Sixth Street and Second Avenue South: For a brief, shining moment, there was — well, not Camelot, exactly. More like a parking lot, but prettier.
The construction of the First Bank tower required the demolition of some old brick citizens. The corner of 6th Street and 2nd Avenue went first, in 1955; the rest of the site would have to wait for the removal of the New York Life Insurance building, a tall, thick block that had to be clawed apart brick by brick.
Rather than let the newly cleared corner sit fallow, it was turned into an ice rink, and then, in 1956, to celebrate Minneapolis' first 100 years, it was redone as Centennial Park.
It might not look like much, but according to the First Bank's promotional material, it had "a replica of historic Minnehaha Falls ... and exact restoration of the first post office at St. Anthony in 1849," as well as "gay pennants flying." In the 1956 sense, of course.
A 40-piece police band serenaded the late-May opening. "Aquatennial royalty" attended, and presided over the ceremonial "christening" of the waterfall. The ad promoted upcoming events: "Antique cars, Hollywood stars, barbershop singing, etc."
What they didn't know was that President Eisenhower himself would visit months later, giving a campaign speech at the park on Oct. 16. Nat Finney, former Star editor, attended Ike's event, and told columnist Cedric Adams he was ashamed by the sight of Minneapolitans ignoring the national anthem and keeping their hats on.
The park reopened the next spring for a few months, before it was cleared and the site excavated for the new tower's foundation. The park's success, however, resulted in the bank dedicating the corner of 2nd Avenue and 5th Street to a new plaza, picking up where Centennial left off. You may know it now as a blank expanse of stone with a half-dozen trees, and a notable absence of barbershop quartets.
