Downtown Excelsior, the Steamboat Minnehaha named to the National Register of Historic Places

Excelsior's downtown commercial district, which includes blocks of quaint buildings dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's very exciting for Excelsior," said Tim Caron, a member of the city's Heritage Preservation Commission, which maintains a local list of historic buildings. "We already have a downtown historic district. This doesn't change that. But what it does do is give it greater recognition on a national level."

Also added to the National Register is the Steamboat Minnehaha, which once served as a "streetcar boat" that shuttled commuters and visitors around Lake Minnetonka and later became a summer tour boat before losing its launch site in 2019.

National Register properties are eligible for state and federal tax credits that make restoring the properties more affordable, Caron said.

Contrary to popular belief, a register listing does not bar property owners from changing or demolishing their buildings. However, the Excelsior commission requires any alterations to downtown properties to conform to the buildings' original appearance.

The Excelsior district, roughly bounded by Lake Street, Third Street and West and East drives, dates to the time when the city was considered a lakeside tourist destination. After tourism declined in the mid-20th century, the Excelsior Amusement Park kept drawing visitors until closing in 1973.

In succeeding years some downtown businesses fell on hard times — a downturn that helped save the city's historic character, Caron said.

"Nobody saw too much of an economic benefit in tearing down buildings. ... There wasn't enough of an upside," he said, adding that the same is true of many popular historic places, such as Charleston, S.C.

Faced with the prospect of a shrinking tax base, Excelsior redefined itself as a day-trip destination and spiffed up its vintage downtown. The plan worked, and visitors flocked to the city.

The interiors of its commercial buildings have changed dramatically since then — stores that once sold light bulbs or aspirin now house boutiques, gift shops and upscale restaurants — but from the outside the city's streetscape looks much as it did in the early 20th century.

The Minnehaha was built in 1906 and was scuttled in Lake Minnetonka, along with other streetcar boats, when cars became common in the 1920s. The boat was hauled from the lake's depths in 1980 and refurbished and relaunched in 1996.

In 2019, the Minnehaha lost access to the ramp from which it was launched and hauled out of the water each spring and fall. Since then it has been housed and maintained in a heated storage facility in Excelsior. The Museum of Lake Minnetonka, the organization that maintains and operates the Minnehaha, hopes to return it for use on the lake if a permanent site can be found to store and launch the vessel.

The State Review Board approved the two properties in August for submission to the National Park Service, which administers the register. They were among four sites added to the register this year from cities around Lake Minnetonka, including the Wayzata Foreman's House, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1902 as a residence for a railroad worker who maintained a stretch of track, and the Minnetonka Town Hall, built in 1906.

Getting a property on the National Register is a complex, multistep process. Nomination forms run dozens of pages, often based on research by a hired consultant.

Katy Read • 612-673-4583