Twin Cities / Metro
*This archived article was originally published in Spring 2005.
Minnesota Boat Club Event Facility
BY EVE DANIELS
For another gathering site steeped in history, you can’t get much better than the banks of The Great River. Since 1870, the Minnesota Boat Club on Raspberry Island in St. Paul has been a place of celebration for the state’s oldest athletic institutions.
Currently on the National Register of Historic Places, the Boat Club has built up a long record of rowing championships in the Midwest and has included members from such prominent St. Paul families as the Bigelows, Gilberts, Ordways and Sibleys.
The original wooden structure claimed ownership of the entire island and was replaced in 1910 by the existing building. During the first and second World Wars, the club’s declining membership contributed to its forfeiture of the lower portion of the island to the city.
The great flood of 1965 washed walls of the building away, and history nearly repeated itself in the spring of 1993 when floodwaters reached the bottom of the boat bay doors. In 2003, this crown jewel of St. Paul’s riverfront underwent a $1 million overhaul to facilitate year-round events on its upper level. Renovations included the installation of in-floor heating, an elevator, air-conditioning, two new stairways and a revamped main ballroom and meeting room.
Recently reopened as the Minnesota Boat Club Event Facility and managed by the Radisson Riverfront Hotel, the venue features banquet space for up to 150, and accommodates 180 for receptions. Guests can mingle on two outdoor verandas with 360-degree views of the Mississippi River, the St. Paul skyline and Harriet Island Regional Park. Dark woodwork and terrazzo floors add to the club’s nautical setting. Two meeting rooms offer an ideal space for corporate functions.
“It’s such a unique island venue with so much history,” said Kathy Roberts, director of catering at the Radisson, who books events at both the hotel and Boat Club. “Over the decades it’s served as an awards venue, a bar, a jazz club — and now it’s an amazing event facility with a beautiful view.”
