Editing Wayzata, Minnesota (section)

===Resort period===
[[File:SectionHouseWayzataMN.jpg|thumb|left|Wayzata section foreman's house, between Lake Minnetonka and the railroad tracks, an example of early construction in the city]]
In the 1860s and 1870s many small hotels and [[boarding houses]] were erected around Wayzata and Lake Minnetonka to accommodate tourists. One early example was the Maurer House-West Hotel, which was built near the corner of Lake Street and Broadway Avenue. Most local hotels and boarding houses were rather primitive until 1879, when the 150-room Hotel Saint Louis was built in [[Deephaven, Minnesota|Deephaven]].

Most Lake Minnetonka tourists in the late 1800s arrived in Wayzata by [[train]]. [[Steamboats]] waited for new arrivals near the foot of Broadway Avenue and took them to destinations across the lake. Some of these steamboats, such as the ''City of Saint Louis'' and ''Belle of Minnetonka'', were quite large. The ''Belle of Minnetonka'' was {{convert|300|ft|m|0}} long and could purportedly carry 2,500 passengers.

Wayzata was officially incorporated as a [[village (United States)|village]] in 1883. One of the village council's first orders of business was to reroute the railroad tracks north of town. [[James J. Hill]], who had become chairman of the newly formed [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Saint Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba Railway]] in 1879, initially ignored the council's order. When the council took the case to [[Minnesota Supreme Court|court]], Hill reacted by demolishing the [[train station]] at the foot of Broadway Avenue and building a new one east of town at a stop called "Holdridge." He declared that Wayzata residents could "walk a mile for the next twenty years" to catch the train. Hill moved the tracks as well, but rather than rerouting them north of town, he moved them closer to the lake.

Hill was also connected to Wayzata and Lake Minnetonka through the Arlington Hotel, Hotel Lafayette, and ''Belle of Minnetonka'', all owned by the Saint Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba Railway. He purchased Wayzata's Arlington Hotel in 1881 and never reopened it. By the 1890s, Lake Minnetonka had largely fallen out of favor as a vacation destination for wealthy tourists. A number of factors including new [[Interstate Commerce Act of 1887|railroad regulations]], new [[resort town|vacation spots]], and a national [[Panic of 1893|economic depression]] contributed to this decline.