Wildwood Amusement Park

Wildwood was an amusement park and picnic grounds that existed from 1889 through 1932 on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. The park was built and operated by the Minneapolis and St. Paul Suburban Railroad Company, a subdivision of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, which ran a streetcar line from Mahtomedi to nearby St. Paul. It was the sister park of Big Island Amusement Park on Lake Minnetonka, as both were intended to draw crowds of people to opposite ends of the Minneapolis-St. Paul streetcar system on weekends. Wildwood Amusement Park proved to be more successful than Big Island Amusement Park, which closed in 1911, and lasted until 1932 when financial losses brought about its demise.