Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-19

end is reached the publication of this series of
fallen so swiftly to but an end to career that
| mas rev parallels for usefuness.)
| BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS
| Special Correspondence of The Star and the
| Chicago Record Herald.
MINNEAPOLIS.
To make their city more perfect, more
| beautiful more convenient: to relieve
congestion in the streets, and shorten the
| journeys Of those whose time is valuable;
to furnish lungs for the blocks that are
closely built; to facilitate trade and trans
| portaton; to avoid confusion and un-
necessary noise: to provide the children
| of the poor with Fairgrounds, and to do
many other things that are useful and
| ornamental. a civic commission was or
gained in Minneapolis several years ago,
| 1t is composed of representatives of war;
Gus commercial, industrial, professional
and social organizations. all patriotic.
| public spirited and typical citizens Of a
| city which has the reputation of enter
| prise beyond most places Of it's popula-
| ton. Minneapolis is still young town.
| The first house that was built here is still
standing. 1t was erected in 1s49 on the
] bank Of the river where the Union pas
| senger station now stands. by Col John
| II. Stevens for his residence. Col Ste
| vens died several years ago.
In 1906 Lieut.. Zebulon w. Pike, for
whom Pixies Peak was named, because
| he discovered it, secured from the Sioux
| Indians. for the United States, for mill
| tary reservation, tract Of land around
| st. Anthonys Fall of the Mississippi. In
| 1888 the reservation on the east bank OF
| the river was thrown open for settlement.
| Franklin Steele filed the first claim and
| started village called st. Anthony.
| which was annexed to Minneapolis in
| 1872. Mr.. Steele built the first sawmill
| in 1913. Col Stevens took up farm on
| the opposite side Of the river. His house,
| in which he lived for twenty years, was
moved to give room for the railway sta
/ ton and is now an object of interest in
| Minnehaha Park, where it is reserved as
| a memento Of Minneapolis in the early
days.
| City's Rapid Progress.
Everybody knows of the wonderful
| growth Of the city and how the popula-
| ton has doubled and doubled again from
year to year. In 1850 there were 53S
people here; In 1860 there were nearly
5000: in 1870 three times as many, and
| in 1880 eight times as many. During the
ten years from 1880 to 1890 the population
increased from 46.Ss7 to 164.73s. which is
about the same record that Winnipeg
has made during the last ten years In
| 1900 Minneapolis had 2O2,71S, and during
| the ten years that followed gained a lit
| tie less than a hundred thousand, so that
| the enumerators for the recent census
| we're able to count 301, 40S people. That
was June 1, 1910. Since then it Is esti-
| mated that at least 5000 more have come
and Minneapolis now has undoubtedly
10000 population.
The early settlers of Minneapolis were
far-sighted. They recognized the remark
a he
beauty that surrounded them, and from
an early date protected them and began
to reserve areas for park purposes which
have since been utilized and improved
This has been done with great skill and
| judgment on the part of successive boards
| Of park commissioners, which have been
provided with increasing funds as the
city has become richer and more popu-
| lous.
The secretary OF the civic commission
and one of the most public spirited young
men in Minneapolis Is Mr.. F. W. Cliff
| ford. He has been in the movement from
| it's inception; has devoted a great part of
| his time to it, and his dreams Of what
Minneapolis ought to be are beginning to
materialize.
Story of the Movement.
When / asked Mr.. Clifford to tell me the
story Of the movement he said:
with the passing of the hazards of the
earlier days, and with the certainty that
| Minneapolis is to be one of the greatest
cities in the United States, there has de-
velOped civic consciousness, a sense of
community In the earlier meaning of
| the word, sense of responsibility to the
| future, of trusteeship for those who are
| to follow, a disposition to realize that the
| matter of first Importance to a commu-
nifty is not its relative rank in the census
reports and in clearing house statistics,
but the kind of life that it offers to it's
| citizens. The existence and wide diffu-
| sion of this spirit in Minneapolis is illus
| trated by the history of the Minneapolis
| civic commission.
Impressed by the necessity of making
| far-sighted plans to prevent the over
crowding and congestion which tend to
paralyze the vital powers of city and to
depress the average of it's citizenship. and
with the desirability of working out a
| means whereby the city might be made
an efficient instrument for providing all
| of its people with the best possible condi-
tons of living, a group of public organza-
tions representing every section of the
city and every grade of it's social and
commercial life, and including the Wom-
ans Club, the art commission. board of
park commissioners and the trades and
| labor assembly, appointed eleven men to
| serve a civic commission with broad
| and comprehensive instructions
Invited to Investigate.