Thursday, August 21, 2008

Colonel King donates land and lake!

A little research shows that Lake Harriet and surrounding
land was donated to the City by Colonel William S. King in 1885.
(No relation to boxing promoter, Don King, though it looks like
the colonel had a minor hair battle of his own going.)

According to Wikipedia, King came to Minneapolis in 1858. He had an interest in journalism and raising cattle, but also served as a U.S. Representative from 1875 to 1877. Apparently, "Colonel" was an informal designation, not a military one. Anyone know more about this Minneapolis pioneer?

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