Back in the late 1980’s, I drove down Flying Cloud Drive from Eden Prairie to Chaska. This route had some fantastic views of the Minnesota River Valley, as well as a mix of the old and new. There were junkyards and new developments, golf courses and landscape businesses, all along a well-traveled and beat up road. One of the old things I noticed was a large brick building on the north side of the road, which was fenced off with “NO TRESPASSING” signs all over. It looked pretty run down.  Once the new route for Highway 212 was built, I no longer traveled on Flying Cloud Drive. I never stopped at the site. 

I still like to keep a watch out for old memorabilia of the Chaska area. I have seen a number of postcards for the Shakopee Mudcura Sanitarium, and never really thought much about it. I always figured that this business was on the Shakopee side of the Minnesota River. One day, I decided to do an Internet search about the Shakopee Mudcura Sanitarium. Lo and behold, it was on the Chaska side of the Minnesota River, and was this strange building I had seen a number of years ago. It turned out that the building burned down, and the land was purchased by the Minnesota DNR.

Recently, I was back in the area, and I stopped by this site. There is actually a road that is open into the site now. However, all the structures are gone. There is a protected fern that grows in the wetland areas on the site, so you can explore around the grounds via a trail system. If you look to the south from this site, there are amazing views of the Minnesota River Valley. The rich and famous of the early 1900’s came to this site for therapy and mud baths, staying in the large building that also featured a restaurant.

I have relatives in the Twin Cities area, whose memories of the site are from when it was a seminary later in its life. The local young men would go down to the seminary and play baseball with the seminarians. It sounded like the seminarians had a lot of time on their hands, so they were good baseball players. After playing ball, they would share a cold beer with the locals. I remember reading something not too long ago about where the brick for the main building came from, but I have lost that reference. It is likely the brick came from the Chaska or Shakopee area.