Minnehaha (steamboat) facts for kids
Steamboat Minnehaha in Excelsior, Minnesota
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Quick facts for kids History |
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 United States |
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| Name | Minnehaha |
| Owner |
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| Route | Lake Minnetonka |
| Builder | Twin City Rapid Transit Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Launched |
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| In service |
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| Homeport | Excelsior, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Identification | MN 1906 GF |
| Status | Temporarily out of service |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | TCRT Express Boat |
| Displacement | 55 short tons (49.9 t) |
| Length | 70 ft (21.3 m) |
| Beam | 14 ft 10 in (4.5 m) |
| Draft | 5 ft 7.5 in (1.7 m) |
| Decks | 2 |
| Installed power | 127 hp (94.7 kW) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Capacity | 101 persons |
| Crew | 3 (Pilot, Purser, Engineer) |
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Minnehaha (steamboat)
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 Location in Minnesota
Location in the United States
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| Location | 140 George Street, Excelsior, Minnesota |
| Built | 1906 |
| NRHP reference No. | 100007073 |
| Added to NRHP | October 25, 2021 |
The Minnehaha is a cool old steam-powered boat that used to carry people across Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. This boat was first used from 1906 to 1926. After that, it was actually sunk on purpose in the lake! But don't worry, it was brought back up in 1980, fixed up, and started sailing again in 1996. It kept sailing until 2019 and is now being stored in Excelsior, Minnesota.
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The Story of the Minnehaha
The Minnehaha was built in 1906 by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT). It helped people get around Lake Minnetonka quickly and easily in the early 1900s. The Minnehaha was one of six identical sister boats. These boats were named Como, Harriet, Hopkins, Stillwater, and White Bear.
TCRT asked a boat builder named Royal C. Moore to design these "Express Boats" in 1905. Each boat was about 70 feet (21 m) long and 14 feet 10 inches (5 m) wide. They needed 5 feet 7 inches (2 m) of water to float. Each boat was powered by a coal-fired boiler and a special triple-expansion steam engine.
The boats had a sleek, modern design for their time. This made them very stable and efficient. They could cut through the water at about 12 miles per hour (19 km/h). The boats were designed in Wayzata. They were put together at TCRT's streetcar shops in south Minneapolis.
"Streetcar Boats" in Action
The Express Boat service started on May 25, 1906, from Minnetonka Beach. Later that year, a special terminal was built in Excelsior. All four boat routes then started and ended there. The main job of these Express Boats was to give fast rides to people who lived on Lake Minnetonka. Many of these people traveled to work in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area.
The boats stopped at 26 different places around the lake. They were made to look a lot like TCRT's streetcars. Even their yellow and red paint scheme was the same! Because they looked like streetcars and were named after busy streetcar stops, people called them the "streetcar boats."
For many years, the streetcar boats were very popular and made good money. In 1915, a seventh boat named Excelsior was added to the fleet. This was because so many people were riding them.
End of an Era
However, fewer people rode the boats when roads around Lake Minnetonka got better in the early 1920s. TCRT started cutting back on steamboat service after 1921. They stopped all steamboat service on Lake Minnetonka in 1926. That summer, three of the streetcar boats, including the Minnehaha, were sunk on purpose. Three other boats were taken apart for scrap. One boat, the Hopkins, was sold to a private owner. It was used as an excursion boat until 1949, when it was also sunk.
The Minnehaha's Return
In 1979, a diver named Jerry Provost found the sunken Minnehaha at the bottom of Lake Minnetonka. One year later, Jerry and his company brought the Minnehaha back to the surface. They wanted to fix it up and let it carry passengers again. But because of some legal issues, the Minnehaha sat in a dry dock for 10 years.
After many court cases, the boat's ownership went to the Steamboat Division of the Minnesota Transportation Museum in 1990. Then, a six-year effort to fix and restore the boat began. The Minnehaha finally started carrying passengers again on May 25, 1996. It operated on Lake Minnetonka as an excursion vessel until 2019.
Today, the Minnehaha is owned and run by the Museum of Lake Minnetonka. This museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group made of volunteers. The museum lost access to the Minnehaha's launch site at the end of 2019. Because of this, the boat has not been in service since then. The Minnehaha was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. This means it's a very important historical site!
Gallery
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Minnehaha in 1906
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Express Boat Como meeting a streetcar in 1906
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Express Boat interior circa 1906
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Minnehaha c. 1910
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Express Boat Hopkins c. 1912
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Express Boats Harriet and Minnehaha c. 1912
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Minnehaha c. 1999
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Minnehaha's steam engine
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Minnehaha in 2010
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Minnehaha in 2014
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The restored Minnehaha in dry dock
See also
