This is a particularily fun find for my family. These are 23 photos of Camp Wells in 1966. I found them by luck while doing a search of a Minneapolis Public Schools Collection in the Hennipen County Library Digital Collection.
My family lived at Camp Wells until around 1969. My grandparents, parents and an uncle’s family were all caretakers there at one time or another. Camp Wells was on the east side of Mitchell Lake across from the lagoon and spanned from about McDowell’s big white house to Sandy Beach and all the way out to Eagle Lake Road. There is an album here on the site of other photos of the Camp and some published articles about it as well as a map of the location. Just look there or search on Camp Wells to see other posts.
I’ve never seen these photos before and am excited to share them! It was a great place to grow up.
This was the description the library had of the photos:
From August 14 to September 2, students entering 7th grade at Franklin and Lincoln Junior High Schools participated in an orientation at Camp Wells near Big Lake, MN. The camp included regular camp activities like swimming, boating, and crafts, but also included sessions about school rules, extracurricular activities, and classes they’d be taking during the school year, and introduced kids to teachers in an informal atmosphere. The camp was part of the school’s summer Urban Area Secondary Program, which was aimed at giving educationally and economically deprived children a better chance to succeed in school.
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