RADISSON INN

During the 1920s the management of the Radisson Hotel downtown received requests from guests for recommendations as to where to stay on Lake Minnetonka. Thinking he might be losing some business and to further accommodate Radisson guests, hotel owner Simon Kruse purchased the 53-acre Glen Morris Inn on Christmas Lake near Excelsior, Minnesota, minutes away from Minnetonka. Kruse changed the name to the Radisson Inn and turned over its management to his wife’s cousin, Belle Beazell. Open only during the summer, the inn was a popular picnic spot for families and companies. It was not uncommon to see ladies in their long dresses playing croquet on the inn’s spacious lawn. The inn also featured an enormous, 240-foot-long front porch; many of its 40 rooms offered sleeping porches. The inn was renowned for its excellent food, particularly its Sunday-afternoon chicken dinners. In addition, the facility offered boating, sailing, tennis, fishing, and horseback riding. But no liquor was served while Radisson owned it. Besides the rooms in the main building, there were a number of cottages on the property, many of which still stand today on the north end of Christmas Lake. The road that runs past the inn and the cottages was christened “Radisson Road,” the name it bears to this day.

The Radisson Inn presented Supper Dances with Frank Gordon and his 11-piece Orchestra, featuring Gertrude Carpenter, in October 1934. Dinner was 6 to 8 pm, and
supper was 9:30 to closing. So that’s the difference! As reported in the Minnetonka Record.

Due to financial setbacks, the Kruses traded the Inn for the Windsor apartment building at Franklin and Third Ave. So. The inn was taken over by Lou Cohen of Roycraft Corporation, who ran it as a nightclub until it burned to the ground in 1936. The club “featured dance music during the 1930s by Norvy Mulligan, and the group played as much jazz there as the management would allow.” (Stebbins)

For a more detailed history of the Radisson Hotel and Inn, click Here.