At a closing on a home in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis the buyer noted that the legal description was the ‘Fairground Addition’… which prompted a lively discussion where we learned this neighborhood was once the site of King’s Fair, held from 1877 through 1882, before the Minnesota State Fair found its current permanent home in 1885.
The King’s Fair Minneapolis fairgrounds included an amphitheater, exhibition halls and a racetrack. The racetrack is outlined in red on the map above, and the train running along Hiawatha Avenue is also highlighted in red… a precursor to the present-day LRT. I love the poster above showing women horseback riders, announcing ‘THE GREATEST EQUESTRIENNE CONTEST OF THE WORLD!”
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, President Rutherford B. Hayes visited the fair in 1878, and in 1881 they launched an impressive hot air balloon with the intention of flying to the East coast but it didn’t even make it past Wisconsin.
Learn more about the history of the Seward neighborhood, one of the oldest in the city of Minneapolis, and King’s Fair (both 1880 and current) in the YouTube video linked below. This is the same ‘Colonel’ King for whom the Kingfield neighborhood and King’s highway of the East Harriet neighborhood are named.
John and Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – info@homesmsp.com
