Also featured in our Confiscated Weapons collection is this sawed-off 12 gauge side-by-side shotgun.
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another homemade weapon
This croquet ball with spikes inserted in it is one of the items in the museum’s Confiscated Weapons collection.
confiscated revolver
From our collection of confiscated weapons, here is a 22 caliber revolver with a suppressor attachment.
thank you to robert elmers!
We are grateful to Robert Elmers for his generous financial donation to the Minneapolis Police Museum today!
Thank you, Bob, for helping us to preserve our artifacts and share our rich heritage.
We appreciate your support!
life savings returned to fred belau
Fred Belau, was a 70-year-old recluse who lived for years in a small, makeshift one-room house on North 28th Avenue near the Mississippi River. On November 24, 1946, Mr. Belau was robbed at gunpoint of $1,325 which he kept hidden in a spot behind a shelf.
In this photograph, Mr. Belau is presented with a chicken and a basket of other foods by Leo LeVau, aged 11. On November 28, 1946, Leo came to Mr. Belau’s aid after hearing about the robbery. Leo had raised the chicken and some of the vegetables during the summer at a Volunteers of America camp in Mound, Minnesota.
The Minneapolis Police were able to track down and apprehend the thief. On November 26, 1946, two days before Leo made his kind delivery, detectives visited Mr. Belau to return $1193 of his life savings which officers had recovered during the arrest of the thief.
Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library
downtown traffic control
Traffic control towers were once a feature of Downtown Minneapolis.
This photograph of World War One soldiers of the 34th Division marching down Nicollet Avenue crossing 6th Street was taken on September 6, 1919.
A traffic control tower, with signal lights atop it and an Minneapolis Police Traffic Officer inside it, sits directly in the center of the intersection.
Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library
boxing at the bryant boys’ club
Here is a photograph taken on April 4, 1942 of Officer Leo Bessner coaching identical twins, Ray (left) and Bob (right) Cronin before their bout.
Boxing was a popular sport at the Bryant Boys’ Club.
Photograph courtesy of the Hennepin County Library
thank you!
We are getting very close now to identifying all of the photographs in our project for the Hennepin County Library.
Many thanks to Retired Officer Scott Grabowski for his help today in getting us closer to our goal!
If you would like to try your hand at identifying the very few remaining photographs, please write to us at info@mplspolicemuseum.org and we will send you a .pdf file to review.
Thank you!
lost then found
In this photograph from March 29, 1939 Officer Steve Dickinson holds on to Della Halter while she waits for her mother to collect her.
Officer Dickinson spotted Della walking alone on the streetcar tracks at Nicollet Avenue and 15th Street.
Della was lost and could not recall her full name.
Officer Dickinson brought Della to the City Matron at Minneapolis Police Headquarters where they were able to find and reunite her with her mother.
Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library
wow, that’s a lot of money to a kid!
In this photograph from December 15, 1945, Minneapolis Police Detective George Schlong (left), who was an inspector with the Pawnbroker and Property division, handed over $260 to 13-year-old William Roehl (right).
William had found the money in a city dump six months earlier. William’s father, Fred E. Roehl (background, center) watches the exchange, which took place after no one claimed the money.
Photograph taken by William Seaman courtesy of Hennepin County Library