‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Amusement, Medical Innovation, and Transit Allied for Success
By Sue Hunter Weir The story of the Wonderland babies is as much of a crowd pleaser today as it was when Wonderland Park was in operation between 1905 and 1912. When Wonderland opened its gates in 1905, it was not just a big news story””it was a huge story. It wasn”'t just that having a modern amusement park was important to the city”'s image and sense of itself as the gateway to the Northwest, it was the effect that the park had on the city”'s infrastructure and economy. In 1905, for the first time, it became possible for Minneapolitans to take a streetcar from Hennepin and Lake to 31st Avenue and Lake without going through downtown. It was no coincidence that 31st and Lake marked the entrance to Wonderland Park. The following year, a newly constructed addition, the Selby-Lake streetcar line, provided easier access to the park for visitors from St. Paul. On busy days, streetcars ran as often as every thirty seconds to handle the crowds. In its first year of [...]
“White Bronze” Monument claimed to “Bridge” centuries
by Sue Hunter Weir-83rd in a Series When Sylvester Cook needed to buy a headstone for his wife, Mary, he wanted one that was beautiful and that would last. He took the somewhat unusual step of ordering a marker for her from the Monumental Brass Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Despite the company”'s name, the marker he bought isn”'t made of brass; it is made of zinc, a much less expensive metal that Monumental Brass, for marketing purposes, advertised as “White Bronze.” Between 1874 and 1914, Monumental Brass was the only company in the United States that manufactured cast zinc markers. They offered their customers hundreds of styles to choose from, and customized the markers with zinc plates that attached to one of their standard marker styles. Customers ordered the markers from local sales representatives or from catalogs at prices ranging from $2.00 for a small marker to $5,000 for a large monument. Monumental Brass Company seems to have learned [...]
Ironic Tragedy! Mourners and Mortician infected by small pox diseased corpse
Almost all cemetery stories are sad, but some are far sadder than others. On May 30th, 2011 at the 142st Memorial Day Celebration Memorial Day at Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, Lu Jacobson came to pay her respects to several members of her family. She came with flowers, most likely the first flowers that her relatives had received in nearly a hundred years. Six members of her family died in 1904, all of them within six weeks of each other. The story began on April 1, 1904 when the Minneapolis Tribune ran the following short story: “Hearing strange and unusual noises in the rooms below at 1:30 this morning, Mrs. Joseph H. Lockwood, of 2854 Twenty-seventh avenue south, ran from her chamber to the first floor, only to find her husband in the last throes of death. Her endeavors and those of other members of the household were unavailing, and the husband and father died without regaining consciousness. Coroner Williams decided that the death was due to [...]
