Minneapolis Park History

I will be leading a walking tour around Minnehaha Falls—More than Just a Little Laugh—on August 21 for Preserve Minneapolis. That, by the way, is the working title of a book I’m writing about the Falls. I’m told that tickets for the tour are still available if you’re interested. You can get more information and reserve your place here. We’ll consider some of the history of the Falls both before and after it became Minnesota’s first state park. If you can’t make that date, Preserve Minneapolis offers quite a few other tours that look fascinating. I know some of the regular readers of these pages will be leading tours too. I hope you’ll check out the full schedule of tours throughout the summer.

I’ve also reposted a few more stories from this blog’s past. Read about the toboggan slides at Glenwood (Wirth) Park in the 1880s (looking down and looking up), the first motorcyle driven by Minneapolis park police called the Flying Merkel (plus a followup), and a north Minneapolis coach who is remembered by many.

David C. Smith