Efforts are underway to resume the services of the Minnehaha on Lake Minnetonka. Take a step back in time. The year is 1906, and its summertime in...
History
Discover the History Behind Your Home
Homes hold stories of the past and progress. For older homes, those stories can be mysterious. If you own a story-filled house in the Lake...
History Express
The story of the Express Boats begins in 1905 when the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) opened a new electric streetcar route from Minneapolis...
Discover the Beginning of Lone Lake Park
Bohemians arrived in America in two great waves in the 19th century. In 1848, they emigrated due to political persecution, and in the 1880s, they...
Wayzata’s Schoolhouse Hill
A quick history of Wayzata's Schoolhouse Hill. The first school to sit atop the hill at Rice Street and Broadway Avenue in Wayzata was built circa...
Hands-on Learning Is Coming to Lake Minnetonka’s Shores
Wayzata center will offer STEM-based education. Hands-on learning is making its way to the shores of Lake Minnetonka with the renovation of a former...
Local Author Highlights The Role Of Two Minnesota Athletes In The Road To Title IX
Book shares the story of two Minnesota athletes’ fight for equality. In tennis, there is a point at which the momentum of the game swings. A player...
Bringing Local History to You Since ’72
The Excelsior Lake-Minnetonka Historical Society (ELMHS) is celebrating its 50th anniversary, but collecting history in the Lake Minnetonka area...
Historic Excelsior Home Turned Elevated Event Space
Historic DeGroodt home enchants guests at intimate events. Several years ago, Excelsior proprietors Jennifer and Tim Caron purchased a...
They Dig It
Pop Culture Preservation Society strikes a retro chord. If you played with Fisher-Price toys, watched The Brady Bunch on Friday nights or almost...
Dovetails in Tall Grass
Author brings light to a tragic piece of Minnesota history. Samantha Specks brings Minnesota history to life through her first novel, Dovetails in...
Family Business Keeps Rolling
Youngstedts celebrates 50 years of automotive service. “Wouldn’t trust my family’s vehicles to anyone else,” says a customer of 27 years with...
School Building has its Own History Lesson
In March 1915, ground was broken for the construction of Excelsior High School on the corner of what is today Highway 7 and Oak Street. The red...
Silent Stories
Photographer gives voice to Abandoned North Dakota. For those who appreciate and are curious about churches, homes, schools and the like that are no...
Historic Home Made a Worthy Move
The past few years has seen an outcry from people wanting to preserve the historic nature of Excelsior’s built environment. The pique of property...
Excelsior Building has a Dynamite History
For over 50 years, a gas station has occupied the corner of Water and Third streets in Excelsior. In another lifetime, a noble two-story brick...
Club’s focus moves from suffrage to citizenship
After women won the right to vote in 1920, the Woman’s Club of Lake Minnetonka (WCLM) made sure its members and other women in the community were...
Most of Minnesota’s Game Birds Can Be Traced Back to Big Island
The Big Island Game Farm brought Minnesota its most iconic game bird, the ring-necked pheasant. In 1915, Frank Blair, a conservationist with the...
What Happened to the Excelsior Amusement Park Carrousel?
The Excelsior Amusement park closed and, in July of 1974, many of the items were auctioned off to the public. The carrousel at the former Excelsior...
Did You Know Lake Minnetonka Once Had Delivery Boats?
Delivery boats were both a reliable and direct way to deliver goods on Lake Minnetonka, as roads did not exist to all parts of the lake or were...
