Welcome
to Wabasha, a historic rivertown for ALL SEASONS.
Wabasha is also the home of "Grumpy Old Men"
movies and the future home of The National Eagle
Center. Hopefully, most people visiting Wabasha
realize we are proud of our role in the movies,
and that we have all the "old grouches"
locked up. So in fact, Wabasha is friendly and has
quite a reputation for its hospitality and its eagle
watching. Wabasha has one of the largest winter
concentrations of bald eagles in the lower 48 States.
Wabasha, an historic river town of 2400 people,
will provide a friendly haven for your vacation
during all seasons. We're a truly Mid-American town
that can turn back the clock to the days when the
"liven' was easy."
Established in the 1830's, Wabasha lays claim to
being Minnesota's oldest community and is listed
on the National Historic Register. Visitors are
pleased to find three area museums and often some
of their own heritage.
Visitors find many festivals here with flea markets,
an 85 mile garage sale, county fair, Riverboat Days,
arts and crafts fair, annual car cruises, a Grumpy
Old Men Festival with ice fishing and an ice shack
contest, as well as eagle watching.
Wabasha
tidbits
- EagleWatch staff assist you
in spotting the great American Bald Eagles which
winter here in one of their favorite river haunts
from November to March.
- Lawrence Boulevard is the
riverfront "walk n' roll." Walkers,
joggers, birdwatchers, rollerbladers, and bikers
enjoy this one-of-a-kind boulevard.
- Lodging includes 70 rooms
in five establishments from basic to whirlpool
suites and Minnesota's oldest operating hotel.
The area also has 240 camp sites.
- Two full service marinas with
overnight docking plus houseboat and boat rentals
offer you a fun and memorable boating experience.
Public facilities include a boat launch and
parking, city dock, parks, swimming pool, tennis
courts, ball parks, and ice skating rinks. Four
wildlife areas in the Richard J. Dorer Memorial
Forest provide trails for XC skiing, hiking,
snowshoeing, horseback riding, and camping areas.
- Retail Shops specialize in
American and Australian wool products, Grumpy
Old Men clothing, souvenirs, collector plates,
antiques, quilts, eagle products, gourmet coffee
and cappuccino. Local artists are prevalent
in the shops with clothing, dolls, pottery,
crafts, jewelry, and paintings.
- Restaurants offer a wide variety
of dining. Over a dozen cafes, restaurants and
lounges can tantalize your taste buds. Some
offer conference and banquet facilities.
- As a port of call for the
magnificent steamboats - the Mississippi, American,
and Delta Queens - Wabasha is a much-desired
stopover where the "past meets the present."
- The bluffs are picturesque
with lush green in summer and spectacular foliage
in fall. The slopes give downhill skiers the
best in coulee skiing. Snowmobilers have 100
miles of groomed trails. Atop the bluff, a nine
hole golf course views the valley.
- The Mississippi River and
thousands of acres of backwaters offer miles
of sandy beaches, coves for camping, boating,
hunting, fishing year-round, jet skiing, canoeing,
waterskiing, houseboating, and picnicking.
Wabasha is truly an historic rivertown for ALL
SEASONS.
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| Wabasha
History: |
In March of 1849 an act
of Congress established the Minnesota Territory.
Seven months later the first Territorial
Legislature met and created nine counties,
Wabasha County being one of them. The original
boundary of Wabasha County was from just
south of Stillwater, Minnesota extending
west to the Missouri River with the southern
boundary being the present-day Iowa border.
Wabasha is one of the oldest cities along
the Mississippi, having been continuously
occupied since 1826. It would be 1843 before
the settlement would be named Wabasha, after
Chief Wa-pa-shaw III.
In 1842 Fr. Augustin Ravoux put a log cabin
on a raft in Mendota and floated it down
the Mississippi to Wabasha where it would
first be used as a chapel. In 1855 the log
cabin, which was placed where Main Street
now terminates, would be used as a school,
and in 1857 the first paper published in
Wabasha was printed in that building.
St. Felix Catholic Church, dating back to
1842, is one of the oldest church organizations
in Minnesota. The present structure was
rebuilt in 1893, having been destroyed by
fire in 1874. The Catholic Church was also
instrumental in founding St. Elizabeth's
Hospital in 1898, St. Joseph's Orphanage
in 1900 and St. Felix School in 1920. Thomas
Irvine built Grace Episcopal Church in 1900
as a gift in memory of his wife, Emily Hills
Irvine, who was the daughter of a former
rector of the parish. The chancel window
of this church, which depicts the two Marys
at the tomb on Easter morning was made by
Tiffany of New York at a cost of $3,000.00.
For more interesting stories about the history
of Wabasha, the Wabasha Public Library maintains
a collections of 6 books written by David
Jones which chronicle many humorous incidents
from Wabasha's colorful past.
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