Opened in 1884, the West Hotel was Minneapolis's first grand hotel. It had 407 luxuriously furnished rooms, 140 baths, and featured an immense and opulent lobby which was claimed to be the largest in the nation. These elements combined to make what was considered for a time to be the most luxurious hotel west of Chicago. The West was designed by LeRoy Buffington and built on land that was once owned by the first resident of Minneapolis, John H. Stevens. Buffington created the West in the Queen Anne style that was quite popular in the last decades of the 19th century.

The hospital was built in 1823 and was opened to patients in 1824, under the direction of Eli Todd. At that time, the Institute of Living (IOL) was among only four facilities of its kind in the nation. It was capable of accommodating 40 to 60 patients who were segregated by "sex, nature of disease, habits of life and the wishes of their friends." The hospital's 35 acres (14 ha) campus was landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1860s.

Now demolished, the old Horticultural Hall served as an event space for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In 1864, the Horticultural Society moved to this new Hall on Tremont Street, which had an exterior of decorated columns and Greco-Roman statues.1 Horticultural Hall became a space for the community, as described in King’s Handbook of Boston:

Its initial primary purpose as a mechanics' institute (one of many established about this time throughout the country) was to provide educational opportunities, mainly through evening classes, for working men. Lectures for the general public were also provided of wide interest covering topics ranging from Arctic exploration to Shakespeare and philosophy. Luminaries like Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered talks and readings in the main lecture hall (now the architecturally restructured Sir Paul McCartney Auditorium of LIPA).

Kilgore Hall continued to be the home of the mainstream, more respectable theatre, even after it changed hands In 1869.

The Saengerbund Singing Society constructed Saenger Halle (Saengerhalle) at 14th & Elm. Business interests in the city contributed $5,000 toward the construction of the structure, and it was agreed that the building would be used for Cincinnati's first exposition.

Friends of Music Hall

Where the parking garage stands today at the corner of Downer Place and Stolp Avenue, there once stood the grand old city hall/police station opened in 1868 and U.S. Post Office, built in 1895. But did you know this spot was a compromise born from Aurora's famous East vs. West rivalry?