The most prominent gas station near downtown Minneapolis wants to make it easier for cars to hop in for a fill-up, but a 123-year-old relic of Minneapolis' Swedish heritage is standing in the way.
Bobby and Steve's Auto World bought a two-story building next to their flagship store about a decade ago on Washington Avenue beside Interstate 35W, with plans to demolish it and another structure to improve traffic flow. But their application hit a snag at City Hall, after research revealed the building's 19th century history as a well-known local watering hole named the Stockholm Saloon.
The debate over the building has become a familiar one in Minneapolis as development heats up and property owners see a better use for small-scale historical structures that — while sometimes deteriorating — have shaped the city's streets for generations. Bobby and Steve's proposed demolition is unique, however, for its goal is to accommodate cars rather than a new retail-residential building.
"This is on historic Washington Avenue, on a corridor where we're trying incredibly hard to facilitate retail growth and activity that's presently just been a thruway for cars," Council Member Jacob Frey said. "And if the goal is retail and activity then why would we take great efforts to knock down a building and expand a gas station?"
The company contends that the existing conditions are dangerous for customers, a higher-than-normal number of whom do not return to the station. "You literally can be trapped in our fueling station," said Steve Williams, who owns Bobby and Steve's with his father. "And people don't like to have that feeling of being trapped. So they avoid using us because of that."
Upon investigating the history of 1207 Washington Av., city staff recommended blocking demolition and launching a study for possible historic designation. The city had previously studied the traffic safety issues, but found no major problems. The measure heads to a vote of the city's heritage preservation commission next week, though it will likely end up at the City Council.
The building dates to the 1880s, a booming era in Minneapolis when Washington Avenue S. was a thriving Scandinavian-dominated commercial and entertainment district. It was built in 1892 for $90,000 by Al "Stockholm" Olson, who had immigrated from Sweden 12 years earlier and was already operating a saloon several blocks away.
Storied dance hall
The Minneapolis Tribune wrote in 1897 it was the "most elaborately furnished saloon. It was gorgeous, as compared with the old place, and it attracted the eye of the thirsty south Minneapolitans, who had prior thereto refreshed themselves in the old rough and tumble saloon."