The Bohemian Flats was a neighborhood that was situated along the West Bank of the Mississippi River under the Washington Avenue bridge. The Flats were generally inhabited by European immigrants, primarily of Slovak origin. The Flats was often characterized by its shanty houses, made from driftwood taken from the river, which would flood the neighborhood on a yearly basis. Eventually the Bohemian Flats residents were pushed out of their neighborhood by the City of Minneapolis, with their houses replaced by a coal barge.

While there are many directions that research in the Flats could go, the purpose of this website is to explore the Bohemian Flats through the lenses of Class, Labor, Poverty and Welfare via the use of primary sources, such as newspaper articles and annual organization reports.

For a bibliography of the sources used in our project, click here.

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