City created Gerber Baths for substitute swimming Mississippi”'s lures claim lives with drowning

Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery

By Sue Hunter Weir

There are 139 drowning victims buried in Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery.  A handful of them were intentional””people who committed suicide by drowning””but the majority of the drowning deaths were accidental.  Many of those victims were boys or young men.

Although Minnesota prides itself on being the land of 10,000 lakes, it is the Mississippi River that holds the greatest attraction for many kids doing what kids do in the summertime:  fishing, swimming, just fooling around.  The headlines for stories about boys who drowned, described the boys as “venturesome” or “adventurous,” and often spoke of the river “claiming” the boys.  Given the attractions and opportunities that the river held for boys, the idea that the river claimed them seems particularly fitting.

The cemetery”'s first recorded drowning was that of an unknown child.  He is identified in the cemetery records only as “Unknown German Boy,” but how those who found his body knew that he was German is something of a mystery.  This unnamed child drowned in August 1862 but there is no further information about his age or about where he drowned although, given how early it was in the city”'s history, the river seems the most likely place.… Read the rest “City created Gerber Baths for substitute swimming Mississippi”'s lures claim lives with drowning”