Excelsior’s main docks, now called the Port of Excelsior, have served since 1854 as the Main Dock, where thousands of passengers boarded steam ships and streetcar boats for lake tours or trips to places such as Wayzata, and the area was once the center of lakeside activity. During the early 1900s, a building used for boat rentals stood about 70 feet east of its present location near the Blue Line Cafe, which was built in 1890 and moved in 1904. An amusement building known as a casino once stood at this site, with six bowling alleys on the lower level and a roller skating rink and dance hall on the second level, before it was torn down in 1922. The Blue Line Cafe remained in business there until March 1958. Where Haskell’s and Dunn Brothers are now located, a large hill once stood with a hotel on top called the White House, originally the Jenkins House, built in 1866. Across the street to the west and atop another large hill stood the Excelsior Bay Hotel, built as the LaPaul House in 1896.