All Along the Watchtower

Article by Michael Rainville, Jr.

Fourteen thousand years ago, sand, gravel and boulders were deposited near the banks of the Mississippi River amongst the otherwise flat plains. As St. Anthony Falls eroded upstream, its surrounding landscape stayed the same. Today, we call one of these clusters of knolls “Tower Hill,” one of the most scenic sites in Minneapolis.

Tower under construction, 1912When the small towns of St. Paul, St. Anthony and Minneapolis were still in their infancy, not too many people ventured far from the town centers. With the addition of University Avenue, a more straightforward connection between the towns was established. However, unless you were wealthy enough to own a horse, development between the towns was few and far between. One of these rare developments was a wooden tower at the highest point of a four-acre plot of land in what is now the Prospect Park Neighborhood. The man who owned it allowed visitors to climb to the top and enjoy the spectacular views of the riverfront for ten cents a person. Because of this wooden tower, people started calling the area Tower Hill.

The land was first platted in 1883, but since the area was very rural and thick with trees, not everyone was up to the task of settling the area. The first permanent residents were mainly dairy farmers whose cows could be seen roaming the steep hills. With its close proximity to the University of Minnesota, the next group of people who settled the area were very learned and quite opinionated. The residents saw the potential of the area, but with major railroad lines a short distance away, they were worried that industry would intrude upon their neighborhood.

The completed "Witch's Hat" water tower in 1915In 1901, Jacob Hofsted, Harry Benton and Charles Ramsdell created the Prospect Park Improvement Association (PPIA) to "defend the areas with its hills and trees, its nearness to the restless Mississippi and its view of the Minneapolis skyline from the encroachment of industry." With the threat of Tower Hill turning into a gravel pit, the PPIA called for the city to create a park on that plot of land. It took five years of constant pressure from the PPIA for the Minneapolis Park Board to unanimously decide to buy the plot for $19,500, or over $560,000 after inflation, a testament to the value the residents created for their neighborhood.

On January 18th, 1908, St. Anthony Heights Park was officially open, and it took another sixteen months and many petitions from the neighborhood to rename the park “Tower Hill Park.” From the get-go, the Park Board decided to keep the park as natural as it can be. Upon the only level ground within the park, a tennis court was installed, and the steep, gravel cliffs were smoothed out to create a sightlier experience. Superintendent Theodore Wirth suggested that an observation tower between fifty and sixty feet should be built on the summit of the hill with multiple paths to lead up to it. He got his wish in 1913 when the City of Minneapolis waterworks department decided to build a water tower in the park.

Sitting 971 feet above sea level, the water tower was completed in 1914 and features a spacious belvedere and steep, conical roof. The unique design of the water tower lead to its colloquial name, “the Witch’s Hat.” The Minneapolis City Council foresaw the popularity of the Witch’s Hat water tower and requested that the park have a caretaker present five days a week which would allow park visitors to climb the tower and enjoy the views.

Street car on the Franklin Avenue Bridge with the Tower in the background, circa 1923.

Photo from the winter of 1962.

Other than repairs to the tower after a lightning strike in 1955, the park received no improvements for sixty-five years. In 1979, work was done to protect to steep park from further erosion, and in 1995, improvements were made that contributed to the park receiving an award from The Committee on Urban Environment. In 1997, the park was put on the National Register of Historic Places as “Prospect Park Water Tower and Tower Hill Park,” and in the midst of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation, stingless wasps were introduced to the park in 2011. In recent times, the Witch’s Hat water tower is open to the public only twice a year, during the Friday after Memorial Day and during the city-wide event Doors Open Minneapolis.

To add to the already legendary status the tower has garnered in Minneapolis, there is a local rumor that it served as inspiration for Bob Dylan’s famous tune All Along the Watchtower, as he had a view of the tower from his home in Dinkytown. In my opinion, that checks out. 

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About Michael Rainville, Jr.

A 6th generation Minneapolitan, Michael Rainville Jr. received his B.A. in History from the University of St. Thomas, and is currently enrolled in their M.A. in Art History and Certificate in Museum Studies programs. Michael is also a historic interpreter and guide at Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote and a lead guide at Mobile Entertainment LLC, giving Segway tours of the Minneapolis riverfront for 7+ years. Contact: mrainvillejr@comcast.net. Click here for an interactive map of Michael's past articles.