Diversions

   

So now it is this

Sitting in my silent den

Writing bad Haiku

"These are the times that try ones souls" - Thomas Paine.  It's hard not to obsess these days. So I seek diversions from the isolation and the 24 hour news cycle.  Writing Haiku?  Try it. It's pretty easy to compose one  (see above) - 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables - but it's not so easy to compose something good.

And there's only so much time that one can spend on genealogy research before your family tires you.

However, one saving grace that never gets tiring for me is my bicycle.  It gives me the opportunity to get outside and both exercise and explore. I love to prowl around the Twin Cities looking for interesting sites, in particular, sites with historical significance.  Here are some places I found interesting.

1.  White Castle #8.  In 1936, White Castle brought fast food to the Twin Cities.  Home of the 5¢ "Slider".  #8 was originally on Washington Ave. It now sits on Lyndale just south of Lake St.  It no longer serves tiny beef? patties on tiny buns, but will soon be the headquarters of the Minnesota Music Archive Project.

2. Christ Lutheran Church, 34th Ave So.  This was the last completed design by internationally famous architect Eliel Saaranen. Built in 1949, it is the first example of a contemporary + ecclesiastical. It incorporates honey colored brick and Mankato stone in its chime tower.















3. Washburn Water Tower.  Built in 1932, one of 3 stone water towers in the Minneapolis, the Washburn Tower sits in Tangletown off 50th St. in South Minneapolis and holds nearly a million and half gallons of water. The story goes that its architect, Harry Wild Jones, while clearing brush was attacked by an eagle with an 8' wingspan. Hence, the eagles adorning the top of the tower. In addition, there are eight 18' "Guardians of Health", one beneath each eagle, to prevent any bad tasting or smelling water from entering the tower.

4.  John Nordstrom Store. Built in 1883, is one of the few surviving wood front 'Mom & Pop' stores in the Twin Cities. John & Tilla Nordstrom were Swedish immigrants and operated the small grocery store through the 1930's.  It remained a commercial store until the '60s.

5.  Lustron Homes.  Lustron (luster on steel) sold pre-fab, all steel homes after WWII, marketed to returning G.I.'s.  There were indeed all-steel with a baked enamel exterior and offered in a few pastel colors. (Note: this is the same exterior as the White Castles - see above). There are several along the east side of Nicollet south of 50th st. The 1000 sq ft home components were shipped by rail to their destination and assembled like legos. Walls, cabinets, vanities are all steel. You hang pictures with magnets. The dropping of federal home subsidies and shipping and construction expense, doomed the company.

6.  Tilsenbilt Homes.  The Tilsenbilt neighborhood in south Mpls  (5th Ave & 40th St.) consists of 28 modest homes built between 1954-1957. It was the first interracial private development in the Twin Cities. "Red-lining" and neighborhood covenants were common in cities throughout the North and Minneapolis was one of the worst. " ... out of over 9,500 single-family homes and duplexes built in Minneapolis between 1946 and 1952, fewer than 20 were sold to African-American buyers". These covenants were abolished in 1953 by the state legislature.

7. Adath Jethurun Synagogue.  "Hear O Israel: The Lord Our Savior is One" inscribed above the Corinthian columns. Built in 1927 at 34th & Dupont, Adath Jehurun was the first Orthodox Synagogue in Minneapolis. The congregation grew, led by Rabbi Albert I. Gordon who fiercely opposed the anti-Semitic hate groups prominent in Minneapolis during that period. In 1993, the synagogue was acquired by the First Universalist Church.




I could do a hundred Twin City historical posts. 

Stay well.

Copyright © 2020 Dave Hoplin