Love of the Isles

Lake of the Isles. — This lake is controlled by the park board. It is the nearest to the center of the city of the group of lakes along the southwestern limits, and may be reached by the Kenwood Boul. or by Hennepin Av., turning west at Franklin, or any street beyond, to 28th St. … Read more

Cappelen Memorial Bridge

CAPPELEN MEMORIAL BRIDGE, across the Mississippi River at Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, completed in the fall of 1923 at a cost of nearly one million dollars. The center span of four hundred feet is the longest concrete span in the world. Designed and built by the Minneapolis City Engineering Department.

Hello Hiawatha Towers

The Minneapolis Housing Authority built these three slightly hexagonal, twelve story towers for a little over two and a half million dollars. The project contains 285 low-rent housing units for the elderly. The buildings, located on 22nd street, between 16th and 18th Avenues South were completed in 1963. The Hiawatha Towers were the final buildings … Read more

Revenge of the Yak Momo

Have you seen the list of “100 things to eat before you die?” The list includes both mundane things as well as those you’d eat on exotic vacations. I’m proudly ¾ done owing to my having had the opportunity and inclination to eat many strange foods. Maybe it started very young since my grandfather loved … Read more

The Franklin Cooperative Creamery

This building was constructed in 1920 to house a new milk-processing plant. It grew into a huge business in just a few years. By 1924, profits from the sale of high-quality milk, cream, butter, buttermilk, cottage cheese and ice cream were over $3 million dollars a year. The business employed 418 people and had 175 … Read more

Across the Franklin Avenue Bridge

The Franklin Avenue or F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge was designed by and named for Frederick William Cappelen. The bridge was completed in 1923. Cappelen died during the construction of the bridge, and as a memorial to his life and career, the bridge still bears his name. The reinforced-concrete open-spandrel arched bridge took a couple years … Read more