A Walk Along The Shore
A somewhat rare bi-fold postcard.
Today we will take a walk along the Excelsior shoreline, around 1908, to look at the bustling “harbor” scene. This bi-fold postcard depicts the area well. What you’re looking at is the expanse of shoreline running from modern day Maynard’s all the way down to the Excelsior Commons. Of the dozen + boats, docks, buildings, hotels, and landmarks, there are a few especially noteworthy stops we’ll be making:
We begin our walk on the shoreline, near modern day Maynard’s restaurant. The large white ship docked here is the Minnetonka and she is one of three massive side wheel paddle steamers, owned by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, built to ferry people to and from Big Island Park between 1906 and 1911. Not too many years from now, two of these titans will be dismantled, and one will be burned and condemned to the bottom of Lower Lake. There’s much to say about these sister ships, but that’s a story for another day. . . Let’s continue our walk.
Headed further down, we look left, away from shore, to see the White House hotel. (Seen just to the right of the postcard’s crease.) The White House is a large “L” shaped building situated atop a hill overlooking the bay. The address? 1 Water Street. Better known in the 21st century as Haskell’s Port of Excelsior. Like the trio of sister side-wheelers, there’s much to say about the White House and the hill it once stood on. Again, that’ll be a story for another day, so we will continue our stroll down the shoreline.
The last stop we’ll make on this particular stroll will be at the Excelsior Pavilion & Casino building. Not to be confused with a gambling casino, this building featured a number of activities such as bowling, roller skating, boat rentals, and fishing. Unfortunately, the grand casino met its end in 1923 as local hotel owners felt it drew patrons away from their businesses. They ended the casino’s lease and oversaw its demolition. At the same time, Excelsior’s shoreline was forever changed as the naturally low land around the casino were filled to create more stable, useable, land.
As we come to the end of our walk along the once open Excelsior shoreline we find that there is, indeed, much to see. At a glance, this postcard shows an array of great sights. Each one we can, and will, look much deeper into. For now I’ll leave you here, delivered to the mostly unchanged Excelsior Commons property, where we can sit on shore and watch the coal fired steamships quietly ply the waves of Lake Minnetonka.
