Lyndale and the Basilica Then and Now

You can’t tell by looking at this old photo, but the place where Hennepin and Lyndale Avenues meet was almost as big a traffic snarl in 1943 as it is today. It may have been worse. Back then Minneapolis had close to 100,000 more residents and many more shopping working and living close to downtown. Sure you could take a street car, but if you were lucky enough to be driving around in some beautiful old heap built before the war, you better leave early because it was going to take you a little while to get past Loring Park on Hennepin Avenue. The area was a notorious bottleneck. The upside was you might be able to find a curbside resting spot. Parking meters were cheaper and fewer in the forties.