rooms up and two rooms down. They were heated by parlor stoves, and had no indoor plumbing. In the 1930's, the E.H. Shursen Agency sold the last of them. They were built so close together on Walker's 25 ft. lots than when a fire took one house, an entire block could be destroyed. As of 1999 there were about 50 of them left, a few in near-original condition, and some modernized so thoroughly that they are unrecognizable as Walker Houses. Although the greatest concentration is on Edgewood and North Streets, many have been moved from their original locations. The house at 3551 Pennsylvania appears to be made up of three Walker Houses stuccoed together.

Walker's activities during 1891 and 1892 were prodigious. He built factories that occupied the Industrial Circle, a streetcar line that ran from the center of the Village to Minneapolis, the Walker/Syndicate Building/Brick Block commercial building, his Methodist Church, and the hotels he built for workers and builders of the factories.

But before Walker's plan could come to full fruition, came the economic Depression of 1893. Businesses failed, lots owned by the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company went unbought, and the partners bailed out by assigning their interests to Walker. Walker could be seen giving out food during the depression, but people shied away from him and even despised him.

By 1913 he owned about 600-700 of his 2,000 acres, which put him in a spot: the land was worth less than what he had paid for it, not to mention the money he had put out to build the factories, and he was obligated to pay taxes on it as well. In 1926, the map shows that he owned 40 acres that constituted the north half of the Creosote Plant (between Pa. and La., 32nd and 34th). Walker moved on to the Pacific coast to continue his lumbering business, and he was forced to use proceeds of that endeavor to pay off the costs of his unsold land. He made a settlement with the village council to forfeit 27 acres in exchange for the retention of a much smaller area. Erling Shurson, offices in the Brick Block, handled the last of the sales.

Thus, in the space of about 12 years, Walker's dreams of an industrial town evaporated, and it would be another 50 years until the Park would approximate the industrial and residential magnet he had envisioned so many years ago. Walker formed the T.B. Walker Foundation, which provided funds for the Walker Art Institute, the repository of his own fine art collection. The main building of the Walker Art Center opened on May 21, 1927. Walker died in 1928.

BOOM AND BUST

1891

In May, T.B. Walker received permission from the village council to build the Lake Street Trolley that ran from 29th Street, followed the Lake Calhoun shoreline, down Minnetonka Blvd. and then down Lake Street to Walker Street, where it turned around. Fares were five cents, and a maximum speed was set at 25 miles per hour. The line became operational in the spring of 1892.

Walker sold the line to the Twin City Rapid Transit Company in 1905/6, which made it a part of the Minneapolis and St. Paul Suburban Company. Even after the advent of private cars, the streetcar was well used until it ended its run on August 28, 1938, to be replaced by buses.

The St. Louis Park Historical Society has a Map of the Rearrangement of St. Louis Park, as filed by the Minneapolis Land and Investment co. The (unsigned) copy was presented by James E. Egan, Surveyor. Two introductory pages give the legal descriptions of the land replatted. They also retain the right to install water or gas mains or conduits; telegraph and telephone poles; and horse car, cable, electric, or other forms of public transportation.

1891 brought an influx of new industry into Walker’s Industrial Circle. See Early Park Businesses.

In 1891 and 1892, Henry H. Collins purchased several parcels in Section 6. On July 14, 1892, he and his wife Edith E. Collins platted the Collins Addition. The plat had a whopping 380 lots on 16 blocks. The plat was vacated on January 5, 1918. The land became the site of the Belt Line Industrial Park. Collins also platted Collins 2nd Addition, west of Highway 100, now the site of Burlington Coat Factory.

1892

The 1892 map boasts that St. Louis Park is:

The great manufacturing and residence suburb of Minneapolis, adjoining the city and connected by FOUR RAILROADS, and an ELECTRIC LINE (to be completed early in 1892). This young and busy city already contains FIVE LARGE MANUFACTURING PLANTS, with negotiations in progress for several more. An ELECTRIC POWER HOUSE is under way to supply power for the electric line, manufacturing and lighting the new city. Hundreds of houses, besides HOTELS and STORES will be built this coming season, and the development of this great enterprise is engaging the CAREFUL ATTENTION and UNLIMITED EXPENDITURE of the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company.

An ad the same year promised that men would get rich by buying lots at $150 to $500 each and holding them as an investment until the population reached 50,000, which, given the prosperous times, would happen in only a few years. Little did they know that the economy would crash the next year, and Walker couldn't give away his land. But for now, industries were starting and the economy was hot.

St. Louis Park Lodge # 202 of the International Order of Odd Fellows was organized in 1892. Associated organizations were the Park Rebekah Lodge #110 (women's auxiliary) and Woodman's Circle. For many years the organizations met in the Hamilton Building. Recently, as Odd Fellows lodges have closed nationwide, workmen have been discovering wooden boxes containing skeletons hidden in closets, drawers, attics, and crawl spaces. It turns out that skeletons, symbols of mortality, were used in initiation rites. It seems likely that, if there was a local Mr. Bones, he probably perished when the Hamilton Building burned down in 1958.

An ordinance pertaining to peddlers, hucksters, or those who peddle goods in packs or wagons was passed on September 2, 1892. Those found without a license were subject to a $5 to $100 fine or up to 90 days in jail.
 

Grover Cleveland (Democrat) was elected President. The Republican National Convention was held in the West Hotel in Minneapolis.

Joseph Hamilton built the red brick, two-story Hamilton Building on Broadway [6509 Walker Street] in 1892. The first floor of the building had four sections, and businesses moved in and out frequently. In the early 1900's Hamilton's son Charlie bought out Mr. Trinkle's grocery store and took over all four sections of the building and ran his General Store. On the second floor were the lodge halls for the Odd Fellows (Chesley and Charlie Hamilton were members), and the Masons met there as well when that group formed in 1923. In the teens, the building burned to the ground and the Walker Building had extensive damage in a spectacular fire made worse by below zero temperatures and high snow. The building was rebuilt. When Charlie died, his son Willard took over the store until 1943, when the Masons bought the building. It burned to the ground for good on December 25, 1958, and in its place the Masons built the current one-story Masonic Lodge in 1960.

T.B. Walker built his yellow brick Walker Building across the street from the Hamilton Building at 6516 Walker Street in 1898. The Walker Building was also known as the Syndicate Building and later the Manufacturer’s Agents Building. Together the Walker and Hamilton Buildings were known as the Brick Block. Like the Hamilton building, businesses came and went, and moved from one building to the other frequently. Storefronts in the 30's housed Doc Brown's barber shop and pool hall, Swenson and Redeen Grocery Store, the St. Louis Park Drug Store run by the Yeager family, and E.H. Shurson Insurance and Real Estate. The American Legion met on the second floor of the Walker Building until its own building was built on Excelsior Blvd. The Walker Building still stands today at the end of Walker Street.

The building boom of 1892 brought the construction of Park's first hotels, occupied mostly by employees of the Monitor Drill and other factory workers, as well as the men building the new factories. The hotels were all in the same general area of town.

1893

Boosters published a catalogue of St. Louis Park public schools, and at least one preacher must have been on the committee, considering the following:

Parents seeking a beautiful place for a home, and an excellent place for educating their children, free from those environments that allure them into temptation and sin, would do well to consider St. Louis Park.

But it all came crashing down when the Panic of 1893 lead to a national economic depression that was felt the worst in 1894 and lasted until 1897. Triggered by the bankruptcy of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in February, banks began calling in loans and denying credit. The booming 1880's had resulted in inflated real estate values, and overproduction in factories. The result was wage cuts, strikes, unemployment, and the ruin of many local businesses. The Monitor Works closed for a year, and the Minneapolis Esterly Harvester Company went under, leaving 600 employees out of work.

Despite the panic, there were some businesses that started up during this first depression year: The Minneapolis Chair Company, which employed 100 men, and the Minneapolis Specialty Manufacturing Company, which manufactured iron and wood products and employed 50 men. Although the Village council voted against allowing saloons several years in a row, drinks could be had in one of the hotels if one had a pass key - and nearly everyone in town had a pass key. Another early violator was one A.S. Banks: by allowing beer drinking and card playing in his barbershop, he earned a talking-to by Mayor Joseph Hamilton.

Justus Lumber, a mainstay on Excelsior Blvd. in Hopkins, was established.

The State Flag was officially adopted on April 15. It was designed by Amelia Hyde Center of Minneapolis, who won a contest and given $15. It featured a type of Lady’s Slipper that doesn’t grow in Minnesota, but was not corrected until 1957.

1894

On December 3, the lifeless body of one Miss Catherine “Kitty” Ging was discovered just outside the village limits near Lake Calhoun. For the gory details, see Police and Crime.

1896

William McKinley (Republican) defeated William Jennings Bryan for President.

1897

The Minnesota Beet Sugar Manufacturing Company was incorporated on May 10, 1897. In 1898 it took over the 36-acre site of the Minneapolis Esterly Harvester Company and changed its name to the Minnesota Sugar Company. (This site later became the locale of  the Creosote Plant.)

1898

Congress declared war on Spain on April 21, beginning the 10-week Spanish-American War. Marked by incompetency on both sides, the U.S. wrested control of Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain, in part in retribution for the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor. The press adopted "Remember the Maine" as its battle cry, although the source of the explosion was never established. In the first days, Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila without losing a man. Teddy Roosevelt's taking of San Juan Hill in itself was not decisive, but Spanish Admiral Cervera saw the writing on the wall and steamed out of Santiago Harbor to meet his doom, ending the fighting. Whereas only 379 Americans were killed in battle, another 5,083 were lost to malaria, typhoid, and yellow fever.

The Minikahda Club was established in 1898, just over the line in Minneapolis. Judge M.B. Koon served as the first president. Although the Club’s website indicates that the club opened in 1906, there is a 64-page history of the club that was written on the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 1923, taking it back to 1898. This club hosted the U.S. Open in 1916 and the winner was Charles Evans, Jr.

1600 acres had been platted for industrial, commercial, and residential use.  This included thousands of unsold lots of Walker's.

1899

Grain merchant Frank H. Peavey commissioned architect Charles Haglin to build the Peavey-Haglin Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator at the intersection of now-Highways 100 and 7.

On October 12, President William McKinley visited the Twin Cities and got a guided tour from Tom Lowrey in his private streetcar. While there he reviewed the troops of the Minnesota 13th Regiment who were returning from the Spanish American War.  Troops passed under a gigantic arch erected on Nicollet Avenue, and were feted with a huge parade down Nicollet (still a street).  The 13th Regiment then disbanded. 

1900

The Minneapolis Journal reported that the St. Louis Park Band made its debut at the Memorial Day Parade on May 31, 1900.

On September 8, 1900, a hurricane of historic proportions hit Galveston, Texas, killing as many as 6,000 people and destroying the city. But the storm wasn’t finished; it and proceeded northward, and as it entered Iowa it merged with a cold front to produce a hybrid low pressure system, creating torrential rains. St. Paul was in it path, and 6.65 inches of rain fell in three days. The storm then headed east to Milwaukee, Chicago, and Newfoundland, finally dying out over Iceland, three weeks after it was first detected over the Atlantic on August 27.

St Louis Park Population: 1,325.

The 1890 census became a bitter competition for numbers between Minneapolis and St. Paul: counted were several dead citizens, and men who lived in barber shops, depots, and dime museums. Minneapolis came out ahead.

William McKinley (Republican) was elected President.

1901

President McKinley was shot on September 6 by an anarchist and died on September 14. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.

There was a short-lived financial crisis in 1901 that bankrupted half of the New York brokerage houses.

1902

The transition of the Village from rural to town was evident in an ordinance that prohibited cattle, horses, swine, or poultry from running at large inside Village limits.

Albert Alonzo Ames, five-time Mayor of Minneapolis, brought corruption to a new high with his protection racket and bribery schemes. In April he took the night train out of the city to avoid charges of running the city’s crime syndicate. The level of corruption brought national attention as Lincoln Steffens published an article “The Shame of Minneapolis” in the January 1903 edition of McClure’s Magazine. Although Ames was brought back and tried, he was not convicted.

The Daniels Linseed Co. was founded in Minneapolis. It became Archer-Daniels Linseed Co., and in 1923 merged with the Midland Linseed Products Co. to become Archer Daniels Midland.

1903

Louise Hanke chose land over money when her father died in 1903, and she and her husband, Dr. John Watson, built their house at 3800 France Avenue the City says 1931). When their daughter Marie married Harald Hoidahl in 1958, they continued to live at the France Avenue house. When Marie died in 1987, the house was sold out of the family for the first time.

Excelsior Blvd. was graded by Village Roadmaster Dan Falvey. See Excelsior Blvd.: Brookside’s Main Street.

In July, railroad speeds were limited to 6 mph, but in August that was amended to 12 mph.

Dayton's Department Store opened in 1903, when George Draper Dayton bought out the other partners of the year-old Goodfellow's Dry Goods at 7th and Nicollet, at the former site of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The Minnesota Valley Canning Co. was founded in Le Sueur, and started canning peas in 1907. The Jolly Green Giant debuted in 1921, originally a "scowling white ogre." The brand Green Giant was started by Walt Cosgrove in 1925. By 1928 the giant had turned green, and by 1946 he became a smiling giant, thanks to Chicago adman Leo Burnett. The company changed its name to Green Giant in 1950. The Giant didn't Ho Ho Ho until the late 50's, and Sprout didn't sprout until 1973.

The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra made its debut on November 5. Formation of the group was due to the efforts of German immigrant Emil Oberhoffer.

1904

On August 20, a tornado of historic proportions that started in South Dakota killed 14 people, including three in Glencoe and three more in St. Louis Park.

Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) was elected President.

1905

Park Hill School was built at Minnetonka Blvd. and Ottawa Avenue.

The Twin City Rapid Transit Company established the Como-Harriet Line, extending along Motor Street [44th] to Excelsior. It had local stops at Browndale, Mackey, and the Brookside Station.

The Jonathan T. Grimes family subdivided part of their property, which was adjacent to the new streetcar line, to form the subdivision of Morningside in 1905. Residents were white-collar workers who used the new line to get to their jobs in Minneapolis. Originally part of Edina, Morningside seceded in 1920 when the southern, more rural areas of Edina would not agree to authorize roads, street lights, sidewalks and other improvements that their northern, Morningside residents demanded. Morningside rejoined Edina in 1966. Rumor has it that the City Manager of Morningside and the Manager of Edina were married, precipitating the marriage of the two jurisdictions.

Wonderland Amusement Park, was built by H.A. Donnelly at Lake Street and 31st, today's Uptown Minneapolis. The park, which only lasted until 1912, featured a roller coaster, miniature train, a floating theater, and the "House of Nonsense." The most popular attraction was an exhibition of premature babies in incubators, a common curiosity of the times. For pictures, go to http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm

 and type in Wonderland as the Keyword.

Another popular park, which lasted from 1906 to 1911, was Big Island Park. This 65-acre park was situated on Big Island on Lake Minnetonka and was operated by the Minneapolis and Suburban Railroad Co., a subsidiary of the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Co. Park-goers would take the new electric streetcar, which ran just south of St. Louis Park on 44th Street, to the Excelsior Dock, where passengers would take ferry boats (named Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnetonka) to the park. The official opening was on August 5, 1906, and patrons were met with such amusements as the “Happy Hooligan Slide,” a “Figure-8 Toboggan,” and a miniature train. The price was only 25 cents, including the streetcar ride, and it became clear that it was not a profitable operation, especially after the TCRT also bought the Tonka Bay Hotel. Both the park and the hotel closed at the end of the 1911 season. After sitting abandoned for a few years, the park was disassembled in 1918, its iron going to scrap iron for the (WWI) war effort. Excelsior Amusement Park would open in 1925. . For pictures, go to http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm

 and type in Big Island Park as the Keywords.

In 1905 the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub. The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo. 18 percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time maid or other servant.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the drug store. One pharmacist said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”

1906

Dan Patch (the horse) ran a mile in one minute 55¼ seconds at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on September 8, 1906, breaking the world’s record for the first of 14 times. This amazing harness-racing horse had been purchased in December 1902 by Marion Willis Savage of Minneapolis, owner of the International Stock Food Company in Minneapolis. Dan Patch lived like a king, in a barn called the Taj Mahal. Dan Patch died on July 11, 1916, and they say Savage died of a broken heart the next day.

Dan Patch had two connections to St. Louis Park. Some remember a racetrack in the vicinity of Webster/Xenwood. Mrs. Ora Baston remembers Dan Patch being trained at a track "in the heart of the Park."

The second connection has to do with the railroad he built from Minneapolis to his town on Savage. The 1,700 acres of land he owned outside of St. Paul had been called Hamilton, but he renamed it Savage in 1904. The line, which came through St. Louis Park in 1914, was called the Dan Patch, after his beloved horse.

THE BEGINNINGS OF BROOKSIDE

1907

With the extension of the Como-Harriet Street Car Line down Motor Street [44th], two years earlier, the southeastern section of Brookside was ripe for development, since residents had access to downtown. On August 5, 1907, the Suburban Homes Company was incorporated. They had bought 182 acres from Calvin Goodrich in 1898, and platted the Brookside Addition on August 30, 1907. Suburban Homes was the owner, and the Minneapolis Trust Company was the financial backer. Minneapolis Trust placed brochures in Minneapolis papers advertising "Brookside The Beautiful - the Ideal Suburb." Half-acre lots were advertised at $250; $25 down and $5 per month. These were merely the lots, of course - the owner was still required to find other financing if he wanted to build a house. Many early owners built small houses by hand.
 

Around the same time, the Tingdale Brothers advertised lots in "Tingdale Bros. Brookside:"

If you can save 33 cents a day, you can buy a lot in Tingdale Bros. Brookside - 113 Extra Large, Sightly Lots, Restricted to Select Homes. Prices $175 to $595, a Few Higher. Terms $25 cash, $10 monthly.

The accompanying map provides no clues as to where these particular 113 lots were, since it encompasses a wide area from Lake Calhoun to Interlachen, but it was indeed located in present-day Edina. (Note that an 1898 map appears to show Brookside Ave. as Main Ave.) The ad also features a woman picking apples from one of the "600 apple trees in this addition."

Another ad of the time calls Brookside "The Ideal Suburb." Some of the first parcels to be sold were the lots in the Brookside Drug area. The ad urged you to:

Build a country home within 30 minutes of the business district, in this picturesque, and healthful suburb, where there is plenty of fresh air, room to have a garden, keep poultry and enjoy life generally when your strenuous day's labors are ended. Life is worth living at Brookside.

Walter Beach was said to have built the first house in Brookside in 1907. No address, but it overlooked Minnehaha Creek and what would become Meadowbrook Golf Club.

The first houses on Aurora Avenue [Vernon] were built. The mailing address of these homes was RR 2, Minneapolis. Despite the isolation of these first homes, the mail did go through.

4360 Vernon was the first house built north of the Edina line, once the home of Police Chief Clyde Sorenson.

4350 Vernon was a cottage built by a man from Minneapolis. His youngest son tore it down and built the current house in 1919.

4330 Vernon was a house that Josephine Faherty described as a "shack," built by her parents, the Culvers, a young couple from SE Minneapolis. They moved in on May 10, 1908, and Josephine was born later that year. Lester Culver advertised as an electrician in 1934. Although it has been greatly expanded and improved over the years, the original portion of house is still standing at the northern property line.

4230 Vernon was probably another "shack," but the 1915 newspaper reports that the owner sold his house to a dentist named Backus and moved to Minneapolis. Backus got a permit to build a new house, and tax records indicate that the present large Victorian was built in 1915. One of the names proposed for Brookside School in 1921 was Backus. By 1934 the house was owned by Frank Merrill, plumber, and his wife Mary. Son Raymond and daughter Iva also lived with them. In 1947 the house was purchased by Palmer Anderson, a maintenance man who seemingly went through many wives. When Palmer died in 1972 the house was a wreck and the City recommended removal. After two years of trying to contact the person who inherited the house, it was forfeited to the City. In 1974 it was sold to James Fix, who, true to his name, renovated the lovely Victorian home.

The Panic of 1907 that fall resulted from the failure of New York trust companies to corner the market on copper. A run on the banks forced them to call in loans and refuse credit. J.P. Morgan reportedly called a meeting of the heads of the major banks.  He locked the door of the library in his mansion and none could leave until they promised to stop speculative practices.  The effects were short-lived, but outrage at the concentration of financial power that precipitated the Panic led to the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.

The Blake School for Boys was established just over the western border in Hopkins. This “Country Day School” was located at the Blake station on the Hopkins Trolley Line - through the marsh past the Brookside station on the 44th Street line. On Excelsior Blvd. at Mendelssohn Road (presumably Blake Road now), photos from 1923 show it in the middle of absolutely nowhere – hardly a building between it and Minneapolis. Students all took the same trolley at 8:15 each morning from downtown Minneapolis.

St. Louis Park Population: 1,743.

William H. Taft (Republican) was elected President.

1908

The realignment of Brookside Block 4 was platted on July 6, 1908, creating Sidney Street, which would become Wood Lane in 1933.

On September 5, 1908, two important tracts were platted: Brookside Second Division, and Suburban Homes Company Addition.

1909

Frank J. and Florence Mackey filed the plat of Browndale Park on October 28.

Says here it was illegal to sell, barter or give away cigarettes in Minnesota from 1909 to 1913, a law that was grudgingly signed by a cigarette-smoking Governor.

St. Louis Park fielded a baseball team. The village graded a diamond for the team in 1914; by 1915 there were several teams competing in local games.

1910

4090 Brookside Ave., also known as Upland View, was built by Father Walter Thomas.

Brookside Subdivision No. 2 was platted on October 21, 1910.

Wooden sidewalks began to be replaced by concrete.

1911

On September 21, 1911 the Minneapolis Journal reported on the Village Harvest Festival and band carnival. The celebration "brought the entire population of the village to Odd Fellow Hall, where the band, bedecked in gay uniforms, played... and the citizens made speeches congratulatory of the achievement of having completed the stringing of electric lights along the main streets..." A dance closed the evening's festivities and lasted "well into the night."

Brookside Subdivision No. 3 was platted on October 21, 1911.

In April 1911, Dr. John Watson and Charles Hamilton, representing the “Tax Payer’s League,” petitioned the Village Council to lower assessments by 20 percent.

On November 6, the Board of Education passed a resolution recognizing the harmfulness and injury to the physical, mental, and moral development of the child wrought by the use of tobacco in any form. In response to the proliferation of tobacco use among students, on October 2, 1916, the Board passed an additional resolution, that a diploma or certificate of graduation will not be conferred on any pupil known to be a user of tobacco.

Park residents began having telephones installed.

In March, the Village Council awarded a franchise to the Minneapolis General Electric Company to install light poles in the neighborhoods. Residents would often come in front of the Village Council to request that their street be lit. One such request was made by Dr. G.M. Wade on March 6, 1913, asking that lights be erected in the “restricted district” of Brookside.

1912

The November 2 edition of the Minneapolis Journal real estate section was devoted entirely to the great opportunities available in the Village of St. Louis Park.

Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) was elected President.

The Titanic sank on April 12, killing 1,517.

1913

At the request of Dr. G.M. Wade and the Brookside Improvement Association in July, $75 was appropriated to fix Finley Street (42nd) after a particularly hard rain.

In 1913 the new craze of dancing swept the country. That summer, people who hadn’t danced for years suddenly got the itch, and dance floors were created in restaurants to accommodate people doing the tango, one-step, hesitation waltz, Boston, and turkey trot.

The Dan Patch Electric Railway, started in 1907 by Col. M.W. "Will" Savage, came to the Park.

A Minneapolis Journal article dated November 1, 1913 reported that the 80-acre Lenox subdivision had been platted into 500 lots and put on the market by Charles I. Fuller. It had been the property of George E. Goodrich and known as "The Goodrich Home." Goodrich had purchased the heavily wooded tract in 1864 for $10 per acre when he came from Anoka by ox team. The property faces Minnetonka Boulevard, "a main artery of travel, which is to be made a concrete highway, if present plans are carried out."

A Fireman's carnival was held at the Bandstand in August 1913 to raise funds for the new library. About $1,000 was raised. This became an annual event until 1962. Food was supplied by the various churches. Band concerts were also held at the Bandstand each Friday night during the summer. See Early Celebrations.

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution authorized Congress to enact an income tax. The first tax was 1 percent of a person’s salary.

1914

Streets in Brookside were still in flux. One request was to open Lowell Street from Brookside to Zarthan. Lowell Street may have been a western extension of Zarthan where the reservoir and pumping station are today. Also, Annie E. Morse requested that 41st Street be closed between Brookside and Zarthan – an important through street today. When her request was denied, Dan Patch had to be instructed not to take any more dirt from 41st.

In an early form of welfare, the Council considered the needs of Mrs. M.T. Schreiner of Brookside, and voted to provide her with coal and groceries.

The road grade was established on Vermont St. between Yosemite and Webster.

Citizen Mike Mortensen suffered from rheumatism, and the Village Council paid for a two week cure at the Mudcura Sanitarium.

By 1914, the Minneapolis General Electric Company was actively seeking homeowners to wire their houses. Often the homes were lit by a single drop cord in each room with a bare bulb. See Lighting and Power.

A so-called "hurricane" hit the Park on June 23, 1914 and killed 17-year old Esther Munson. A photo shows damage to buildings at Cambridge and Yosemite.

The wooden bandstand at Central/Fireman's/Jorvig Park (37th and Brunswick) was completed on July 4, 1914, in time for the Park's "big jubilee celebration." The Minneapolis Daily News described it:

St. Louis Park's big jubilee celebration will be the biggest charitable, fun-making and booster day in the history of the suburb which loyal citizens maintain will some day make her big sister Minnie famous. In the past, celebrations at St. Louis Park have been under the auspices of local musical or fraternal organizations. This year the newly organized Commercial Club, the strongest loudest hardest-working bunch of citizens any live town ever had, is back of the jubilee and every one of them is working his head off to make it a success.

Proceeds of the celebration were to go to Esther Monson's father and others who suffered from the tornado.

A 1914 map shows that Excelsior Road, Cedar Lake Road, and Superior Road [Highway 12] are extant. Aurora Avenue [Vernon] stopped at Excelsior Road, and Pleasant Avenue (extended from Wooddale) continued to the northwest. There was no clear north-south route.

A 1914 ad announced Westmoreland Park, offered by the Enger Nord Realty Co. The property was “just west of the Minikahda Club grounds, close to Excelsior Blvd. and Highland Ave. [36th Street], the new main road to St. Louis Park..” Lots were available for $85, $135, to $225, with payments of $5 per month. The subdivision by that name that exists today is wholly owned by the City, and encompasses the Rec Center.

May 2 was the date of the first women’s suffrage rallies in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Minneapolis march drew 2,000 people.

On June 28, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were murdered in Sarajevo, marking the beginning of World War I.

18 teens

In a memoir, Mrs. Langlie remembered Gypsies traveling through town, engendering the then-common fear of baby snatching. (No such incidents seem to have been reported.) The Hennepin County Enterprise told of an incident in 1934 in Mountain Lake, whereas a "gypsie who asked Reinhart Shriock for a penny to tell his fortune managed to extract $15 from his pocket....He discovered his loss in time to catch her and get his money back, after which the gypsie hurried away in a car." Golden Valley reports that a band of gypsies camped each spring on what is now Highway 55 and Theodore Wirth Parkway.

1915

An article in the Minneapolis Journal dated November 2, 1913, indicated that when T.B. Walker's electric streetcar was sold to the Twin City Rapid Transit Company in 1905/06, there was the expectation that there would be a 5 cent fare into the city, and when th