Picturing Lake Minnetonka — A 25th Anniversary
Image source: Picturing Lake Minnetonka
As the curtain opens on another Lake Minnetonka fall, it’s easy to look forward to upcoming events like Thanksgiving, winter travel, and seasonal activities. We wanted to take a moment to look back at something that had an impact on the area which has ripples into the present.
In late September, 2001, local resident Jim Ogland published his book Picturing Lake Minnetonka through the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Among the many books detailing our local history, Ogland’s stands out as one of the only Minnetonka coffee table reads.
Growing up on the southern shore of Crystal Bay, Ogland held a passion for the past that would eventually lead him to being a key figure in the fundraising for and restoration of steamboat Minnehaha. In a later interview, he would later recount, “I had retired in 1990 and I began to work with others on the Minnehaha restoration. Though I was involved in virtually all aspects of the process, I eventually began doing promotion and fund raising. As part of that, I wrote the text for a small book, a sort of pictorial history. I got to thinking about the hundreds of Minnetonka postcards I have collected over the years and wondered if they would make an interesting book too.” He was absolutely right and Picturing Lake Minnetonka became one of the seminal 21st century books to detail our local history. Not only that, but it did so in a way that encouraged readers to look at history in a more fun and relaxed nature. Gone were the textbooks and stuffily worded passages of the past and, in their place, was a book which everyone from children to retirees could enjoy.
I had the great pleasure of knowing Jim in my formative years and can trace much of my passion for the area’s history to his stories, enthusiasm, and book. In fact, it was Picturing Lake Minnetonka that inspired the original framework for the Minnetonka Minute. It’s right there on our homepage, “Where the past meets excitement.”
Picturing Lake Minnetonka was the culmination of his passion for Minnetonka and a way for him to inspire his community. Jim passed away in 2018 but we wanted to uphold his memory as his book celebrates its 25th anniversary. If you don’t already have a copy, we highly recommend you do!
Bibliography of Sources:
Ogland, Jim. Picturing Lake Minnetonka. 2001, Minnesota Historical Society Press
“Orono Author Writes the Book on Lake Minnetonka History” Lakeshore Weekly News, 09/18/2001, p.4
James Ogland obituary — https://www.davidleefuneralhome.com/obituaries/james-ogland
This article was published in Tonka Living & Skipper Living Magazine in October, 2026.
