Thirty-plus feet of rain gutter? Check. A few rolls of aluminum foil to line it? Check. Scores of peeled bananas? Check. Gallons and gallons of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup — and a few cans of maraschino cherries to top it all off? Check, check, check! On July 4, 1969, Mrs. Donald Schrader of south Minneapolis had all the makings of the holiday weekend's largest banana split. Her neighbors in the 4100 block of Ewing Avenue S. lined up for the colossal dessert. (Minneapolis Tribune photo by Powell Krueger)

The lovely Lorraine Olson — your great-grandmother, perhaps? — appeared on the front page of the Minneapolis Star on July 4, 1936, as part of a three-photo package titled "As Minneapolis Celebrates the Fourth of July." The caption listed no age or location.