Highway 100 originated as a New Deal project in the 1930s. The idea to have small parks along the route became popular, and citizens contributed funds for lilac plants. Seven parks along "Lilac Way" featured picnic tables and distinctive fireplaces called beehives. Kathy Johnson of the St. Louis Park Historical Society will tell the story […]
Peter Sussman will lead a tour from Zenith Avenue to France Avenue tracing the Grimes family's 1880s model community of Waveland, including the first Lake Harriet School, as well as growth related to the 1905 streetcar extension along 44th Street to Morningside. The tour will start from the northwest corner of 44th and Beard (the […]
This event was originally scheduled for August 9, but was rescheduled due to inclement weather. Following the 1981 tornado through southwest Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board refurbished the 1929 rock garden which is now the Peace Garden. The Men’s and Women’s Garden Club of Minneapolis (MWGCM) donated and planted trees and helped re-design […]
The Civil Rights marches of the 1950s and early 1960s and the anti-war protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s may have been more dramatic, but a quieter kind of citizen activism in the Linden Hills neighborhood during the 1970s caused residents to band together to make their voices heard by city and county […]
Don Fraser's career spanned the last half of the twentieth century. As a Minnesota state senator, U.S. congressman, and Minneapolis mayor Fraser was deeply involved in the key issues of his era, including the civil rights struggle, opposition to the war in Viet Nam, and efforts to combat urban poverty. Historian Iric Nathanson's new biography, […]
We will explore the history and philosophy behind the Arts and Crafts and Prairie School movements by focusing on six rules for architecture stated by John Ruskin in an 1854 lecture. Architectural historian Richard Kronick will show how several A&C and Prairie School architects responded to and expressed Ruskin’s ideas. He will also provide a […]
Join R.T. Rybak for a talk about Pothole Confidential: My Life as Mayor of Minneapolis. In a memoir that is at once a political coming-of-age story and a behind-the-scenes look at the running of a great city, three-term Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak takes readers into the highs and lows and the daily drama of a […]
What vessel has docked in the eastern edge of Downtown Minneapolis, near the bend in the Mississippi River? A Viking longship? A tricked-out Jawa Sandcrawler? Or US Bank Stadium, the new home of the Minnesota Vikings? Join us for a "special event" private group tour of this amazing facility, plus learn how its design was […]
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, pioneer aerial photographer Joe Quigley was hired to take images of all Minneapolis schools. These remarkable high-resolution photos have been in the school district files for 80 years. Join local historians Michael Wilson and Tom Balcom to view the Southwest neighborhoods circa 1930.
This event was originally scheduled for June 16. We will dig into the history of who has worked and lived in the buildings clustered around 43rd and Upton. Also, we'll touch briefly on: competition with the 44th and France business district, aesthetics (including having the business district set on the descent of a hill), and […]
