A Brief History of Lake Minnetonka
DISCOVERY: Lake Minnetonka was discovered, for the
white man, by two 14 yr. old boys living at Ft. Snelling in 1822. ( Ft. Snelling is
located at the confluence of the Mississsippi and Minnesota rivers, near the airport.) Joe
Brown, a drummer boy, and Will Snelling, the son of the Commandant, decided one day to
canoe up what is now Minnehaha creek and found the headwaters at the lake.
The discovery was hushed up because the land still belonged to the
Dakota Sioux tribe headed by Chief Shakopee. The fort was built to keep the settlers East
of the Mississippi and they didn’t want news of the lake to become general knowledge.
The high area on the West of Wayzata bay, now called Ferndale, was
sacred ground to the Sioux and also the little island just off the tip of the peninsula,
"Spirit Island", visible from the Wayzata Yacht Club. It forms part of the
gateway from Wayzata Bay to the Lower Lake.
The Indians kept the lake a secret. It wasn’t until about 1852
that a party from New York visiting St. Anthony (Minneapolis) and St. Paul ventured up the
creek and made it general knowledge.
SHORE TOWNS: The area West of Ft. Snelling was
opened up to settlers in about 1853 and five towns sprung up around the lake.
MINNETONKA MILLS started life as a rough-hewn sawmill. EXCELSIOR was born in New York City
on a piece of paper and today is one of only two cities to have a, "Commons",
the other is Boston. WAYZATA came into existence in the center of Chief Shakopee’s
Indian village. MOUND was born among the dead, near Indian burial grounds. ST. ALBANS was
on St. Albans bay.
HOTELS: In the period of about 1867-1879 there were
at least 12 hotels on the lake ranging in size from 50 to 800 rooms. The largest was the
Lafayette which was built by James Hill the RR magnate and is now the site of the
Lafayette Club. The hotels catered mainly to people from the South escaping the heat of
summer. Many of the hotels had cabins behind them for the servants that accompanied the
guests.
STEAMBOATS: Steamboats plied the waters for many
years with attendant explosions of boilers. The best remembered however are the,
"Street Car Boats", owned and operated by the Twin City Rapid Transit Co. From
about 1905 to 1926 it was possible to take a street car from White Bear Lake, North &
East of St. Paul to Lake Minnetonka and board a Street Car Boat for 27 destinations around
the Lake. One of the favorite spots was the 65 acre Amusement Park on the East end of Big
Island. The man-made island, "Light house island", built to guide the boats is
now home to Minnetonka Yacht. Club.
SAILING: In 1882, thirty years after the Indians
were "asked" to leave, there was a fleet of 15 sailboats on Minnetonka. The Minnetonka Yacht
Club was organized in 1887 absorbing members of earlier Yacht Clubs. The Wayzata Yacht
Club was formed in 1965 to embrace keel boats versus the, "scows" shallow draft,
boats of the Minnetonka Club.
