HIGHWAY 12
Superior Blvd., Wayzata Blvd., I-394

The following are some events in the life of the road with many names. Information about both the St. Louis Park and Golden Valley sides is included.  Thanks to our neighbors in Golden Valley for sharing information with us.  And many, many thanks to John Yngve, who grew up in the community at Colorado and Wayzata, now vanished.  Note:  we rely on an incomplete set of St. Louis Park directories, so please contact us if you have corrections or additions.

Also see The North Side and Highway 12 Buildings.

A Note on addresses:
In general, buildings with odd numbers are south of Highway 12 in St. Louis Park, and those with odd numbers are north of Highway 12 in Golden Valley.  There was a time, before 394, when there was a piece of St. Louis Park that was north of the Highway; McCarthy's Cafe is a notable example.  There was (and still is) some land at the southwest corner of Highway 100 and 394 that belongs to Golden Valley.  A land swap was proposed, but nothing came of it and 394 took care of part of it.  Shelard, located north of 394 out west, was annexed from Minnetonka by St. Louis Park in 1954.

1851-54:  The Territorial government authorized the Minneapolis and Lake Minnetonka Plank and Road Company to build a plank road which appears to have been the precursor to Highway 12.

The Held family homesteaded land on either side of what would become Highways 100 and 12 in 1869. Their land encompassed 42.5 acres in Golden Valley and 50 acres in St. Louis Park. The property included 36 acre Lake Virginia, which was fed by springs.  It took 7 months to drain it by ditches soi t could be used for farmland.  The only remnant of the 60 ft. lake now is a 2 acre storm sewer pond that was put in in 1986 when I394 was built.  Held had 90 acres of crops, ranging from feed and grain, flowers, and vegetables, including their famed white celery.  What is now the intersection of Highways 100 and 394 was a tomato field high on a gravel hill. Highway construction took a toll on the farm and it stopped production in 1949.  In 1956, however, a Julius W. Held, truck farmer, was listed in the St. Louis Park directory at 5051 Wayzata Blvd.  This was on the north side of Highway 12, across from Evanoff Gardens.

1886:  Golden Valley was incorporated as a Village, population 467.  St. Louis Park was incorporated as a Village, population 350.

A picture dated 1893 showed a crew preparing the ground for Superior Blvd.  It's identified as near Batson's Corner. 

The highway was built between 1896 and 1901.

Notes from August 1900 indicated that the St. Louis Park Village Council worked with Golden Valley to create/grade Superior Blvd. The Village took a portion of road from Moesen’s Corner east to D.D. Sullivan’s property.

A Minneapolis Journal article dated March 26, 1911 read:
 

Boulevard to Tonka

The [Minneapolis] county commissioners took the first step toward making Superior Blvd., the trunk road connecting the city with the north shore of Lake Minnetonka, a modern thoroughfare.

In 1918, John A. Johnson platted an eponymous subdivision.  See Yngve.

In 1920, one stretch of the road was widened to 18 feet. For awhile the highway was the only paved road west of Minneapolis.

Superior Blvd. was closed most of the summer of 1922.  The 3.8 miles from Lyndale to the Great Northern viaduct was paved with "asphaltic concrete."  The existing 14-foot strip of bituminous macadam  was broken up and used as the sub-base for the new pavement.  The new road was to be 27 feet across.

Also in 1922, a 30-foot roadway was graded on the north side of the boulevard between the Great Northern bridge and the Minneapolis city limits.  That section was graveled.

In 1923, the one and a half mile stretch between the Great Northern bridge and the Minneapolis city limits was the last section of the boulevard between Minneapolis and Lake Minnetonka to be paved. In October it was widened to 27 feet. A portion of the road from the top of Tyrol Hills, east down the hill past the intersection with the Theodore Wirth Parkway, was paved with brick.  The work was urged by the Civic and Commerce Association and the Automobile Club.  Although the state highway department was paying for the road outside of the City, Minneapolis was responsible for the stretch inside the city limits.  Further improvement of the State road was dependent on Minneapolis paving its road.

In 1926, the stretch from Minneapolis and several miles out was paved at 27 feet, but the rest of the way to Minnetonka was only 14 to 18 feet wide.  That section was paved and widened, and the road opened in July 1926. 

Also in 1926, there was a Superior Inn listed in a business directory, located at Superior Blvd. and the Dan Patch crossing. 

And in 1926, the Superior Blvd. Bus Lines got residents downtown.

On November 4, 1931, the Village Council approved the request of Rufus R. Rand, Mayor of Wayzata, to change the name of Superior Blvd. to Wayzata Blvd. A Minneapolis councilman reported that Wayzata means "North of the Pines." Rand reasoned that the name Superior was misleading, in that it did not go anywhere near the city of Superior.

A 1931 map seems to indicate that the St. Louis Park section of Superior Blvd. stopped at Texas, where it veered northwest.

In 1932 it was proposed to widen a portion of the road to two lanes (each way?).  Apparently it ran through the old "Camden Workhouse." 

In 1935, a State Senate investigation looked askance at payments for land along Wayzata Blvd. that one highway department official decried as 16 times its value.  What's worse was that Fred Ossana was believed to have some part in the transaction.  By the way, the paper was still calling it Superior Blvd.
 

During the 1930s, the road was concrete and had three lanes - one for each direction and one in the middle to pass.  At some point during the 1930s, a grade separation was built taking Superior Blvd. under the Great Northern tracks. 

The North Side was prone to brush fires, but the worst was in 1936.

The Highway 100/Highway 12 Cloverleaf was opened on November 25, 1937.  Construction had started on June 20.  Highway 12 was being built as a two lane, divided highway with 24 inch lanes. The road was built with WPA funds.

Highway Department statistics showed that in 1937, Wayzata Blvd. had the highest traffic volume in the state.  6,653 vehicles traversed the road per day.  Highway 100 would not open until 1939.

The Sorgenfree Tavern was run by Martin and Ethel Christensen in 1938.  It was a 3.2 beer tavern where the neighbors collected from time to time.  It was on the north side of Wayzata, east of the railroad tracks - close to both the blvd. and the tracks. 

1939 or before:  Bill's Place was located west of Turner's Cross Road and Wayzata.  It would become the Boulevard Cafe.

Click here for a picture of the Highway 12 bridge over Highway 100 after the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940.  Here's another one.

Development was slow at first in the Wayzata Blvd. corridor, partly because it was basically a wetland based on peat soil. 

1945-47:  Golden Valley residents rejected development proposals for an airport, drive-in theater, and sports stadium along Wayzata Blvd.  See Candlestick Park.

1945 or before to at least 1958:  The Boulevard Cafe was located at 5530 Wayzata, in Golden Valley, just west of Turner's Crossroad.  The site is now the Colonnade office building, built in 1988 at 5500 Wayzata.


 

1949:  Brothers John and Albert Yngve and their friend Bill Nordstrom built the Pylon Drive-in at 6224 Wayzata at Colorado in Golden Valley.  Although it was in Golden Valley, the owners, staff, and most of the clientele were from St. Louis Park.

As with Highways 100 and 7, in 1950 the Village signed a contract with the State promising to allow no curb gas pumps, gas stations, or billboards. Curb gas pumps went by the wayside, but there were plenty gas stations and billboards.

The land in Golden Valley north of Highway 12 was changed from open development to commercial.  In 1956 it was rezoned industrial and light industrial.

1950:  Superior Blvd. was widened to four lanes. 

The Held family and a developer from California built the Golden Hills Shopping Center on what had been a melon field.  The Golden Hills Shopping Center was located east of Turner's Crossroad. Addresses ranged from 5300 to 5530, etc. The easternmost portion of the shopping center is now the Metropolitan. The much-loved Jolly Troll Smorgasbord was located in the shopping center. Golden Hills was a victim to 394 in about 1988. Is the abandoned parking lot east of the Metropolitan left over from Golden Hills?
 

1951-52:  The four lane Highway 12 was completed from Minneapolis to Trunk Highway 101. In earlier years the road had been known as Highway 10, Superior Blvd., or the Glacier Trail.Highway.  McCarthy's Cafe, one of the few businesses on the road, was placed on a service road that was still called Wayzata Blvd.

1953:  The road was scheduled to be redesigned, and a signal installed at the intersection at Turner's Crossroad/Vernon, now Park Place.  On the Golden Valley side you can still see where the road goes right up to the new highway and stops, just west of the Metropolitan.

1954:  St. Louis Park annexed Shelard from Minnetonka.  Today it is the only St. Louis Park land north of Highway 394.

1958:  An indoor ice arena opened at 5800 Wayzata Blvd. in Golden Valley. 

1958:  General Mills opened its world headquarters at Wayzata Blvd. and Highway 169 (then CR 18).


1958 or earlier:  Red Crown Lanes was located at 7650 Wayzata Blvd. in Golden Valley.

In February 1959, Mr.  E.J. McCubrey of the State Highway Department appeared before the City Council to discuss plans for Highway 12. Council notes indicate that adjacent landowners wanted a “peel off lane” or cut off from 12 to the north. McCubrey indicated that such a plan would probably not be approved by the Bureau of Good Roads. Notes from the City Council in the summer of 1960 indicate that Mn/DOT did make improvements of Wayzata Blvd. between CR 18 (169) and highway 100.

In 1962, the SLP City Council approved a preliminary plan submitted by Mn/DOT on April 18, 1961 with the following provisions:

The south service road must extend across the tracks at grade.

There must be a full diamond at Louisiana.

The Texas intersection must be designed the same as Turner's Crossroad.

1962 or earlier:  Uncle John's Pancake House was located at 6920 Wayzata Blvd. in Golden Valley.

1963:  The SLP City Council passed a resolution approving a traffic signal at Hwy 12 and Louisiana.

1965:  Anderson Cadillac moved from Excelsior Blvd. (or was it Lyndale?) to 7400 Wayzata Blvd. in Golden Valley and operated until 1975.

1966:  Golden Valley purchased the Brookview Golf Course for $1.35 million.  Its original name was the Superior Golf Club.

(New) Stoplights at Turner's Crossroad and Louisiana were installed in 1967.

In 1968, the area southwest of Highways 12 and 100 was paved, got curbs and gutters and storm sewers. 

Plans to turn a portion of State Highway 12 into Interstate 394 were first hatched in 1968.  Construction would not begin until 1985.

 

1970:  Chrysler City in Golden Valley was the largest car dealership in the U.S.  The site (6800 Wayzata Blvd.) became Menards.  The original building was demolished (and the concrete recycled) in 2010.  The new store opened in 2011.

1994 Photo courtesy Emory Anderson

1970 or earlier:  Jim Lupient Olds was located at 7100 Wayzata.

Highway 394 was added to the interstate system in 1968, and originally was to be called 894. In 1969, its number was changed to 394. (Minnesota State documents do not appear to have referred to the road as 894.) The road was to run east from I-494 in Minnetonka to Washington Ave. in downtown Minneapolis, following the old Highway 12.

A picture from 1981 shows the Wayzata/Louisiana intersection all torn up, and may be when several businesses, including two gas stations, were removed.

Construction on the new Highway 394 began in 1984, and started with a stretch west of 494 in Wayzata and Minnetonka.  The delay between conception and implementation may have been due to land acquisition problems and significant protests. It was estimated that about 400 parcels of land would have to be purchased at a cost of about $100,000.  St. Louis Park City officials were generally in favor of the improved road, while Golden Valley was not.

The 494 interchange opened in around 1986.

The section between the Shelard Parkway overpass and General Mills Blvd (including the US 169 interchange) opened around 1987.

In 1988, the sections between 494 and near I-94 opened.

Construction of the 394/Highway 100 interchange began in 1989 and opened in 1991.  It was the most complicated piece of the project and a lot was stake - one estimate was that 170,000 vehicles drive that intersection daily.

The section east of I-94 was opened in 1991.

The road was finished in 1993. The final cost was $450 million for 9.75 miles of roadway.

In 1996, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) awarded the I-394 Transit Corridor an Excellence in Design award in 1996; the award page contains an overhead photo of an interchange with HOV connections.

The Allianz project was built at 5701 Golden Hills Drive in 2000.  This was the site of the Ice Center, which, although it was in Golden Valley, was the site of Park hockey games before the Rec Center was built.  Photo from 1994 courtesy Emory Anderson.

 

An interesting and thorough site is http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/interstate/i394.htm

Also see the article in the Re-Echo, June 2007

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.