Houseboat soirees departed from Anoka

By Bob Kirchner

Jul 21, 2014

One hundred and seven years ago the house-boating craze broke out in Anoka, and its epicenter was the Anoka Dock, now in the process of being re-established in Riverfront Park.

The houseboats were towed behind motorized launches up and down the Rum River. Though referred to as barges, they were no Huck Finn rafts. They were mobile homes on water.

An October 1907 Minneapolis Journal article describe one: “G. H. Goodrich now has one of the handsomest and most convenient houseboats .... It is 18 x 46 feet ... has a walk way and upper deck. There are two staterooms, a large living room, toilet and kitchen. The interior is beautifully decorated in a green tint while the floor is of natural wood. There are eight bunks which are used as beds at night and in the day time are folded into davenports. The upper deck is protected with an awning and has four hammocks and a swing.”

The Journal credited Professor Thaddeus P. Giddings with starting the houseboat fad by launching his own houseboat, “Aunt Polly,” towed by his launch, “Mary Imogene.”

Giddings purchased an island about 6 miles upstream from Anoka, cleared an area and built a pavilion which became a “popular rendezvous for excursionists.” The island, which he called “Unamis,” was “two acres of land ... a picturesque spot, beautiful for situation, with a border of weeping willows around its beach and excellent facilities for bathing.”

One newspaper account in August of 1907 makes you want to go right now.

“One of the most pleasurable boat parties given yet was the one arranged for last Tuesday by Mrs. C. E. Chase and T. P. Giddings. The boat left the Anoka dock at eight thirty in the morning, arriving home at the same hour in the evening. A picnic dinner was partaken of in the pavilion on Unamis Island while supper was served on the barge on the return trip.”

While day trips and picnic lunches were popular, the pièce de résistance was the supper soiree – a fashionable evening social affair held for a special purpose with elaborate entertainment.

Anokans tried to outdo each other concocting these affairs.

One such event was described in the Anoka Union on Aug. 2, 1907, as follows: “Mrs. J. H. Frank entertained about thirty Anoka ladies at a lawn party Tuesday afternoon. The guests were conveyed to the Frank farm by the launch and barge, and the afternoon was spent at a picnic in the grove on the river bank. The guests were met at the boat landing by the barge at two o’clock, and after being conveyed to the River Lawn grove passed the afternoon with music and various guessing games.

At six o’clock the ladies were all treated to a surprise by Dr. Frank who unknown to them had invited all the husbands of the party to be his guests on the same evening. The men were taken to the grove in the Scott and Giddings launches.

A delicious supper was served, the menu including chicken, salad, rolls, cake with whipped cream, raspberry sherbet and wafers ....”

Typical outings featured elaborate spreads of food, box lunch auctions, musical entertainment, impromptu plays and moonlight cruises.

House-boating remained popular in Anoka through the early part of the 20th Century, and the Anoka Dock was the point of embarkation.

And it can happen again. Image your pontoon loaded with supplies and happy tourists bound for a friend’s riverfront lawn, a public park or a mysterious island. Ah, a pleasant summer evening on the Rum River. It’ll make you believe heaven exists. Can you picture it?

Bob Kirchner is a local historian, seminary student and retired as the city of Anoka’s community development director.