Lake Minnetonka's Big Island once had an amusement park. Why did it close?

They brought visitors by the thousands, who poured onto the island to experience a major Twin Cities attraction: Big Island Park. Big Island still bears the amusement park's fingerprints, said Lake Minnetonka Historical Society board member Lisa Stevens. An island park reachable by public transitThe Mdewákanton Dakota people were the first to inhabit Big Island. Charles "Ohiyésa" Eastman, a Dakota doctor, established a family sugar bush camp on the island before settlers displaced the Dakota, according to Paul Maravelas' book, "The History of Big Island, Lake Minnetonka." "So they abandoned Big Island Park in 1911 and they got rid of the ferry boats."