On This Date In Twin Cities History - January 14, 1886

On this date in 1886, the cornerstone is laid in St. Paul for the first ever ice palace built in the United States. The structure was erected in St. Paul’s Central Park and when completed, it measured 140 feet long by 120 feet wide and rose 100 feet in the air. It required more than 20,000 blocks of ice for its construction. The ice palace was part of the first St. Paul Winter Carnival which opened on February 1st of that year.

1886 St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palace (MHS)