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| The First Hennepin Avenue Bridge-1855 "A Favorite Place for Skating" |
In his 1904 book "Personal Recollections and Observations of a Pioneer Resident", Frank O'Brien tells many stories about his life growing up in the Great Northwest (Minneapolis)...the following excerpt is one of my favorites.
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| "Fire and Ice" |
It seems to me that the winters in those early times were of much longer duration than now; when they came there was no fooling, but they attended strictly to business, so that lumbermen and skaters alike knew what to depend upon...The favorite place for skating was on the river, from the suspension bridge, now the steel arch bridge, up the (Mississippi) river and around Nicollet Island to the East Side Channel. When the snow would cover up the skating grounds, a committee made up from the boys of St. Anthony would set to work and have it shoveled off, thus giving us a pleasure resort unequalled in the western country...If it was a very cold night or afternoon, the girls would be obliged to pull on woolen socks over their skating shoes to keep their feet from freezing while on the way from their homes to the skating grounds, and the boys would put on an extra pair of woolen socks...
The greatest fun on the ice was in the evening, when a huge bonfire was made, that sent a glow of warmth to a great distance, furnished illumination for the vast piece of glassy surface, and enveloped the entire surroundings in clouds of smoke...
Quite frequently during the winter we would have the brass band on the ice to discourse music for the many beautiful waltzes, the memory of which from this distance of time, is refreshing, indeed.
Watch Kim Yuna..."Poetry in Motion" (start at 1:25)
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