Niagara Cave was discovered in 1924 and first opened for tours in 1934. It is one of only two publicly accessible caves in Minnesota. Niagara Cave is privately owned and has had three families stewarding it since its discovery.
Joe Flynn, Al Cremer, Leo Tekippe
These three men were some of the original cave explorers and in the early 1930s acquired a lease agreement on the cave from the land owner (John Kennedy). They then developed the cave for public tours, opening in June, 1934.
The Cremer family
Al Cremer along with his wife Rose eventually continued on as operators, having bought out his partners when they chose to pursue other paths. Rose continued the operation of Niagara Cave after Al’s death in the mid 1970s, until the early 1980s.
The Vikre family
Jeanine Vikre acquired the cave lease from auction in 1982. Jeanine, along wth her son Ron, continued to operate the cave until they were able to purchase it in 1985, for the first time tying the ownership and operation of the cave into one entity.
The Bishop family
The Bishop family purchased the Cave and business in April 1995 and continue to operate Niagara Cave as a family business.
In August of 2015 an offsite photo-voltaic solar panel array was constructed. This array produces 45,000 kwh/year, totally offsetting the entire energy consumption of the Niagara Cave business. This achievement made Niagara Cave the first commercial cave in the world whose energy consumption is produced by the sun.