Linden Hills History Study Group

Origins of the Minneapolis Sound: The Twin Cities Music Scene from the '60s to the Prince Era
2023-10-16 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
The 1960s was an explosive time for Minnesota music, as a generation of teenagers inspired by early rock ‘n’ roll and R&B formed their first bands. Join Rick Shefchik, author of Everybody’s Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock ‘N’ Roll in Minnesota, and Andrea Swensson, author of Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound, for a musical presentation about this influential, vibrant period in local music.
Suggested donation is $5 for non-members of LHHSG. Everyone is welcome.

The History of Two Historic Neighborhood Churches: Linden Hills Congregational United Church of Christ and Edina Morningside Community Church
2023-12-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Edina Morningside Community Church, 4201 Morningside Rd., Edina, MN, 55416, United States
This program tells the story of two churches–their history, their architecture, and their
neighborhoods. Linden Hills Congregational Church grew out of the Union Sunday School, which began meeting in 1896. By 1903, charter members had built a frame church building at 42nd and Upton designed by George H. Keith. The Linden Hills congregation later provided help to the founding members of the Morningside church as they sought meeting space. This began an enduring relationship between the two congregations each of which helped shape neighborhood life. The Edina Morningside Community Church building was designed by Harry Wild Jones.
Suggested donation is $5 for non-members of LHHSG. An optional lunch at Hilltop Restaurant, 5101 Arcadia Ave, Edina, MN 55436, follows. RSVP on this page for lunch by Wednesday, November 29, or call (612) 799-5141. Everyone is welcome.

Anglo-Dakota Women Straddling Cultures in the Early 19th Century
2024-01-22 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Program presenter Dr. Jane Lamm Carroll will examine the experiences of four granddaughters of Chief Cloudman, bicultural women who grew up near Lake Harriet; and of another Anglo-Dakota, Daybreak Woman, who was born and raised in a Mdewakanton band at a trading post on the Minnesota River. Compared to their peers, how did these women of mixed parentage identify, socialize, and navigate language, culture, marriage, family life, and aging? Were they comfortable or at ease in the Anglo-American or the Dakota communities?
Dr. Carroll is author of the award-winning book, Daybreak Woman: An Anglo-Dakota Life, and professor of history and women’s studies at St. Catherine University.

Bring Warm Clothes: Letters and Photos from Minnesota's Past
2024-03-21 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Peg Meier, longtime and award-winning reporter for the Star Tribune, will talk about the
recently released new edition of her beloved book Bring Warm Clothes: Letters and Photos
from Minnesota’s Past. She uses vintage photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, and
excerpts from secret diaries and personal journals, to give us a firsthand account of life in those
early, challenging days. In her presentation, Meier will explain how she went about researching
the archives and, in doing so, some of the “simply amazing” people she encountered. Copies of
the new edition of Bring Warm Clothes will be available for purchase.

Linden Hills History 101
2024-05-06 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Are you new to the Linden Hills area or a long-time resident who would like to know more
about your neighborhood? Enjoy an informative evening with an abbreviated version of Linden
Hills’s rich history: early Native American villages, Lake Harriet pavilions, streetcars, a vibrant
business district, and the interesting people whose efforts built this special place. We promise
you’ll leave with a greater appreciation of our wonderful community. Local historians, Aaron
Isaacs, author and historian at the Minnesota Streetcar Museum; and historian and popular
walking tour leader, Peter Sussman, will present a historical overview of Lake Harriet and the
Linden Hills neighborhood.

The Unique Northwest Corner of Linden Hills: walking tour with Peter Sussman
2024-07-09 18:30 - 20:30, 2024-07-10 18:30 - 20:30 | MN
This varied setting, initially platted in 1889, borders both the Minikahda Club golf course and
Saint Louis Park. Stately hillside homes transition to post-World War II housing built over
former wetlands. Uncover the circumstances of the adjacent two-block, 1922 Calhoun Terrace
Addition, the singular plat in Linden Hills that included racial deed restrictions.

Who Lived Here? Longtime Linden Hills Residents and their Homes
2024-09-12 19:00 - 21:00 | MN
Through memories, research, and photographs, descendants of four families who put down
roots in different parts of Linden Hills will compare and contrast their personal experiences and
those of their forebears, building homes and navigating events of the Twentieth Century.
Politicians, writers, publishers, industrialists, developers, church elders, and neighbors: we’ll find
some of their challenges curious, and others very familiar.

The Grand Meadow Chert Quarry: A Significant New Indigenous Site
2024-10-17 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Our speaker, Tom Trow, is the lead archaeologist for the effort to open to the public a long-
hidden archaeological and cultural site in Mower County, MN. For about 400 years, ending in
around 1400 CE, the Grand Meadow Chert Quarry was the most important place in southeastern
MN and possibly the whole state, at the time. Families and entire villages came here for the
stone called “chert” (flint is a type of chert), used for everyday tools including awls, hide scrapers,
spear points, and arrowheads. Tools made from this chert have been found at sites in 52 counties
in the state, including Hennepin.

Living New Deal / Twin Cities' Canceled Freeways with Aaron Isaacs
2024-12-07 10:00 - 12:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government under President Franklin Roosevelt undertook a major investment in public infrastructure to fight unemployment and keep the economy afloat. Although it has been over 80 years since those projects were completed, many are still in place, functioning for what they were designed to do. Aaron Isaacs will show us sites in Minnesota.
We all know how I-94 and I-35W displaced African American neighborhoods. The impact on the Twin Cities could have been much more pronounced had eight other proposed urban freeways been built. Learn where they were supposed to go and how close they came to happening.
An optional lunch at Hilltop Restaurant (5101 Arcadia Ave., Edina), follows. Please make your lunch reservation below or call (612) 799-5141. Everyone is welcome.

T.B. and Harriet Walker and their Contributions to Minneapolis
2025-01-27 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Thomas Barlow (T.B.) Walker and Harriet Granger Hulet married and moved from Ohio to Minneapolis in 1863. They had eight children. T.B. began as a land surveyor. By 1923, he transitioned successfully to the lumber industry and became one of the ten wealthiest people in the world. T.B. and Harriet were both philanthropy leaders in Minneapolis. They brought institutions from humble beginnings to city icons. These included Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis Public Library, Walker Art Center, Walker Methodist Church and Walker Place. Bob Bayers will describe this family and their many contributions, and how Walker Place has evolved.

Sleuth Your Stoop - Become a House Detective. How to Begin!
2025-03-10 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
You live in an older house in the Twin Cities. Congratulations! Do you wonder when it was built? For how much? Who lived there? What did it look like? What were the surroundings?
Local historian Kathy Kullberg will share the tools and resources to find those answers, and other interesting details of your building’s history. By the end of the evening, you will be equipped for your own sleuthing.

Prince: Places That Brought Minneapolis Music to the World
2025-06-02 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
By the time Prince was 18, he was a fully realized and accomplished artist who could walk into the Sound 80 studio in Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood and write, produce, record, sing, and perform all the instruments on his demo tape, and then land a major recording contract by the time he was 19. How did the Minneapolis community he grew up in and the Great Migration which brought Prince’s ancestors to Minnesota influence his childhood and shape the artist he became? Archaeologist and historian Kristen Zschomler will help us gain a better understanding of this iconic singer songwriter musician.

Southwest of Lake Harriet: From Mrs. Thornton's Resort to the Fulton Neighborhood
2025-07-24 18:30 - 20:30 | Lake Harriet at Thomas Avenue, 4740 Thomas Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, United States
We will explore the evolution of this corner of the Fulton neighborhood from its beginning as a rural lake resort through the rapid extension south of Linden Hills. From the opening of Robert Fulton School in 1911 and the Xerxes Avenue streetcar line extension that soon followed, Fulton spread across both hills and former marshland. We will learn of early residents preceding 1911, including Black families, trace how public-school needs have been met in the Lake Harriet district, pass by the original building of Lake Harriet Methodist Church, moved in 1916 to 49th and York, and view the ongoing change in character of Fulton due to recently built houses replacing earlier ones.
The tours will begin at 6:30 p.m. from the corner of Thomas Avenue S. and W. Lake Harriet Parkway. The tour will be held rain or shine, except if an electrical storm is forecasted for the day of the event. Those wishing to attend should RSVP below.

Southwest of Lake Harriet: From Mrs. Thornton's Resort to the Fulton Neighborhood
2025-07-31 18:30 - 20:30 | Lake Harriet at Thomas Avenue, 4740 Thomas Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, United States
RESCHEDULED from July 23 due to inclement weather.
We will explore the evolution of this corner of the Fulton neighborhood from its beginning as a rural lake resort through the rapid extension south of Linden Hills. From the opening of Robert Fulton School in 1911 and the Xerxes Avenue streetcar line extension that soon followed, Fulton spread across both hills and former marshland. We will learn of early residents preceding 1911, including Black families, trace how public-school needs have been met in the Lake Harriet district, pass by the original building of Lake Harriet Methodist Church, moved in 1916 to 49th and York, and view the ongoing change in character of Fulton due to recently built houses replacing earlier ones.
The tours will begin at 6:30 p.m. from the corner of Thomas Avenue S. and W. Lake Harriet Parkway. The tour will be held rain or shine, except if an electrical storm is forecasted for the day of the event. Those wishing to attend should RSVP below.

Growing Up in Linden Hills: The Fine Boys and Their Families
2025-09-08 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Bob Fine — and family members — will reflect on the people, places, and experiences of Linden Hills in the 1950s. Bob grew up hanging out at the library, the lake, and the parks. He graduated from Southwest High School and the University of Minnesota and came back to Linden Hills after law school in St. Louis. He raised his children in Linden Hills and lives just around the block from his childhood home.
What was it like growing up in Linden Hills post-World War II? What’s changed over the past 75 years? What issues has the neighborhood faced? What’s still worth celebrating?
Bob, a coach to more than a thousand children, a Minneapolis Park Board commissioner, a candidate for mayor, a Linden Hills Neighborhood Council board member, and more, is uniquely qualified to talk about the more recent history of the neighborhood and the city.

Finding Homes for Our Treasures
2025-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Do you have material handed down from family? Letters, photos, maps of your hometown? Collections of Rosewood pottery? Ted Hathaway from Hennepin County Library-Minneapolis Central Library’s Special Collections, Yves Hoppie from Minnesota Historical Society Collections Dept., and Jonathan Campbell from H&B Gallery-antique shop will help us evaluate our possessions and learn what a repository or a business might be interested in acquiring, and what they have to offer in terms of preservation, sharing with the broader community, or resale.

The Most Competitive Passenger Corridor: Chicago—Twin Cities
2025-12-06 10:00 - 12:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
From the 1890s to the 1960s, the best passenger trains in North America traveled between the Twin Cities and Chicago. Until World War I, seven railroads competed for the business. Four continued to do so after World War II. Starting in the 1930s, the competition resulted in the Burlington’s Zephyrs, the Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha, and the Chicago & North Western’s 400, the nation’s fastest trains. Author Aaron Isaacs will tell their story, based on his latest book.
An optional lunch at Hilltop Restaurant (5101 Arcadia Ave, Edina, MN 55436) follows the presentation. Please make your lunch reservation by RSVPing below, or call (612) 799-5141.

Modernist Monuments: Minneapolis Post-War Places of Worship
2026-01-26 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Minneapolis became a hotbed of modernist religious architecture in the years after World War II. With illustrated slides, Bobak Ha’Eri will explain the rise of modernism, its arrival in Minnesota, and how it expressed itself through places of worship across the city. Mr. Ha’Eri is a board member of Docomomo US/MN where he created and researches the award-winning Minnesota Modern Registry, and is an expert on the history of Modernism in Minnesota.

History of Puppetry in the Twin Cities
2026-03-09 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Local puppeteer and historian, Jennings Mergenthal, has just completed an extensive research project focused on the history of puppetry in the Twin Cities, exploring where puppetry came from and why it has been so enduring. The local puppetry guild, the Twin Cities Puppeteers, will display historically significant puppets as well as photos and ephemera.

Ghost of a Chance with Eric Roper
2026-04-27 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Harry and Clementine Robinson were one of a handful of Black families who owned homes more than a century ago in what is now the whitest part of Minneapolis. When Star Tribune reporter Eric Roper moved into the same house where the Robinsons lived, he became determined to find out who they were and what happened to them. He spent nearly five years piecing together the Robinsons’ lives through genealogy records, old public documents, and fascinating tidbits from articles in local Black newspapers from the 1900s. He, with a team of other staff members and community members, wrote a series of articles published as a special insert in the Star Tribune. In addition, they created a six-episode podcast that takes listeners on an intimate journey into Minnesota’s past through the experiences of this one trailblazing couple.

Highlighting the Role of A. O. Hoyt in early Linden Hills: Walking tour with Peter Sussman
2026-07-08 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-07-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Corner of Linden Hills Blvd. and Queen Ave., 4290 Queen Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Alphonzo O. Hoyt first viewed Lake Harriet in 1882 as a conductor on the steam powered Motor Line. Through 1923 he helped shape Linden Hills, initially with Henry Beard, then as manager of the first Lake Harriet pavilion in 1888 and finally in platting Hoyt’s Crestmont Addition to Minneapolis. Peter Sussman will share the origins and changes along the west side of Lake Harriet on our walking tour.
Meet at the northwest corner of Queen Avenue S. and Linden Hills Boulevard (4290 Queen Ave. S.)
The tour will be held rain or shine, except if an electrical storm is forecasted for the day of the event.

20th Century - Excelsior and the South Shore
2026-08-31 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
At the turn of the century, mammoth steamboats and tourism began to leave the lake and Excelsior township and village began to dissolve into five communities, with Excelsior taking its place as the downtown of the south shore. Served by the streetcar from the Twin Cities and home to the popular Excelsior Amusement Park for almost fifty years, tiny Excelsior’s history is still evident today. Joanie Holst with the Lake Minnetonka Historical Society will share Excelsior’s rich history.

It took Courage: Eliza Winston’s Quest for Freedom
2026-10-19 19:00 - 21:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
Dr. Christopher P. Lehman, author of It Took Courage: Eliza Winston’s Quest for Freedom, will talk about the life of enslaved woman Eliza Winston and her persistence in her pursuit of liberation. Born in 1817, she spent her childhood and early adulthood enslaved by President Andrew Jackson’s family in Tennessee. In 1860, after seven years in Mississippi, her enslavers took her on their vacation to Minnesota. There, she found allies who helped her successfully plead her case for emancipation. She became the first and only enslaved person freed through Minnesota’s courts.

Westgate Theater and John Gaspard's Held Over
2026-12-05 10:00 - 12:00 | St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills, 4201 Sheridan Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN, 55410, United States
The Westgate Theater opened in 1935 as a neighborhood showplace in Edina, across Sunnyside Road from the Convention Grill. For decades it survived on second‑run features, long after bigger downtown houses had shown them. Yet this modest venue became legendary when it held Harold and Maude on screen for 115 weeks — an unprecedented run that turned a quirky comedy into a cult phenomenon. In Held Over, author John Gaspard traces the theater’s journey from its grand opening through its unlikely brush with history, capturing how one small movie house helped shape the legacy of a film and a generation of moviegoers.
