Where did the idea for Minneapolis' skyways come from?

It's hard to imagine downtown Minneapolis without its skyways. They have become, after all, as distinctly Minnesotan as hockey and hot dish.

But where did the idea for the skyway system come from?

It turns out the skyways were not a reaction to Minnesota's frigid climate.

Some attribute them to Leslie Park, a Minneapolis developer who proposed them to keep businesses downtown. General Mills left downtown in 1955 for Golden Valley, and the next year, Southdale Center opened in Edina.

"Southdale was the first climate-controlled, enclosed shopping center in the country," said Iric Nathanson, a local historian. "Park felt that Southdale was going to suck all of the economic and financial energy out of downtown."

When Park's company developed the Northstar Center in 1959, he designed an enclosed walkway to link the building with Northwestern Bank. The link was built in 1962. As new skyscrapers developed, many included skyways. "[They] spread out like an octopus," said Nathanson.

This skyway question is a part of Curious Minnesota, our community-driven reporting project that invites Star Tribune readers into the newsroom. To get us rolling, we're answering this question from a curious staff member.

Before freeways circled Minneapolis, drivers from across the state were directed through downtown, leading to congested streets and dangerous crosswalks, said Jack Byers, a former city planner.

Planners "envisioned a system of second-story walkways that would take pedestrians up off the sidewalk so they were not having to cross … where cars were turning," he said.

It wasn't until the construction of the IDS Center in 1972 that the individual skyways transformed into a sprawling system. "There was this idea to turn the city inside out so that the public space was on the interior rather than the exterior," Byers said.

Minneapolis was one of the first North American cities to construct a full-fledged system, Nathanson said, but St. Paul was not far behind in 1967. Since the Minneapolis skyways are managed by the buildings they link (St. Paul's are public), the two cities approach the system differently. St. Paul skyways blend into the cityscape "like furniture," said architectural historian Elizabeth Gales, but Minneapolis owners give their bridges a unique flair.

Here's more skyway trivia:

• The latest skyway addition came with U.S. Bank Stadium a few years ago.

• In 2015, a Brainerd family bought a 280,000-pound skyway, converting it into a home.

Whether you view the skyways as notoriously hard to navigate or a shield from the elements, they have become a permanent downtown fixture.

"They're very interesting things," Gales said, "love them or hate them."