Tour - Historic Downtown Wayzata Walking Tour

Historic Downtown Wayzata Walking Tour

Wayzata, Minnesota 55391, United States

Created By: Hennepin County

Tour Information

This walking tour is brought to you through a partnership between the Wayzata Historical Society, Hennepin County Active Living and Hennepin County Wayzata Library. It is a pilot project to provide families and individuals with a fun and educational activity to enjoy at any time, but particularly while practicing social distancing.

Tour information was provided by the Wayzata Historical Society.

Tour Map

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What You'll See on the Tour

Great Northern Depot

For more than one-hundred years the Great Northern Depot has served as Wayzata’s most iconic landmark. Built to help reconcile relations after a long “feud” between Wayzata and Great Northern chairman James J. Hill, it was designed by... Read more

Moore, Ramaley, Minnetonka Boat Works

One of the earliest boat builders in Wayzata was Royal Corbin Moore. Arriving in Wayzata in the late 1870s, he started Moore Boat Works at the same location that the Boatworks Building stands today. Moore built sailboats, rowboats, fishing ... Read more

Wayzata State Bank

The need for a bank in Wayzata had become apparent to the local business community by 1908. Five businessmen put up $10,000 in capital that summer to start the Wayzata State Bank, which included a construction cost of $2,246.50. The new, cl... Read more

Pettitt & Kysor Grocery

After fire destroyed Harry Pettitt and George Kysor’s first grocery store, they proclaimed that fire would never again wipe out their business. The new, sturdy building they built opened in 1906. With a bakery located behind the building,... Read more

Tibbetts Home

Founded in 1928 by Wayzata’s Doctor Carl J. Martinson and Mound’s Doctor Edward E. Mitchell, the Minnetonka Hospital was one of the community’s most unique businesses for more than thirty years. Named Minnetonka Hospital for serving t... Read more

Village Hall

Wayzata’s Village Hall was built at the corner of Lake Street and Manitoba Avenue in 1904 for a cost of $3,977.75. The Colonial Revival building originally housed the council chambers, library, post office, and equipment for the Volunteer... Read more

Wayzata Theater

The Wayzata Theater opened in 1932 under the ownership of Lyle Carisch and Raymond Lee. It was designed to look modern with a flashy marquee, sloping floor, and a green, gold, and black color scheme. The theater was cooled by misting water,... Read more

Gleason's Grocery Store

Eugene B. Gleason opened Gleason’s General Store at the corner of Lake Street and Broadway Avenue in 1896. When he expanded the store ten years later, it became the largest in Wayzata. While the store itself occupied the first floor of th... Read more

Bushnell General Store

The store once located at Lake Street and Broadway Avenue began as Bushnell General Store circa 1876, before Wayzata was even incorporated. In 1906 brothers Lorin and Charles Lamb purchased the business and renamed it Lamb Brothers’ Dry G... Read more

Section Foreman's House

Built in 1902 by the Great Northern Railway, the Section Foreman’s House was home to the local section foreman and his family. The section foreman was responsible for the maintenance, repair, and upkeep of approximately twenty-five miles ... Read more

Minnetonka Herald

The Minnetonka Herald was the most popular newspaper in Wayzata for more than thirty years. Started by Palmer Holman in 1930, its publishing headquarters were originally located one block west in the back of the Wayzata Theater. It was purc... Read more

Braden House

This building on Broadway Avenue began its life as a private residence circa 1886, when downtown Wayzata was dotted with single-family homes. The Peter Westerveldt and Edwin Braden families both lived here until it was sold in 1924 to Clara... Read more

Widsten Elementary School

The first school to sit atop the hill at Rice Street and Broadway Avenue was built circa 1890. It was replaced at least once before this unusual Pueblo Revival building was constructed in 1921. Originally named Wayzata Consolidated High Sch... Read more

St. Bartholomew's Catholic Church

The parish of Saint Bartholomew’s was organized in early 1916. Mass was held at Village Hall on Lake Street until a new church was completed by December of that year, just in time for Christmas Day celebrations. The church’s stucco faç... Read more

Burying Hill

Wayzata’s first cemetery is located just north of the town’s first church at the corner of Wayzata Boulevard and Walker Avenue. Originally known as “Burying Hill,” the official plat was filed and recorded in November 1882. The first... Read more

Congregational Evangelical Free Church

Wayzata’s first church was built in 1881 at the corner of Rice Street and Walker Avenue. It began with twelve charter members and was officially called the Congregational Church of Christ in Wayzata. The gray clapboard building was approx... Read more

Wayzata Post Office

Mail has been delivered in Wayzata ever since the community was founded in 1854. However, until the early 1900s the post office was usually located within a local hotel or general store – it moved several times over the years. The current... Read more