The Minneapolis Club. It was apparently constructed when the rest of downtown was vacant.

This site looks at the row of swank, hoity-toity clubs that once lined 2nd avenue. They're still there, for that matter, and still swank. And hoity. (Federal laws have prohibited toity since 1972.) I haven't set foot in the one above for years, but I've attended a few events there, and always felt out of place. Overclassed. Underdressed. Note the Pauper's Gallows built on the corner; they used to hang the poor for the amusement of the club members. Why? Not because they had anything against the poor, of course, but it amused the older members to watch the newer members' reactions. That's all. Harmless fun!

Oh, I'm kidding. This is one of those fine venerable civic institutions whose members have formed the industrial, commercial, social and philanthropic core of the city for decades. Click on for more pictures, and more clubs.