Category Archives: Minnesota Tourism

Gully Day Celebrates The Jefferson Highway

In my presentations on Minnesota’s early resorts and tourism, I have often included comments on the Jefferson Highway. However, with the 2015 centennial celebration of the highway’s conception, I have been presenting separate programs focusing primarily on the Jefferson. This … Continue reading

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You Can’t go Straight to Crooked Lake

I recently received some old photographs of the Crooked Lake Fishing Camp, located in the boundary waters area near Ely, Minnesota. The camp was dependent primarily on float planes to transport tourists and supplies from Lake Shagawa, at Ely. In … Continue reading

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Jefferson Highway Centennial Programs Well Attended

I recently presented Jefferson Highway programs for the Wadena County Historical Society’s Spring Lecture Series and for the Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning in conjunction with the Clearwater County Historical Society. I was surprised at the number of people who … Continue reading

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Inconsistencies in old maps

If you’re interested in resort history, maps can be a valuable resource for finding information. Early tourists relied on them not only to show how to reach a resort, but to know what amenities were offered. The maps were usually … Continue reading

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Postcard Images Donated by Lyell Henry

I want to thank Lyell Henry for his recent donation of postcard photos viewed in the “Share your History” of this website. Lyell shares a varied background and a common interest in early tourism, especially as it relates to motels, … Continue reading

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Douglas Lodge: Classic Blue Ribbon Resort #5

One of my all-time favorite places to visit is the historic Douglas Lodge, located on Lake Itasca at Itasca State Park in north central Minnesota. (Lake Itasca is the official source of the Mississippi River.) While few log structures built … Continue reading

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Highways Without Numbers

Minnesota’s International, Transcontinental, and Interstate Auto Trails The beginning of the twentieth century brought dramatic changes to tourism in Minnesota. The reasons? The emergence of continuous highways with uniform signage. This, coupled with the rapid development of the automobile industry, … Continue reading

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What would you name your resort?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (Sunday, August 10, 2014 edition) contains an article written by columnist James Lilek in the “twin cities + region” section under “around the state.” If you still have the newspaper, you can find it on page … Continue reading

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Postcards donated by Darryl Hensel

Darryl Hensel helped me immensely in gathering resort information from the Park Rapids–Itasca Park–Mantrap Valley areas. He unselfishly contributed many early resort images from his collection for my book, The Early Resorts of Minnesota. Now Darryl has offered all the … Continue reading

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Recent Presentations

Jefferson Highway Conference Since my last blog, the annual Jefferson Highway Association Conference, has come and gone, with members already anticipating next year’s 100 year celebration in Muskogee, Oklahoma (April 30–May 2, 2015).   As a new member, I was … Continue reading

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