June 29, 2013, Saturday - Preserve Minneapolis Tour: The Lost Gateway District of Minneapolis

Time: 10:00am

Location:  Starting point: The Gay ’90s, at 408 Hennepin Avenue
 
Preserve Minneapolis Tour: The Lost Gateway District of Minneapolis, Guides: Kirsten Delegard and James Eli Shiffer
 
Cost: $8  Buy tickets on Eventbrite
 
During the early twentieth century, the Gateway, or Lower Loop, was the largest skid row in the Upper Midwest, including flophouses, missions, and bars mixed with a variety of other businesses that needed cheap rents and a central location. Between 1959 and 1963, in an effort to clean up the area, Minneapolis demolished 25 blocks, or almost 40 percent of its historic downtown—turning this part of the city into a wasteland of surface parking lots. Revisit the seedy history of the Gateway District and its unfortunate redevelopment, and learn about current proposals to return street life to this formerly bustling area.
 
This tour will walk about 1.5 miles.