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<br /> <br />Gem Lake News Page 5 of 6 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Traffic in Gem Lake Once a Bit More Leisurely When I-35E <br />Originally Constructed <br /> <br />Currently traffic in Gem Lake is being highly <br />affected by the major reconstruction project now <br />underway on 35E. (See story on page 1.) <br />Although the speed and volume of traffic are a <br />real problem today, this wasn't always the case. <br /> <br />During the early 1950's, Connie Bigelow Kunin, <br />just a little girl at the time, once built a barrier on <br />Goose Lake Road with her friend Mary Lou <br />Opstad. The two decided to stop traffic as a <br />prank and piled up brush and other debris. <br />Then, the youngsters hid in the woods to see <br />what affect their little barricade would have on <br />drivers. The answer: not much. After spending <br />20-30 minutes giggling and waiting for a car to <br />come by, they gave up and went home, where <br />they were promptly punished for their misdeed. <br /> <br />By today's sta ndards, Gem Lake is still an <br />amazingly semi-rural city. Fifty or sixty years <br />ago it was almost entirely devoted to large <br />farms, dairy and livestock businesses and <br />several large estate properties. <br /> <br />Although the basic street layout was much the <br />same as it is today, the number of cars traveling <br />through Gem Lake is very different, agrees <br />former mayor Lloyd LaBore. Lloyd was born <br />here in 1925 and remembers when <br />Scheuneman Road was an unpaved country <br />lane. His father, Duestry LaBore, owned a dairy <br />farm located at the current location of the Gem <br />Lake Hills Golf Course. <br /> <br />Things began to slowly change, first as a result <br />of the Great Depression and then during and <br />after World War II. Duestry LaBore sold his farm <br />and moved to California. Other large farms <br />began to be sold and turned into residential <br />properties. <br /> <br />Post war progress also brought the interstate <br />highway system, which was originally set to run <br />right through the City of Gem Lake. Original <br />staking of Interstate 35E, which was laid out in <br />1955 and completed in 1970, put the freeway <br />right through the current Kunin property, near <br />the west end of Goose Lake Road and <br />significantly east of LaBore Road, around the <br />current White Bear Parkway. <br /> <br />The freeway route in this area generally ran <br />along side to the original U.S. Highway 61. <br />"At the time, some people thought my mother, <br />Eileen Bigelow, must have had a lot of power <br />if she was able to get the freeway moved out <br />of Gem Lake," says Connie. "Actually, my <br />mom had been ready to move herself as a <br />result of the construction. It was the wetlands <br />that caused the route change. Primarily, I <br />think it's the same problem engineers now <br />face when contemplating the extension of <br />LaBore Road northward to hook up with White <br />Bear Parkway and/or Highway 96." The same <br />wetlands are in the way. <br /> <br />This article originally appeared in the August, <br />2007 Gem Lake News. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />A view from the original Bigelow House off of <br />Goose Lake Road, looking west towards the area <br />of what is now Walmart and Interstate 35E.Photo <br />taken in the 1940’s. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />