Today on MinneCulture, we’re headed all the way back to 1900, when Minneapolis was a very different place than it is now. As the mill capital of the world, Minneapolis was packed to the brim with seasonal workers, thriving brothels, and scheming card sharks. But to Mayor Albert Alonzo Ames, it was just a piggy bank waiting to be smashed open. Over the course of a year and a half, Ames turned the Minneapolis Police Department into the most powerful crime ring the city had ever seen. KFAI's Tony Williams has the story.

Support for MinneCulture on KFAI has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Season 7 of the MinneCulture podcast is edited and executive produced by Julie Censullo and hosted by John Gebretatose.

Special Thanks:

Erik Rivenes

Deidre Hammond

Adam Franti

Sam Hills

Julie Censullo

Bibliography:

The Shame of Minneapolis: The Ruin And Redemption of a City That Was Sold Out (1903)

Lincoln Steffens

Introduction by Mark Neuzil, Ph.D. for Minnesota Legal History Project, 2011

Proceedings of the Detroit Conference for Good City Government and the Ninth Annual Meeting of the National Municipal League (1903)

William A. Frisbie, City Editor, Minneapolis Journal

The Minneapolis House-Cleaning (pp. 109 – 117)

City Bosses in the United States; A Study of Twenty Municipal Bosses (1930)

Harold Zink

Minneapolis in the Twentieth Century (2010)

Iric Nathanson

Chapter 2: The Shame of Minneapolis (pp. 66 – 106)

Minneapolis Madams: The Lost History of Prostitution on the Riverfront (2013)

Penny A. Petersen

Dirty Doc Ames and the Scandal that Shook Minneapolis (2018)

Erik Rivenes

A.A. Ames (2022)

Military History Wiki

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/A._A._Ames

A.A. Ames (2022)

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Ames

Ames, Albert Alonzo, “Doc, A.A.” (2022)

Minnesota Legislative Reference Library

https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10892

Music Sources:

All music in the public domain, audio restoration by Tony Williams

Library of Congress National Jukebox

The Great 78 Project, Internet Archive

Soundtrack, by order of appearance:

Narcissus – Sousa’s Band (1902)

Victor Record 354

Let Me Call You Sweetheart – Columbia Quartette (1911)

Columbia Record A1057

Old Comrades March – Columbia Band (1900)

Columbia Record A1608

Marching Through Georgia – Columbia Band (1901)

Columbia Record A107

The Holy City – Henry Burr (1900)

Columbia Record A242

God Save The King – Columbia Band (1902)

Columbia Record A65

Calvary – Baritone Solo (1900)

Columbia Record A267

Rubenstein’s Melody in F – Alexander Heindl (1901)

Victor Monarch Record 3030

Come Out, Dinah, On The Green – Harry Macdonough (1901)

Victor Monarch Record 1099

Poet and Peasant Overture – Sousa’s Band (1902)

Victor Monarch Record 1552

Trumpet Quartette – Columbia Band (1900)

Columbia Record 373

A Little Bit Off The Top – Ed Favor (1900)

Victor Record A195

Then You’ll Remember Me – Tenor Solo (1901)

Columbia Record A343