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.

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.

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.

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.