The Most Competitive Passenger Corridor: Chicago—Twin Cities

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 follows the program.

Finding Homes for Our Treasures

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.

Prince’s Side of the Street

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.

Sleuth Your Stoop – Learn how to become your own house detective and where to start

So, you bought an old house in Minneapolis or St. Paul. Congratulations! How do you even begin to find out the history of who actually lived there? Local historian Kathy Kullberg will share tools and resources to find the answers and information that you have been wondering about your home’s history. At the end of the evening, one should have enough resources to keep sleuthing down those virtual rabbit holes.

T.B. and Harriet Walker and their Contributions to Minneapolis

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.