WACONIA
COMMUNITY | GUIDE 2025
Coney Island of the West- reborn
Beginning in the late 1800s, vacationers escaping the heat of sweltering Midwest cities— or visiting from as far away as Europe— would arrive by train at the little resort community of Waconia and board a ferry for the island, about a quarter mile off shore.
According to the Minnesota Historical Society, at the turn of the century there were three hotels on the island. Cottages sat beneath towering trees on streets named for famous German writers like Goethe and Schiller. Guests enjoyed Sunday-afternoon concerts and a bowling alley. The University of Minnesota football team even traveled to Coney Island for preseason practice.
By 1960, however, the island was completely vacated, and vandalism began taking its toll. The Waconia Bicentennial Committee’ s Island Committee led efforts to rehabilitate the island in 1975, and the island was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. While a study was conducted on possible uses for the island, high costs prevented development.
Meanwhile, growth in the Twin Cities had turned Waconia into an outer-ring suburb. The bigger population needed more room for recreation: as early as 1999, local Carver County and the Metropolitan Council— which helps plan parks in the Twin Cities region— was exploring the idea of Coney Island as a public open space. Enter local philanthropists Norm and Ann Hoffman. The Hoffmans’ vision for donating the land began in 2003 when he heard talk of plans to develop the island in ways he didn’ t think were sustainable. It prompted him to try and block that effort by purchasing land parcels from the island’ s six other property owners. It took roughly a decade to reach that goal, but Hoffman earned high marks from Carver County officials for sticking to his vision.
In 2016, Carver County Commissioners accepted a $ 900,000 donation for Coney Island cleanup efforts from the Norman and Ann Hoffman Foundation. The donation marks a final step in a complex process undertaken by the Hoffmans to ensure the land will be developed for public use as part of Lake Waconia Regional Park. The island is fully open to the public.
2025 | WACONIA COMMUNITY GUIDE | 51