Museum of Lake Minnetonka
| Industry | Nonprofit Historical Museum |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Excelsior, Minnesota |
| Products | Steamboat Minnehaha Excursions |
The Museum of Lake Minnetonka (MLM) is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization based in Excelsior, Minnesota which formed after splitting from the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) in 2004. The MLM's mission is to "preserve the history of Lake Minnetonka through acquiring, restoring, and displaying items of importance to the history of the lake," using its primary asset, the steamboat Minnehaha, as its vehicle. (Note that the lake and the Minnehaha itself essentially act as the "Museum.")
Minnehaha's History
The Minnehaha was part of a revolutionary "Express boat" fleet that was operated by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) between 1906 and 1926. She ran alongside her sister vessels Como, Harriet, Hopkins, Stillwater, and White Bear. In 1905, TCRT commissioned naval architect Royal C. Moore of Wayzata, Minnesota to design each of these identical vessels to be 70' long, 14'10" wide, and draw 5'7" of water. Each would be powered by a single coal-fired boiler and triple-expansion steam engine, with a single 46" screw for propulsion. Moore chose to use a launch-style hull for the craft, incorporating a torpedo stern into the design (a signature feature of Moore's work). This design, modern for the time, would make the express boats exceptionally stable and efficient as they cut through the water at a cruising speed of approximately 12 mph.
Although the parts and materials for the express boats were initially prefabricated at Moore Boatworks in Wayzata, they were later sent to the TCRT streetcar workshop in south Minneapolis to be assembled. From there the finished craft were transported to Excelsior via flatbed railcar and launched into Lake Minnetonka. Service first began on May 25, 1906 from Minnetonka Beach. Later that year a streetcar terminal was completed in Excelsior, and all routes (four of them in total) embarked and disembarked from there.
The primary function assigned to the "streetcar boats," as they came to be known, was to provide fast and reliable transportation for the residents of Lake Minnetonka; essentially they were an extension of TCRT's streetcar system, with streetcar connections made in Excelsior. Although the streetcar boats stopped at twenty-seven designated landings around the lake, they would also stop at private docks if flagged down with a white handkerchief, their bright color scheme of canary yellow and oxide red easy for prospective passengers to spot.
The Lake Minnetonka community showed particular affection for the streetcar boats; for many residents, they were the sole transportation link between home and work. As time passed, several nicknames developed for the express boats, including "Yellowjackets," "Yellow Canaries," and "Darlings." Ridership peaked in 1915, prompting the addition of a seventh vessel to the fleet, the Excelsior, later that year.
Ridership on the streetcar boats plummeted when roads and automobiles became more prevalent around Lake Minnetonka in the 1920s. By the middle of the decade, TCRT could only afford to operate two steamboat lines, but even then could only break-even. Eventually TCRT could no longer afford to operate any steamboat lines, and in 1926 all lake service was discontinued. Three of the streetcar boats were scuttled that summer, including the Minnehaha. Three others were scrapped. One of the vessels, the Hopkins, was sold to a private entity and used as an excursion boat until it, too, was scuttled in 1949.
Minnehaha's Resurrection
In 1979, after years of searching for the streetcar boats, a local diver named Jerry Provost located the wreck of the Minnehaha. The following year, Provost and his underwater construction company raised the Minnehaha to the surface with the enthusiastic vision of restoring her and perhaps returning her to passenger service. However, due to State of Minnesota regulations, the Minnehaha sat in dry dock for nearly an entire decade. Finally, in 1990, ownership was transferred to the Steamboat Division of the Minnesota Transportation Museum, and a complete restoration was begun. Six years passed, and by 1996 the restoration was complete, with the Minnehaha returning to passenger service in May of that year.
Since then, ownership of the Minnehaha has been transferred to the Museum of Lake Minnetonka, a nonprofit organization which was formed after the MTM eliminated its Steamboat Division in 2003. The MLM currently operates the Minnehaha out of the cities of Wayzata and Excelsior during the summer and autumn seasons and offers a variety of different excursions (see http://www.steamboatminnehaha.org). She is currently the only authentic steam powered passenger vessel home-ported in Minnesota.
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44°58′11″N 93°30′56″W / 44.96972°N 93.51556°WCoordinates: 44°58′11″N 93°30′56″W / 44.96972°N 93.51556°W