MINNETONKA BLVD.

The following is a history of Minnetonka Blvd. "the street," if you will.  For information on the individual buildings, click here.  Please contact us with any corrections or additions.
 

Minnetonka Blvd. is a very old road, dating back to at least 1858, when it separated Minneapolis Township to the north and Richfield Township to the south.

On March 7, 1867, the two northern tiers of Richfield Township were added to Minneapolis Township, so that the entire area that would become St. Louis Park was in Minneapolis Township.

St. Louis Park was incorporated as a Village in 1886.

In 1890, T.B. Walker and his organization, the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company, bought up 1700 acres of land between Minnetonka Blvd. and Excelsior Blvd. from farmers, an area so large that it took two years to replat the land into 12,000 lots. 

In 1891, Walker's group built a streetcar line along Minnetonka Blvd. from France Ave. to Webster, where it angled southwest along Lake Street.   The end of the line was the former Reiss's Restaurant (then called the "waiting station").  That building still stands, at the confluence of Lake Street, Walker Street, and Highway 7.  In the early days, the stretch of Minnetonka Blvd. from France to Lake Street was also called West Lake Street.  It was officially changed to Minnetonka Blvd. in February 1918, but would be referred to as Lake Street for decades to come.

Bicycles became a national craze in the 1890s, and in 1896 Minnetonka Blvd. was a narrow bicycle path.  On August 5, 1898 the St. Louis Park Village Council passed an ordinance authorizing the construction of bicycle paths/roads on Lake Street and Minnetonka Blvd.  The speed limit was 10 mph, with fines of $10 to $50 or up to 30 days in jail.

In November 1899, “Minnetonka Avenue” was extended to the Right of Way of the Great Northern tracks per J.J. Moldestad (whose land it probably ran through).

Pictures from 1900 of the intersection of  Minnetonka Ave. and Falvey Ave. [Louisiana] seem to indicate that when Minnetonka, going west, reached Falvey, it just stopped.  This doesn't sound right, does it?

In 1910, four speed signs were ordered for Minnetonka Blvd. at the request of T.H. Colwell.

In July 1913, Charles M. Loring requested permission to plant elm trees on Minnetonka Blvd. from Minneapolis to Lake Minnetonka.

Also in 1913, Minnetonka Boulevard was described as "a main artery of travel, which is to be made a concrete highway, if present plans are carried out."  And the railroad bridge at Brunswick was built in 1913 as well.

In October 1914, the Village Council passed an ordinance that seemed to indicate that automobiles were only allowed to drive on Excelsior Blvd., Lake Street Blvd. (sic), Minnetonka Blvd., and Superior Blvd. (now 394). The ordinance required autos to have headlights, mufflers, brakes, and a manner of signaling (bell, horn). There were still plenty of horses around: “Every person operating a motor vehicle shall stop upon request or signal from any person in charge of a horse or horses; and shall also stop whenever a horse or horses show signs of fright at the motor vehicle.” This ordinance also ended with a 25 mph speed limit – on the specified roads.

A school stop sign was authorized for Minnetonka Blvd. at Ottawa in 1933.  This was the site of Fern Hill School.
 

The streetcar from downtown to Reiss's was discontinued in 1938, and the SLP Spectator reported on September 3, 1938:

Minnetonka Bl., from France Ave. to its junction with Lake St., near Webster Ave, is to be made a fine thoroughfare by the board of County Commissioners, according to P.M. Ellison, St. Louis Park Recorder.  Ellison says that he has a conference with Commissioners Heffelfinger, Ferrin and Morse on Tuesday and asked them what the board was going to do about Minnetonka Bl., now that the street car tracks were being removed.

'They said they were going to make a fine boulevard out of it,' Ellison declared.  'They will fill it with gravel, oil, etc., and either this fall or early next spring, will put on a heavy tar material surface so that it will be a fine highway.'

In November 1947, stop and go signals were authorized for the intersections of Ottawa and Minnetonka, and Brookside and Excelsior. Another was recommended for Minnetonka and Louisiana.


Minnetonka Blvd. in 1951 - unpaved - photo courtesy Ken Tupper

Minnetonka Blvd. was paved in 1952. The Park Theater lost 3 ½ ft. of frontage as a result. A "road opening" was noted on November 13, 1953. 

The bridge at Minnetonka and Aquila was built in 1960, and rebuilt in 2007.

A 1965 article in the Forum discussed traffic problems on Minnetonka Blvd.  Bottlenecks were forming at Texas, Dakota, and Louisiana.  At that point, the street was 37 feet wide and carried approximately 9,500 vehicles per day.  One could still park on Minnetonka Blvd., and the article, which was written by councilman James R. Helzer, explained new parking restrictions.

The bridge at Highway 100 was opened on August 12, 1969.

Also see the article in the Re-Echo, September 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.