Category: History

Captain Swan Walton was one of the pioneering members of the police force on the west side of the Mississippi in Minneapolis. He was born on December 20, 1840 in Kristianstad where he attended school until the age of 15. He worked in Sweden and Denmark as a flour miller before emigrating from Denmark to Baltimore on October 2, 1860.

He moved to Minneapolis on August 1, 1868 where he worked at various jobs. On May 1, 1870, he was appointed a Patrolman by Mayor A.E. Ames and became the sixth member of the Minneapolis Police Department. In Captain Walton’s early days of service, the Department had a day watch and a night watch with three Patrolmen assigned to each.

In 1871, Captain Walton left the Department to start a grocery business in Minneapolis called Vanstrum and Walton.

In 1878, he rejoined the department which had grown in its numbers to sixteen officers. Upon his return, he served as one of the very first officers of the Mounted Force directly appointed by Mayor A.E. Ames. He served in the Fifth Precinct as Captain, stepping down to Lieutenant of his own volition and then was appointed Captain of the Third Precinct in 1899 where he served until the end of his days.

Captain Walton was married to Anna C. Anderson of Gothenberg, Sweden on January 7, 1869. They had five children together and lived at 1316 7th Street South.

Captain Walton died on January 20, 1903 and is buried at Lakewood Cemetery.

Photograph of Swan Walton from “History of the Police and Fire Departments of the Twin Cities: Their Origin in Early Village Days and Progress to 1900” (published in 1899)

Captain Michael Hoy served on the department at a time of great growth and transformation, including the incorporation of the separate cities of St. Anthony and Minneapolis into one larger Minneapolis.

We know that the majority of crimes charged in the St. Anthony of Captain Hoy’s time were for minor offenses such as public drunkeness, fighting, and solicitation and were mostly committed by lumbermen coming in from the woods to St. Anthony.

We know from the book “History of the Police and Fire Departments of the Twin Cities: Their Origin in Early Village Days and Progress to 1900” (published in 1899) that when Captain Hoy locked up and left the City Jail each night he did not know if the prisoners would still be there when he returned the next morning. Sometimes, the prisoners would dig themselves out of the jail and flee the city. After a number of such occurrences, the city appointed L.C. Smith as Assistant City Marshal to help Captain Hoy and overnight escapes became rare.

Here is a snapshot of St. Anthony as Captain Hoy would have known it:

A Vibrant Residential and Business District

The first building boom in Minneapolis and St. Anthony extended from 1854 to the Panic of 1857. A number of “elegant private residences” were reported on both sides of the river, along with 42 business places, and a variety of physicians and attorney’s offices, and several hotels and boarding houses. Many of the houses of this period were of Greek Revival style, with low-pitched gable roofs and resting on limestone foundations quarried from nearby ledges. Millwork trim was applied to the windows and entries, and sidelights and a glazed transom framed the entry of some. Two Greek Revival houses from the pre-1857 period survive, but not in their original locations. The Ard Godfrey House (1849), is now in Chute Square, and the John H. Stevens House (1849), is now in Minnehaha Park.

1862 First Railroad

The Minnesota and Pacific Railroad was the first to reach St. Anthony Falls. On June 28, 1862, the locomotive Wm. Crooks led cars carrying about 100 passengers along ten miles of track built from St. Paul. Until this date, only poor roads and the river brought settlers and freight to the falls. The first depot was built at Main Street and East Hennepin Avenue. The Minnesota Central Railroad Company was the next to operate from the vicinity of the falls, and eventually provided a connection from the west side of the river to Chicago. Construction began in 1863, and followed a southerly route to Mendota along present-day Minnehaha Avenue, which was the territorial road to Fort Snelling. The first railroad bridge linking the east and west riverbanks was completed in 1867. Railroad construction surged after the Civil War with the opening of grain markets to the west. Captain Hoy would not have been surprised to learn that by 1910, the lines of eleven railroad companies crossed Minneapolis.

1865 First Telegraph

The Northwestern Telegraph Company opened an office over Baldwin’s Bank in Bridge Square and offered the first telegraph service on one line extending from St. Paul to Faribault via Minneapolis. By 1886, Western Union and the North American Telegraph Company, a local firm, also offered service.

1870 Construction of Wood Apron

On October 5, 1869, the Eastman Tunnel under construction between Nicollet and Hennepin Islands collapsed. The already fragile soft sandstone below the thin limestone ledge was undermined by tunnel construction as well as natural erosion. The cataclysmic event threatened St. Anthony Falls and brought great fear for the future of Minneapolis. One observer wrote, “Men saw in imagination a ruined water power, crushed hopes, the loss of large investments, and a deserted city.” The first full-length wood apron was constructed over St. Anthony Falls by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1870 to prevent further erosion of the thin layer of limestone and the city continued to grow.

Photographs and event highlights courtesy of “The Minneapolis Riverfront as Birth Place and First Place” which was prepared in 2008 for The Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Board by MinnesotaLandscape Research LLC.

Today, we are thinking of the soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Some of us have had the great, good fortune to have known the returning soldiers. We honor them and their service. Many soldiers gave their lives so that others could be free. We remember them. We are grateful to them all.

To learn about the D-Day Medal of Honor winners: https://mohmuseum.org/medal-of-honor-recipients-from-d-day/

To learn about the Normandy American Cemetery:
https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/normandy-american-cemetery

To view the Continental Edition of “The Stars and Stripes” announcing that it will begin publishing from France:
https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/d-day/continental_edition_4_july_1944.pdf

Photograph of American assault troops moving onto Omaha Beach, on the northern coast of France on June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast. Photograph courtesy of the Associated Press

Captain Michael Hoy was born in Kings County, Ireland in 1834. He came to the United States in 1850 and arrived in St. Anthony in 1855. He was a stone-cutter by trade.

In September of 1862, Captain Hoy enlisted in Company K of the Tenth Minnesota Voluntary Infantry. He was elected Second Lieutenant of his company and served with distinction. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Nashville and was awarded the rank of Captain for his gallantry on the field. After he recovered from his wounds, Captain Hoy returned home to St. Anthony on April 13, 1865 where he remained for the rest of his days.

In the spring of 1867, the name of Michael Hoy first appears in connection with the Police Department of St. Anthony in the role of City Marshal. In addition to fulfilling the duties of City Marshal, Captain Hoy was also a patrol officer on both night and day watch, and he was frequently called upon to act as Deputy Sheriff and Deputy U.S. Marshal. He also acted as City Jailer at the small, stone two-room St. Anthony Jail located on Central Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets. He earned a salary of two dollars per day.

In 1873, Captain Hoy served as Chief of Police along with R.W. Hanson for the period of one year.

In addition to his work in the police department, Captain Hoy was one of the city’s first volunteer firefighters. He served as Foreman of the Minnesota Engine Company in the St. Anthony Fire Department. During his career, he also served as the Supervisor of Streets.

Captain Hoy was married to Miss Catherine Quealy, a native of Clair County, Ireland, on October 24, 1860. Together they had twelve children.

Captain Hoy died on March 20, 1895. He is buried at St. Anthony Cemetery at 2729 Central Avenue Northeast, Block 51 Lot 4. Mrs. Catherine Hoy lived until 1926. She is buried by his side at St. Anthony Cemetery.

On May 6, 2008, the Minneapolis 911 Center was awarded the 911 Outstanding Call Center Award, a national award presented by the E9-1-1 Institute in Washington, D.C. The Minneapolis 911 Center was honored for its work during the collapse of the I-35W Bridge.

The Minneapolis 911 Center was a key part of the emergency response to the bridge collapse. During the first two hours after the collapse, the center received 505 emergency calls, including 51 from the scene of the bridge collapse. Although this was three times the normal call volume, the 911 Center was able to communicate seamlessly with emergency organizations from the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, responding with remarkable speed and professionalism.

When the bridge collapsed at 6 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2007, there were 13 operators and dispatchers on duty in the 911 Center. Following the collapse, many off-duty employees came back to work to help.

As the emergency response unfolded at the bridge scene, the 911 center helped process 113,000 radio transmissions on the regional 800 MHz trunked radio system that connected emergency responders. Even though there were tens of thousands of transmissions, only one high-priority transmission received a busy signal in the first six hours of the incident.

Here is an article from the Minneapolis Star from June 2, 1966 describing a test of radios and scooters that the Department had initiated. Of special note, the article mentions that the Department already had two portable radios in use, both of which had been built by officers.

REMEMBERING OFFICER MARWIN A WICKLUND

Appointed – February 18, 1943
End of Watch – June 6, 1945

Officer Marwin A. Wicklund joined the Minneapolis Police Department on February 18, 1943. Because he was married with three children, and because being a police officer was considered a vital occupation, Officer Wicklund was unsuccessful in his first three attempts to enlist to fight in WWII. On August 1, 1944, he was finally accepted by the Marines.

Officer Wicklund was assigned to Company H, Third Battalion, 29th Marines, 6th Division. He took part in the invasion of Okinawa. In action against Japanese forces on June 6, 1945, he was killed by a sniper. Officer Wicklund was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Victory Medal World War II and a Presidential Unit Citation with ribbon and star for “extraordinary heroism in action.”

Officer Wicklund was 30 years old at the time of his death. He lived at 3923 Upton Avenue North in Minneapolis with his wife, Mina, and their children. He was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl.

Officer Wicklund was the only member of the Minneapolis Police Department ever to be killed while on military duty.

From our collection, here is the handwritten oath of Dan A. Day from 1868.

He was Minneapolis Police Chief in 1868 for one year and then again in 1870 for one year.

In addition to his duties as Police Chief, in 1868 Chief Day was also First Assistant of the Minneapolis Fire Company which was a volunteer organization.

From our collection, here is the bond of Officer Alonso E Cleary signed on April 20, 1872.

Note that the city name of St. Anthony has been crossed out and replaced with the city name of Minneapolis.

St. Anthony was the name of Minneapolis’s older twin city, across from downtown Minneapolis on the Mississippi River’s East Bank.

Minneapolis and St. Anthony merged in 1872 and, in the stationery used for Officer Cleary’s bond, you can see evidence of the transition underway.

Does anyone from the old Sixth Precinct remember learning how to use these teleprinters? Did the use of the teleprinters spread beyond the Sixth Precinct?

Article originally appeared in the Minneapolis StarTribune on March 2, 1972