The Reach of the Rail: All Aboard for the North Shore

Dennis Bartholow will discuss Wayzata’s 157-year history as a railroad town, from the 1867 arrival of the Saint Paul & Pacific Railway, the first rail line to come to Lake Minnetonka, to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the only line that still rumbles along the lakeshore. Dennis will also cover the rail history of Woodland, Orono, and Minnetonka Beach. 

Once a small, lakeside village, Wayzata and its port quickly became the transportation hub for all Lake Minnertonka destinations. By 1879 James J. Hill had acquired the line and soon brought the largest hotel and steamboat to the lake, forever changing the lake’s future, while remaining part of its present.

Wayzata Community Room, Wayzata City Hall, 600 Rice Street East, Wayzata, MN

Free registration is requested. Capacity is limited and seating is first come, first served. Doors open at 6:30 pm. A $5.00 suggested contribution is appreciated.

[Image: The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad is met by the “Lady of the Lake” in Wayzata, 1867. ]

The Society was formed in October 2023 through the consolidation of the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society, the Museum of Lake Minnetonka, the Wayzata Historical Society and the Westonka Historical Society. The new organization has one of the largest archival and three-dimensional collections of Lake Minnetonka history available in-person and online and maintains a Research Archives in Wayzata, as well as Museums in Excelsior, Mound and Wayzata.​

The Society also shares the history of the lake through a variety of public programs and experiences, publishes and sells a number of books about the history of the area and is committed to returning its historic 1906 streetcar steamboat Minnehaha to active operation on Lake Minnetonka to continue her life as a floating museum.

For more information visit LakeMinnetonkaHistory.org or contact the Society at [email protected], 952-474-2115.

Host or Publisher Lake Minnetonka Historical Society