Let’s Walk: Big Island Park’s Grand Entrance
There are few boaters on Lake Minnetonka that haven’t stepped foot on Orono’s Big Island nature preserve. Today, it’s managed by the Three Rivers Park District and kept in a very natural way. Birds and other wildlife flourish, prairie grasses and flowers explode into vibrant color throughout the warmest months, and sky blue waters dance beyond the thickness of a mature forest’s many trees.
Yet, as many of us know, this isn’t the way things have always been. Before the forests were cabins for the veterans and, before them, a desolate bunch of ruins that had seen much better days. This postcard from 1907 brings us to a time before the ruins, where things were freshly painted, newly lit, and full of excitement!
With a growing rail network and desire to bring passengers to their furthest reaches, the Twin City Rapid Transit Compay, who managed all metro streetcars and the fleet of streetcar boats like Minnehaha dove head first into the business of entertainment. In 1889, the company opened Wildwood Amusement Park, near White Bear Lake. It was a modest success and prompted the opening of Big Island Amusement Park in 1906.
The challenges for Big Island were in the nature of its location: an island. Twin City Rapid Transit (TCRT) designed three unique steam ferries to shuttle visitors to and from the mainland station in Excelsior. On top of the navigational hurdle, the park’s island property could only be accessed during the best seasons of the year, which led to its closure for more months than its operation.
In the image above, we can see a few key aspects, which I’m happy to take you on a tour of. Imagine, if you will, us walking together down the path. Let’s start at our current position next to the camera. Immediately behind us is the park’s water tower and crowning structure, designed to look like Spain’s Tower of Seville. It’s on a slight hill, so we’ve got a bit of a slope to manage as we walk away from it. Again off our viewpoint, on the left, is one of the park’s rides; a log chute. In the distance, we can hear children screaming as their log climbs up, stalls for a moment, and descends down into a waiting pool of water below. All of them are soaked by the time they get off but, undoubtedly, it feels great against the unconditioned summer heat. Let’s continue walking. On our right, iron streetlights stand high. They’re electric, which has started to become ubiquitous with only the most contemporary and upscale enterprises and homes. We wouldn’t guess it now but, in 120 years time, some of these lights will still be in use back in Excelsior! Not too far ahead are two identical rows of Spanish style archways. These stretch off quite a distance in either direction and are capped at the center with twin arched domes. Likewise, each dome is capped with identical metal roofing. Together, these make the grand entrance to the park which every guest first sees and enters through. As we stand alongside the archways, we’re at the precipice of a concrete staircase that’s wider than it is long. Descending down, a long concrete rampart carries us the remaining 200 or so feet to the shoreline where permanent wooden docks stretch into the water. Interestingly, the ramp has one massive hole in the center, where a tree is allowed to grow. Coming toward us is the steam ferry Minneapolis, a side wheel paddleboat that’s designed to travel in both forward and reverse equally. Again we wouldn’t guess that, in just a handful of years, Minneapolis would be burnt and resting at the bottom of the lake just about a half mile from where we’re standing. Enjoyably, this is the walk we’ve done and the things we’ve seen but let’s leave 1907 for now.
By 1911, Big Island Park would be out of business and permanently closed. A handful of years later it was demolished, save for a few smaller buildings and pavilions. The burden of the island based park proved to be too much to financially bear for the streetcar company. However, Wildwood Park would continue to operate with moderate profit until 1932. Maybe someday we will visit there, bringing along fond memories of our time spent at Big Island. . .