local
Sample Minnesota's rich history, courtesy of a microfilm archive of newspaper articles, photos and ads dating back more than 140 years. Fresh items are posted once or twice a week. Go here for tips on how to track down old newspaper articles on your own. Or visit the Yesterday's News archives, a searchable library of more than 300 articles.
Follow the blog on Twitter.
NEW: "Minnesota Mayhem," a book based on the blog, is a collection of stories about disasters, accidents, crimes and bad behavior.
E-mail Ben with your questions or suggestions.
resize text 
email us
find us on Facebook
subscribe via RSS
Posts about Minnesota History
May 26, 1911: Water main bursts, floods North Side
Posted by: Ben Welter Updated: January 4, 2013 - 4:59 PM
Minneapolis was plagued by water main breaks in the early 1900s as the city struggled to meet the needs of its growing population. The water department supervisor, Edmund Sykes, was forced to resign a month after a particularly nasty break that washed out streets on the North Side and lowered water pressure citywide.
From the Minneapolis Tribune:
 |
| The Camden Place Pumping Station, also known as Pumping Station No. 3, in about 1898. (Image courtesy of mnhs.org)
|
Water Main Bursts;
Floods Neighborhood
Break in New 36-Inch Feed Tube causes Damage in Camden Place.
City Engineer Believes It Was a Mistake to Lay Pipe in Winter.
Supervisor Sykes Says There Will Be No More Danger.
Property several blocks in extent in the vicinity of Forty-first avenue north and Lyndale avenue was flooded or excavated by a torrent of water which burst from the new 36-inch water main at daylight yesterday.
Homes and store buildings were flooded, sections of fences swept away, street car and railroad tracks either undermined or submerged and streets in the vicinity left with great holes in them.
But people whose property lay in the path of the raging flood were not the only persons to recognize the seriousness of the break. Immediately following the break pressure fell all over the city, and it was almost impossible to get water from the pipes in some of the higher residential sections. On account of the diminished pressure Supervisor Sykes issued a request that all persons be sparing in their use of the water.
Break Occurs Early.
It was between 4 and 5 a.m. when the break came. It was accompanied by a cannon-like noise and the torrent of water divided immediately upon leaving the main, judging by the trails of destruction which it left in its wake.
One big stream rushed northward in Lyndale avenue, tearing out curbs, ripping big holes, some four feet, in the street. It passed over the torn-out curbing and went on into the cellars of the stores and homes.
Half way to Forty-second avenue a big portion of this immense stream tore though and past the buildings which stand in the triangle formed by Washington, Lyndale and Forty-first avenues north. It crossed Washington avenue, leaving great holes behind it, speedily swept down Soo avenue, which is a short thoroughfare leading to the pumping station park.
The two small lagoons in the park were filled with sand and bits of wreckage picked up along the route and then the water spread out over the park.
Store Basements Flooded.
But a big body of water had continued its course on Lyndale avenue, not cutting across lots as the first. It swept down upon the store buildings at Camden place.
The Lyndale hotel, from which the guests were hurrying to the street, was flooded, butter and eggs stored in the basement floating to the ceiling. The hotel garden was torn out and the blooming flowers washed away in the flood.
The basements of the Camden Steam laundry, 4200 Lyndale Avenue; the Camden Hardware company and the grocery of R.A. Findorrf, 4170 Washington avenue north, were filled with water and debris.
Down Forty-second avenue and across Camden Place the torrent swept, tearing through a fence and bursting out on the Soo Line tracks where rails were torn up by its force. Everywhere sidewalks and curbing had been swept away, the concrete curbing being taken up, twisted and torn to little pieces.
The wye track, where the Camden Place cars make their turn for the trip back to the city, were flooded and heaped with sand. So was the main line track on Washington avenue. Gangs of men were soon at work clearing and repairing street and steam railroad tracks.
Firemen Respond.
Firemen of engine company No. 20, Forty-first and Lyndale avenues, were right on the scene of the big break and they scampered from their beds and down the poles faster than when speeding to a fire. The basement of their own engine house soon was flooded, as were the homes of N. Henderson, 4046 Lyndale avenue; Mrs. Harry Rydburg, 4054 Lyndale avenue; John Halmberg, 4039 Sixth street north, and many others.
The force of the break was better understood by the residents of the vicinity when they discovered, after the water had been turned off at the pumping station, a ditch 12 feet deep and 20 feet wide at the point of the break. Other holes six feet deep along the route were common. The water pressure at the city hall gauge dropped from 60 pounds, which is norm, to 20 in a few minutes.
Dissension Is Started.
Dissension between the officials of the city engineering and water department which has been lying dormant for several months came to a head as a result of the breaking of the big main. It was the third break in two weeks and officials in the city engineering department blamed Supervisor Sykes for the accidents. Mr. Sykes came back with the reply that the accident was caused by the carelessness of the employes of the sewer department who in laying a sewer parallel to the water pipe loosened the earth which served as a support to a valve leading from the main causing it to blow out under the water pressure.
Sewer Engineer Hilstrup indignantly denied this and declared that there was about as much truth to it as there was to Mr. Sykes’ first theory that the pipe was cracked by the blasting of rock by the sewer department the day before the accident occurred.
Specifications Neglect Claimed.
Water Engineer Jensen of the city engineer’s department says that the breaks have been caused by the supervisor’s failure to follow the specifications under which the main was to be constructed. He points out that when the main blew up at the corner of Plymouth and Aldrich avenues north it was because the supervisor had neglected to connect a cross pipe between the big main and closed with a valve. The result was that the force of the water pressure blew out the valve and caused the flooding of that entire district. He charges that the break of yesterday was caused by the same neglect on the part of the water department.
City Engineer Rinker, although somewhat reticent, simply denied that the laying of the sewer had anything to do with the blowing up of the main.
“I advised strongly against laying the main in the winter owing to the frost in the ground,” said Mr. Rinker. “At points where the pipe is not laid on a bed of stone it is pretty likely to sink, putting a great strain on the pipe.”
Spite Work, Says Supervisor.
Supervisor Sykes declares that the city engineering department is knocking the water department in every work that it undertakes. He favors divorcing the two departments, making them absolutely separate and independent of each other.
“There are too many heads to the water department,” said Mr. Sykes. “If I am to be held responsible I want to have absolute control. What we want is centralization of responsibility. This policy is being adopted all over the country. The people ought to know where to put the blame for inefficiency and where to give praise. With our department, every time there is room for praise the city engineer wants it all but when an accident occurs they place the blame on us.”
Supervisor Sykes charges that the city engineer is trying to dominate his department and has antagonized him wherever possible. He points out that when he recommended a new 36-inch main to relieve the water drought in the city last summer City Engineer Rinker opposed it as unnecessary and that it was with some difficulty that he persuaded the council committee to build the main. He also points out that when he favored the purchase of additional pumps for the Camden station, Mr. Rinker opposed it.
“They have hampered us,” continued Mr. Sykes. “They have hurt the department by criticizing it.”
Work Hurried.
Mr. Sykes explains the breaks which have occurred by the fact that the work on the main was hurried too much to satisfy the clamor of the people. He says that they wanted the main and they have it.
“There may be a few accidents, but we must give the people service,” he continued. “It is true that the main was laid in winter when there was frost in the ground. Supposing we had delayed until spring. Then there would have been another drought in the city even more serious than last year. The statements of Water Engineer Jenson that the breaks would not have occurred if we had followed specifications and connected with cross pipes with the intersecting mains may be true. But we hadn’t time to do it. The people need the service.”
Mr. Sykes holds to his opinion, however, that the break in the main on Fortieth avenue north was caused by the building of a sewer nearby. He says that he can see no other reason for the accident.
Breach Is Widening.
The breach between the two departments has been widening for several months. It was irritated when the supervision of the construction of the new filtration plant was placed in the hands of City Engineer Rinker. Supervisor Sykes feels he ought to have been the man in charge of that work as the head of the water department.
“I suppose if anything happens to the filtration plant after it has been completed we will get the blame for it,” said Mr. Sykes, “although we had nothing to do with its construction. We ought to know what kind of a plant is being built and every detail. It would be of value to us in operating the plant in the future.”
Alderman Gould, chairman of the waterworks committee, does not believe that either department can be blamed for the accidents. He declares that it is an accident which would have occurred under any circumstance and that he has no complaint to make.
Water was turned into the 36-inch main at 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon following a shutoff of 12 hours because of the accident. Water pressure rose at the city hall gauge shortly after and by evening was at its normal stage.
 |
| This postcard shows Camden Place Park, Minneapolis, in about 1909. (Image courtesy of hclib.org)
|
 |
| The Camden Place State Bank at Soo and Washington Avenues N. in about 1910. (Image courtesy of hclib.org)
|
July 11, 1907: A baffling gender switch
Posted by: Ben Welter Updated: December 28, 2012 - 11:46 PMHere’s a century-old mystery that remains unsolved – unless you count the fanciful and self-serving explanation that appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune over the next two days.
BAFFLING MYSTERY
CAUSES COMMOTION
UGLY MAN TRANSFORMED INTO HANDSOME WOMAN.
“Was It a Dream?” Asks Hack Driver, Sorely Puzzled.
ANOTHER PAWN ENTERS INTO GAME IN SHAPE OF STRANGER WHO DISAPPEARS.
The “Mystery of the Hack, or, How Bold is Ann,” is the appropriate title of a strange story dealing with the experiences of two most unusual individuals in Minneapolis early Tuesday evening.
Who they were, where they were going, what crime they had committed, how long they have been crazy and what became of them are questions that remain unanswered.
It was several minutes after 7 o’clock when a very ordinary appearing man approached Wilman Franzo, a hack driver at the West hotel, and asked to be driven rapidly to the Milwaukee depot. The next train out was the Pioneer Limited and the cabbie couldn’t see just why he should tire his horses when there was plenty of time to catch the train. Nevertheless, he hustled along, and arriving at the station, jumped down and opened the door of his vehicle, and was astonished to see a smartly dressed young woman step out.
SMILES SWEETLY.
 |
|
| The Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis in about 1901: Which "toilet room" did the passenger slip into, men's or women's? (Photo courtesy of the Hennepin County Library's Minneapolis Collection) |
Greatly mystified, he slowly returned to his stand at the hotel, still positive, however, that it was a man whom he had picked up and as he had made no other stop, his deduction was that Mr. Plainlooking Man had changed himself into Miss Charming Woman.
At the hotel he was still further perturbed to learn that Carriage Agent George W. Shipton had just been approached by a peculiar looking black whiskered, nervous individual who wanted to know if a certain woman had taken a hack. He then proceeded to describe the woman whom the hack driver had left at the Milwaukee depot.
She was good looking; had auburn hair; her gown was well tailored, of a fluffy leather colored material. She wore long gloves and a sailor hat with green parrot colored feathers, which was draped with an automobile veil.
MAN HURRIES AWAY.
The man who inquired about her, upon receiving an unfavorable reply from the carriage agent, approached Chief Clerk Conry, who, of course, was likewise unable to give the desired information. The man then wanted to know what time the next train left on the Minneapolis and St. Louis road, and being told that it left at 3 o’clock made a hurried exit, and was not again seen.
Whether or not the uncanny passenger whom he handed into his hack carried a grip or not, the hackman is unable to say. He is under the impression that there was a grip, but he does not remember having handled it. If there was no grip, how the man disguised himself as a woman added to the already complicated episode.
Whether the person in the hack and the man, who later called, were partners in crime no one can say. One Sherlock Holmes, more brave than the rest, has it figured out that the person who got into the hack was really and man and that he changed his clothing on the way to the depot to escape detection while on board the train. The second man is thought to have missed his appointment with his pal, thus accounting for his nervous haste.
At any rate, the mystery remains as baffling as ever, and the more the hackman thinks about it the more troubled are his dreams.
The next day, with no fact-based explanation in reach, the Tribune identified the cab passenger as the fictional newspaper heroine “Fluffy Ruffles,” an attractive and well-attired young woman who couldn’t hold a job because she was such a distraction to men.
 |
|
| Miss Ruffles, the creation of Carolyn Wells and Wallace Morgan, inspired a line of paper dolls and a Broadway musical. |
Hack Mystery Is
Solved; it Was
Fluffy Ruffles?
The strange young woman who shocked a hackman by stepping from his vehicle at the Milwaukee depot Tuesday evening, when the driver believed he had a man, was probably Fluffy Ruffles, the stunning young woman whose marvelous feats have been watched with absorbing interest by readers of The Tribune.
Of course, there is no proof that it was really Fluffy, but it is known that the young woman contemplated taking a run out in the country for a breath of fresh air, and with her magical accomplishments she could easily have deceived the hackman.
If, however, it was not Miss Ruffles, the mystery is as deep as ever, for nothing more has been heard of the principals in the strange episode.
On July 13, the Tribune took the joke a step further, quoting the indefatigable Miss Ruffles in a story that listed the uncanny likenesses between the comic strip character and the gender-switching passenger.
DID IT WITH MY SMILE
REALLY NO CAB MYSTERY – FLUFFY RUFFLES ADMITS.
Deductions of Amateur Sleuths Are Spoiled When Pretty Sunday Tribune Heroine Blushes When Asked Point Blank if She Is the “Guilty Party.”
Fluffy Ruffles admits having taken the ride and the mystery of the hack is cleared.
 |
|
| Miss Ruffles opened a chocolate shop in an episode that filled an entire page of the Tribune on July 21, 1907. Click on the image to see the full page, which probably appeared in color in the newspaper. |
To add to the tangle an excited individual rushed up to the carriage agent shortly after the hack had gone and wanted to know if a young woman had been there and then described the young woman who got out at the station.
Since then there has been frantic efforts by “near” detectives and other amateur sleuths to solve the problem, but only The Tribune has made the proper deductions.
First – It was reasoned that whoever did the transformation stunt must have been an unusually clever woman.
Notation number one, in favor of Fluffy.
Second – The strange passenger smiled sweetly and gave the driver a dollar bill, with one corner missing.
Fluffy always smiles, and to know the money if she ever sees it again cuts the corners off her bills.
Third – The individual who chartered the cab was possessed of a rare power, pleasing, it is true, but none the less effective, by which she made the open-mouthed hack driver imagine she was a man. Fluffy Ruffles again.
Fourth – The excited man who inquired after the young woman had a milk pan which he wished converted to a Paris hat. It was easy to deduct that he was after The Tribune’s heroine, Fluffy Ruffles.
When point blank accused of the little escapades yesterday, Fluffy blushed prettily. “I did it with my little smile,” was all that she would say.
Dec. 19, 1905: Dear Santa, please bring me a ...
Posted by: Ben Welter Updated: December 25, 2012 - 3:13 PMIn the early part of the 20th century, American newspapers published letters to Santa Claus collected at post offices around the country. The headlines on this example, from the Minneapolis Tribune, suggest that at least one copy editor was a bit tired of the genre.
MORE DEMANDS MADE
CHILDREN CONTINUE TO ASK FOR PRESENTS.
One Thoughtful Child Warns Santa Claus Against Trying to Come Down Chimney – Enormous Pack Needed to Meet Requests.
“Dear Santa Claus – This Christmas you cannot come through the chimly because it is to narrow and you will skrach your cheeks so we will be all up waiting for you, so please bring me a pair of skates, a bag of nuts and candy and good magic lanterns. So I think this will be all. Yours truly, Charles Wojtaszek, Ninth avenue main street northeast, number 507.”
“Dear Santa Claws: Will you please bring me an auto express wagon, ball, animal book and a suit of clothes. Please don’t forget me. I am five years old. My name is Toney and I live across the street from Shol’s grocery store.”
“dear Santa Claws please bring alice and pearl Katzenberg a bureau and a plane set of dishes and a red doll cloak and a white dress and a rocking chair and a picture book. This will be all your friend alice, 602 17th ave north.”
“Dear Santa Claus – Please bring me a new white fir for my neck and a little white muff. Also a little stove and bureau for dolly. Sincerely yours, Virginia L. Layman, 718 11th ave., S.E.”
“Dear santa Claus – I want a pair of skates and I want a pair of leggings also I can have some fun I am 8 years old and of course I want some candy and I want one or two story book and that will be all I want, and my sister Helen wants a dollie buggie and she wants a pair of shoes and a little table and a little rocking chair dollbed and that will be all and please call at 822 main street north east. John Leroy.”
 |
| These images of letters to Santa appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune on Dec. 21, 1919.
|
Here are a few more letters published in the Tribune in those years:
“Dear Santa Clause: This means kisses * * * * * and this means hugs 0 0 0 0 0 0. I want you to bring me a pair of skates, little table, bureau, jack-in-the-box, trunk, piano, gold ring, doll dress in pink 22 inches long candy and nuts. Your little girl, ETHEL ANDERSON, 1900 G. Street northeast.” – Dec. 16, 1906
“Dear Santa: -- I am a little boy eight years old and I am going to write you a letter and tell you what I wood like you to bring me four Christmas. I want a drum, a nice big one, I want some games a game of Flinch. I want a pair of cowboy mittens. Now dear Santa bring me these and I know you will cause you always are good to me. We’ll leave the front door open cause the chimney is full of sut. I live at 2114 Thirteenth avenue south good by – Arnold Hendrickson.” – Dec. 23, 1906
“Dear Santa Claus: This is Harold’s and Dumpy’s letter to Santa Claus. Harold wants mittens, horn and new suit of clothes and Dumpy wants a doll with a hat on and gang trains and rubber balls and this is all. I wish you a happy Xmas. HAROLD AND DUMPY.” – Dec. 17, 1908
“Dear Santa Claus, I have five sisters and one baby brother. If you have any toys left in your big bag, please remember us. For Santa Claus always forgets me and my sisters. I want it to snow so that Santa Claus will be sure and come.” – Dec. 12, 1910
March 2, 1951: The bride wore blue
Posted by: Ben Welter Updated: December 24, 2012 - 9:52 PMHere's a sweet slice of 1950s life from the Minneapolis Tribune's Robert T. Smith, who died last week. Smith is probably best remembered for his 20-some years as a Tribune columnist. Said Frank Wright, a former Star Tribune foreign correspondent and managing editor: "He saw himself as the voice of the little people who usually didn't get into the newspaper."
‘Good Will’ Nuptials
Close Goodwill Store
By ROBERT T. SMITH
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
 |
| Sharing a bite on their big day. |
On the second floor rear, in a small white chapel, a wedding was in progress.
A sign on the door of the store read: “Closed today from 2 to 2:30 p.m.”
The scent of moth balls substituted for orange blossoms, but the feeling of joyful excitement was there.
It was the marriage of Harry Bennewate, 53, 109 Nicollet avenue, and Mrs. Helen Mosby, 52, 316 Colfax avenue N.
It was the first marriage in the chapel of Goodwill Industries of Minneapolis headquarters, 417 S. Third street, since it opened in 1924.
BENNEWATE, a store janitor, worked Thursday until it became time for him to get ready for the wedding. Mrs. Mosby, a kitchen worker and widow, took the “whole day off.”
Both will report to work as usual today.
Guests at the wedding were most of the 86 Goodwill employes, who took a collection and presented the couple with $16. Average age of the guests was over 50.
Outside the chapel was a freight elevator. The remainder of the second floor was filled with huge piles of old clothes and other discarded objects collected and sold by the Goodwill.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the presence of God …”
It was Dr. William J. Barr, pastor of Prospect Park Methodist church, speaking to the bride and groom, both dressed in dark blue.
“LOVE AND LOYALTY alone will avail as foundation of a home …”
The bride turned slightly toward the bridegroom and smiled. She could have been thinking of the first day they met two years ago in the Goodwill kitchen.
At that time he was a Goodwill truck driver and used to kid her when he came off a run.
“In hope the home you will establish will abide in peace …”
The bridegroom stood quietly, was “all business.” He gazed often at a stream of sunlight flowing though a small stainglass window in front of the chapel.
 |
|
| Robert T. Smith sported a bow tie early in his career at the Minneapolis Tribune. |
HE COULD have remembered how he had always been a bachelor, how it was “too lonely” and what a “good time” he and Helen had together.
When it came time to speak their small part of the ceremony, both appeared nervous. The bridegroom said “I do” twice, the bride said it three times.
At ring placing time, one of the guests audibly whispered, “Maybe it’s too small.”
“It’s just right,” Dr. Barr said absently. “I don’t know why I said that. It’s just such a happy affair I just had to say it.”
Everybody stood just before the words, “I pronounce that they are husband and wife.” All recited the Lord’s prayer.
The couple kissed, and it was no mere peck.
“I don’t know what sermon to preach to you young kids,” Dr. Barr said. The guests laughed.
He told them that life was a “50-50 proposition” and “more often than not can be a happy, wonderful, joyous thing.”
The guests had coffee and cake, there was picture taking and much talking. The couple left in an automobile.
The sign was taken off the door, and the guests went back to work.
Postscript: A check of Social Security death records suggests that Helen, bless her heart, shaved nine years off her age for this story.
April 21, 1911: Connie Mack blames slump on bridegrooms
Posted by: Ben Welter Updated: December 22, 2012 - 2:29 PMVikings quarterback Christian Ponder drew some heat this week for getting married six days before a big game with Houston. Perhaps this century-old story from the Minneapolis Tribune can provide fans with some hope.
 |
|
| Connie Mack in 1911 |
“Too Many Bridegrooms
Reason for Slump of
Athletics,” Says Mack
Philadelphia, April 21. – Connie Mack has to his own satisfaction ascertained the real reason for the losing streak of the champion Athletics. It is a most unique excuse for losing baseball games.
“I have the best team in the world,” said Mack, “but the trouble is that I have too many bridegrooms on it. My recently married men get on the field, their brides sit in the grand stand and the men are so anxious to please they just forget what they know of the game.
“And the worst of it all,” continued Mack, “is that I am a bridegroom myself, so what on earth am I going to do about it?”
Postscript: The Athletics managed to turn things around that year, finishing the regular season with a 101-50 record and beating the New York Giants 4 games to 2 in the World Series.
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- May 26, 1911: Water main bursts, floods North Side
- July 11, 1907: A baffling gender switch
- Dec. 19, 1905: Dear Santa, please bring me a ...
- March 2, 1951: The bride wore blue
- April 21, 1911: Connie Mack blames slump on bridegrooms
- March 6, 1914: Helen and Warren’s cheerless trip
- Oct. 7, 1906: 'Vampire rats' terrorize Minneapolis chickens
- Jan. 1, 1889: The life of a night editor
- Jan. 1, 1889: What does a managing editor do?
- Jan. 1, 1889: How a great newspaper is made
- May 15, 1915: City jobs will go to married men
- Nov. 10, 1975: Edmund Fitzgerald reported missing
- Oct. 8, 1922: How to put off death indefinitely
- Oct. 31, 1912: A dinkey man’s sad story
- Feb. 14, 1902: A festive night in the smallpox ward
- Oct. 20, 1899: How to move 120 tons of bridge
- May 2, 1877: Our filthy, squalid and 'unsewered’ metropolis
- Oct. 5, 1882: A ‘family quarrel’ in Blaine
- Sept. 18, 1920: A cranial cure for ‘criminal tendencies’
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters