Flagpole article
By: Nancy Wasik 03/01/2012
The Behind the Victory Flagpole column always has an interesting piece of local history, but the February issue really caught my attention. Louise Bohanon Strand talks about growing up on 43rd and Emerson and going to the grocery store on 42nd and Fremont Ave. I have a picture on my wall of my grandmother and great-grandmother standing in front of a store at 1223 42nd Ave (just off Fremont). The handwriting on the photo states that the store was built by my great-grandfather, James Kennedy, in 1910. My grandmother was born in 1906 and appears to be maybe 4-6 years old, which would date the picture at around 1910. At the time they owned and ran the store, they lived around the corner at 4148 Fremont Ave. According to a Minneapolis property search, the building at 1223 42nd was built in 1901 but the other information is accurate. A 1920 U.S. Census confirms where they lived.
Louise Bohanon’s recollections of the area are from the 1930s and 1940s and there may well have been another grocery store by then. At the time of my photo, my great-grandfather’s store appears to be the only building on that block of 42nd Ave. The building is now surrounded by other businesses. Still, I had to add another piece of Camden history.
P.S. My great grandfather remained a North Minneapolis resident the rest of his life. After selling the store sometime in the late 1920s, he moved to 53rd and Bryant, and later to 22nd and Fremont Ave. N.
Nancy Wasik
Lind Bohanon