The Minnetonka Electric Line

The season at Lake Minnetonka, meaning by that when the full electric train service from the Twin Cities, as well as the express boat service is in effect, begins May 15 and ends September 30. Every day is a good day to visit the lake, and there is always something going on to entertain and … Read more

The Tonka Bay Hotel

Fancy balls, dancing parties, musicales and concerts, banquets, conventions, yacht races, rowing regattas are a frequent occurrence at Tonka Bay. Located near the hotel a handsome roller skating rink, sailboat, rowboats, launches and fishing tackle that can be rented, and  bathing and fishing facilities are excellent. Big Island the beautiful is close to ‘The Tonka … Read more

Night and Day at the Terrace Theatre

The Terrace Theatre in Robbinsdale opened its doors on May 25th, 1951. Designed by the architectural firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan, for theater owners, Sydney and William Volk, the Terrace was advertised as “America’s finest theatre at your very door”. The new theater was acclaimed in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and industry publications. The Volk … Read more

The Elwood Hotel Then and Now

The Robin Hotel in 1980 and 2014 The Elwood Hotel was already 15 years old when Allan and Agnes MacDonald bought the place in 1932. the couple ran the hotel as a boarding house for 25 years. The rooms were rented to railroad men, older people and two families from Holland. There were ten rooms … Read more

This Town is not Named After a Bird!

Nestled into a metropolitan area with suburbs like Golden Valley, Richfield and Eden Prairie most people think Robbinsdale was named for a bird. They are wrong. Robbinsdale was named for man, a b-i-i-i-i-g man! A Civil War veteran, politician, entrepreneur was he… Andrew B. Robbins carved the village of Robbinsdale out of the surrounding countryside … Read more

Swell Shopping at Southdale

Groundbreaking for Southdale took place in 1954. 800 construction workers were used to build the two-story, 800,000 ft shopping mall. When it was completed two years later at a cost of cost twenty million dollars, the mall had 5,200 parking spaces and room for 72 tenants. Southdale was developed by the Dayton’s and their department … Read more

Hotel Lafayette

This magnificent hotel is located on a peninsula between the main lake and Crystal Bay, and is so situated that it has water fronts on both sides. The view from the hotel is the finest and most extensive we have ever seen, taking, in some ten or twelve of the bays and their numberless promontories … Read more

The Southtown

Southtown Shopping Center opened at 79th and Penn with Monkey Wards as an anchor back in 1960. The Southtown Theatre was built in 1964 and that created one of the first shopping center theater combinations in the area. The modern style theater’s auditorium sat over 1100. When it opened the marquee was one of the … Read more