Minneapolis in the Twentieth Century: The Growth of an American City

by Iric Nathanson

Today, Minneapolis is considered one of the most desirable places to live in the United States. However, like most cities, Minneapolis has its own checkered history.

Iric Nathanson shines a light in dark corners of the city's past, exploring corruption that existed between the police department and city hall, brutal suppression of Depression-era unions, and reports on anti-Semitism at midcentury. Still other subjects that on the surface seem disparaging offer the city's residents an opportunity to shine. Community leaders make a difference during the "long, hot summer" of 1967, when racial violence exploded across the country. Concerned neighbors guide transportation policy from more and bigger highways to forward-looking light rail transit. A forgotten riverfront is transformed into a magnet for people wishing to live and play at the site of the city's earliest successes.

Nathanson skillfully tells these stories and more, always with an eye toward how noteworthy characters, plotlines, and scenes helped create the Minneapolis we know today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2009

Reviews

[Barb Middleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer narrative nonfiction because the characters and setting come alive versus a straight forward presentation of facts that can at times be boring. At times this read like a text book and while the information was good, I didn't think it was organized that well and the first chapter had me confused quite a bit because of my lack of knowledge regarding the structure of government municipalities. I read a link to Wikipedia that cleared up most of my questions regarding mayor-council government. My main confusion was not understanding what made a weak versus strong mayor system. It becomes clear in the chapters that follow as the author digs into the scandals and corruptions involving certain mayors who did nothing to stop illegal prostitution, gambling, and liquor activities.

The first chapter covers charter reform and how the business elite controlled the social and economic patterns in Minneapolis contrasting it to St. Paul where business and labor worked together. The chapters don't follow a chronological order and I found the jumps in time jarring and confusing. My notes says read, "1914 to 1970 to 1948... huh?" I'm not a numbers person so I kept having to go back and reread. By the end of the book it didn't bother me and I was very engaged in the development of downtown Minneapolis's waterfront and the light rail transit. Either I got used to the jumping around or my background knowledge of both projects made those topics easy to follow.

I have always wondered why St. Anthony Main and Riverplace that were so popular in the 1980's went into decline in the 1990's. The author compares the high end condos of Riverplace with the successful Loft apartments by Mill City museum as one reason. In the 2000's St. Anthony Main has been making a bit of a comeback; however, the author doesn't mention this in his 2010 book. The downtown revitalization with the Stone Arch bridge might be a factor but I'm speculating. I suppose that is always a problem with writing a historical book. You can't cover everything (or speculate) and the documentation is labor intensive. The notes section is extensive and the index is dense giving additional resources to dig into topics of interest.

This book touches the surface of major events that caused the city to grow and overall does it well. I learned several tidbits about the city that I didn't know and did learn about the mayor-council government. I would have preferred the book had started with chapter 2 and sprinkled the struggles over government structure within the stories of scandal and bloodshed because then it would have picked the pace up, but I love action so this is more personal taste. At one point I remember thinking... hmmm... what if you wrote a children's book and set it during the height of the milling business when the strikers became violent and killed Arthur Lyman? What if you had a kid who's dad was the salesman for Shell Oil Company like Sam Hynes, who fled for his life when a mob of striking truckers tried to kill him? He was stuck on neutral ground sympathizing with the employers, who he thought had the right to tell people to get back to work while at the same time despising their upper-class arrogance, and with the workers who he thought should be paid more for their work. Next on my list of local books is the one on Minneapolis mobsters. Good stuff.

3 Smileys

[Paul Groinus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political structure, corruption, labor disputes, and pioneering development projects, this book is an interesting read. I really enjoyed the history of the light rail project, as this continues to be a part of our future cities.

If you happen to live in or around the city of sky-tinted waters, this author has posted a few classes in the community education listings.

[Mike Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having moved a lot, I identify many places as home, but Minneapolis has most continuously filled such a place. But that feeling is largely rooted in my childhood and personal experiences. So it is fascinating to see the thematic history surrounding a place I love, especially since so many of the themes have become important to me as a public servant. I found the structure of the book very helpful in that regard. Of course, if I had written it, I would have added a sports theme, but now we’re back at my personal perspective.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was incredibly informative and I know a lot more about the history of my new home than I did before, but it focuses too much on the history of the machinations in City Hall and not enough on the activists and non-elites who have made Minneapolis what it is today.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of the city.

[Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a city that has seen no wars, little crime, not a coup, revolt, bombing, or scandal, what do you write about in a book of its history? The answer, to my delight, is: Nerd Stuff! Iric Nathanson starts off with a raging chapter on the municipal charter and rips through 150 pages of urban renewal, housing policy, departmental consolidation, and transportation policy! Ka-blamo! To be fair, there are a couple of chapters on riots, for those readers who need to occasionally catch their breath. Despite the dense topic matter, Nathanson's writing is fluid enough to prevent eyelid droop, and thankfully avoids the "and then this happened" style of historical writing. But the minimal shelf requirements of this book, combined with the author's tendency to bring chapters into the 21st century, make me wonder why this volume was nominally limited to the 20th century. Was it really too much to go maybe 50 years earlier and make it a complete history of the city? Prequel, anyone?

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

An array of city histories by topic... politics, development, protests. "Minneapolis" is an urban history with a heavy focus on political leadership in the Twin Cities, assembled primarily from newspaper research.

Nathason covers topics by chapter (politics, protest, downtown revitalization); the overlapping chronologies make it tough to relate the multiple narratives to one another.

For those not familiar with the history of North Minneapolis, Nathanson's detailed chapter on race riots and the neighborhood's Jewish community will be an engaging surprise.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flavored with contemporary newspaper quotations and illustrated with period images, this political history inspires greater understanding of a preeminent American city.
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