Minnesota State Highway 7 - History

History

First authorized in 1933–34, MN 7 ran between Appleton and the Twin Cities. At the time, the highway was under construction between Ortonville and Appleton. From its junction with MN 119, MN 7 was a gravel road southeasterly to Montevideo before turn east on a bituminous surface to Clara City. From there east to the Waconia area, the highway was gravel, and the remainder was bituminous. No sections at the time were paved in asphalt. The segment from Appleton northwesterly to Odessa was completed by the early part of 1935 connecting the highway to US 75. By 1952, the highway had been expanded to four lanes between Excelsior and the Twin Cities. In 1958, the highway was extended northwesterly along US 75 from Odessa to Ortonville and continuing on to Beardsley. The highway between Beardsley and Ortonville had been MN 103 since the 1930s.

The route was completely paved by 1959, the last section to be paved with at least bitumen was along the former MN 103 northwest of Ortonville. MN 7 used to extend into downtown Minneapolis until 1965, where it terminated at its intersection with Washington Avenue (old US 52). From 1965 to either 1987 or 1988, the eastern terminus was located at the intersection of Lake Street and France Avenue in Minneapolis; the part, about one mile (1.6 km) long, between the interchange with MN 100 and the intersection of Lake Street and France Avenue is now called County Highway 25. In 1995, the section between MN 28 and the southern US 75 junction was named a Minnesota State Scenic Byway; it was also made a National Scenic Byway on June 13, 2002.