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RAMSEY COUNTY
HISTORY
INDEX
The following is a brief index with summaries of Ramsey County History, the award winning quarterly
magazine published by the Ramsey County Historical Society.
The best and most cost effective way to get this
publication is to become a member of the
Ramsey County Historical Society.
The magazine is a benefit of
membership along with free admission to the Gibbs Museum.
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member, or to learn more click now!
Individual copies may be
purchased from the Society's Research Center for $8.50
while issues over one year old are $9.50 each.
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or email research@rchs.com
You can view back issues by visiting our
Research Center.
Special thanks to Paul D. Nelson and Steve C. Trimble for summarizing each article in our index!
To search within this page click EDIT in the top left hand of your tool bar choose FIND form the drop down menu. Enter the topic or word you are interested in and click FIND NEXT until an item you are interested appears.
A Different Sesquicentennial
Remembering Fredrick McGhee
Paul D. Nelson
On October 28th of this year, I paused to reflect that Fredrick McGhee
was born on that date 150 years ago. I remembered him that day because I admire
the man so much, and because, as his biographer, I feel a personal connection to
him.
Growing Up in St. Paul
The West End Neighborhood of the Thirties and Forties
Douglas R Heidenreich
Somewhere, probably in a shoebox filled with curved, faded, brittle pictures
shot about seventy years ago on a Kodak Brownie camera, I have a short letter
from Gerhard Bundlie, a lawyer who was the mayor of St. Paul in the early
nineteen thirties. The letter, on official mayor's-office stationary,
congratulates my parents on the birth of a son who had been born on February 29,
2932. That was me.
Living la Vida en Ramsey County
A Journey through Ramsey County's Mexican Past
Leila Renee Albert
On September 22, the Ramsey County Historical Society opened an exhibit in its
gallery space in the Landmark Center focused on Ramsey County's Mexican past
titled Living la Vida en Ramsey County. The curator of the exhibit is Leila
Renee Albert with assistance from Jose Anaya and Mollie Spillman, Ramsey County
Historical Society
curator-archivist. In addition to the various exhibits, the gallery includes a
map of St. Paul's West Side that highlights a walking tour of the District del
Sol and its colorful and varied works of art that express the neighborhood's
Mexican culture and heritage.
Book Reviews
Crystal Clift Memorial Insert
A Garden Inspires a Community
With Style, Grace, and Pride: The Gardens at the
Minnesota Governor’s Residence
Karine Pouliquen and Lori Schindler
Growing Up in St. Paul
The Rondo Years, 1948–1950
Susanne Sebesta Heimbuch
For the Good of Order
The ad Man Becomes the "Senator from Ramsey"
John Watson Milton
Mr. Milton shares the story of Nick Coleman, the former Minnesota State Senate
majority leader. Coleman enjoyed a long career, starting first with his
grassroots campaign that included phone banks and lawn signs, which helped
defeat another longtime, Irish Catholic senator. This article features a recipe
for the time-honored political fundraising meal-booya!
Ramsey County History, Volume 45, Number 4
“We Can Do Better with a Chisel and a Hammer”
Appreciating Mary Colter and Her Roots in St. Paul
Diane Trout-Oertel
The article
examines the career of Mary Colter, a St.
Paul-born designer and architect who learned her craft here, taught at Mechanic
Arts High School, and later moved west to design buildings and interiors for the
Fred Harvey Company at the Grand Canyon. The article traces Colter’s ties with
the Arts and Crafts movement and the integration of Native American traditions
in her designs.
Growing Up in St.
Paul
Louis and Maybelle: Somewhere Out in the West
John W. Larson
Mr. Larson evocative view of his aunt and her husband who where proprietors of a
nightclub hotel in a Montana boom town, which flourished during the construction
of the Fort Peck Dam.
“Write Us in Your
Own Way”
A Tombstone from the Sears Catalog
Janice R. Quick
The article highlights the
process of buying a tombstone from none other than Sears, Roebuck.
What Readers Are
Saying about
The Dutiful Son,
Louis W. Hill, and Glacier
National Park
Ramsey County History, Volume 45, Number 3
"It
Was Like Living in a Small Town”
Three St. Paul
Neighborhoods That Worked: Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Avenue, and Arcade Street in
the 1940s and ‘50s
Steve C. Trimble
The three neighborhoods that
abutted the industrial complex on St. Paul’s East Side developed as the city
broke out of downtown. At first they had had a mixture of prosperous families, a
strong presence of middle-class residents and a large number of working-class
households. Each of them had a strong presence of immigrant groups, whose
composition changed over time. The people in the area started a variety of
churches and institutions to serve their special needs.
The residents faced hard times during the 1930s Depression, but the job base was expanding even in those days. During World War II and the decade after, good jobs became plentiful and the neighborhoods became predominately blue- collar enclaves. The largest employers were 3M, Hamm’s Brewery, and Seeger/Whirlpool, and the creation of labor unions at their plants was an important part of the story. There were also many smaller sources of employment.
During World War II, a majority of the companies shifted to the production of goods for the military and many women joined the workforce. People strongly supported recycling campaigns and put up with shortages and rationing. Schools also joined in the effort with scrap and paper drives. The 1950s brought changes as the housing aged, people moved away, and the small businesses suffered from the competition of chain stores.
Once There was a Street Called Decatur
Paul D. NelsonThis
is the story if a small street that was perched on the western edge of Swede
Hollow in the East Side of St. Paul. It had been laid out in the 1850s but the
first buildings did not go up until the early 1880s during the city’s population
boom. The article is an attempt to recreate the streetscape, which was destroyed
in the 1930s so that a new extension of Payne Avenue could be completed.
The author tried to find out as much as possible about the people who lived there. The 1895 state census showed nineteen households, many of whom took in boarders, and a total of 142 people. A majority of them were immigrants and many of the men were railroad workers or general laborers and there were also many tradesmen, such as butchers, teamsters, and carpenters. Widows and unmarried women were often domestics, seamstresses or worked in laundries.
The author uses the census and city directories, maps and some stories by people who lived there. Because the city took photographs of the houses that were torn down, there is a good visual record of the street. There is an interesting sidebar from Ralph Yekaldo who wrote his reminiscences about Decatur Street and the surrounding area.
Ramsey County History, Volume 45, Number 2
"He Had a Great Flair For Color"
Louis W. Hill and Glacier Park
Biloine W. Young and Eileen McCormack
The article is an excerpt from two chapters of The Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill; Life in the Shadow of the Empire Builder, James J. Hill, published by the Ramsey County Historical Society. Louis Hill was born in St. Paul in 1872 and after graduation from Yale in 1888 went to work for his father’s railroad. He was made the president of the Great Northern in 1907. But Louis was more than just a businessman. He was a romantic, a dreamer, a painter and an outdoorsman. One of his premier projects was the development of Glacier National Park.
Working behind the scenes, Louis helped persuade the U.S. Congress to establish Glacier National Park in 1910. Because the Hill family’s Great Northern Railway tracks ran along the southern boundary of the park, Louis knew the railroad could increase passenger traffic if visitors could be encouraged to travel to the park. Louis hoped to entice Easterners to explore the grand vistas in Montana using the slogan “See America First.” Hill supervised almost all of the details of the tourist hotels he constructed. Since a section of the park was also in Canada, alcohol could be legally purchased at the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton during Prohibition. As part of the development of Glacier Park, Hill bought some land from the Blackfoot reservation. Although he was at times patronizing about the Blackfoot, Hill seemed to get along well with the Native American population and gathered Indian artifacts. He hired prominent painters and authors to draw and describe Glacier Park.
"A Rented House Is Not A Home"
Thomas Frankson: Real Estate Promoter and Unorthodox Politician
Roger BergersonThomas Frankson, a real
estate developer, oil land speculator, and often successful politician is no
longer well known. However, his house near the western entrance of Como Park
with its two concrete lions is easily recognized. He was originally from
southern Minnesota, where he was a successful real estate salesman and a member
of the state’s House of Representatives. He moved to St. Paul in 1913 and
plunged into real estate development, starting with a one hundred-twenty-acre
tract on the western edge of Como Park. He coined the phrase “A rented house is
not a home” and took out frequent ads in newspapers. At the same time, he began
building a home of his own on Midway Parkway with a backyard that included
buffalo and other exotic animals. A sidebar detailing the history of the house
is included. Although Frankson was not officially a member of the Non-Partisan
League, he shared many of its radical perspectives. He also renewed his
political career and ran a successful campaign for Minnesota’s lieutenant
governor. In 1920 he made a run for governor, but failed badly and left
politics. He platted out several other St. Paul neighborhoods before his death
in 1939 from a suspected heart attack.
A Saint Paul Chronicle: The Return of the "Black Maria"
Maya J. Beecham
A short article based on an excerpt from a letter written by Bernard M. Schorn,
Jr. whose grandfather drove the “Black Maria.” This was a name given to the
workforce vans that transported convicts from the courthouse to the city
workhouse at Lake Como. The horse-drawn vehicle was purchased in 1897 and used
until replaced by an automobile sometime between 1914 and 1920. It was sold to a
local politician and then was transferred to a Florida museum in 1953. Two
decades later an Ohio collector bought it at an auction. The article then
details the efforts by various St. Paul police and others to buy it back. The
original “Black Maria” returned to St. Paul on January 21, 1986, and is now
housed at the city’s Western District police office on Hamline Avenue.
Ramsey County History, Volume 45, Number 1
They Played for the Love of the Game
Adding to the Legacy of Minnesota Black Baseball
Frank M. White
Based on a Ramsey County Historical Society
exhibit, this article reveals the untold story of some of the local baseball
players who struggled to overcome racial indignities and gain recognition for
their abilities. There is some material on the national scene and while there
was no Negro Leagues team in Minnesota, many African Americans played on
integrated teams. The state did have several semi-pro black clubs prior to World
War II. Some of the local legends included Bobby Marshall, Billy Williams and
Toni Stone, a legendary woman player. Negro Leagues teams did sometimes
barnstorm and play in St. Paul in the 1930s through the ‘50s. Although the end
of Major League Baseball’s color line in 1947 with the singing of Jackie
Robinson was welcomed by many African Americans, it started the demise of the
old Negro Leagues. The article contains a list of local players and other
African American players, such as Willie Mays, who were in the state’s minor
league system on their way to the majors.
"Good Grief!" Said Charlie Brown
The Business of Death in Bygone St. Paul
Moira F. Harris & Leo J. Harris
This article outlines the views of death and
funeral customs in the nineteenth century, drawing heavily on the archives of
the Albert Scheffer family. It examines a variety of contemporary customs and
also gave information on the prominent German family whose items were
researched. At the time, there was often a funeral cortege in which family and
mourners would accompany the deceased to the cemetery and, if they were
prominent, there might be police units and bands. The subheading give a good
idea of the illustrated topics covered: Sympathy and Flowers; In the Undertakers
Shop; Wooden Overcoats (coffins); Embalming, Dressing and Moving of the Dead; A
Dying Art (tombstones); The Cities of the Dead (cemeteries); Funeralia; and Then
and Now.
Ramsey County History Volume 44, Number 4
Recollections of Cathedral Hill
A Glimpse of Old St. Paul from an Up-and-Down Duplex on Holly Avenue
Mary Reichardt
An owner of 444 Holly Avenue in the
Cathedral neighborhood tells the story of her home. Allen John Sovereign, a
railroad man, moved to St. Paul with his family and built the house in 1913. It
was a grand duplex designed in a modified Arts and Crafts style. Relative Harry
Dow and his family lived upstairs. His grandson George, who lived there for over
thirty years, provided much of the information for the article. His impressions
include memories of Harry Dow’s involvement in movie theaters and the close knit
neighborhood and kid’s entertainment. There are short biographies of some of the
prominent area residents including Adelaide Enright and her involvement with
Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1951 the house was sold to Cecil and Emmy Lou Reed and
some of their stories were told.
Part and Parcel of a great Cause
The St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing
Kristen Mapel Bloomberg & Leah S. McLaughlin
After giving information on social clubs
and organizations in the late nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, this
article focuses on the group that worked with deaf and hard of hearing people.
Two separate organizations were merged in 1936 into the St. Paul Society for the
Hard of Hearing. There are short biographies of the board members as well as an
explanation of the organizational structure and various committees. Details are
given on some of the daytime and evening meetings and the strong focus on the
learning and use of lip reading, drama club, movies and other activities.
Growing Up in St. Paul
The CCC, Flying Hands, and the Armistice Day Blizzard
Norman C. Horton Sr.
Norman Horton’s family moved to St. Paul at the onset of the Great Depression
eking out an existence and moving often. After graduation, Horton ended up with
the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), starting in northern Minnesota. He
describes the bitterly cold weather and the hard work. He was finally able to
get a good job at the Ford plant and tells how, during this time, he experienced
the wrath of the legendary blizzard of 1940. He and his family eventually moved
to 2186 North Rice Street near Highway 36, where he started a successful auto
parts and repair shop.
Ramsey County History Volume 44, Number 3
St. Paul’s Biggest Party
The Grand Army of the Republic’s1896 National Encampment
Moira F. Harris and Leo J. Harris
After the Civil War there had been annual “Grand Army of the Republic.” national
conventions or “encampments” in many different cities. Between August 3rd and
September 4th, 1896, the thirtieth of such events came to St. Paul and an
estimated 150,000 people attended. The author explains some of the history
behind Memorial Day, the custom of decorating graves at that time and the
origins of the GAR. St. Paul’s Acker Post, with its 600 veterans, was host for
the 1896 encampment. The hotels were packed, people invited veterans to stay in
their homes, several churches and colleges offered sleeping cots and the city
set up a free tent city at Dale Street that accommodated 4,000. There were
parades, a “living flag” made up of children wearing red, white and blue
clothing, a number of “triumphal arches,” an “army day” at the Winter Carnival
and exhibits at the State Fair Grounds.
Growing Up in St. Paul
The Mispacha on
Texas Street
Nathalie Chase Bernstein
“Mishpacha” is Hebrew word for
family, and this article looks at the story of the author’s Jewish
family from Lithuania. They came to St. Paul and in the late 1890s
started a scrap iron business. When they became a little better off
than other West Side residents, they left “The Flats” and lived on
Eaton Avenue. There are descriptions of the many small stores and
groceries, selling eggs, skating, attending Lafayette School, and
the effects of the Great Depression.
Ramsey County History Volume 44,
Number 2
Pith Heart and Nerve
Truman M. Smith: Horticulture as the Way Back
Barry L. & Joan Miller Cotter
The second article on Truman Smith--the
first was in the Fall, 2008 issue. This one tells how, after financial
difficulties and economic crash in the 1850s, he transformed himself into to a
successful market gardener in St. Paul. Smith’s “Fruit Garden” was located in
the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood and he was involved what is now called “fringe
farming.” Part of Smith’s goal was to convince outsiders that fruits as well as
vegetables could be successfully grown in Minnesota’s northern climate. As such,
he kept careful records of all his experiments.
Using correspondence, newspaper accounts and census data, the authors describe his experiences, successes as well as troubles as he bought and sold nursery trees, made wine and sold at the Farmer’s Market. He seems to have been content with his new role and he made a decent living at the endeavor. His philosophy of “ethical mutuality” led him to become involved in the Grange Movement.
Food for a Good Life
John J. Ryan and the Minnesota Growers Association
Mary Jo Richardson
This article, written by his granddaughter, is the story of J. J. Ryan who made
his mark both on the state and nation as a spokesman for retail grocers. He was
born in 1863 and came to St. Paul in the late nineteenth century. Ryan started
out as a grocery clerk and eventually became a partner in the business. He was a
founder of the Retail Clerk’s Union and even when he became part of the Retail
Grocers Association, was involved in the labor movement. In 1892 Ryan was
elected president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Association.
He was hired to be the sculptor for the St. Paul courthouse, which also was a modern structure. Lawrie departed from the suggestions of the public commission that was set up to help plan the building. The article discusses the two entrance panels on walls and exterior details. Lawrie felt that his artistic goal was not to express himself but to express the purpose and function of the building and called his work “modern mural sculpture.” There are sidebars on Lawrie’s works around the country and other area architectural sculptures.
Newell Park Improvement Association was started in 1912 and, among other things, successfully pushed for the erection of a pavilion in 1929. A strong booster club was formed in 1932. There is information on its architecture and reports on the uses of the park over the years. The site faced a decline after WWII, but there were still activities and meetings. In recent years the pavilion was restored and the windows were un-bricked There is also a sizeable sidebar on Stanford Newell. The author is a member of the Hamline Midway History Corps, which has done a great deal of research on the neighborhood.
Growing up in St Paul
The Teen Years at Our Lady of Peace (OLP)
Susanne Sebesta Heimbuch
This article focuses on memories of a
schoolgirl starting in 1959. She came from St. Mark’s Grade School into a much
larger Our Lady of Peace (OLP), a high school with a thousand students. She did
well and became an honor student track. She lost a good friend because the nuns
said to stay with others in the college tract trying to “dainty-fy” her. There
were memories of events, such as her first dance at St. Thomas Academy and the
mother-daughter teas. There is some information on the family’s life, including
coping with a father who had a drinking problem. Susanne and her friends partied
in each other’s houses and took a memorable trip to New York and the East
Coast. Heimbuch worked part time at St. Luke’s rectory houses to get spending
money. There are reminiscences of the OLP junior prom at which hemlines were
measured to insure modesty. The author also attended the Cretin High School
officer’s ball. There is a three-page sidebar on Our Lady of Peace’s High School
building and what happened to it after the institution closed.
Smith’s anguish when the economy crashed is shown through quotes from his letters to family and friends. He frantically tried to find financial support from Eastern sources and had success for a time, but soon was overextended. His bank failed, and he continued to struggle to keep their heavily mortgaged home on the crest of Dayton’s Bluff. He was able to keep it for a time by putting the ownership in his wife’s name. Unfortunately, she died of tuberculosis in 1864 and the fight was over. His somewhat opulent life style was reduced to struggle to maintain subsistence. He turned a horticultural hobby into a means of support. Smith grew splendid vegetables, fruit trees and flowers and managed to make a decent, if not comfortable living. There is a sidebar of St. Paul real estate mania of 1856.
Growing
Up In Saint Paul
Random Recollections of Grace Flandrau
Horace Blair Flandrau Klein
This is the memories of a nephew of
Grace Flandrau, who was called “Aunt Geese” by most of the youngsters of the
family. He remembered her as having a strong “sense of presence” and never
seemed to be flustered. He visited her from time to time and then spent two
weeks as a paid chauffer to drive her around the state in her green Packard as
she wrote about Minnesota for Holiday Magazine. Even though the trip was during
the summer, Grace always wore a suit even on hot days. There were visits to
factories and conversations with many people, but Klein felt she seemed to live
on another plane. He never saw her after their tour, as Flandrau became somewhat
of a recluse, partly because of ill health
"Mr. Livingston...Had the Tenth"
An Episode in Minnesota Railroad Building
John M. Lindley
On October 3, 1883, the Minnesota Supreme Court rendered its decision in the
case of James H. Weed et al. vs. Little Falls & Dakota Railroad et al. One of
many railroad cases of the era, the case resulted from an argument over who
would profit over the building of the LF&D line. One of the vital findings was
that that Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad had agreed
to pay Crawford Livingston one-tenth of any profits made from the sale of the
LF&D to the Northern Pacific. The article examines how one nineteenth century
Minnesota railroad was financed by asking several questions—how Livingston came
to play a behind-the-scenes role in the financing; what his participation tells
us about who profited and who lost in this railroad deal; and why the court
ruled as it did. Details of the court case and the people involved are covered.
One group wanted the court to issue an injunction to stop the issuance of bonds
secured by the railroad’s stocks. The railroad and the bridge across Mississippi
at Little Falls were completed and full service began on November 1, 1883. The
courts found that Livingston had successfully brokered a deal between Colonel
William Crooks and Henry Villard and as a result deserved to a share of the
profits.
Ramsey County History Volume 43, Number 2
Strike for Better Schools
The Saint Paul Public Schools Teachers' Strike of 1946
Cheryl Carlson
The story of the first teachers’
strike in the country carried out by 1,165 St. Paul educators. The background
causes included the lack of support for public schools, partly because around a
third of all students were in parochial schools. At that time the city ran the
schools and for decades there had been had low per capita financing. The
students had to buy their own textbooks. Along with allies, the teachers tried
earlier to get amendments to the city charter to reform the situation, but they
were all defeated. The separate Men’s and Women’s Federations gave notice of
their intent to strike and November 25th pickets appeared in front of the school
buildings. The City Council finally agreed to support an amendment to separate
school finances from the city budget and, after the charter commission agreed,
the teachers returned to work on December 28, 1946. The charter changes were
passed in 1947 and a school board was soon established. The historic strike had
a national impact There is a sidebar on Mary McGough and Lettisha Henderson, two
of the important Federation leaders.
Our Courage and Cowards
The Controversy Surrounding Macalester College's Neutrality and Peace
Association, 1917
Emily Skidmore
When eighty students sent a
petition to Woodrow Wilson in support of neutrality from the World War,
Macalester found itself enmeshed in what became national controversy. The
students formed a large Neutrality and Peace Association. Professor James
Wallace, the president of the college, was part of the group, but switched his
views after the country declared war. Most of the state newspapers attacked the
students. The author believed that the power of gender as a cultural motivator
was important and examines the masculine and feminine language that was used to
discuss the war. As soon as the country officially entered the war, even the
students changed their attitudes and many of them enlisted, some of whom never
returned.
Growing
Up In Saint Paul
Love in Bloom
John L. Relf
This is an excerpt from the
author’s book My Life, published in 2007. Relf was born in 1927 and first lived
on Portland Avenue near Fairview. He graduated from Central High School, entered
the Army and later went to the University of Minnesota for a business degree.
Relf describes his courtship and wedding, an apartment on Grand Avenue and
purchasing a lot near White Bear Lake, where they built a new home in Pine Tree
Hills addition. The author covers summer vacations, relations with friends and
neighbors and working at 3M as well as his interest in politics and involvement
in city council meetings.
Ramsey County History Volume 43, Number 1
From Swede Hollow to Capitol
Boulevard
Bethesda Hospital Celebrates Its 125th Anniversary (1883–2008)
Dr. Donald B. Swenson
A survey
of the Bethesda Hospital as it celebrated its 125th anniversary. At the start,
the institution dealt primarily with Swedish and Norwegian clients. Initially
located near Como Lake, it admitted the first patient in 1883. There is some
information on Swede Hollow and Lower Town. The old Upham residence became the
new hospital in 1892 and there soon was a training school for nurses.
Pastor-administrators were in charge in the early days but as time went on more
professional managers emerged. There is also an exploration of rules for
patients, money needs and other matters. The organization started building a new
hospital on Capitol Boulevard in the early 1930s. There are biographical items
on some of the prominent physicians and nurses who served at Bethesda
Growing
Up In Saint Paul
When Selby and Snelling Had a Life of Its Own, 1943–1954
Bernard P. Friel
The author, who was born in 1930, lived in a three-generation home at 1237
Selby. His first real job was at Park Drug Store at Selby and Snelling and
lasted eleven years. He also worked on a railroad dining car. Friel went to
Central High School where he participated in sports and other activities. He
wrote of O’Gara’s Bar, working at Park Liquor Drug and Liquor and gives a
description of the corner and its great activity. There are memories of the big
fire of 1947. In his adult years he became an attorney.
A
Whirlwind of Crimes
The Crimes and Times of Wonnigkeit and Ermisch
Janice R. Quick
The story of two friends who ran
around together and ran afoul of the law together. Both were of German ancestry.
They were first arrested for burglary in 1892 and were sentenced to the St.
Cloud Reformatory. When they got out, they jumped parole, went on a crime spree,
and then killed a bartender in a downtown saloon. Wonnigkeit’s attorney defended
him saying he was destroyed by alcohol, but the jury convicted them. A petition
to commute the death sentence was signed by many prominent people who are
mentioned. Aged nineteen and twenty years old, they were hanged together on a
single scaffold in the Ramsey County jail on October 19, 1894 and were buried
next to each other in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Ramsey County History Volume 42, Number 4
Tommy Milton "St. Paul's Speed King"
Steven C. Trimble
See Tommy
Milton Images
While he is rarely remembered except by sports historians, “St. Paul’s Speed
King” Tommy Milton was one of the most prominent race car drivers in America
during the early years of the Twentieth Century. He was the first person to win
the Indianapolis 500 twice. Milton lived with his family on Dayton Avenue and
attended Mechanic Arts High School. He became fascinated with racing first with
motorcycles and then, around 1913, turned to automobiles. He toured with a
barnstorming show, then worked with the Duisenberg Company. It was at this time
he met Jimmy Murphy, who was his mechanic and then a racer himself. After a
strong friendship, the two had a major fight that turned into a long feud. His
first surprising win was at the 1921 Indianapolis race. He married and lived to
California, but often visited friends and relatives in St. Paul. He won the race
again in 1923. In 1924, his old friend Jimmy Murphy died in a crash and Milton‘s
grief was deep. He soon decided to quit racing. However, he remained in the
world of cars, worked for the Packard Company and was the chief steward for the
Indianapolis event. He died of self-inflicted gunshots in 1962 and now rests in
Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Labor Found a Friend
W.W. Erwin for the Defense
David Riehle
Known as “The Northwest Whirlwind” or
“The Tall Pine,” William Wallis Erwin was an accomplished defense attorney. Even
though he was respected throughout the country as a champion of underdogs, he is
little known in the city where he lived. Born in 1842, Erwin arrived in St. Paul
in 1870. He was a splendid orator, often quoting classical writers, and became a
favorite speaker at local labor events. He became nationally famous when he
successfully defended the strikers who were arrested during the 1893 Homestead
Strike by using a “justification defense.” One of his greatest moments was
being the lead defense council for Eugene V. Debs and the members of the
American Railway Union after the turbulent 1894 Pullman strike. Although he ably
defended Debs, the case was lost. He became a hero of the labor movement and was
made honorary member of several union locals. Erwin moved to Florida in 1900 and
died there eight years later.
Ramsey County History Volume 42, Number 3
Clara Baldwin and the Public Library
Movement in Minnesota
Robert F. Garland
Clara Baldwin was the state librarian from
1900 to 1936. She lived almost all her life in St. Paul and was part of a turn
of the century movement to establish public libraries throughout Minnesota. She
became the director of the division of libraries and interacted with many local
educational groups. One of her innovations was the traveling local library.
Partly because of her efforts new library buildings started to appear throughout
the state.
Baldwin traveled widely, gave summer institutes, and was active in the World War One effort by establishing soldier’s libraries. She struggled with the economic problems of the Depression. She retired in 1936 at age sixty-five. Baldwin never married lived with her parents and later in a series of apartments then with her sister. Baldwin suffered a stroke in 1949 and died two years later.
Creating a Diocese
The Election of Minnesota's First Episcopal Bishop
Ann Beiser Allen
By 1857, there were nineteen Episcopal churches in Minnesota, several others
that were forming, and 400 members, many of them leaders in their communities.
As required by the national body, there was, in September, 1857, a meeting in
St. Paul at which a diocesan constitution was drawn up and approved. The
election of a bishop was postponed but happened on June 29, 1859 at St. Paul’s
Church located at Olive and Ninth. A deadlock occurred and neither of the two
local leaders could be elected. Finally a long-shot named Henry B. Whipple was
supported by several people who knew him and he was elected. Whipple had been
successful as an organizer and fundraiser in New York and Chicago, where he was
then located. As it turned out, he did a fine job in his forty-two years heading
the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. Whipple is also well known for his support of
Native American causes. The article discusses the differences between the more
formal “high church movement” and the Low Church” group often called the
evangelical party.
Frogtown's Arundel Street
James R. Brown
Driving through the old neighborhood
brought back memories to the author while looking at the Edmund Street home
where he lived in the 1920 and 30s. One of his recollections was about climbing
up a ladder and breaking his arm when he fell. Another was sharing the back seat
of the car with bossy sisters. The family car took him on trips to look at
downtown store windows, Como Park and Phalen Lake, Ft. Snelling and Minneapolis.
The author goes into details on making friends and often dealing with prejudiced
whites at school or in the neighborhood. A lengthy part of the work tells the
tale of getting one of his sister’s prize marbles back from a bully. He did it
by teaming up with “Tomboy,” an athletic girl who won it back by arm wrestling.
James Brown, a poet and playwright, concludes the article with a section
entitled “Learning about Life,” hearing about the troubles faced by African
Americans throughout the country while he shined shoes at a barber shop in the
Rondo neighborhood. He described the barbershop education as “candid and
brutal,” usually learned from railroad workers who shared their experiences. It
changed his “happy-go-lucky” outlook on life to one that included an
understanding of prejudice after learning “the shocking truth about what being
black truly meant here in these United States.”
Roseville's "Lost Son" Honored
John M. Lindley
A follow up to an earlier article on early Roseville resident Benjamin Rose. He
died while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, but his body was
never returned. Until recently it was unclear where his remains were buried.
Thanks to Pat Hill and Cindy Rose Torfin, it was proved that he was among the
2,500 unknown soldiers buried in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They also convinced
the Veterans Administration to approve funding for a headstone and the cemetery
to donate the plot. Benjamin Rose now has a cemetery marker in the Soldier’s
Rest section of Oakland Cemetery placed on August 11, 2007.
Ramsey County History Volume 42, Number 2
Minneapolis and St. Paul Stumble-
Henry Ford Wins the Struggle for the High Dam
Brian McMahon
See online exhibit
There were two early Ford plants in the Twin
Cities—one in Minneapolis and another on University Avenue in St. Paul. Henry
Ford was a big promoter of hydroelectric power, so he wanted to locate plants on
navigable rivers. The building of Dam Number one on the Mississippi launched a
big debate over its financing. There was a Municipal Electric Company that
wanted to operate it. St. Paul wanted to work with Ford to create an industrial
area in 1923. Ford announced plans for an assembly and manufacturing plant in
St. Paul, Minneapolis wanted to block the plan. Business leaders didn’t want a
“socialistic” plan for a municipally owned facility. Ford visited the Twin
Cities and the Federal Power Commission agreed to let Ford have the franchise.
There was also a fight between industries that wanted dams with a high drop for
power and barge haulers who wanted shallow, slow rivers. A single large dam for
the hydroelectric plant was launched in 1924.
The Bishop Jade Books and the St. Paul
Public Library
Billie Young
The article revolves around a local
library “mystery.” It began in April 22, 1915, when a candy store located in
the Market House building caught fire. It spread to the second story which
housed the St. Paul Public Library with its 158,000 books. Two men among the
watching crowd of 25,000 that resolved to save the “Jade Books” that were
inside. They were part of a rare edition written by a man named Bishop, who was
fascinated with the gem had given the tome to the library. They ran through
smoke and succeeded in carrying out the heavy tomes. Since only 100 copies of
the books were ever made, the mystery is how St. Paul ended up having one of
them. The story of his decision to put the books together on his deathbed is
told. He made a list of all the institutions he wanted to have the books. St.
Paul got number twenty-seven, but to this day no one knows why.
Growing Up in St. Paul Memories of Dayton
Avenue in the 1950s
Susanne Sebesta Heimbuch,
In August, 1956, the parents and five siblings of the author moved to 1795
Dayton. Their parents had been attracted to the parish by St. Mark’s no-tuition
policy. They all took time inspecting the neighborhood and roaming the nearby
woods. At the time Suzanne was eleven years old and has vivid memories of the
community and the school girls in navy blue jumpers and white blouses. She
writes about a variety of things, including Sister Dorinda, her sixth grade
teacher, wondering about the facts of life and Ed Gein jokes. One frequent
activity was reading comics at the drug store. She eventually moved on to Our
Lady of Peace for high school.
Ramsey County History Volume 42, Number 1
The Jews of Fourteenth Street
Remembered
Gene Rosenblum
Gene
Rosenblum’s grandparents, immigrants from Lithuania,
moved into the Fourteenth Street neighborhood in
1907. This heavily Jewish community was comprised
several streets in the shadow of the State Capitol.
It had two synagogues, a community center and many
grocery stores and bakeries. The residents were
fairly prosperous, at least compared to those of the
West Side Flats. Many of the earliest Jewish
residents were peddlers or small businessmen. They
started arriving in the early 1880s, fleeing
persecution in Russia and were different than the
earlier Jews who had come to the city. Topics
included the schools, social activities and changes
in the Fourteenth Street community. The construction
of the I-94 freeway in the 1960s wiped out the
remnants of the community. The article includes a
large number of rarely seen family photos.
The William and Carrie Lightner Residence at 318
Summit
Paul Clifford Larson
William
Lightner was a prominent St. Paul attorney for fifty
years. He dabbled in politics and was a big
supporter of history. Born in Pennsylvania, he came
to this city in 1878, married and initially lived in
a duplex. As the family grew, it built a home at 318
Summit Avenue. It was created by a young Cass
Gilbert, the third of his designs erected on the
fashionable street. Like many people at the time,
Lightner dealt in real estate. He had been
successful, but was not yet well known publicly and
often struggled financially. The author goes into
detail about the architecture of the 1894 house and
his choices of material. The article ends with a
short history of those who lived in the house in
later years.
The Forgotten Fate of Roseville's
First Child,
Benjamin Rose
Patrick Hill & Cindy Rose Torfin
This is a
portrait of Isaac Rose for whom Roseville, Minnesota
is named. He was born in New Jersey, journeyed west,
married and joined the army. He would later farm in
Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. He and his family
arrived in Minnesota in 1843 and first settled on
the banks of the Mississippi River. The area
eventually became part of Rose Township. Isaac’s
sons Benjamin and Gideon followed the family
military tradition and both enlisted in a Civil War
regiment and were part of the Army of the
Cumberland. In one battle Benjamin helped a
wounded Gideon off a battlefield. Unfortunately,
Benjamin Rose would soon die of typhoid fever.
Gideon recovered and fought in many other battles
and was with Sherman in the taking of Atlanta and
the famous march to the sea. He lived the rest of
his life in St. Paul and along with another brother,
Henry, is buried in the Soldier’s Rest in Oakland
Cemetery.
Ramsey County History Volume 41, Number 4
"If It Can Be Manufactured From Wood, We Can
Make It"
A History of the Villaume Family and the Company They Built
Steve Trimble
In 1847, Joseph Villaume, a Frenchman,
arrived in St. Paul and his two nephews joined him joined him in 1873. One of
them, Eugene, landed a job as a woodworker with a local company and in 1882 he
and his brother opened a box-making company on the West Side. Eugene and his
family lived in a small house on the river flats. The company, which started
with beer boxes, soon diversified into other wood products and Eugene also
dabbled in real estate. The second generation of the Villaumes continued the
business and started producing fancy millwork. The company survived the Great
Depression. Another generation took the business through World War II and the
changes during the postwar era. The big flood of 1952 had a widespread, but
short-term effect. There were financial problems in 1954 and Grandson Robert
Linsmeyer took over, bringing in truss production and introducing new
technology. His son Nick Linsmeyer carried Villaume Industries, as it is now
named, into its fourth generation and oversaw a move to Eagan. There is a
full-page sidebar on the family’s ownership of land in Cuba.
"A Great Experience"
Villaume Builds Gliders in World War II
John M. Lindley
German troops used gliders in May 1940
and the Americans decided to use them too. They didn’t want to use already
existing airplane manufacturers and wanted to minimize the use of scarce metal.
The gliders were made of wood, fabric, and a bit of steel. They would be hauled
into the air by motored aircraft. Glider pilots had minimal control of the
“flying coffins,” as some soldiers called them, because these aircraft were
unpowered. Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation (NAC) of St. Paul received a
contract to build CG-4A gliders in 1942. NAC hired Villaume Box and Lumber
Company as a primary sub-contractor to build wooden wings and cargo floors.
Villaume employed a large number of new workers, many of them women to build
gliders. A high level of precision was required, since all 70,000 parts in each
glider had to be interchangeable with spares. Each CG-4A glider held thirteen
soldiers and equipment. The U. S. first used gliders July 9, 1943, in the
invasion of Sicily. Subsequently the Allies employed gliders at Normandy on June
6, 1944, and in Holland in September 1944. The biggest glider operation was the
assault across the Rhine River on March 24, 1945.
An Encounter at Kaposia
The Bishop and Chief
Leo J. Harris
In July, 1839, there was a meeting of two
men at Kaposia during a time of cultural change for the Mdewakanton Dakota who
lived there. Their leader at the time was Wakoyantanke (Big Thunder) commonly
called Little Crow III (1765-1845). Pierre Mathias Loras was the first Catholic
bishop for the area and was interested in converting them, which led to his
visit. When they met there were speeches and an exchange of gifts and tobacco.
Loras baptized 226 people at the meeting. Some of the Bishop’s letters have
survived and tell of Dakota daily life and their conflicts with the Ojibwa.
There is some information on Protestant ministers. Loras never returned to
Kaposia. Big Thunder traveled to Washington for treaty negotiations in 1837. The
author relates a variety of circumstances that provide an insight into the
times.
Ramsey County History Volume 41, Number 3
A Little Known Railway That Couldn't: The St Paul Southern
John Diers
The St. Paul Southern Electric
Railway, an obscure “electric interurban,” was built to connect the Twin Cities
with several southern Minnesota cities. This form of mass transit was developed
in other parts of the United States, but came late to Minnesota. It opened on
November 17, 1914, and went as far as Hastings, which hailed its arrival. While
there were plans to connect with Rochester and other sites, the line went no
further. Unfortunately, casual riders, commuters, salesmen and fishermen never
provided enough revenue to meet expenses. In its best years the line barely
broke even. The increasing popularity of cars and use of bus travel was
impossible to overcome and by July, 1928 the company’s assets were sold for
scrap. The article includes an interesting personal reminiscence of a woman
whose father was a motorman for the Southern Electric.
The 1894 Pullman
Strike in St. Paul and the Death of Switchman Charles Luth
Greg Proferl
The 1894 Pullman Strike had a major
impact on the country and on St. Paul, a union and railroad town. Eugene V.
Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union (ARU), came to St. Paul in April,
1894. At the urging of union officials, many bars, restaurants and many boarding
houses refused to cater to the “replacement workers” hired by the railroads. On
July 14th, two railroad representatives were trying to convince a Lower Town
woman to take in scabs as boarders. One ARU striker named Charles Luth
interfered and was shot to death by Charles Leonard. St. Paul’s working people
were outraged, Luth was given a huge funeral but Leonard was found not guilty
of murder at a trial.
The article goes on to a more in-depth look at the status of unionism in the 1890s, the Pullman Strike and its effect on the country and St. Paul and the local relations between labor, capital and the Catholic Church. According to the author, the events of 1894 set the stage for an era of compromise and negotiation between business and organized labor. There is a sizeable sidebar on labor supporter Reverend Hermann Fleer.
Memories of Frogtown in the 1930s
James R.. Brown
Poet and playwright James Brown relates vignettes of the life of his family in
St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood during the 1930s. It was a community that was a
mixture of public schools, churches, bars and gambling houses, with a diverse
group of inhabitants. Brown draws a delightful portrait filled with interesting
stories of the people he met as an African American child in a predominately
white community. He lays out his neighborhood and school experiences—some of
them positive and some of them not. There is a short description of the nearby
Rondo neighborhood that was the heart of the African American business and
residential area at the time.
The main thrust of the story begins on the day of his birthday one August day when he expected a party, but instead was taken on a drive with his father, hoping to go to a movie. It was the first time he was allowed to wear long pants and felt proud as he met neighborhood characters, visited a nearby family, played catch and spent time at a barber shop. He watched and listened as the men talked, played dice and checkers and was worried about how long his father was taking. It turned out there was a surprise party waiting for him as well as the new bicycle that he had been hoping to get. It was a great lesson in understanding, realizing his father knew what he was doing all along and how much love there was in his family.
Ramsey County History Volume 41, Number 2
“He
was Mechanic Arts”
Mechanic Arts High School,
The Dietrich Lange Year, 1916-1939
John W. Larson
While this article features Dietrich Lange--educator, naturalist and writer--it
gives biographical information on several other teachers as well as several
Mechanic Arts High School students who became prominent. Roy Wilkins, for
instance, became a national civil rights leader. He was encouraged to develop
his writing skills by Mary Copley, who background and career are outlined.
Dietrich Lange became principal of Mechanic Arts High School in 1916. In 1921,
there were 1,500 students with diverse backgrounds. It had college-bound tracks
as well as commercial classes and art and shop classes.
Creative writing and the publication of a school magazine to display the work of students was a primary goal at the school. Future U. S. Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun experience in the writing classes is explained. There is information on Lange’s upbringing in a strict German family. When they moved to St Paul in 1887 he soon started teaching. He became a nationally-known author and lecturer on nature studies. Mechanic Arts’ proficient sports figures are given room along with other important teachers. Lange’s last years finish the article.
"Dreams of the Immensity of the Future"
Crex Carpet Company Revisted
Paul D. Nelson
Online Extra:
Michael O'Shaughnessy Manuscript
See more Crex photos
This short article is a follow-up on an earlier piece by the author, published
in the Winter, 2006 issue. It was prompted by the discovery of an unpublished
manuscript written by Michael O’Shaughnessy, the founder of the American Twine
Grass Company, later known as Crex. The fifty page document was provided by
O’Shaughnessy’s great-grandson provided a lot of new information about the major
St. Paul manufacturing company.
Fighting Billy Miske
The Heart of a Champion
Paul Picard
St. Paul was known for its champion
boxers, even before the sport became legal in the city, and bouts had to be
fought outside the state. Miske, “the St. Paul Thunderbolt,” was the son of
German immigrants. He ran a car dealership that was barely profitable. Miske
learned that he had a chronic kidney disease; however, he still needed to box to
provide for his family so he trained at home to conceal his poor health. Against
doctor’s orders he went into the ring for over thirty fights. One of his last
ones was against the new champion Jack Dempsey. Although he fought valiantly, he
lost in the third round. By the end of 1923, Miske was too sick to train;
however, he still needed money. He fought in Omaha and won a sizeable purse that
helped him have a large Christmas for his family. The next day he called his
manager to take him to the hospital. He died on New Year’s Day, leaving behind a
wife and three children. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery.
Volume 41, Number 1
Mary Hill's Lowertown, 1867-1891
Eileen McCormack
Mary Mehegan Hill
lived most of her early life in St. Paul’s Lower Town and
was there with her husband, James J. Hill from the time of
their marriage until they moved to Summit Avenue in 1891.
Her family was surrounded by prosperous families in the
block located between Ninth, Tenth, Wacouta and Canada
streets. The Hills were very close, both geographically and
socially, to three other families-the Gotzians, the Uphams
and the Schurmeiers. They had close interactions over many
years even after moving away. The men and James J. Hill. had
many common economic and social shared activities.
The core of this article is based on diaries kept by Mary Hill, starting in 1883 and continuing, with a few gaps, until 1921. They are a record of her daily activities and information about her family; however, they contain few introspective thoughts. The author supplemented the writings with information from the Hill Papers, census records and city directories.
The article looks at the institutions of the neighborhood--groceries, churches, and specialty retail. The children were taught at home in the early years and often played in nearby Lafayette Park. Shopping, cultural activities, work and worship were most often undertaken within walking distance.
Mary’s household chores and dinners and other activities are detailed. She was active in the church, especially with charitable activities, and supported St. Mary’s Home for Girls and the Catholic Orphan Asylum. The article covers the changes to the community that were brought by railroad construction. There is also a sizeable sidebar on the Church of St. Mary.
Lowertown: Another Perspective
David Riehle
Fire insurance maps are valuable resources
that can reveal some of the patterns of economic class. For instance pink
coloring on the plats is reserved for stone and blue for frame homes. The Hills,
Gotzians and Uphams were socially active with each other, but mingling of the
classes was common as people usually walked to stores and neighbors houses. The
area surrounding the Hills home included boarding houses and several saloons.
City directories give the names and occupations of residents. There was even a
significant mixture in churches. The social differentiation would develop later.
St. PaulUnderground
Stahlmann's Cellar: The Cave Under the Castle
Greg A. Brick
Bavarian-born Christopher Stahlmann opened
his brewery in St. Paul in 1855 on Fort and Oneida streets in the West Seventh
area. By the late 1870s it was the largest brewery in the state. Its lagering
caves were carved into the sandstone twenty to thirty feet below the surface. In
time, icehouses were replaced with mechanical refrigeration that could be
scientifically controlled. After Stahlman died, the brewery went bankrupt and
Jacob Schmidt bought it in 1900. When he died a decade later, Adolf and Otto
Bremer took over and built Schmidt’s into one of the leading regional beer
producers. They made it through prohibition by selling soft drink and near beer.
In the late 1930s Schmidt’s was thought to be the seventh largest brewery in
the country.
The second half of the article describes a trip through the caverns by the author and caving friends in November, 1999. It graphically describes the “sewer slime” the smells of the brewery, crawling through pipes and finding evidence of earlier people who passed through. Surprising rats as they traveled, the group came out of the Fort Road sewer. They went again after the brewery had closed for good to see if that changed things. The cave was much drier and cooler and in the absence of brewery waste the cave life had disappeared. There are eight photos of the underground areas.
Growing Up in St. Paul
Stranger in a Strange Land: A Culture That for a Child Was Foreign and Alien
Bernice Fisher
Bernice started kindergarten at Scheffer
School in 1933. The later shift to St. Adelbert’s School changed her in ways her
parents had not anticipated. It was their child’s first introduction to Polish
people, their church, culture and language. Most of the sisters were immigrants
and the students greeted them in Polish. The Polish language was a required
subject, but they also had English grammar, ad learned to write both in ink. The
preferred learning by rote, the children all wore uniforms and days were very
regimented. Boys and girls were separated in the classrooms and even on the
playground. The teaching was almost always by the question and answer approach.
The school and church also had a large number of Polish dinners and dances.
Volume 40, Number 4
'The Greatest Single Industry?'
Crex: Created Out of Nothing
Paul D. Nelson
See more Crex photos
The American Grass Twine Company was the fifth
largest employer in St. Paul in 1903 and its largest manufacturing industry,
with nine hundred employees. The company was based on taking wire grass, which
grew in peat bogs, and was a plentiful, cheap resource that could be twisted to
create twine, fabric and wicker. The company bought an old cordage enterprise
and added new technology, such as “bog shoes” and a new type of bailer which
made gathering the grass easier. It quit making binder twine and entered new
markets for home furnishing by making chairs, couches, and tables and had almost
400 products. Carpets were one of their mainstays and Crex rugs were light and
easy to clean. Business soared as did the number of employees, many of them
women. Things went awry with the arrival of cheaper materials and Japanese
imports undersold their products. By 1931, it was over and the company went
bankrupt. There is a sidebar about life in the wire grass harvest camps.
My Years at the Andahazy School of Ballet
Sandra Snell Weinberg
At the age of eleven, the author took her
first lessons at the Andahazy School of Classical Ballet located at 1680 Grand
Avenue. She was thrilled and read all the books she could find on dance. The
Andahazy teachings were based on classical Russian ballet. Mrs. Andahazy was a
disciplinarian and the first American girl to be accepted into the Ballet Russe.
Weinberg remembered the full-length mirrors in the studio and in the 1950s and
dance concerts at Northrup Auditorium. Many of the students went to camp Ballet
Borealis in Northern Minnesota. Many of her recollections are of blistered
feet, lessons in applying makeup, dress rehearsals and making life-long
friends. Two sidebars from Del Carter and Stanley Hubbard contain their memories
of the Andahazys.
Rabies Scare in St. Paul
'Mad Dog on the Loose.' Panic prevails as fear rips through the city in 1910
Susan Dowd
This short article looks at two weeks of
fear that began in St. Paul on April 13, 1901. On that day a dog was reported to
have attacked other dogs and horses on the West Side. A few people were also
mauled. The newspapers reported three mad dogs and five attacks in three days.
Dr. Justus Ohage, the St. Paul Health Commissioner, took matter into his hands.
After additional attacks in the Rondo neighborhood seventeen animals were
condemned. There is additional information on the treatment for rabies at time.
Fall, 2005 Volume 40, Number 3
No back issues available
The Story of a Lost Estate and Oliver Crosby, the Inventive Genius Who
Created It
Jay Pfaender
See photos of
Stonebridge
Even in the Groveland
neighborhood, little is remembered about Stonebridge, an
estate owned by civic leader Oliver Crosby. A New Englander
from Maine, he came to St. Paul in 1876 with an inclination
for mechanics. He became a holder of thirty-six patents and
founded a company that grew to over a thousand employees. In
1882, he co-founded what would become American Hoist and
Derrick, a business that built and repaired heavy equipment.
He was an inventor and designed hooks and cranes as well as
a traveling crane. The company moved to the south end of the
Robert Street Bridge. Crosby’s first home, at 804 Lincoln,
was a splendid limestone structure designed by Clarence
Johnston Jr. But Crosby wanted a mansion and in 1907
purchased twenty-eight acres on the western bluff
overlooking the Mississippi River. Crosby had a love of
gardening, water and cars. The new brick mansion with
twenty-four main rooms was built on a beautifully designed
site. It was named after a stone bridge that crossed a
ravine on the property. His interest in water led to the
construction of two artificial lakes and a reservoir to feed
waterfalls. There were also large sunken gardens, a
hundred-foot-long pergola, a greenhouse and a nine car
garage. Crosby moved there in 1916 but died after only six
years. His wife lived there for a time and then sold to John
Cable, a 3M executive. In 1928 much of the estate was sold
off for development but the mansion remained on a three acre
site. Frederick Crosby lived in the home from 1928 to 1935,
but the proposed development lagged because of the
Depression. There was a debate on what to do with the
structure and it was even considered for the Governor’s
house, but it was razed in 1953. There is an epilogue on
houses that were built on the location. There are sidebars
on Crosby’s inventions, Stonebridge chronology, and on the
Gale family who there for many years.
Ramsey County's Distinguished Agriculturist
Willet M. Hayes, the Scientist Who Saw 'Shakespeares' Among His Plants
Harlan Stoehr and Forrest Troyer
Willet M. Hays, the first head of
agronomic research at the University of Minnesota is arguably the greatest
all-time contributor to the advancement of agriculture in Minnesota. The
experiment station system was created in 1887 and twenty-nine year-old Hays was
its first head. He worked off the principles of heredity and sometimes said
there were “Shakespeares among plants.” He started the use of organized field
plots tests and appointed William Boss, who would have a long career at the
field station, as farm foreman. He worked with farmers to test his crops and
convinced the Legislature to establish remote experiment stations in Crookston
and Grand Rapids. Hays pushed scientific plant and animal breeding, flax
development as well as wheat and alfalfa improvement. Minnesota 13, one of his
department’s hybrids, became the country’s most popular corn variety for many
years. He was also concerned with business of farming and was a pioneer of
agricultural economics. A prolific author of almost a hundred books and
pamphlets, he was considered a good teacher. He left Minnesota when asked to go
to Washington to be Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, a post he held for many
years. The article concludes with the work of Willett Hays until his death in
1928 and information his son and daughter.
Summer, 2005 Volume 40, Number 2
Rendezvous at the Riverbend
Pike's Seven Day in the Band of Little Crow-
Gary Bruggeman
Zebulon Pike, a twenty-six year old
lieutenant led the first American expedition to explore Minnesota in 1805. A
group of twenty-two men came up the Mississippi river in a thirty-foot bateau.
The author describes the native Mdewakatwon Dakota, their village of Kaposia and
Carvers Cave. In 1817, Major Stephen Long also described the village as did
Henry Schoolcraft in 1820. Little Crow ate breakfast and had a council with Pike
on what is now known as Pike Island. The government acquired land for a military
post, but Pike didn’t write a clear treaty to show the boundaries. He went
further up the River and then later returned to Pike Island. He wanted Little
Crow to accompany them to St. Louis, but he declined.
Zebulon Pike and James Aird: The
Explorer and the 'Scottish Gentleman'
Duke Addicks & James Aird
A short piece written by a fur
trade re-enactor who portrays James Aird, who farmed near Prairie Du
Chien, Wisconsin. He states that one of his goals is to remind visitors
of the importance of Zebulon Pike. The fur trader, who Pike’s journal
calls a “Scottish Gentleman,” breakfasted with the Lieutenant on August
28, 1805. The article includes the narrative that Duke Addicks uses when
portraying Aird. In his rendition, there is information on other people
of the era, including fur traders and Native Americans Wabasha and
Little Crow. He bases his story telling on Pike’s journal and other
sources and tries to convince listeners of Pike and Aird’s importance
and how their meeting affected both their lives.
Lots of St. Paul: A Photo Essay on
Downtown Parking
and What Urban History Can Tell Us About a City
Steve Trimble
This is a response to a letter to
the editor wondering why the magazine bothered to publish an article on
“nothing more than a parking ramp.” It opens with four quotes from 1927
to 1986 all saying how lack of parking was hurting the downtown economy.
In fact, the search for parking was perhaps the most powerful force in
shaping the cities. American culture had been increasingly enamored with
the automobile. At first older buildings were converted, then new “auto
laundries” as service stations added auxiliary services. Next was the
development of flat surfaces for parking, which had a negative effect on
pedestrians and left gaps in the city fabric. The 1950s bought large
ramps and then self-parking.
I Remember My Aunt: Frances Boardman-
Music Critic, Who Covered an Archbishop's Funeral
Alexandra (Sandy) Klas
Written by the niece of the Frances
Boardman, the article starts out with the background of the family. She
graduated from Central High School and became a pioneering woman in the
newspaper world. First she did odd jobs of writing, but soon took over theater
and literary criticism and then was given a special job to update the obituary
for Archbishop Ireland, who was near death. The author describes the procession
and dignitaries at the funeral. She lived in an apartment at 235 Summit that was
filled with Victorian furnishings and hundreds of books. Because of the death of
her mother, the author spent a great deal of time in her apartment, listening to
stories and accompanying her to concerts. When Boardman passed away in 1953, her
friend James Gray wrote that she was “the very embodiment of a gentlewoman” and
“a creature of myriad insights and the little candle of her wit lightened up
everyone.”
Spring, 2005 Volume 40, Number 1
The Force That Shaped the Neighborhoods
1890-1953: Sixty Years of Streetcars in St. Paul and
Millions of Dollars in Investments
John Diers
The streetcars were one of the most important inventions to
shape the growth and development of the Twin Cities. The
system hit its peak in 1920 when it transported 238 million
passengers. The first streetcar franchise was established on
January 8, 1872 and on February 22, 1890 the first electric
streetcar began a journey down Grand Avenue and stimulated
neighborhood growth. Cable railways were necessary on two
steep grades. The company needed well- constructed cars so
they started building them. A forty-acre site on University
and Snelling was acquired and eventually had 3,000
employees. Sometimes the workers were dissatisfied, as was
the case in fall of 1917, when there was a long strike.
Competition would soon arrive as a “jitney craze” showed the
potential impact of the automobile. A long decline began in
the 1920s and the Depression further cut into profits.
Buses, which had once been feeders for the streetcars, would
now take over. The author does not believe that Fred Ossanna,
the last owner of the system, was part of a conspiracy to
destroy the streetcar system.
Spanish Influenza in 1918
by Susan Dowd
The Spanish influenza
epidemic of 1918, often referred to as “the wolf,” was one
of the most lethal outbreaks the world has ever known. It
came in waves. The first, in September, 1918, was mild in
Minnesota but did prompt the St. Paul officials to draft new
regulations. By mid-October, 181 influenza cases had been
reported and with no modern medicines to use health
officials relied on quarantine. The Red Cross handed out
thousands of face masks. At the start of November, all St.
Paul schools, churches, saloons and soda fountains were
closed. There was a third wave of the disease in the winter
but only a few reported cases in early 1919. The official
total of cases was about 10,000 and the total number of
fatalities was around 4,000.
Growing up in St. Paul Simple, Carefree
Days—Hague and Fry—And the Center of a Boy’s Universe,”
James B. Bell
The author lived his first sixteen years at the house of his grandfather, a
businessman engaged in finance. Life at 1618 Hague was simple and had many
carefree days. He wrote that “the neighborhood of Hague Avenue and Fry Street”
was “the focal point of my earliest education” and recalls the village-like
character of the shops at Selby and Snelling. He and his siblings all attended
the Richards Gordon School on Dayton Avenue. There are memories of bringing
money for Red Cross drives, participating in the student police patrol and
school release for Protestant religious instruction. There were dance lessons
from Marie Rothfuss after school and French lessons through his school. There
were stories of the formation of camaraderie among playmates.
Trimble, Steve “A Novel Look
at History,”
Steve Trimble
There are some historians who believe that in many cases novels can give readers
the real feel of a city---its smells, sounds and landscape. This article looks
at four novels set in St. Paul. Mr. White’s Confession by Robert Clark is set in
1939. The main character was an avid amateur photographer with a strange
inability to remember the past. He is suspected of a murder of a St. Paul dance
hall worker. Mary Sharratt’s Summit Avenue is set between 1912 and 1918 and
features Kathrin, a young woman who hired to translate German fairy tales for a
rich woman. Call Me Kick by John Osander speculates on what would happen to Nick
Carraway, protagonist of the Great Gatsby in the 1930s. A young girl nicknamed
Kick sees him being kidnapped and decides to rescue him. She ends up visiting
the Castle Royale night spot, Calvary Cemetery, the Hamm Building and the
Hollyhocks Club. A reunion of the class of 1969 is the starting point for Tim
O’Brien’s July, July. It is held in the year 2000 at Darton Hall a
thinly-disguised Macalester College. It includes memories of their college
years, their disillusioned with society and the course of their lives. There are
scenes on Grand Avenue, in White Bear Lake and various St. Paul neighborhoods.
Winter, 2005 Volume 39, Number 4
Curtain Up in 1933
The Legacy of the St. Paul Opera Association
Steve Trimble
Inspired by a trip to Europe, Mrs. W. Homer Sweeney successfully spearheaded the
creation of the St. Paul Municipal Opera. Opening in 1933, it was a “civic
opera” that chose to present quality music made accessible to a general public
by low ticket prices and performances in English. The company also wanted to
develop and showcase local talent, a policy that slowly changed when it moved
toward a “star system.” That move pleased some, but not all of the city’s
residents. Two outsiders who had a long relationship with the organization were
Phil Fein, a director and Leo Kopp, a conductor. Strapped for money, the opera
became involved in summer “pop concerts,” sometimes accompanied by skaters
inside the St. Paul Auditorium. It also began showing many “light operas.” WWII
had its effects on the organization. A theme of “civic pride” came in the 1950s
and at the same time a Women’s Guild became active as a support group.
Professionalism developed and there was a return to a partial season of
traditional opera, but costs continued to rise. The group, now minus the word
“civic” in its name, gained a new home with the creation of the Arts and
Sciences Center. The opera was able to get grants to keep going in the face of
higher expenses and began to offer regional and American offerings. A severe
recession brought a merger with a Minneapolis opera in the mid-1970s.
Ramsey County Historical
Society's Collection of Building Permits and the
Story of the DeLoop Parking Ramp
Bob Garland
St. Paul began to require building permits
in 1883. This is the story of one downtown property which the author researched
using these permits, now housed at the Ramsey County Historical Society. He had
a distant memory of the DeLoop Parking Ramp and decided to see what he could
find. In 1905, early owner Michael J. O’Neill constructed the first garage where
a house had been. Over time, according to records, the garage expanded. One of
the more interesting permits was for a “parking roof” put over the service
station in 1931. The permits also show the 1966 destruction of the structure.
The author expressed a hope that hope that more people interested in history of
buildings would use the permit collection of Ramsey County Historical Society.
Union Park in the 1880s
Band Concerts, Ballon Ascensions Once Lured 10,000 People in a single day
In 1880, the Milwaukee Short Line
Railroad opened up development in today’s Macalester Groveland and Merriam Park
neighborhoods, then on the outskirts of St. Paul. Union Park, as it was called,
was a thirty- acre area that contained Lake Iris. Land there was purchased by
people for an entertainment area with a pavilion and bandstand that could be
rented out by church groups and was soon opened to the public. One of the more
exciting events was the balloon ascensions. The site was eventually platted into
lots for homeowners, with streets following the natural contours of the land.
John O. Hinkel, one of the developers, built a fine house on Feronia Avenue.
No back issues available
Fall, 2004 Volume 39, Number 3
Another Lost Neighborhood
The Life and Death of Central Park-
A Small Part of the Past Illuminated
Paul D. Nelson
See extra photos of Central Park
The Central Park story begins in 1884. It was a
time of city expansion and the affluent and powerful residents in an area near
today’s State Capitol wanted a park to buffer them from the spreading downtown.
The Lampreys, the Dawsons, the Lindekes and the Schurmeiers donated parts of
their land to the city to create Central Park. Landscaping began around a year
later and in 1886 it was the site of the first Winter Carnival Ice Castle.
However, the group living there preferred it to be a neighborhood park rather
than a city-wide attraction.
The presence of the park attracted additional wealthy families who built elegant homes around the amenity. As time went on the houses became grander and fine apartment houses were added. Seen originally as a formal “pleasure garden,” the park’s use would begin changing with the surrounding neighborhood and its days as an exclusive retreat came to an end. The 1920s and 1930s were hard on the park and the neighborhood, at least in economic terms. Houses and apartments were divided into smaller units and Central Park became a more of a children’s playground. The article contains some reminiscences of area residents in the 1940s and 50s telling about the entertainment and hanging out spots and day-to-day life in the neighborhood.
The biggest change, however, was the increasing desire to level much of the area to increase the Capitol mall and to clear out what were seen as deteriorated structures. The 1958 construction of the Centennial Building signaled the park’s doom. In 1970 the state decided to build a parking ramp on the site and to assuage the feelings of some, it was topped off with a swatch of grass and trees to maintain a park-like sense. The article includes an interesting discussion of the search for urban history sources that tell this almost forgotten story of the birth and death of one of St. Paul’s former landmarks.
Hamline University and its Royal Refugee
The Prince and the Pearl of Great Price
John W. Larson
The author, a Hamline University graduate, recalls the impact of WWII on the
school’s students and the visit of a royal refugee from Germany. Larson, raised
in a working class neighborhood, was accepted into the university, even though
his high school grades were marginal. War seemed far away at the start of his
studies in the fall of 1941; however, the institution slowly became militarized.
That was the situation when Prince Hubertus zu Lowenstein arrived on campus in
October of 1942. He had fled the Nazi regime and was now in St. Paul, where he
lectured at the school and other places. The author recalls some of the times he
spent talking and walking with the European writer and lecturer and how his
interests were greatly expanded. They did keep in touch over the years. The
article includes a sidebar on the Prince and the Fascists.
The Rondo Oral History Series
Kathryn Coram Gagnon: Operettas, Dances, Parties, and a Growing Love of Music
A HandinHand Interview with Kate Cavett
Based on oral history interviews, this is the story of Kathryn Coram Gagnon, an
African American woman who grew up in St. Paul’s old Rondo neighborhood. It
starts with the background of her family with its well-educated mother. The
community was never totally segregated. She went to McKinley school, attended
St. Philip’s Church and frequented the Hallie Q. Brown Center, where people
often went to dances. Gagnon and a group of girls formed the “Eight Debs,” a
social group and they sometimes ate at the Elite Grill near Rondo and Milton.
She attended University High School. Gagnon tells about becoming an accomplished
speed skater. She got a B. A. and Master’s Degree from the University of
Minnesota. The oral history selection discusses race and racism and the art of
speaking different ways in different situations. Gagnon believed that music was
an expression of the community and was an important part of the vibrancy of the
Rondo neighborhood, described as a warm and accepting place where a person felt
truly safe. The article ends with information on her work life.
Summer, 2004 Volume 39, Number 2
From Farm to Florence: The Gifted
Keating Sisters and the Mystery of Their Lost Paintings
Margaret M. Marrinan
The story centers on two Irish farm girls,
Anysia and Sophia Keating who became nuns developed into prolific painters. The
mystery had to do with a search for information on how that happened and the
location of their mostly forgotten paintings. The article also tells part of the
story of the College of St. Catherine and that of St. Agatha’s Conservatory of
Art and Music that was run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
Sister Anysia entered the convent in 1884, followed by Sister Sophia two years later. Because they excelled in visual arts they were sent for three years of study in Europe. There are excerpts from a journal kept by Anysia that give a feel for their journeys. They expertly copied over 300 old paintings to use at the school and did some of their own original work as well. After St. Agatha’s closed and because tastes in art had changed, their paintings were scattered to the wind, sold or given away. Along with relatives, the author was able to locate a number of the works of art. A special feature of the article is the inclusion of several full color photos of Sister Anysia’s works.
Say it Ain't So, Charlie
The 1897 Dispute Between Charles Comiskey and the St. Paul Labor Trades
Dave Riehle
On April 30, 1897, the famed Lexington ballpark opened to the public. The St.
Paul Saints were then managed by Charles Comiskey and were part of the Western
League. Professional baseball at the time was the most popular sport of the
masses, many of whom were part of a growing labor movement. As it opened, there
were a series of disputes with Labor. They fought against signage in the park
for non-union businesses and demand that only union musicians play at the games.
To enforce their position the Trades and Labor Assembly instituted a successful
boycott until matters were resolved. Some of the extensive notes in the article
look at a variety of sports and labor issues.
The Rondo Oral History Project
Buelah Mae Baines Swan Remembers Piano Lessons and a 'nice vegetable garden'
Out Back
A HandinHand Interview with Kate Cavett
This article is from an oral history
interview with Beulah Mae Baines Swan, who was raised near Como and Dale in a
very small Black community. Her father’s business was in the Rondo area, where
he sold coal, wood and ice. Though living away from it, she often visited in the
legendary neighborhood and adds memories of the area. The family struggled as
they made it through the Depression. Swan offered memories of going to Gorman
School. Most of her friends were White and she wasn’t highly race conscious
until searching for employment. She started out working for a private company
and then had a job at the post office for twenty-six years. She took college
business courses and then worked as a stenographer for the state for several
years.
Spring Wagons and No Roads
A Gibbs Daughter Remembers a Pioneer Family's Sunday as a 'serious Undertaking'
Lillie Gibbs LeVesconte
This is a reminiscence of the youngest
daughter of Heman and Jane Gibbs. She remembered that getting to church services
was no easy task in the 1870s. It meant going in the family’s two-seated spring
wagon more than three miles with no available public road. They attended a
Methodist church in northeast St. Anthony. She had a vivid memory of hearing a
visiting woman evangelist and how cold the little church was in the winter. Soon
there was a road–today’s Como Avenue. For her, the scenery was a pleasant
memory.
Spring, 2004 Volume 39, Number 1
'High and Dry on a Sandstone Cliff' St. Paul
and the Year of the Grand Railroad Excursion
Steve Trimble
This article looks at what St. Paul looked
like in 1854 when the Great Railroad Excursion arrived. St. Paul was part of the
urban frontier experience in America, a sometimes overlooked part of our
history. Based on contemporary newspapers, diaries, magazines and other
sources, it appears that the important issues 150 years earlier were very
similar to modern problems. Crime led to public safety measures. Support of
religion led to a boom in church construction. The economy was booming and the
number and variety of businesses led to a chronic labor shortage.
Like today, the population was very diverse with several ethnic “island communities.” Cholera fears led to a concern for public health and a hospital was built. The Excursion was a celebration of the railroad reaching the Mississippi River and the Eastern visitors were feted in St. Paul. There was a beginning of government with elections and city ordinances. Feeding the population was a challenge, especially in the winter. There were a variety of cultural activities including theater, popular entertainments, literary societies and French lessons. Even then, the city was spreading outward and there was “suburban” development. There was a desire for education and both public and catholic schools were initiated. The article closes with the execution of U-Ha-zy and people’s reactions to the first public hanging.
Irvine Park in 1854: Its Homes and the People
Who Lived There 150 Years Ago
Robert J. Stumm
There are an impressive number of homes in Irvine Park that were there in 1854.
The neighborhood dates from 1849 when the land for a park was donated. The
article was laid out as a tour of the area. The author then gives descriptions
of ten large Greek revivals and smaller federal styles. The Symonds house at 234
Ryan, considered the city’s oldest surviving structure, was built in 1850. These
pioneer houses survived to the present because Irvine Park was spared the
intrusion of large-scale commercial development that has doomed other older
neighborhoods.
A Quilt and a Diary: The Story of the Little
Girl Who Road the Orphan Train to a New Home
Ann Zemke
The author made a quilt that was used to tell the story of her grandmother,
Margaret Peterson, who was an orphan. Thousands of children like her were
“placed out” from 1854 to 1929, and sent off by rail to find new families. At
the time the article was written, there were still 200 orphan train riders alive
in Minnesota. Zemke’s grandmother kept a diary and wrote an autobiography that
stated that she had been at a home school for a time before heading to northern
Minnesota. Most of the children who were resettled came from the Eastern states.
When Margaret Peterson was nineteen, she left her new family to go out on her
own and married two years later. A photograph of the quilt that was the author’s
way to document her relative’s life was is included.
Growing Up in St. Paul
Mechanic Arts - An Imposing 'Melting Pot' High School that Drew Minorities
Together
Bernice Fischer
After seven years at St. Adalbert’s
School, in classes of thirty consisting of all white Catholic children, the
author entered Mechanic Arts High School with its four floors, many
nationalities and 1,400 students. It was considered a real ”melting pot.” The
highlight of the week was assembly in the large auditorium, featuring guest
lecturers or entertainers. Academics were at a high level and comic books were
confiscated.
Fisher was in the class of 1946. Girls were often expected to get married and not have a career, but the women teachers there were real role models. Her favorite was May Kellerhals, a biology teacher who pushed her to take more science and math courses. She decided not to be a secretary and to go to college instead. Fisher shared memories of her friends, free tickets to the opera and plays and the fact that since there were no school buses people walked to school, some for up to three miles.
Winter, 2004 Volume 38, Number 4
'He Loved a Tall Story'
The Life & Times of I.A. O'Shaughnessy - The Man Who Happily Gave
His Money Away
John Lindley & Virgina Kunz
Ignatius Aloysius O’Shaughnessy,
an oilman and philanthropist, was born in 1885. The article gives
information about the Irish background of the O’Shaughnessy family. His
parents moved to Minnesota around 1861 and became active members of the
city’s strong Irish Catholic community that centered on St. Michael’s
Church in Stillwater. His father was a small businessman in the
lumbering town and I. A. was surrounded by lumberjacks and later talked
about them and their stories. He loved telling his own tall tales
throughout his life. He enrolled in college at St. John’s in 1901 and
played football, then a new sport. Because of an incident he was
expelled in 1902 and transferred to St. Thomas, where he became a
mainstay of the football team.
After graduation, O’Shaughnessy became secretary of the Amateur Athletic Association of St. Paul. He married Lillian Smith in 1908. He left St. Paul to join his brother in Texas and later started a tire business in Kansas; however, he soon got into the oil industry. He felt the building of refineries would be the most profitable. Lillian didn’t like Texas or Kansas and got the family to move back to Minnesota. They soon bought a home at 1705 Summit Avenue where they lived for the rest of their lives. The company was flourishing and became one of the largest independently owned oil businesses in the world. There is information on the national business climate during the 1920s, the Depression and the War Years. I. A. enjoyed doing things with the family, fishing and taking trips. He began his philanthropic ways in the 1930s and was a major giver to St. Thomas and a close friend of James Shannon, its president. He ran his own foundation and made education its focus. He did make contributions to other places such Notre Dame and gave money for an institute set up by Pope Paul VI. After Lillian died in 1958, I. A. entered a “gray period” in his life and died in 1973 at the age of eighty-eight.
A Century Ago: Hundreds of Thousands Greet The
Liberty Bell the Day It Came To Town
Susan C. Dowd
The Liberty Bell, with its twenty-four
inch long crack, came to St. Paul on June 6, 1904. The nation’s “most cherished
relic” was on its way from Philadelphia to St. Louis on a special train and
made a stop in the Twin Cities. It arrived late at night. By the next morning,
there were swarms of people there, and during five-and-a-half hours, 100,000
walked by the symbol of freedom. It was shown at on a flatbed railway car in a
wood frame made of heavy oak at the foot of Broadway at the rear of the Union
Depot. All St. Paul schools were closed to see the famous icon, although some
were disappointed by its small size. The Liberty Bell and its entourage left the
city a little after noon.
No back issues available
Fall, 2003 Volume 38, Number 3
The University Farm Experimental Cave and How
St. Paul Became the Blue Cheese Capital of the World
Greg Brick
Willes Combs, a professor of Dairy
Industry at the University of Minnesota, was buying mushrooms at a West Side
cave and saw that the humidity there was similar to the ones in which France’s
famous Roquefort cheese was ripened. He decided to see if Minnesota could also
produce it. With a 1933 federal grant, the project turned out to be a great
success, producing 10,000 pounds of the product. It was hoped to help relieve
the state’s milk surplus. Combs suggested that St. Paul had enough cave space to
fill the world’s need for Roquefort cheese. Things lagged, but WWII cut off the
supply from France and both Kraft and Land O’ Lakes rented out caves. After the
war the University’s research went in other directions and the cave went empty.
The author also describes his 2003 visit to the caves.
A Pillar of Modern Psychology
Alfred Adler and His 1937 Lecture at the Historic St. Paul Women's City Club
Roger Ballou
This article tells the story of the time
the St. Paul Women’s City Club hosted a speech by famous psychologist Alfred
Adler on March 8, 1937. There is an explanation of Adler’s background and his
approach to psychology as well as biographical information on Alice O’Brien, the
Club’s president. The dinner and talk on the main floor auditorium are
described. The room was filled to capacity with 500. The title of the talk--
“The Three Great Problems of Life”-- is explained. Reports of the various events
of the evening are included.
'Laid to Rest by Strangers' Hands'
Death in the Railroad Yards: The Century-old Mystery of a Beautiful Young Woman
Susan C. Dowd
On March 12, 1902, a young woman was run
over in the late evening by a train just west of the railway station at Dayton’s
Bluff. Local newspapers were filled with details and one headline read “Girl’s
Death a Mystery.” She was not recognized and no one from the immediate area was
reported missing. Physicians could only estimate her age and describe her
clothing and couldn’t tell if her death was accidental or a suicide. Visitors
flooded the morgue to look but still no one knew her. A committee of club women
arranged the funeral and provided a cemetery plot and headstone for the burial
in Oakland Cemetery. The mystery remains unsolved.
Gibbs Museum Heritage Orchard and the Comeback
of the Ancient Apple
Ralph Thrane
The article deals with the history of
apples, written by the resident horticulturist at the Gibbs Heritage Orchard.
Thrane has studied and sought out fruit that shows the diversity of the trees
and that would also be resistant to our cold weather. The article has a list and
description of seventeen different varieties and short explanations of their
heritage.
Growing Up in St. Paul
A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Payne Avenue in the 1950's Was Like Living in a Small
Town
DeAnne Marie Cherry
The author, who grew up in the 1950s at 973 Payne Avenue on St. Paul’s East
Side, relates a teenager’s memories of her neighborhood and high school. The
family lived in a rented apartment above a grocery store, shopped at
Woolworth’s and other small stores and banked locally. The teens had pajama
parties, cherry cokes at the local drug store, attended Johnson High School
dances, went to drive-in restaurants and movies and cruised in her car on
weekends. She gives the sense of neighborhood and its friendliness.
Summer, 2003 Volume38, Number 2
Fog and the Dark of an October Night--
The Fabled Wreck of the 'Ten Spot' in its Plunge to the River Below
David Riehle
Shortly before 6:00 A. M. on October 15,
1912 with the landscape covered in a dense fog, a railroad bridge tender heard a
long blast from a riverboat. It was a signal to request him to swing open the
swing bridge. He blew back to say all right and then sent a horn message to tell
the train to wait. But, unfortunately, the engine went forward and plunged
downward into the Mississippi River. No one knows exactly what happened and
there were varying versions. Perhaps the train engineer mistook the messages or
the air brakes were not good. There was among some a belief that the engine was
a bad luck machine. The files of the event are in the records of the local law
firm that handled the situation. The article includes many photos of the wreck.
Fear a Powerful Motivator
A Harvest of Victims: the Twin Cities and St. Paul's Traumatic Small Pox
Epidemic in 1924
Paul D. Nelson
The Twin Cites most traumatic encounter
with smallpox took place in 1924-25. There were two different variations of
smallpox and at the time the local health departments’ only tools to fight it
were education, persuasion and quarantine. There was a pattern of infection in
Minneapolis but not in St. Paul and charts included show this. St. Paul hired
many physicians for inoculation duty. Minneapolis officials, however, kept
claiming that there was no problem in their city. Some businesses, such as
Schoch’s Grocery Store, required employees to get vaccinated. Several sidebars
explain smallpox and provide the names and addresses of all the St. Paul
residents it killed.
The Story of Minnie Dassel:
Was She a Mysterious Countess Who Settled in St. Paul?
Paul Johnson
This is the story of a woman who worked in
St. Paul for fifty-five years in the late nineteenth century. Some people
thought that Minnie Dassel was secretly a German countess and that her parents
had given up their title for political reasons. She came to Minnesota around
1870 with her brother. Her obituary said she once “had money” and moved in high
social circles, but she claimed that her brother lost all their money in bad
investments. So she mastered shorthand to earn money and often spent on
philanthropic ways. She was the partner of a German military officer but they
never married.
Growing Up in St. Paul
'I Didn't Know If We Were Rich or Poor--
Times Were Idyllic Then ...We Roamed at Will'
Carleton Vang
The author said he grew up not knowing
whether the family was rich or poor. They first lived on Thomas Avenue above a
grocery store. Then his father moved them to a new home at Almond and Aronia
near the State Fair Grounds. He remembered learning the Palmer Method of
handwriting at Tilden School. There was a site behind the streetcar dump where
he and friends “skinny dipped.” His first bb gun was the famed Red Ryder
carbine. He believed that his experiences were almost “idyllic” and there was no
fear of roaming at will. There was a small pond nearby and they built a raft to
ply on it. He described the neighborhood as “a place of infinite fun.”
Spring 2003 Volume 38 Number 1
'A shady Pair' and an 'attempt on his life'--
Sitting Bull and His Life'-
Sitting Bill and His 1884 visit to St. Paul
Author Paul D. Nelson
Sitting Bull, a symbol of Native American
resistance, once came to St. Paul, an event not well covered in local
newspapers. The Lakota agent at Standing Rock Reservation, who was coming to the
city to make purchases, asked the famed Indian leader to accompany him, probably
to try to “acculturate” him. Sitting Bull’s objectives in coming were to learn
about the White world and to make a case for immediate government help for his
people. He arrived on May 14, 1884 and visited many places, including the
Cathedral, Indian Mounds Park, a telephone company and Ft. Snelling. While most
residents were curious, there were many who felt the man was still an enemy. He
returned again in September, on his way to New York, and there may have been an
attempted assassination. This article was adapted by Paul Nelson from a longer
manuscript written by Mark Diedrich.
The St. Paul Fireman Who Rose to Command the
First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment in Gettysburg
Author Patrick Hill
Captain Wilson Farrell of Company C of the
First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry had been a member of a volunteer company at
one of St. Paul’s small fire stations. He served as a young man in the Mexican
American War and came to St. Paul in 1856. The First Minnesota was in the Battle
of Gettysburg in July, 1863 and held the line at a huge cost. During the battle
the officer in command fell and Farrell had to take over. Unfortunately, it was
not for long. He was mortally wounded by a rifle shot to the head and was buried
for a time at Gettysburg. His local Odd Fellows lodge brothers retrieved the
remains and brought them to Oakland Cemetery where they rest next to his wife.
The Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company
This is a short article on Wilson
Farrell’s organization—the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company. Like other groups,
the members were elected and had to buy their own ladders, buckets and rope.
There was often arson, prompted by the desire to loot.
Oakland Cemetery and Its First 150 Years
Author Chip Lindeke
The Oakland Cemetery Association was
formed on June 24, 1853. It is the resting place for many famous people
including Alexander Ramsey and Henry Sibley. In 1884, it incorporated the Christ
Episcopal Cemetery and in 1904 took over the Zion Cemetery. The site now covered
a hundred acres between Jackson, Sylvan, Magnolia and Sycamore where the main
entrance is located. Architect Horace Cleveland was hired to design Oakland
Cemetery after its expansion.
Roots in the English - St Paul's First German
Methodist Church
Author Helen Miller Dickison
The First German Methodist Church of St.
Paul was founded in 1852, a time when German immigration to Minnesota was
soaring. In that year the congregation built church on Sixth Street between
Broadway and today’s Wall Street. By 1858, they needed a larger building and
constructed one abutting the older one. They also bought land in Woodbury for
camp meetings. They used the Methodist model of study classes and had
“admonishers” who warned parishioners of lapses in Christian behavior.
They moved again into a new church on Olive and Eleventh that was designed by Cass Gilbert. It contained a splendid organ. They were indebted for many years and the parishioners did not like the changes happening to the neighborhood. The services saw a gradual transition from German to English. When a railroad agreed to buy the church building and land, the congregation moved again, this time to Fairmount and Saratoga where a cornerstone was laid on May 30, 1917.
Growing Up in St. Paul
'Homer Van Meter, a Member of the Karpis Gang, Was Shot Across the Street from
our house'
Author Bernice Fisher
The author grew up at 193 West University
Avenue. One of her vivid memories was when Homer Van Meter, a member of the
Dillinger gang, was shot to death across the street from her house. Memories of
the Depression are included as well as her thoughts about residents of a nearby
boarding house that were a part of her life. She remembered the wonderful aroma
of the soup made by Mrs. Newell, an elderly Irish woman. She considered the two
most important things in her life the Capitol Drug Store on the corner and a
hamburger place on Rice Street. There are descriptions of the family icebox. She
and her mother went everywhere on the streetcar to shop, to attend one of
several different movie theaters or even to venture to Minneapolis. Religion was
important part of her family life. They attended St. Louis Church, learned to
read French, discovered the library and spent time at the Scheffer Playground.
Winter 2003 Volume 37 Number 4
The 146-Year History Of The Louis Hill House… New Settlers, A Booming Real
Estate Market, And A Summit Avenue Site Acquired On Speculation
Author Eileen McCormack
The Louis Hill home at 260 Summit Avenue has been studied a great deal, but this
article looks at the earlier history of the plot of land on which it sits. The
lot was platted out in November 1854. Home construction on the street began in
1855 with the home of Edward Neill at number 242 on the edge of the bluff. In
1857, William Noble acquired but then lost the property in 1859 because of
economic troubles. Later a man named George Palmes bought the house. By 1897,
the home was being amid a number of much more elegant homes and it was
demolished by 1901. When Hill got the lot, he petitioned the city to vacate a
street to enlarge the lot. The city agreed but said that he would be required to
put in a public walk and steps from below the hill up to Summit Avenue. James J.
and Louis Hill worked closely with the architects examining all the work. Newly
married Louis and Maud Hill moved into the home in 1903. There was a 1912
addition. There are a large number of excerpts in family letters about home
activities. When the family finally decided to sell they were very concerned
about who might purchase it. They sold it in 1954 to a Catholic Church society.
In 1961, it was turned over to another religious group for a retreat house. A
family bought and restored 260 Summit starting in 2001.
Growing Up In St Paul - Diamonds, Gravel Roads, And A Little
Chevrolet - The Life And Times Of A Venture Capitalist
Author Alan R. (Buddy) Ruvelson
The article starts with the author’s
family background and the arrival of his great grandfather in St. Paul in the
1870s, where he lived at 545 Sibley near the synagogue on College Street. His
father Phillip grew up in Frogtown, was not strongly religious, and didn’t get a
bar mitzvah ceremony. Neither did the author. His parents were reform Jews.
Ruvelson was born in 1915 and the family moved to 2150 Lincoln Avenue. He became
fascinated with horses as a youngster. He eventually went to work for his father
traveling the country. He began to work in the diamond trade and became quite
successful. Ruvelson never ran for public office but was a moderate Republican
who was active in supporting political candidates. He worked for the small
business authority for a time. When he lost his first wife, he married a German
Catholic at a time when mixed faith marriages were uncommon.
A Flourishing Fur Trade Industry And The U.S. Army Corp Of
Engineers Centre Building
Author Matt Pearcy
This is the story of a building at 333 Sibley, designed by the famous architect
Clarence Johnston. It was initially constructed for Gordon and Ferguson, an
important fur trading business. They had been at other locations and their new
building was, at the time, the largest manufacturing plant commission Johnston
ever had. The structure was nine stories high and covered half a city block and.
They were there from 1913 until 1944, when an electric company moved in and,
then, for a time, the structure was vacant. In 1958 it was refurbished and
became the Nalpac Building and began renting to the Army Corps of Engineers, St.
Paul District. As the Corps expanded, the structure was renamed the Corps of
Engineer Centre.
Slunky Norton: The Chimney Sweep Who Rocked The Rafters With
His Buglers
Author Albert W. Lindeke Jr
By the late 1880s, coal had become the
predominate fuel, but had some problems. It could create a buildup of creosote
that might break into flame, so people needed the periodical employment of a
chimney sweep. A colorful Irish-born chimney sweep named Slunky Norton worked
the Hill district in the early part of the Twentieth Century. He had a troop of
buglers that accompanied him on rounds on special occasions. Louis Hill was
fascinated by the man and got Norton a fire engine in the holiday season. The
author remembered one time when the group burst in through their door
unannounced, played a tune and left to find another house to entertain. By the
late 1920 fuel oil was coming and, a decade later, natural gas.
“I Remember the Teachers’ Strike of 1946 ‘We
Rolled Down Our Windows in the Cold Air,’”
Maxine Dickson
The author attended and remembered having talked with her teachers about schools
and unions. Her family lived at 1718 Ross Avenue and she attended Ames
Elementary and Junior High. Her family went to see the strikers Ames Elementary
and Junior high. The students were not aware of the problems and this was the
first teachers strike in the history of the country..
Fall 2002 Volume 37 Number 3
Lost Neighborhoods - Borup's Addition And The Prosperous
Pioneer African Americans Who Owned Homes There
Author David Riehle
The story of a vanished neighborhood
populated, though not exclusively, by pioneer African Americans, many of whom
arrived around the time of the Civil War. This Nineteenth Century community was
located in Borup’s Addition on the eastern edge of today’s downtown, roughly
between Robert Street, Seventh, Broadway and on the north by today’s I-94
freeway. They were generally a prosperous group, many owned their homes and
businesses long before the famous Rondo community was developed.
Using old valuation department files, city directories and other sources, the author looks at several houses, one grocery store and the people who lived on Sibley Street. Some of the information comes from a 1923 interview with John Hickman, Sr., one of the old-timers from the area and son of the legendary Reverend Robert Hickman. He described the neighborhood as an amalgam of free people of color from the northern states, and ex-slaves often called “contrabands" that came during the Civil War. Two of the people he remembered were James K. Hillyard, a beloved tailor and musician, and barber Blakely Durant. Three of the men had grown up together in the same town in Pennsylvania.
The “Sibley Street” folder in the city’s Valuation Project files yielded sheets for the properties and a dozen photographs. For instance, the one on 541 Sibley revealed that the James family bought the house on lot number five in 1881. It also included diverse information, including the bank mortgage, a description of the house and any improvements and estimated value. Their oldest son Charles was a skilled leather worker who would become president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. There was a grocery store that was run by William Robertson and a two-story building that was a boarding house for many African Americans over the years.
Other information that emerged from the records was that Borup’s Addition was almost evenly split between Black and White residents but that they did not share buildings. By 1900, most of the African American residents had moved to the northwest. The homes slowly became decrepit and in the mid-1930s the city acquired the homes to allow an expansion of the city market. The buildings may be gone, but the rich history of this self-reliant community, with its optimistic residents has now been told.
Fur Traders, Banker, Danish Vice Consul… This Was The Borup
Of Borups Addition
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
This is a short biographical sketch of
Danish-born Charles William Wulff Borup, a man with a medical degree. He came to
the Midwest in 1835 as an agent for the American Fur Company and moved to St.
Paul in 1848 where he became involved in real estate. With his brother-in-law,
Borup founded a bank. he married a Metis woman and raised a family of nine
children. He became a wealthy man and supporter of the arts and died of a heart
attack in 1859.
St. Gaudens' New York Eagle: Rescue And Restoration Of St.
Paul's First Outdoor Sculpture
Author Christine Podas-Larson
The “New York Eagle” is one of St. Paul’s
most famed outdoor sculptures. It became a fixture in downtown in 1887 when the
New York Life Insurance Company built a St. Paul branch. The bronze eagle,
modeled by prominent sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens and his brother Louis,
perched above the entrance of the ten-story building at Sixth and Minnesota.
When the building torn down in 1967, the salvaged sculpture was relocated to the
outer edge of the new parking ramp. Public Art St. Paul gained legal control of
the Eagle in 1999 and worked on its restoration and finding a new location.
Summit Overlook Park: Once Upon A Time: Carpenter Park And Its
Five Story Hotel
Author Thomas Zahn
A short history of Summit Overlook Park
which once held the Carpenter hotel. It was acquired by the park department in
1900 and was the spot chosen for the New York Eagle’s new roost.
Click here to see this article
Growing Up In St Paul - Seeing, Talking To, Calling On Sprits:
Grandma Minda's Adventures In Spiritualism
Author Joanne Englund
The story of Minda Sands, a Scandinavian woman as
remembered and written by her granddaughter. Minda and her husband bought a lot
on Edmund Street between Albert and Pascal Streets, living in tents and then an
alley house until a large home was completed in 1916. Minda worked at the Bonn
refrigerator during WWI. Paul died in the 1918 flu epidemic and Minda had to
carry on alone for most of her remaining years, raising her children, working at
different jobs and participating in the social life during the 1930s and 1940s.
Several pages outline Minda’s interest in spiritualism that lasted until her
death at age 95.
Those Squealing Red River Ox Carts - Norman Kittson And The
Fur Trade
At the age sixteen, Canadian-born Norman
Kittson joined the American Fur Company and headed west in 1830. He eventually
arrived in Minnesota where he joined Henry Sibley’s company, then worked as
settler’s clerk at Ft. Snelling. Soon he was operating a string of fur posts
from Pembina. He dealt with a transportation problem by using the wooden Red
River carts to haul furs to St. Paul. The article describes the fur business,
Kittson’s attitudes toward Native Americans, his involvement in politics,
various business ventures. His pride and joy was Kittsondale, a stable and race
track once located in St. Paul’s Midway area.
Summer 2002 Volume 37 Number 2
Singles, Doubles And Pairs, Fours And Quads - Life On The
Mississippi: The 132 Years Of The Minnesota Boat Club And Its Rich History
Author Jim Miller
A history of the Minnesota Boat Club from its 1870 founding to the present. It
began as a sporting and social club for well-to-do gentlemen and remained so
through its 1915 peak. It suffered decades of decline from World War I through
World War II, and slow but steady revival since. The club has had its home at
the same place, Raspberry Island in the Mississippi at downtown St. Paul
since1873. The article deals also with the club’s boathouse, a downtown
fixture since1910, and the redevelopment efforts in the riverfront area in
recent decades. Eleven photos including front and back covers.
'Hang Him! That's The Best Way' A Lynching In St. Paul?
Almost, In 1895, An Era Of 'Vigilante Justice' In The Nation
Author Paul D. Nelson
Twenty-five years before the infamous Duluth lynchings, itinerant
African-American Houston Osborne narrowly escaped lynching in St.Paul. This
piece describes the near-lynching, the events leading to it, the press coverage,
African-American community reaction, what became of Osborne, and where this
event fits in the national lynching phenomenon. A sidebar describes four recent
books about lynching.
Which One Is Houston Osbourne? Research Fails To Provide The
Answer
Author Paul D. Nelson
This companion piece to the previous article recounts the author’s efforts to
verify a Stillwater Prison photograph of Houston Osborne.
The Road To The Selby Tunnel, Or How To Make It Up The St
Anthony Hill
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
St. Paul’s hills posed a challenge for the street railways of the late19th and
early 20th centuries. This article describes the earliest days of
horsecars, the problem of hills, the brief experiment with cable cars, the
coming of electric streetcars, St. Paul’s curious relationship with street
rail magnate Thomas Lowry, and the conquering of St. Anthony (now Cathedral)
Hill by the Selby Tunnel.
"Lost Neighborhood: A Story in
Pictures," pp. 18-20.
Five photos of the neighborhood at the intersection of Selby and West Third
(now Kellogg) just before construction of the Selby Tunnel. A companion piece to
the previous article and the first of a Lost Neighborhoods series.
Growing Up In St Paul - Manager, Fight Promoter, Minnesota
Game Warden - Johnny Salvator And His Impact On Boxing In St Paul
Author Paul R Gold
The young German Johann Salwetter (b. 1891 in Serbia) came to St. Paul around
1910 and became, in time, Johnny Salvator – boxer, trainer of World War I
soldiers, movie-house operator, boxing manager, and big-time local boxing
impresario before losing everything during the Depression. Then he served 25
years as Ramsey County game warden. He died in 1973.
Books
Valdes, Dionicio Nodin, Barrios Nortenos, St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican
American Communities in the Twentieth Century (Austin: University of Texas
Press), 2000.
Rosenbloom, Gene H., Jewish Pioneers of St. Paul, 1849-1874
(Chicago: Arcadia Publishing), 2001.
------, The Lost Jewish Community of the West Side Flats, 1862-1962
(Chicago: Arcadia Publishing), 2002.
Also In Print:
Brief reviews of recent publications by Afton Historical Society Press: The
Gag Family: German-Bohemian Artists in America, by Julie L’Enfant;
Sketches from Around the World, by Ralph Rapson; Ojibwe: Waasa Inaabidaa
(We Look in All Directions), by Thomas Peacock; and American Ruins:
Ghosts on the Landscape, by Maxwell MacKenzie
Spring 2002 Volume 37 Number 1
'The Best School In The City,' 1896-1916…
Mechanic Arts High School: Its First Twenty Years
Author John W Larson
Mechanic Arts High School was a unique
institution to train students to work as well as to have an academic training.
It started as a manual training program at Central High School. When they moved
out into place of their own, it became the first manual training school in the
Midwest. George Weitbrecht, a chemistry teacher ended up adding academic classes
named the institution Mechanic Arts School. Believed that even those learning a
craft needed to be broadly educated.
One of their early students was Paul Manship, who ended up becoming a world famous sculptor, although he left school early. There were woodworking and metal shops and drawing. The new principal encouraged school spirit, choosing school colors and the cogwheel as a symbol another focus would be athletic competition. As the school grew it needed a new five story red brick building to be constructed on Robert street and Constitution. A literary society was formed and the “M,” a periodical, was started. When their principal died in 1916 an impressive memorial was given and the school was named the George Weitbrecht Mechanic Arts High School.
A Memoir - A Temporary Shelter For Six Under 12 - St. Joseph's
Catholic Orphan Home
Author Janet Postlewaite Sands
The author writes the memories of what
brought her and her siblings to St. Joseph’s Orphanage at 1458 Randolph and what
it was like urging her stay. The five Postlewaite children ended up there
because of the poor health of her parents. When their mother had a recurrence of
scarlet fever, she arranged for them to go to the institution that was run by
Benedictine nuns. She writes of a regimented daily life. They went to school,
had to work in the laundry or in the large garden and helped prepare the food
they ate. While they were there in 1945 their father died. Finally, in spite of
the predictions of doctors, their mother recovered, could even walk again and
took the children back.
Donations And Their Own Pockets - An Orphanage's Roots In 1869
St. Paul
Author Paul D. Nelson
This article examines the St. Joseph’s
Orphanage by looking at the experiences of the Postlewaite family. In the early
days, it was a German institution which bought a forty-seven acre plot of land
at Randolph and Hamline, then out on the edge of the city. Her parents were
married in 1932 and six children were born. Since both the parents were in ill
health Janet Postlewaite and her siblings showed up at the orphanage at1458
Randolph in 1945. Almost all of the food supply of the institution was grown in
their gardens as part of a closely regulated life with a fixed daily schedule.
The age of the orphanage age was soon coming to an end and in 1960 Archbishop
Brady decided that the home must close. It was torn down two years later. The
article then moves on to the story of the Postlewaite family in later days. They
all went to St. Mark’s School and endured and several of them went to college.
Growing Up In St Paul - The War To End All Wars:
A Schoolboy's Recollections Of World War II
Author Ray Barton
The author looks back at the coming of WWII on a young boy. His uncle had been a
hero in WWI they were living in the Cherokee Park area on St. Paul’s West Side.
There was a rush to enlist and his brother Wes was among them. He read the
papers and learned about the Bataan Death March and noticed the look at the blue
stars in the windows of families who had service men and women. Everyone was
involved in the home front with scrap drives, buying war bonds, victory gardens
and affected by rationing. He started a job at Kline’s at the age of thirteen.
The schools increased in patriotism with Civilian War Patrol and other
activities. Then the war ended and he went downtown to see the celebrations.
The Fire Insurance Patrol: Gone But Not Forgotten
Author John S Sonnen
The Fire Insurance Patrol, a private
organization incorporated in 1895, was financed by small assessments on fire
insurance policies. They rushed to conflagration, usually getting there before
the fire department with the heavier and slower rigs. The goal was to remove
items from the building affected buildings, covering personal property on nearby
spots using tarps for store merchandise. In 1911, they became motorized. The
patrol was around for forty-four years until the Fire Department took over for
them.
Doing History In Ramsey County And St. Paul - A Review Essay
Author John M Lindley
Like a late nineteenth century spate of
local history books about the city, the author comments on a similar recent
flourishing of St. Paul history and gives several short summaries of the works.
Among the earliest was Virginia Kunz’s St. Paul—The First 150 Years in 1991.
From her new approach St. Paul and Ramsey county writers have gone in many
directions. Elmer Anderson’s A Man’s Reach is an autobiographical look at
himself and his wife. Other biographies included Cass Gilbert: the Early Years,
Cap Wigington: an Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone, The Story of a
Groundbreaking African American. Frederick L. McGhee: A Life on the Color Line,
1861-1912, Claiming the City: Politics, Faith, and the Power of Place in St
Paul. Dionicio N. Valdés wrote Barrios Norteños: St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican
Communities in the Twentieth Century about the families from Mexico and Texas
who came to Midwest cities. There were also short reviews of novels, such as
Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, In the Deep Midwinter Larry Millett’s
Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders and autobiographies, such as Jimmy
Griffin, A Son of Rondo: A Memoir.
Books
No back issues available
Winter 2002 Volume 36 Number 4
Crises And Panic And Mergers And Failures –
St Paul's Struggling Banks And How They Survived Their First 75 Years
Author G. Richard Slade
This article takes a look at some of the banking history of St. Paul with a
close look at how several businesses successfully dealt with tough economic
times. It starts out with an 1853 bank that received a national charter as the
First National Bank of St. Paul in the 1860s. James J. Hill tried to buy it but
was rebuffed, so he procured the Second National Bank. It would stay in the Hill
family after his death. There was also the National German-American Bank that
was later merged into the Merchants National Bank. Then the U.S. government
created the Federal Reserve System in 1913 with its twelve regional
institutions. Though not well-known, there was a great wave of bank failures in
the 1920s. Then Minnesota bankers developed two bank holding companies called
the “Minnesota Twins”–the Northwest Bancorporation and the First Bank Stock
Group. Their purpose was to create networks of Minnesota banks to fence out
national competition. There are several excerpts of letters that talk various
situations. Finally, in 1929, the First National and Merchants National banks
were combined and a new skyscraper built. One focus is the banks that eventually
were made into the First National Bank of St. Paul.
A Memoir - Jimmy Griffin, S.t Paul's First Black Deputy Police
Chief,
Remembers His First Years On The Force
Author Kwame JC McDonald
In this excerpt from his autobiography,
one of St. Paul’s best-remembered police officers tells some of his stories.
Born in 1906, Jimmy Griffin grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and graduated from
Central High School. He started with the police, was drafted into the Navy in
1945, and returned to the force in 1946. There are stories of dealing with bar
fights, serving warrants and improving work conditions by union activity. He
experienced some racism but also had close friendships with White officers.
Griffin tells of times when he made mistakes but still moved up the ladder,
became a sergeant, and eventually ended up as St. Paul’s first Africa American
deputy chief of police.
Tubal Cain In New Brighton - The Harris Forge And Rolling Mill
Company
Author Leo J. Harris
Abraham and Mark Harris were immigrant
brothers from Russia. They founded Harris Forge and Rolling Mill and by 1891 it
had more than 200 workers. It was one of the earliest concerns that turned
scrap metal into iron ingots. They built on land in New Brighton description of
the building of the structure. Wells were drilled for the heavy need for water.
The name Irondale was used and they hoped workers finance homes. An elementary
school was added information on the workers from the newspaper there were fires
and was quickly rebuilt the panic of 1893 the bubble had burst.
Books
Fall 2001 Volume 36 Number 3
The Financial Angel Who Rescued 3M - The Life & Times Of Lucius Pond
Ordway
Author Virgina Braniard Kunz & John Lindley
A twenty-one-year-old man would begin a
career that would bring him a fortune and a place in the upper levels of St.
Paul society. Lucius Ordway was part of a band of entrepreneurs from the East
who prospered in the city. He came out of a New England family background. He
went to Brown University and then Harvard Law School. His father had been a
civil service reformer. After graduating in the 1880s, he surprised his family
by deciding to go to Minnesota. He started working in a plumbing concern and
swiftly rose at the age of twenty-four he was a partner. As the city boomed,
construction called for plumbing materials. He married in 1885 and the story of
his wife’s family is told. They both traveled in Swedenborgian circles that are
described. Ordway and Richard Crane became partners and did well, except the
economic crash of 1893 hurt their business. Ordway was active in the community,
was an officer of the Merchants Bank and a member of Minnesota Boat Club, the
White Bear Yacht Club and other organizations. His social network was a small
group of Eastern friends. He poured money into the fledging 3M and had the
company move to St. Paul in 1910. Ordway was one of the movers behind the
construction of the St. Paul Hotel in the same year. He served on World War I
committees. Ordway moved to 400 Summit Avenue in 1918 and died there in 1948.
Summer 2001 Volume 36 Number 2
Landmarks Reborn: Channeling The Past Into The Present
Can History Come Alive? A Nation Finds Its Roots In Historic Sites
Author Elmer L. Andersen
St. Paul's Stately Old Buildings - Going, Going, Almost Gone`
Author Georgia Ray Decoster
Old Federal Courts Building - Beautiful, Unique - Its Style Of
Architecture Facing Extinction
Author Eileen Michels
Preservation Before Preservationist: The Beginnings Of
Preservation In St Paul
Author Charles W. Nelson
Books
Spring 2001 Volume 36 Number 1
A 'Good Man' In A Changing World…
Cloud Man, The Dakota Leader, And Hi Life And Times
Author Mark Dietrich
Growing Up In St Paul - All For Under $11,000: 'Add-Ons,
'Deductions' - The Growing Pains Of Two Queen Annes'
Author Bob Garland
No back issues available
Winter 2001 Volume 35 Number 4
Attacked By A Starving Wolf - Four Sisters Of St. Joseph And Their Mission
To St. Paul: Patience, Courage Joyfulness In A Crude Log Cabin
Author Sister Ann Thomasine Sampson, Csj
In November of 1851 four young nuns of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
arrived in the dreary hamlet St. Paul, invited there by Bishop Joseph Cretin.
During the rest of that decade they established schools, a hospital, and an
orphanage, taught children of many of the notable pioneer families, ministered
to Indians, cared for victims of the 1854 cholera epidemic, and spread their
mission work to St. Anthony and Long Lake. Their work lived on for many years in
St. Joseph’s Academy (now the site of Christ’s Household of Faith) and St.
Joseph’s Hospital. This article, drawn from the author’s book, Seeds on
Good Ground, traces the lives of the four sisters from their origins through
their fates after leaving St. Paul, plus the history of the order and its work
in North America before 1851. It also offers details of life in St. Paul in the
1850s. Illustrated with five photos, two maps, and five drawings or paintings
(including front and back covers.)
The Practical Millionaire - James J. Hill And His Oriental Rugs
Author Lou Ann Matossian
When Mary Hill died in1921 her estate included 116 oriental rugs used to furnish
the Hills’ Summit Avenue mansion. James J. Hill’s obsessive record-keeping
has permitted a considerable, though incomplete, summary of the collection –
their origins, the dealers, their use and placement in the house, and their
value. Only one and a fraction of these rugs remain in the Hill House.
Growing Up In St Paul - A Child With An 'Eye Problem'
And Memories Of The Vision Classes In The St. Paul Schools
Author John Larson
The author’s memories of growing up in the Merriam Park and North End
neighborhoods in the late 1920s and the 1930s touch upon treatments for his eye
disease, the local swimming hole and blacksmith shop, the end of Prohibition,
his "vision classes" at Webster and Irving Schools, exploring the new
Ramsey County Courthouse, and riding the streetcars.
Books
Andersen, Elmer L., A Man’s Reach (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press), 2000[?].
Fall 2000 Volume 35 Number 3
Two Horses And One Buffalo Robe - The Ramsey County Attorney's Office And
Its 150 Years: All Frailties Of Human Nature
Author Anne E Cowie
The Aches And Pains Of St. Paul Property Ownership: Taxes,
Assessments And Fees Between 1856 And 1904: A Snapshot Of The Lives Of The
Flanagan Family
Author Leo J. Harris
Was That Really Cloudman? The Pitfalls Of Research: Two Leaders Same Name
Books
Summer 2000 Volume 35 Number 2
Dilettante, Renaissance Man, Intelligence Officer –
Jerome Hill And His World War Two Letters From Frances To His Dearest Mother
Author G. Richard Slade
A Roof Over Their Heads - The Ramsey County 'Poor Farm'
Author Pete Boulay
Plans For Preserving 'Potters', Field' - Heritage Of The
Public Welfare System
Author Robert C Vogel
Recounting The 1962 Recount - The Closest Race For Governor In
Minnesota's History
Author Thomas J. Kelley
Books
Spring 2000 Volume 35 Number 1
The Two Worlds Of Jane Gibbs: The Gibbs Farm And The Santee Dakota
Author Julie A. Humann
Gummy, Yellow, White Flint Corn - The Dakota Garden At The
Gibbs Museum
Author Janet Cass
The Gibbs Farm, Its Neighbor, The University Farm,
And How Both Of Them Influenced Minnesota's Agricultural History
Author William F. Hueg Jr
Growing Up In St Paul - Mystic Caverns And Their Short-Lived
Glory Days
Author Ray Barton
Books
Winter 2000 Volume 34 Number 4
A Water Tower, A Pavilion And Three National Historic Sites -
Clarence Wigington And The Historical Legacy He Left To The People Of St Paul
Author David V. Taylor
Architect To The Kings Of The Carnivals 'Cap' Wigington And
His Ice Palace 'Babies'
Author Bob Olsen
Transplants From Europe Germans, Poles, Italians - Settlers On
The Levee
Author Gregg Schach
Growing Up In St Paul - First A Tiny Stucco Starter Home;
Then A New Post-War Suburb Beckoned
Author Joanne Englund
Books
No back issues available
Fall 1999 Volume 34 Number 3
"…No Time Or Sympathy For One Who Wouldn't
Work "Crawford Livingston, Colonel Chauncey W. Griggs, And Their Roll In St.
Paul's History
Author John Lindley
Books
Summer 1999 Volume 34 Number 2
Escaping The Heat On A Hot Summer Night - The St Paul Figure
Skating Club And Those Popular Summer Pops Concerts
Author Kathleen C. Ridder
Growing Up In St Paul - The Story If Life On The Farm In A
Changing World With Changing Fortunes
Author Henry & Samuel Morgan
Two Who Were There Remember: How Ramsey County's Governance
Moved Into The 20th Century
Author Thomas J Kelley
Spring 1999 Volume 34 Number 1
In The Beginning The Geological Forces That Shaped Ramsey County
And The People Who Followed
Author Scott F Anfinson
Handy With Pistols - Ramsey County's Territorial Editors
A Short History Of Ramsey County The Territorial Years And The Rush To Settle
Ramsey County Heritage Trees
Author Joe Quick
The Dakota Perspective 'We Have Been Cheated So Often
Author Mark Diedrich
Ramsey County History Preserved In Its Survey Office
Hardship & Struggle The Pioneer Years Of White Bear Lake
And The Township That Bears Its Name
Little Canada - Heritage From The French Canadians
A Pioneer's Early Memories - Farming With Flail And Cradle
The Great Horse Market Years At Prior & University
In North St. Paul Boom, Boom, Bust, Come-Back!
Winter 1999 Volume 33 Number 4
Timber, Steel, Law, And Politics -
St Paul's Pioneering Attorneys And Their More Interesting Cases
Author Samuel Morgan
"Never in the state of Minnesota has one group of lawyers made such a mark,
not just on its own community but nationally and internationally, as did the
founding partners of the firm of Davis, Kellogg and Severance." Two served
in the U.S. Senate, two served as president of the American Bar Association, one
won a Nobel Peace Prize, and the firm played a central role in important early
anti-trust cases against Standard Oil and the Union Pacific Railroad and tax
issues surrounding the iron mining industry of northern Minnesota.
What became in time the St. Paul law firm Briggs and Morgan began with Davis, Kellogg, and Severance and a Wisconsin partnership, Clapp and Macartney, in the 1880s. Separately, then together after their merger in 1960, these firms represented the giants of Minnesota industry and commerce, including Weyerhauser, 3M, H.B.Fuller, U.S. Steel, the Swift and Armour meatpacking companies, Cream of Wheat, Burlington Northern, International Harvester, and many others. This work put them at the center of the vital taxation, regulation, political, and commercial issues of the last century and more.
The author, a retired partner of the firm and son of its Morgan namesake, traces the firm from its origins to the present. His account includes a brief portrait of law practice at the turn of the twentieth century, the gubernatorial election controversy of 1962, the American Allied Insurance collapse of 1965, and others.
More About The Life Of Frank B. Kellogg
Author John Lindley
A one-page biographical sketch of the St. Paul lawyer, U.S. Senator, diplomat
and ambassador, Secretary of State, international judge, and Nobel Peace Prize
winner.
'300 African American Performers' The Great Cuba Pageant Of 1898: St. Paul's
Citizens Support The Struggle For Civil Rights
Author Dave Riehle
In November 1898 the African American citizens of St. Paul and Minneapolis
demonstrated their patriotic enthusiasm for the Spanish-American war with a
remarkable theatrical pageant called CUBA. Written, directed, and performed
entirely by black citizens, the pageant featured original music, scenes from an
imagined Cuba, dances, even battle scenes. The author places the pageant in the
context of the civil rights issues, local and national, of the time, including
the controversy over performance of the cakewalk, a row that featured one of the
pageant’s stars, the prominent attorney Fredrick McGhee. Detailed footnotes.
Growing Up In St Paul - Eleanor Joins The Family At The Fish
Hatchery
Author Muriel Mix Hawkins
Muriel Mix grew up in the 1930s at the fish hatchery that long operated below
the southern point of Dayton’s Bluff. One day an orphaned moose came to live
at the hatchery and became a treasured family pet.
Books, Etc.
Shannon, James Patrick, Reluctant Dissenter – An Autobiography (New York: The
Crossroad Publishing Co.), [ ].
No back issues available
Fall 1998 Volume 33 Number 3
Banker & Philanthropist - Richard C. Lilly: The Man Who Led Two
Lives
Author Virgina Brainard Kunz
Henry Bosse And Samuel Clemons As Mark Twain –
Parallel Lives On The Mighty Mississippi
Author Michael Connors
Books, Etc.
No back issues available
Summer 1998 Volume 33 Number 2
A 'Wicked Looking Revolver' And $3,000 In Gold - F.R. Bigelow's Dash To
France To Rescue His Family From The Guns Of August
Author Fredric R. Bigelow
A Win At Wimbledon In 1959 - Links, Courts, Lanes, Diamonds
–
Ramsey County's Woman Athletes And Their History Of Success
Author Kathleen C. Ridder
Growing Up In St Paul - Porches Parties Around The Piano
A Year In The Life Of Mary Etta Manship
Author Margaret Manship
Spring 1998 Volume 33 Number 1
Stairway To The Abyss The Diverting Story Of The Cascade Creek
And Its Journey Under St. Paul
Author Greg Brick
Westminster Junction And Its Tunnels –
An 1880's 'Highway Intersection' For The Railroads
Author Andrew J Schmidt
The Story Of Rose Hanna And Her Journey From Old-World
Palestine To St Paul
Author Rose Hanna As Told To Jean Hanna
The Upper Levee: Memories Of Its People And Its Place In St
Paul's History
Author Joe Lepsche
Growing Up In St Paul - Dawn To Dusk:
Grand Hill And Its Grand Fourth Of July Extravaganza
Author Charlotte Mckendre Wright Lewis
Books, Etc.
Winter 1998 Volume 32 Number 4
A 'Launching Upon Journalistic Seas'
A Chronicle Of The St Paul Daily News - 1900-1933
Author James B. Bell
The Legend Of Sam Taran: Bootlegger And St. Paul's
"Fighting Tailor"
Author Paul R. Gold
Growing Up In St Paul - From Amerika To America: Alma Crosses
The Border
Author John W Larson
Fall 1997 Volume 32 Number 3
Speakers, Style Shows, And 12,000 Shoppers -
The Women's Institute And How It Revived Downtown St. Paul
Author Kathleen C Ridder
19th Century Technology And A Field Engineer's Canadian
Travels
Author Robert F. Garland
Life In 1937's 'Home Of Tomorrow'
Author Brian McMahon
'A Beautiful, High-Minded Woman' Emily Gilman Noyes And Woman
Suffrage
Author Rhoda R. Gilman
Growing Up In St Paul - A Childhood Revisited:
The State Fish Hatchery And A Collision Of The Past & Present
Author Muriel Mix Hawkins
Books, Etc.
Summer 1997 Volume 32 Number 2
Last Of Its Kind In Minnesota The Old Wabasha Street Bridge
And How It Linked East To West
Author Demian J. Hess
Millions Of Years In The Making - The Geological Forces That
Shaped St. Paul
Author Edmund C. Bray
No Grass Beneath Her Feet - Harriet Bishop And Her Life In
Minnesota
Author Norma Sommerdorf
Growing Up In St Paul - West Seventh Street:
Czechs, Slovaks, Bohemians, And Kolache Dough Rising In The Warm Attic
Author Emily Panushka Erickson
Books, Etc.
No back issues available
Spring 1997 Volume 32 Number 1
The View From The 17th Floor - Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly
And Its 11 - Year History
Author Virginia L. Martin
Growing Up In St Paul –
The Milkman, The Iceman, And Ice Chips In The Sawdust At The Bottom Of The Wagon
Author Ruth F. Brin
Books, Etc.
No back issues available
Winter 1996 Volume 31 Number 4
Rats, Politicians, Librarians -The Untold Stories Of The Old St. Francis
Hotel
And The Rich Historical Legacy Of Seventh Place
Author Paul R. Gold
Growing Up In St Paul - Everyone Knew The Rules For The Rites
Of Passage And The Transportation Was Mainly On Foot
Author Branda Raudenbush
When Euphoria Dimmed: X-Rays' First Victim –
William Henslin And His Missing Gold Crown
Author George McDonald
What's Historic About This Site? The St. Paul Building And Its
108-Year History
Author Deanne Zibel Weber
Books, Etc.
No back issues available
Fall 1996 Volume 31 Number 3
Fires, Hurricanes, Diamonds, Elephants –
The Colorful History Of St. Paul Companies - Minnesota's Oldest Business
Corporation
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
Books, Etc.
Summer 1996 Volume 31 Number 2
From 'Part-Time Pick-Up' To Renowned Ensemble –
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra And Its First Ten Years - 1959 To 1970
Author Glenn Perachio
Minnesota's First Brewery: Yoerg's Final Years, 1933-1952
Author James B. Bell
Growing Up In St Paul - Grandfather Joel Larson - Swedish
Immigrant - That 'Mysterious Stranger In Our Midst'
Author John W Larson
Spring 1996 Volume 31 Number 1
A Pioneer Child On Minnesota's Frontier –
Jane Gibbs, The 'Little Bird That Was Caught,' And Her Dakota Friends
Author Deanne Zibell Weber
Digging Into The Past: The Excavating Of The Claims Shanty Of
Jane & Heman Gibbs
Author Thomond R. O'Brien
Growing Up In St Paul - Sam's Cash-And-Carry, The Tiger Store
- Payne Avenue And The 1930's Depression
Author Ray Brown
Books, Etc.
Winter 1996 Volume 30 Number 4
Bonspiels, Skips, Rinks, Brooms, And Heavy Ice –
The St. Paul Curling Club And Its Colorful Century Old History
Author Jane McClure
The Bungalows Of The Twin Cities,
With A Look At The Craze That Created Them In St. Paul
Author Brain McMahon
Growing Up In St Paul - Down St. Albans Hill In A Wooden
Coasterwagon
Author Arthur C. McWatt
Books, Etc.
Fall 1995 Volume 30 Number 3
After 108 Years, A Transformation -
Norwest Bank St. Paul And Its Heritage Of More Then A Century
Author James B. Bell
Banking In Minnesota's Unfetted Frontier –
When Barter Was The Only Name Of The Game In Town
Author James B. Bell
"Cheery, Refined And Comfortable" Episcopal Church
Home Begins Its Second Century With Its 'Caring Services 'That Help The Elderly'
Author Maria Fotsch
Growing Up In St Paul - A Boyhood Resting On The City's Seven
Hills –
But Once Upon A Time There Were Eight
Author John S Sonnen
Books, Etc.
What's Historic About This Site? The Blair Flats - Once The
Old Angus –
High Victorian On Cathedral Hill
No back issues available
Winter 1995 Volume 29 Number
4
St. Paul Underground – What Happened to Fountain Cave?
Greg Brick
Described as "a marble temple," issuing water so pure it resembled
"a shower of diamonds," Fountain Cave was once one of St. Paul’s
tourist attractions. In this meticulously researched article the author tells
both the geological and human story of the cave – how it was formed, how
people described it, used it, and abused it. Pierre Parrant used the water from
the creek that ran through it to brew his popular moonshine, and at the creek’s
mouth he built the first known residence in what became St. Paul, in 1838. The
Omaha railroad turned it into a cesspit beneath its Omaha shops in 1880, and
gradually the cave faded from public consciousness. The construction of Shepard
Road in 1960 sealed the mouth of the cave forever. This footnoted piece includes
five photographs, three maps, and three drawings or paintings, including the
cover.
The Obscure Plaque on the Wall – Who Were
the Boys from the Adams School?
Paul D. Nelson
A plaque at St. Paul’s Adams School is dedicated to "the Boys from The
Adams School Who Sacrificed Their Lives" in World War I. Who were they and
what happened to them? There were three, Enoch Spence, Theo Peterson, Jr., and
Leon Machovec. All died of disease and only one, Machovec, saw combat. Their
stories, and how their stories were uncovered, are told.
Money – And How They Fared When There Wasn’t
Any Out There on Minnesota’s Frontier
Ronald M. Hubbs
A rumination on the commodities used for money in pioneer days, the
depreciation of the 1850s and Panic of 1857, gold and the Dakota Conflict, and
early banking.
Growing Up in St. Paul – ‘Grandfather
Durkee Was a Crusty Gentleman
Reuel D. Harmon
Memories of Grandfather Durkee, growing up in St. Anthony Park, family lore of
meteorites and the Dakota Conflict, performances at the old Metropolitan Opera
House, and a letter of recommendation from Pierce Butler, Jr.
What’s Historic About This Site? B. P.
Durkee’s French Empire House
A companion piece to the previous article. Grandfather Durkee’s house,
still standing, is an 1870s French Empire mansion atop the West Side bluffs
overlooking the flats and Mississippi River.
Book reviews
Raaen, Aagot, Grass of the Earth (St.Paul: Minnesota Historical Society
Press), 1994.
Douglas, Marjorie Myers, Eggs in the Coffee, Sheep in the Corn (St. Paul:
Minnesota Historical Society Press), 1994.
Summer 1995 Volume 30 Number 2
Vision, Vigor, Earthbound Practicality –
The Friends Of The Library - A Powerhouse After Fifty Years
Author Virginia L. Martin
Growing Up In St Paul - Flexible Flyers, Trolleys To Wildwood
And The Wondrous Tree House On Grand Hill
Author Samuel Morgan
Books, Etc.
Spring 1995 Volume 30 Number 1
From Iceboxes To Freezers: The Story Behind The Seeger
Refrigerator Company
Author James B. Bell
The Great Railroad Excursion Of 1854 - "The Most Notable
Event Of The Year"
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
Who Was Millard Fillmore? And What Was He Doing In St. Paul?
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
Growing Up In St Paul - Gas Stoves, Gas Jets, Gas Lamps &
Coal - Through An Open Chute In The Cellar
Author Freida Claussen
What's Historic About This Site?
The Benjamin Brunson House And The East Side's Railroad Island
Winter 1995 Volume 29 Number 4
St. Paul Underground- What Happened To The Fountain Cave –
The Real Birthplace Of The City
Author Greg Brick
The Obscure Plaque On The Wall - Who Were Boys Of The Adams
School?
Author Paul D Nelson
Money - And How They Fared When There Wasn't Any Out On
Minnesota's Frontier
Author Ronald M. Hubbs
Growing Up In St Paul - 'Grandfather Durkee Was A Crusty
Gentleman
Author Reuel D Harmon
Books, Etc.
Fall 1994 Volume 29 Number 3
The Midway Chamber And Its Community –
The Colorful History Of An 'Unparalleled Feature' Of St. Paul
Author Jane McClure
Spill-Over: The Midway And The 'Farm' Campus
Growing Up In St Paul - Remembering: 'Towns Within' And Their
People
Author Joanne Englund
Books, Etc.
Summer 1994 Volume 29 Number 2
Once Upon A Time- 'Tasteful, Elegant'
Lafayette Park And The Vanished Homes Of St. Paul's Elite
Author Marshall R. Hatfield
Growing Up In St Paul - Harriet Island And The 'Fearless'
Popper
Author William D. Bowells, Sr.
How Good Were The 'Good Old Days' When Women's Work Was Rarely
Done?
Author Tamara C. Truer
Books, Etc.
Spring 1994 Volume 29 Number 1
The Last Shots Of Two Wars The 'Fighting Saint' –
The U.S.S St Paul And Its Minnesota Connection
Author Tom Bolan
The Greatest Waterborne Invasion In History –
D-Day Remembered By Seven Who Were There
The Harlem Renaissance - 'An Age Of Miracles, Excess, Satire'
Author John S. Wright
Growing Up In St Paul - Yankeedom: Goal Of The 19th Century
Immigrant
Author John W. Larson
Books, Etc.
No back issues available
Winter 1994 Volume 28 Number 4
A Ninety Year Run - Giesen's: Costumer To St. Paul's Families
And Festivals - 1872-1970
Author Virginia L. Martin
Growing Up In St Paul - A Grandchild's Journey Into A Swedish
Past
Author John W. Larson
What's Historic About This Site? The House That Pedar Foss Built - New Brighton, 1896
Books, Etc.
Fall 1993 Volume 28 Number 3
A Case History Of Government In Action –
The Newly Restored, Newly Renovated City Hall & Courthouse
Author Thomas J. Kelley
What Is Art Deco?
A Short And Happy History Of Ramsey County And Its Two Earlier
Courthouses
Author Dane Smith
Growing Up In St Paul - The Return Of The Cotters: A Family's
Story
Author Dorothy Cotter Chaput
Summer 1993 Volume 28 Number 2
Old Fort Snelling: Its Birth, Death And Reincarnation
And The Story Of Fort Snelling State Park
Author Samuel Morgan
Colorful, Sometimes Contentious - St. Paul's 100 Year Old
Neighborhood Press
Author Jane McClure
Growing Up In St Paul - Albert Fuller And The Family Business
Author Albert Fuller
Books, Etc.
Spring 1993 Volume 28 Number 1
…'And A Sprinkling Of Jews' Work And Faith And Minnesota's Jewish
Merchants
Author Marilyn Chiat
Romance, Melodrama, Murder, Mayhem - The Novelist In Not So
Fictional St Paul
Author Frances Sontag
Growing Up In St. Paul - Looking Back At The Black Community
Part II
Author David V. Taylor
Books, Etc.
What's Historic About This Site? The Highland Park Water Tower
And Its Architect Clarence Wigington
No back issues available
Winter 1992 Volume 27 Number 4
Henry Bosse's Priceless Photographs And The Mississippi's
Passage Into The Age Of Industry
Author John O. Anfinson
Draughtsman, Photographer, Artist - Who Was The Mysterious
Henry Bosse?
Author William Roba
Growing Up In St. Paul - Looking Back At The Black Community
Author Eula T. Murphy With David Taylor
Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve - Daughter Of Frontier Regiment
- 1819
Author Ronald M. Hubbs
Jonas King - First Volunteer For The Union
Author Robert J. Strumm
Matter Of Time - 1853, 1893, 1918, 1943. 1968
Books, Etc.
What's Historic About This Site? The George Luckert House –
The Oldest Still Standing On St. Anthony Hill
Fall 1992 Volume 27 Number 3
A Story O Change, Pride, Perseverance –
The Mexican Americans And Their Roots In St Paul's Past
Author Jane McClure
Whistles, Crowds And Free Silver - St Paul's Election Night In
1896
Author Thomas C. Buckley
Postcards: A Full Blown Love Affair
Author Robert J. Strumm
Growing Up In St. Paul - Polish Sausage And Trips On The Streetcar
Author Deanne Cherry
A Matter Of Time - 1852, 1892, 1917
Books, Etc.
Fall 1992 Volume 27 Number 3
What's Historic About This Site? St. Casmir's Church And Its 100 Year
Journey Of Faith
Summer 1992 Volume 27 Number 2
The Junior League's First 75 Years –
Follies, 'Friendly Visiting' And Women's Changing Roles
Author Garneth O. Peterson
Hope Chests And Honeymoons - Marriages In America Still Wedded
To Tradition
Author Tamara Truer
Growing Up In St. Paul - Father Begged Feed For His Animals
Author Margaret Manship
A Matter Of Time - 1852, 1892, 1917, 1942
Books, Etc.
What's Historic About This Site? The Cyrus B Cobb House In
White Bear Lake
Spring 1992 Volume 27 Number 1
A Nationwide Sense Of Crisis - 1922 Shopmen's Strike In St Paul And The
Northwest
Author W Thomas White
Fifty Years Later - A Survivor's Memories Of The Battaan Death
March
Author Philips S. Brain, Jr.
Growing Up In St. Paul - Years Of Depression, Gangsters, Good
Schools
Author Willard L. (Sandy) Boyd
Rediscovering St. Paul's Fish Hatchery - A 'Pretty Little
Valley' With Idyllic Charm
Author Robert J. Strumm
The Earl Of Selkirk And His Utopian Dream
Author Ronald M Hubbs
A Matter Of Time - 1852, 1892, 1917, 1942, 1967
Books, Etc.
What's Historic About This Site? The St. Anthony Branch Library
Winter 1991 Volume 26 Number 4
St, Paul's First Shot Veterans –
The Crew Of The U.S.S. Ward And The Attack At Pearl Harbor
Author Jane McClure
The U.S.S. Ward, a destroyer, served in combat for precisely three years,
December 7, 1941 to December 6, 1944. Manned by naval reservists from St. Paul,
the Ward saw combat at Pearl Harbor ("We thought it was the end of
the world."), Guadal canal, and the Philippines, losing only one crewman
along the way. Disabled by a kamikaze attack, the ship had to be scuttled
in the Pacific. Crewmen from the Ward fired the first shots in the war
with Japan, sinking a mini-submarine an hour before the air attack on December
7. After the war, most of the St. Paul crewmen returned home to long and
productive lives. With five illustrations and a bibliography.
Help, Housing 'Almost Impossible To Find' A Single Mother And
World War II
Author Hilda Rachey
The trials of a young, single, working mother of two in St. Paul during World
War II. She had to scramble time and again to find housing and child care (both
often inadequate), deal with a temporary transfer, travel by foot and streetcar,
and endure wartime shortages. "Our ration coupons allowed one pair of shoes
a year for each person. No allowance was made for the fact that children’s
feet grow . . . ." Only after the war did their conditions improve. Still,
"If I could have my way, I would gladly go back and relive those days when
the children were small and I had them with me." This is a well-written and
rare memoir of the home front: with six photographs.
100 Years Of Helping People - Family Service
And Its Legacy Of Leadership
Author Tom Kelley
The social service agency Family Service, Inc., began in
St. Paul in 1892 and has lasted one hundred years. It began as Associated
Charities, an information clearinghouse for the coordination of private charity
for the "worthy poor;" in the 1910s it moved into relief and social
work, with an emphasis on "the preservation of family life." The
agency survived several wars, the Depression, periodic financial crises, and
demographic changes to become and remain a full-service, private, secular social
service provider. Strong leaders – notably James Jackson, Charles Stillman, A.
E. Heckman, Dawson Bradshaw, and Ron Reed – have been very important. Once the
mission became established, they stuck with the core mission while changing with
the times. Thus Family Service has regularly added new services while discarding
others, merged with other agencies, developed new sources of money, and grown in
size and scope. The article is a condensation of the agency’s self-published
history, A Legacy of Leadership and Service. With ten photographs.
Books, Etc.
Green, Anne Bosanko, One Woman’s War: Letters Home from the Women’s Army
Corps (St. Paul: MHS Press, 1989.)
Litoff, Jody Barret, David C. Smith, Barbara Woodall Taylor, and Charles E.
Taylor, eds., Miss You: The World War II Letters of Barbara Woodall Taylor
and Charles E. Taylor (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1990.)
What's Historic About This Site? St. Paul's Union Depot
It opened, in 1923, after the railroad age had peaked. The last passenger train
stopped there in 1970. It has been searching for a purpose ever since. It is
very fine nevertheless, "a simple, rather severe example of the
Neo-classical style of architecture often used in public buildings during the
first half of the twentieth century."
Fall 1991 Volume 26 Number 3
The 150th Anniversary Of The Naming Of The City –
St. Paul And The Rush To Settlement 1840 To 1880
Author Virgina Brainard Kunz
St. Paul’s earliest years recounted by the dean of Ramsey County-St. Paul
historians. "As 1840 dawned, nine cabins were strewn along the bluffs that
rose above the Mississippi . . . ." The essential information and vital
characters are all here: Father Galtier, the chapel and the name, Phelan and
Hays, Perry and Gervais; Louis Robert, Joe Brown, and Henry Jackson; the
creation of Minnesota Territory; Harriet Bishop and Matilda Rumsey, et al.
The demographics of settlement are covered, from the ousting of the Dakota
through the arrivals of the Germans and Irish, among others; and St. Paul’s
growth from swampy hamlet to genuine city, not forgetting the Swedish and Jewish
and African-American contributions. We have the great builders, John Ireland and
James J. Hill, statehood and Alexander Ramsey, St. Paul in the Civil War, the
beginnings of the great local railroad industry. An excellent map places the
early landmarks in the current landscape. With thirteen illustrations, this is a
primer for anyone desiring an introduction to (or review of) St. Paul’s
origins.
Who Was Pigs Eye Parrant, Anyway?
Everything that is known about St. Paul’s first settler – in less than two
full pages. He was an illiterate, intemperate, ill-mannered and itinerant fur
trader and whiskey seller who hung around Fort Snelling for a few years in the
mid- to late 1830s. Exiled from the fort in 1838, he occupied two successive
claims in what became St. Paul, and gave it its first informal name. By 1845 he
was gone.
Forgotten Pioneer - Abraham Perry And The Story Of His Flock
Author Patrick R. Martin
The story of early settler Abraham Perry, written by a great-great-great-great
grandson. Perry (born Perret) was lured from Switzerland to the Selkirk Colony
in Manitoba in 1820. When that failed he and family came to Fort Snelling. A
dozen years later the Perrys and others were expelled from fort surroundings and
moved downriver near Fountain Cave. They were forcibly moved again in 1840.
Perry died in 1849. Son Charles later settled near Lake Johanna in Arden Hills,
raised a large family, and lived to 1904. His son William ran a "blind
pig" that turned into a legitimate resort known as Perry’s Beach on Lake
Johanna in 1898. It was famous for its popcorn fritters. "Through the three
Perry men, the Perry name has become part of Ramsey County’s heritage."
What's Historic About This Site?
Highland Park's Reminder Of Its Past: The Davern And Colvin Homes
Author Robert J. Couser
Neighboring houses built by distinguished St. Paul families. William Davern
came to St. Paul from Ireland in 1849. He farmed, became a citizen, served in
the legislature, owned Pike Island for a while, and generally prospered. Son
William and grandson Joseph became prominent citizens also. The article traces
the ownership of and alterations to their 1862 farmhouse.
Alexander Colvin came from Canada to St. Paul in 1897. He was chief of surgery
at Ancker Hospital from 1919 until his death in 1948. Sarah Tarleton Colvin was
a nurse, suffragist, political activist, and member of the state board of
education. The Colvins built two houses at 1175 Davern in 1909. "Today the
homes of these early citizens serve as distinctive reminders of Highland Park’s
past."
A Matter Of Time - 1851, 1891, 1916, 1941, 1966
Books, Etc.
Adams, Noah, Saint Croix Notes: River Mornings, Radio Nights (New York:
Norton, 1990.)
Borchert, John R., America’s Northern Heartland: An Economic and
Historical Geography of the Upper Midwest (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1987.)
Rangitsch, Monica, producer, Good Living Among Good People: A History of
North St. Paul (North St. Paul Historical Society, 1991.)
Summer 1991 Volume 26 Number 2
Simpler Times, Obvious Virtues –
The Story Of The Little White School House On The Prairie
Author Harlan Seyfer
In 1966 the Ramsey County Historical Society acquired a one-room schoolhouse for
its Gibbs Farm Museum. It was built in 1882 in rural Chippewa County and used
until January of 1965.
The article traces the early history of Chippewa County school district #35, the building of the school, the relevant land transactions, and how Ramsey County Historical Society acquired it. Tales from school come mostly in reminiscences from seven who taught there and fifteen former students. They recall the conditions, the salaries, the programs, the games, the daily schedule, the chores, the lunches, all the stuff of a recently vanished way of schooling. With eight photos including the cover.
Dog Sled To Private Car: Peregrinating Hills
Author Thomas C Buckley
The James J. Hill fortune was based on transportation. Not surprisingly, the
family used some of the money to travel by every means at hand. This article
recounts many of their travels, by dogsled, rail, yacht and steamship,
automobile, and even on foot, for business and for pleasure. "Even in today’s
era of massive long distance travel by jet and auto, few can match the
peregrinating Hills of the early twentieth century." With eight photos
including the back cover, and a list of sources.
Walter Sanborn And The Eighth Circuit Court
Author Thomas Boyd
A six-page biography of one of Minnesota’s most distinguished lawyers. He came
to St. Paul in 1870 to join his uncle’s law practice. He succeeded in private
practice, served on the city council, and was appointed to the Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals in 1892. There he made his greatest mark in anti-trust law,
voting to break up James J. Hill’s and J. P. Morgan’s Northern Securities
Trust, then writing the opinion that ordered the dismantling of Standard Oil.
"The Standard Oil decision was the first meaningful application of the
Sherman [Antitrust] Act and Judge Sanborn’s opinion was widely hailed as a
milestone that ushered in a new era." He died in 1928. His nephew, John
Sanborn, followed him to the Eighth Circuit in 1932 and served until 1964. With
four photographs.
A Matter Of Time - 1851, 1891, 1916, 1941, 1966
Books, Etc.
Hunter, Dianna, Hard Ground: The Stories of Minnesota Farm Advocates
(Duluth: Holy Cow Press, 1990.)
Oakland Cemetery (St. Paul: Oakland Cemetery Association.)
Bruckner, Sharon, project coordinator, Oakland Cemetery Records: Saint Paul,
Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Genealogical Society, 1991.)
Hancock, Jane, Sheila ffolliott, and Thomas O’Sullivan, Homecoming: The Art
Collection of James J. Hill (St. Paul: MHS Press, 1991.)
What's Historic About This Site? First National Bank Of White
Bear Lake
Built in 1921 in the Beaux Arts tradition, "this delightful
classically-inspired building is an excellent example of how the older buildings
which have added so much character to the downtowns of Minnesota communities can
be adapted to new uses."
Spring 1991 Volume 26 Number 1
Small And Cohesive - St. Paul's Resourceful African American
Community
Author Arthur C. McWatt
Notable people, organizations, businesses, trends, and accomplishments in St.
Paul’s African-American community, 1910-1943.
1900-1910. Major institutions, such as Pilgrim Baptist and St. James AME
churches and the Appeal newspaper (J. Q. Adams, editor) are
well-established. Blacks have achieved entry into the police and fire
departments, the legislature (J. Frank Wheaton), law (Fredrick McGhee), medicine
(Valdo Turner and Thomas Cook), teaching (the Farr sisters). Business and
community leaders also include T.H. Lyles, James Loomis, James Hilyard, and
Harry Shepherd. The population in 1910 is 3144.
1911-1920. Population growth is slow. Employment prospects remain limited but
are somewhat improved in meat packing and railroads. Rising figures include
William and Nellie Francis, Clarence Wigington, Father Stephen Theobald, J.
Louis Ervin. Important new institutions include the Sterling Club and the
Afro-American Industrial League.
1921-1930. Growth continues to be slow, but more economic progress is made. The
Pullman Porters Industrial Association and St. Paul Urban League are founded.
J.Q. Adams is succeeded by Roy Wilkins as a strong editorial voice. Owen Howell
creates the St. Paul Negro Business League. Despite progress, at decade’s end
the median black family income is only 76% of poverty level.
1931-1943. The Depression takes a terrible toll. Cecil Newman and his St.
Paul Recorder emerge as major figures. Despite hard times, "By the
mid-1930s St. Paul had a substantial black business community made up of small
stores, shops, restaurants, bars and barbershops." World War II helps a
great deal, with jobs and later the GI Bill. "It was truly a take-off
period in St. Paul’s economic history which few would soon forget."
With twenty photographs, including the cover, and a bibliography.
A Period Of National Tragedy - The Homeless And The Jobless In
The 1930s
Author Virgina Brainard Kunz
The Great Depression in Ramsey County, seen in part through the experiences and
words of A. E. Heckman. Heckman came to St. Paul in 1931 to lead the United
Charities. In 1932, when the Depression finally took full effect in St. Paul, he
headed a unique public-private partnership, running the county welfare board
while being paid by United Charities. Government, private charity, and leading
citizens and businesses worked together to provide relief. Heckman also directed
WPA projects in the area (Kellogg Boulevard, the nine-foot river channel, the
Harriet Island pavilion, among others) and initiated the "thrift
gardens" program. Heckman returned to United Charities in 1935. Despite all
the efforts, the county in 1936 paid out more in relief than it collected in
taxes, and the Depression began to lift only in 1940.
A Minnesota Abroad - Alexander Wilkin And The 'Dumpy' Queen
Author Ronald Hubbs
Wilkin, a major early citizen, went to Europe three times, 1855-1858, and wrote
letters home. Mostly he griped, though he did like Florence and big events
involving dressing up: "I wore my uniform which was much admired . . .
." He met Queen Victoria, whom he found "short and dumpy with bad
complexion and not in the least pretty."
Book Review
Marling, Karal Ann, Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the
Minnesota State Fair (St. Paul: MHS Press, 1990.)
Eaton, Leonard K., Gateway Cities and Other Essays (Ames: Iowa State
University Press, 1989.)
A Matter Of Time - 1851, 1891, 1916, 1941, 1966
What's Historic About This Site? Woodland Park Historic
District
A brief summary of the rise, decline, and revival of the neighborhood bounded by
Marshall, Selby, Dale, and Kent streets. During its rise, 1880-1924, prominent
citizens such as Judson Bishop, D. W. Lawler, and William Marshall built houses
there.
Winter 1990 Volume 25 Number 4
Fire On The Frontier - Tradesmen, Merchants: The Men Who Ran With The
Machine
Author Thomas J. Kelley
St. Paul’s first recorded fire occurred in 1838 – somebody torched Pierre
Parrant’s lean-to. In 1850 the first Protestant church in the city, brand new,
burned to the ground. Several fires later, in 1854, a formal fire company was
organized. This article is the story of the creation and early years of what
became the St. Paul Fire Department. For decades all fire companies were
volunteer, semi-exclusive clubs that charged dues and held social events. They
got their own uniforms, chose their names, and showed off. Little by little the
city council was induced to buy more and better equipment. Still, in a city
mostly made of wood, disastrous fires continued to occur and to spur
improvements in fire protection. Cisterns were built, better fire engines
purchased.
"At about the same time that new machines were being developed to stop
fires, a dangerous new product for starting fires, kerosene, was becoming
popular [1866]." The frequent lack of available water at fire sites led to
agitation for a city water works. Population growth, catastrophic fires (several
of them arson), improvements in equipment, and the expansion of the volunteer
fire force all continued apace. By 1877 the city council, for so long so laggard
in fire protection, decided to create a professional fire department. It ordered
the volunteer companies disbanded. With twelve illustrations and a bibliography.
Christmas Myths, Memories And Our Pagan Past
The author reminds as that our Christmas traditions have varied origins, some
pagan, some English, some commercial. "White Christmas" comes from an
English custom of wrapping gifts for the poor in white. Thanksgiving marked the
beginning of Christmas shopping season more than a century ago. "At this
time of year, when tradition and memory hold us in such thrall, it is
interesting to note how much a part of the past the present is."
The Mystery Of The Leaking Lake: Phalen Park And Its Almost - 100 Years Of
History
Author Tim Koran
Phalen Park opened in 1899. Its history since then has been constant
re-engineering and rebuilding, most of it having to do with controlling all that
water. There has been dredging and damming; beaches have been closed and new
beaches created; docks have been built, destroyed and replaced. Bathhouses,
walkways, diving platforms, golf courses (the city’s first) have been rebuilt,
moved, renovated. And then there was the leak. Until 1913 Lake Phalen supplied
city water; then the water pipe was sealed. Forty years later the lake began to
leak; only heroic efforts finally stopped the depletion. Pollution threatened
the lake in the early 1970s, prompting still another round of drastic changes.
This article tells the whole story of lake and park, from geological creation
through the 1980s. With fourteen photographs and a bibliography.
A Matter Of Time - 1850, 1890, 1915, 1940, 1965
Book Reviews
Davies, Kenneth Maitland, To the Last Man: The Chronicle of the 135th
Infantry Regiment of Minnesota (St. Paul: Ramsey County Historical Society,
1982.)
What's Historic About This Site? The West Side's Riverview
Carnegie Branch Library
Endowed by Andrew Carnegie, built in 1916, and renovated in 1958.
Summer 1990 Volume 25 Number 3
An Excess Of Zeal And Boosters - Few Holds Barredin Twin Cities Rivalries
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
A summary of the major struggles for dominance between Minneapolis and St. Paul:
the Census War of 1890 (won by Minneapolis, but only after arrests, threats,
extravagant cheating, and a recount); the 14-year battle for the State Fair; the
baseball rivalry between the Saints and Millers, brought to an end only by the
coming of major league baseball; water vs. rail – Minneapolis had its falls
and St. Paul had the rapids that kept shipping from reaching Minneapolis. Then
came the railroads – call it a draw; the competing stockyards, the competing
airports, the fight for the Ford plant, downtown redevelopment. The hatchet has
been buried, but it keeps escaping.
The Mississippi As St. Paul - Playground On The City's Door
Step
Author Thomas B. Mega
This article reviews the pleasure uses of the river in St. Paul from Pig’s
Eye’s 1838 grog shop through the RiverFest music events of 1988. From very
early days there were pleasure cruises. There were camp meetings at Red Rock.
The Minnesota Boat Club and Minnesota Yacht Club put on races, regattas, and
picnics. Harriet Island, with its "public baths," zoo, and playgrounds
was a huge attraction for many years, and other parks were built to take
advantage of river views. There have been decades of decline, brought on by
pollution, neglect, and the Corps of Engineers. Recreational renewal began in
the 1970s, spurred by the cruise boat Jonathan Padelford and revitalization of
the rowing and boating clubs. Riverfront Days, inaugurated in 1982, revived
Harriet Island as a music venue. "The Mississippi riverfront, then, is
enjoying a renaissance as a center for recreation in St. Paul." With ten
photographs.
Mapping Minnesota 1697 To 1857
Reproductions of four historic maps featuring the upper Mississippi.
Lillie & Ida At The Fair
Author Karen Bluhm
Sisters Lillie and Ida Gibbs visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in
Chicago in 1893, and wrote home about it. Lillie’s great-granddaughter
reconstructs the event.
Book Reviews
Hansen, Eric C., The Cathedral of St. Paul: An Architectural Biography (St.
Paul: The Cathedral of St. Paul, 1990.)
Hammel, Bette Jones, From Bauhuas to Bowties: HGA Celebrates 35 Years (Minneapolis:
Hammel Green and Abrahamson, 1989.)
Hebert, Gareth, ed., Little Canada, A Voyageur’s Vision (Stillwater:
The Croixside Press, 1989.)
A Matter Of Time - 1850, 1890, 1915, 1940
What's Historic About This Site?
Ramsey County's 'Poor Farm' Barn: Remnant Of A Rural Past
"For the thousands of people who pass the Ramsey County Fairgrounds each
year, or call in at the county’s extension service offices, the majestic barn
at 2020 White Bear Avenue is a landmark, a reminder of the county’s rural
past, and much more."
Fall 1990 Volume 25 Number 2
The St Paul Foundation And Its Past Fifty Years
Author Virgina Brainard Kunz
The Saint Paul Foundation began in 1940 with nothing. Ten years later very
little had changed. Thirty years later it was rich and helping other foundations
find their way. How did this happen? This article follows the foundation’s
history in detail: the hiring of the right people plus the patient (over a
quarter-century) accretion of bequests eventually bore bountiful fruit. Many of
the names in this story are little known, despite the big fortunes behind some
of them.
Important donors included Annie Paper, Joseph and Lillian Duke, Laura and Ann Furness, Harold Bend, and Ralph Kriesel. Their bequests and others allowed the foundation’s assets to grow to the point where significant gifts could be made. Meanwhile, leadership gained in experience and knowledge. It started part-time with Louis Headley, then Charles Birt; then, in 1975, Paul Verret. It took 40 years for the foundation to reach a level of wealth and expertise where it could undertake significant grant making. At this time too, 1980, it "began providing a full range of services to other foundations and nonprofit corporations."
The foundation’s giving then focused on areas of particular local need – Southeast Asian immigrants, adult literacy, education of minority children and youth, public libraries, Pacific Rim economics, an Emergency Care Fund, battered women, the homeless, a Community Reinvestment Fund, AIDS, renovation of the Landmark Center and construction of the Ordway Center, and a host of others. By 1990 the Saint Paul Foundation had assets of $175 million and ranked in the top ten of community foundations nationwide. With fifteen photographs.
No Cash, No Credit, No Jobs - St. Paul And The Panic Of 1857
Author Ronald Hubbs
The nationwide Panic of 1857 shattered the booming – and enthusiastically
speculating – St. Paul. This piece follows the crisis mostly through the pens
of newspapermen, chiefly those of the Daily Minnesotian and St. Paul
Advertiser. The editors watched and commented as a crash was rumored, then
struck Wall Street, then made its way inexorably west. And these fellows could write:
If anything could take canture down from its credulous faith
in it own prescience,
it would be the constancy with which the speculations of the philosophers are
contradicted by the eventual facts of human experience. There is no one so
positive
as a political economist, and no one so blind.
They could lecture, too: "Every man owes it to the community to set an example of a methodical frugality in his style of living, to contract his expenditures to the smallest possible compass and to pay his debts."
They could also lament: ""Immigration with its vast aggregate hoard has ceased to flow and no longer scatters its golden seed. The future beckons us to its Elysian shore, but a Styx of bankruptcy rolls between." Banks closed, money dried up, businesses went under, great men were ruined, the wharfs went quiet. It took the Civil War to bring full recovery. This article teaches us not only about the Panic, but also about a style of newspaper writing now gone.
"West Against East in the Land of
Oz,"
Hoisington, Daniel John,
The author looks at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a metaphor for the national
east vs. west political struggle: gold vs silver, McKinley vs Bryan. "To
Baum, the treacherous gold standard could be remedied only by silver – the
heart of William Jennings Bryan’s platform."
The metaphor is borrowed from writer Henry Littlefield.
Reshaping The River: The Man-Made Mississippi
The author compares the man-made Mississippi of today with the natural
river. "If one of the colorful French voyageurs who once paddled the
Mississippi could return as a time traveler, it is highly doubtful that he would
recognize the river that was his highway."
Book Reviews
Fairbanks, Evelyn, Days of Rondo (St. Paul: MHS Press, 1990.)
Wilkins, Roy, Standing Fast (New York: Viking Press, 1982.)
Parks, Gordon, A Choice of Weapons (St. Paul: MHS Press, 1986.)
A Matter Of Time - 1850, 1890, 1915, 1940, 1965
What's Historic About This Site? Macalester's Old Main And Its
First Century
Macalester College’s Old Main has been placed on the National Register of
Historic Places. The author describes the building and the early days of the
college.
Spring 1990 Volume 25 Number 1
Railroader As Yachtsman, James. J Hill And The Wacouta Of St.
Paul
Author Thomas C. Buckley
In 1900 the meticulous and demanding James J. Hill bought a yacht. Not
surprisingly, he chose carefully and had the thing done to the highest
standards. He bought it used for less than the asking price and ran it cheaper
than the previous owners, and still made it a vessel of stunning luxury and
performance. Though the yacht never visited St. Paul and could not have done so,
its operations and management were monitored in excruciating detail from Hill
headquarters.
This article describes in detail the purchase, operation (including wages,
uniforms, and menus), renovations, and voyages of the Wacouta, providing
along the way insight into what it must have been to work for Hill (maddening.)
Hill ran the ship mainly in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River for fishing
trips, and Atlantic coast excursions. On the fishing trips once the Wacouta had
reached its destination "the yacht largely served as a floating packing
plant." The Hill family sold the ship after the old man died in 1916. She
went on to have an eventful life-after-Hill. See "The Wacouta in Two
World Wars" below. With eight photographs and a bibliography.
Eugene V. Debs, James J. Hill And The Great Northern Railway
Strike
Author Tamara C. Truer
James J. Hill rarely lost a battle or met an adversary he could not defeat. The
1894 Great Northern strike was an exception. When he tried to impose a third
wage cut on his employees in the course of eight months, the men, under the
leadership of Eugene V. Debs’s American Railway Union, went on strike. All of
Hill’s union-busting tactics failed. "The victory [for labor] was swift
and dramatic." Years later Hill said, "Gene Debs is the squarest labor
leader I have ever known. He cannot be bought, bribed, or intimidated. . . . I
know. I have dealt with him and been well spanked."
1940s Revisited
An eight-photo array.
The Wacouta In Two World Wars
Author Thomas C. Buckley
After James Hill died the family sold the Wacouta. Under three different
names, Harvard, Athinai, and Palermo, it served as a World War I
patrol boat, a Greek passenger ship, an Italian naval vessel, and a
Mediterranean commercial craft. It was sunk twice, the last time in May of 1944.
Book Reviews
Gilman, Rhoda R., Northern Lights: The Story of Minnesota’s Past (St.
Paul: MHS Press, 1989).
Roseville, Minnesota, The Story of Its Growth, 1843-1988 (Roseville:
Roseville Historical Society, 1988).
Flanagan, John T., Theodore Hamm in Minnesota: His Family and Brewery (Minneapolis:
Pogo Press, 1989).
A Matter Of Time - Timeline 1850, 1890, 1915, 1940, 1965
What's Historic About This Site? The Dahl House: The Last Of
Old Lowertown
In 1858 Englishman William Dahl built a humble little house in St. Paul. One
hundred and thirty-two years later, still humble and tiny, the Dahl House made
it to the National Register of Historic Places "as the last surviving
residence of the once-residential Lowertown district."
No back issues available
1989 Volume 24 Number 2
A Pioneer Writes Home - Alexander Wilkin And 1850s St. Paul
Author Ronald M Hubbs
Alexander Wilkin, though tiny in stature, was one of St. Paul’s early giants.
Lawyer, speculator, politician, adventurer, like so many he burned for fortune
and glory on the frontier.
He got both, plus an early death in battle. Letters that he wrote to family in
his home town of Goshen, New York, were recently found and donated to the St.
Paul Companies, of which Wilkin had been the first president. They are excerpted
here, and the author adds context.
In addition to his other talents, Wilkin also wrote well. Writing of an 1850
expedition along the St. Croix, he recorded that "we cooked some of our
provisions and retired – not to sleep – for the mosquitoes constantly
whispered in our ears that such a thing was impossible, and not expected of
strangers at Wolf Creek." A Whig who had won appointment as Secretary of
the Minnesota Territory, he appreciated the uncertainty of office. "I fear
our party will be routed next fall. If so, off goes my head . . . ."
Writing to his brother at a low point, he concluded, "This is a wicked
country and I feel at times that it is necessary for me to be on my guard. If I
do not get better I must get worse."
Wiling ran for Congress ("Should I run and be elected . . . that would give
me a position that would enable to . . . make a fortune.") He lost, but
sought his fortune in many other ventures: insurance (first president of St.
Paul Fire and Marine); railroads (incorporator of two railroad companies that
went nowhere); newspapers (a minority owner of the Daily Times).
The Panic of 1857 effectively put an end to the go-go ‘50s; Wilkin was wounded
("Money matters are growing worse all the time. I cannot borrow any
money."), but got through it better than many. The Civil War gave him his
last chance for glory. He commanded Company A of the First Minnesota and died in
combat. His letters provide an invaluable insider’s view of St. Paul and
Minnesota in the 1850s. With five illustrations.
Boom, Boom, Bust! The' 29 Crash
Author Woodrow Keljik
The author deftly sets the stage for the Crash. "Were the 1920s really
prosperous?" In retrospect, signs of trouble abounded. Trouble on the farm,
trouble in Europe, reckless speculation everywhere. Those who spoke words of
caution or warning were deemed unsound. Another Republican victory in the 1928
elections encouraged the expanding bubble. The tumble began in early October;
prices and confidence fell apace. "In St. Paul, for the first time [on
October 24], brokerage houses were crowded until long after dark." On
October 28, "the plug was pulled and the shares of America’s most
prominent corporations went down the drain. . . . But worse was yet to come as
the terrible Black Tuesday of October 29 dawned."
St. Paul at first held up better than many other places,
bolstered by its insurance and government payrolls, "not affected nearly so
severely by sharp declines in the demand for manufactured goods."
Minneapolis fared worse. St. Paul built its new city hall and courthouse; the
builder of the Foshay Tower went to prison, bankrupt. The full force of the
Depression struck St. Paul in 1932. Every train brought more destitute men to
the city. There were bitter strikes in Austin and Minneapolis. New Deal programs
provided some amelioration. With four illustrations and a bibliography.
1989 Volume 24 Number 1
Minnesota' First Art School - St. Agatha's Conservatory And The Pursuit Of
Excellence
Author Sister Ann Thomasine Sampson
The first of five pieces by the same author about St. Agatha’s Conservatory.
This one concerns mainly the two Ellens, cousins Ellen Ireland and Ella Howard,
better known as Mother Seraphine and Mother Celestine of the Sisters of St.
Joseph of Carondelet. They were born the same year, grew up together in Ireland
and St. Paul, and joined the Sisters at the same time. Ellen Ireland rose to the
position of provincial superior. As Mother Seraphine she appointed her cousin
superior of the new St. Agatha convent, a community of teachers in downtown
parish schools; Mother Celestine, in turn, persuaded her cousin to let her turn
it into a music and arts academy in order to support itself. The academy opened
in 1884.
"Mother Celestine Howard and Her
Provincial Mint," pp. 8-9.
A portrait of Mother Celestine, who founded St. Agatha’s and ran it for 31
years. Perhaps only in the Catholic Church of this era could a woman develop and
exercise such an array of talents of organization and leadership. The convent
and academy got no financial help from the Sisters of St. Joseph or the
archdiocese. As superior, Mother Celestine had to run the institution
financially, market its art and music classes, oversee the training of its
sisters, set and maintain artistic standards, attend to the spiritual and
temporal needs of the sisters, maintain the traditions of the Sisters of St.
Joseph, and deal with the various parishes the sisters served as teachers. She
died in 1915 at the age of 71.
"Music, Art, Drama, and Dance –
The Little Girls Had Long Curls," pp. 9-14.
What the Conservatory did and how it did it. Its peak years were mid-1880s to
the late 1920s, when it met a growing demand for arts education for young
people. It started in the rented Lick house, moved the larger Judge Palmer
House, expanded, expanded, expanded, then finally built its own new building,
six stories with a roof garden, which opened in 1910. The taught voice, piano,
organ, and many stringed instruments, music theory, elocution, deportment,
languages, painting, drawing, and more. For a while a china painting business
flourished there. Sisters taught in parish schools by day, at the Academy
evenings and Saturdays, a strenuous life of work and work. It was called the
"provincial mint" because at its height it made so much money – in
the 1920s as much as $1,000 a day. Talented sisters were sent to universities
and abroad to improve. Distinguished musicians were brought in as supervisors.
It was a full-service arts industry run by women pledged to a life of poverty.
"A Day in the Life of – Obedience,
Poverty and Ice in the Washbasins," pp. 15-18.
Daily life of the sisters at St. Agatha’s. "There was no such thing as a
partial commitment." Their days began at 5:00 "to the sound of a large
hand bell that was rung nine times," and were busily scheduled and
regimented until lights out seventeen hours later. Those who taught only music
and expression began their days two hours earlier! "The weekends, far from
providing a period of relaxation, seemed to be filled with even more
activities." It was work, work, work, but the sisters shared a vocation for
which they had been trained. "The advantages were companionship, help from
each other, shared experiences, professional guidance, . . . and participation
in a center of culture and the arts. These overshadowed the disadvantages of
austerity, regimentation, a dark and gloomy atmosphere, lack of finances,
insufficient food, absence of comfortable furniture and equipment, and the
downtown noise that surrounded the building."
"Closing the Conservatory," p.
19.
The Conservatory’s heyday ended with the coming of the Great Depression. Then
came war, the decline of downtown population, wear and tear on the building, and
a host of other forces that combined to make it vestigial. It closed in 1962.
"A cultural era in the history of St. Paul had come to an end."
Boats, Boaters And Boat Clubs - Slips Cost 10 Cents A Foot
Author Thomas J. Kelley
Two short pieces in one, centered around Navy Island: The history of the
Minnesota Yacht Club and memories of the Minnesota Boat Club. The Yacht Club
began in 1912 as the St. Paul Motor Boat Club to serve the needs of city
pleasure-craft owners. A key function was to supply slips, but it was a social
club too. Over time the slips moved from Navy (a.k.a. Raspberry) Island to the
Holman Field area, to Harriet Island, and finally to the harbor north of Harriet
Island dredged in 1962, where they remain today.
Attorney Thomas C. O’Brien was an early member of the Minnesota Boat Club, a
social and athletic organization built around the sport of rowing. He wrote his
memories in the 1930s – memories of balls, races, picnics, stunts, shinny
games, and straw rides.
1988 Volume 23 Number 2
The Fire And Marine: Facts, Fancies, Legends - The First 100 Years Of
Minnesota's Oldest Business Corporation
Author Ronald M. Hubbs
Frontier boom towns are great places to make money but they are also unstable.
Businessmen generally prefer stability. Insurance provides stability. Hence the
St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company was born in 1853. Its creators were
some of the city’s first big-shots – bankers, merchants, politicians, and
real estate speculators, among them Alexander Ramsey, Charles Borup, Henry Rice,
and Alexander Wilkin. Things started well, but the company went dormant just in
time to avoid the speculative Panic of 1857. It awakened after the Civil War.
New leadership in the person of transportation magnate James Burbank took over.
He led the company through the Chicago Fire of 1871 ($142,000 in claims, equal
to almost half the company’s assets, paid in full), expansion into 29 states
and Canada, and the building of its first headquarters.
Burbank was succeeded in 1876 by Charles Bigelow; he ran the company until 1911
and his son Frederick until 1938! When the San Francisco earthquake hit in 1906,
two company employees saved its records, "making it possible to adjust and
pay losses." These losses amounted to $1,267,000, paid in full. In World
War I the company insured property in London against losses from zeppelin
attacks.
In part through the efforts of C.F. Codere (who started as an errand boy and
succeeded Frederick Bigelow as president), Fire and Marine not only survived the
Depression, it did so without lowering salaries or laying off employees. When
marine losses were catastrophic during World War II, Codere said, "we shall
continue writing war risks and if necessary the Fire and Marine will take a
larger line."
The company has issued some oddball and seemingly dangerous risks – banks
against theft during Dillinger’s heyday, a chicken against death by lion bite,
an ostrich rider against falls, elephants against harm at the hands of college
students. With 18 photographs and illustrations.
A Record Setting Winter - And The Ice Harvest On Lake Owasso
Author Neill J, O'Neill
As a lad in the mid-1930s the author worked three seasons harvesting ice on Lake
Owasso in suburban Ramsey County. He recalls here in detail how the ice harvest
worked – the equipment, the procedures, the job hierarchy, and the skills.
"No ballet called for better timing as the packers alternately sailed heavy
ice blocks smoothly across the icy surface to be packed in place." Pay came
only after the harvest was done. "This . . . would usually be spent in the
time-honored fashion set by lumberjacks, sailors and cowboys – all in one
night. Contrary to popular opinion, none of us felt especially bad about it the
next day." A priceless memoir.
Love And Marriage On The Old Frontier
Extracts from an address made by Edward Duffield Neill at Fort Snelling in 1889,
about romances born at the fort in olden days. Characters include Zachary
Taylor, Seth Eastman, Joseph Plympton, and others less known.
1988 Volume 23 Number 1
The American National Bank And The Bremer Brothers
Author Thomas J. Kelley
St. Paul grew at a reckless pace in the 1880s. There was money to be made in
banking and many entered the field. In the Panic and Depression of the 1890s
"the entrepreneurial bankers who opened banks with little experience and
less capital were eliminated." The founders of the American National Bank,
which opened in 1903, were men "indoctrinated . . . with great respect for
solvency and liquidity." The founders were John Lockey, Benjamin Baer,
Louis Ickler, Harry Humanson, Alice DuBord, and Otto Bremer.
Bremer was the key figure. He was the elected city treasurer and also treasurer
of its biggest brewery, the Jacob Schmidt Company. Links between the bank and
the brewery were strong and long. Bremer’s brother Adolf was married to Jacob
Schmidt’s only daughter and president of the brewery. The two enterprises
supported and bolstered one another through good times and hard.
Both bank and brewery had strong ties and interests in the rural hinterlands.
The "country banks" there were intensely dependent on the farm
economy, and when that economy went into steep decline after World War I those
banks were in trouble. Otto Bremer and the American National Bank supported
those banks, and by 1933 "he had a large or controlling interest in
fifty-five banks in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Montana," though
all remained separate from American. The Great Depression forced Otto to spend
$2,000,000 to keep the banks afloat, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Brother
Adolf had to step in; Otto’s debts were restructured to avoid any threat to
American National Bank. In 1936 the brewery became a major investor in the bank.
When Adolf died in 1939, Otto became president of the Jacob Schmidt Brewery. He
died in 1951.
"Today the American National Bank is the largest commercial bank based in
St. Paul with assets of $640 million." With seven photographs.
The Guild Of Catholic Women And Their 'Constant Efforts To
Brighten Lives…'
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
"The 20th century’s great social movements – suffrage,
social service, prohibition and temperance – were reflected in the work of St.
Paul’s women, including those in the newly-founded [1906] Guild of Catholic
Women." Growing out of a group of thirty at St. Luke’s Parish, the Guild
quickly became a busy and city-wide doer of good deeds. It organized a
travelers’ aid society, housing for young Catholic working women, and the
Catholic Infant Home. Members visited the sick, clothed the poor, found jobs for
the jobless and shelter for the homeless. During World War I they sold Liberty
Bonds and found graves for those who had died in service. During the Depression
the Guild organized Girl Scout troops and orphanages and supported the Community
Chest, the Red Cross, the House of the Good Shepherd, and Little Sisters of the
Poor. Services changed with the times.
Early leaders included Emily Franklin Logue, Margaret Bischell McFadden, Anne
Towey O’Toole, Mary Howard Breen Quinlan, Margaret McManus Walsh, Ellen
Donovan Conroy, Mary Handran Hurley, Ellen Kennedy Jones, Margaret Walsh Kelley,
Jeanette Robert Lamprey, and Katherine Louise Dunn Slater.
George Trout And The Corner Grocery Store
Author Karl Trout
A memoir from the son of a neighborhood grocer, filled with delightful details:
how the commodities were delivered and sold; how customers tasted the butter
before buying; "the Henry George 5 cent cigar was the people’s
choice"; kids driving the proprietor crazy over a one-penny candy purchase;
Uncle Charlie taking the "high-stepping mare Lady" out to call on
customers, and on and on. There is neighborhood stuff too, such as how in winter
the kids delighted in grabbing onto the farmers’ sleighs for a ride after
school and the annual Grocers’ Day picnics.
Pay Days: The Millers And Saints
Author Stew Thornley
A brief summary of the century-long baseball rivalry between St. Paul and
Minneapolis, featuring brawls, record-setting feats, famous names and
unforgettable characters.
No back issues available
1987 Volume 22 Number 2
Cattleman And Capitalists - And The Founding Of New Brighton
Author Gene Skiba
Two stories in one article: the founding of New Brighton and memories from the
Beisswenger family, early settlers.
The town, in northwest Ramsey County, was the creation of Twin Cities
businessmen hoping to make money in the cattle business. Seeing that others,
including James J. Hill, intended to profit from the shipping and slaughtering
of cattle in South St. Paul, these entrepreneurs, in alliance with the Soo Line
Railroad, ventured to do the same nearer Minneapolis. The chose a location on
the southern end of Long Lake, set up their stock yards and rail connections,
organ-ized a town (1889) and named it New Brighton. The town existed before
anyone (except the handful of area farmers) lived there. But people soon came
and, as Americans did in those days, created their civic and social institutions
– clubs, debating societies, town bands, and the like.
One of the pre-existing families was the Beisswingers, among the first to come
(1883) and the first to stay permanently. Jacob and Caroline Beisswenger came
from Germany to farm, and did so for many years, selling mostly vegetables to
the people of nearby Minneapolis. They also raised five children and took in
several more. Daughter Rose preserved many memories of life in the young village
– of school, social life ("the dances were about the extent of
entertainment"), local characters such as Mrs. Putzke, who "smoked a
pipe carved out of stone," the Johnson family grocery store, and Mrs.
Beisswenger’s Salve, made from pine resin, beeswax, and sheep tallow. With
four photographs.
The Great Horse Market Years At Prior And University
Author John S Sonnen
In the late 19th century flesh-and-blood horsepower moved the city.
In the early 1890s the street railway alone employed 800 equines. "From
when, thence, came all the horses?" The Minnesota Transfer Railway, located
in the Midway, hauled thousands of them, shuttling them between railroads, so a
horse market developed there. And from that market arose its most successful and
compelling figure, Moses Zimmerman. From 1896 into the early 1920s he built and
ran a vast network, "buying and selling more horses than any other man in
the Northwest." The business expanded eventually into real estate and army
surplus. Zimmerman changed with the times, eventually even buying a car.
"Yeah, I bought a car, but I never really liked it. Now, you take a horse
– well, you get to know a horse." Annotated, with one photograph.
Boxing In Minnesota In The Postwar Era - The Fighting
Flanagans
Author Scott Wright
Glen and Del Flanagan were the most successful local professional boxers of
their time, hence probably of all time. This article traces their careers. Glen
began his professional career in 1946, Del in 1947, and by 1948 both were
fighting in main events and often. Del won his first 52 bouts. Glen retired in
1956 with a record of 80-23-12.
Del, who began as a lightweight, moved up to welterweight and had a fine career.
He rose to 7th ranking worldwide in 1955 and missed a title fight
with Carmen Basilio in 1957 because of a disorderly conduct conviction. In 1958
he beat welterweight champion Virgil Atkins in a non-title match, and would have
had a chance at the title had Atkins not lost it to Joey Giardello. From then
on, it was downhill. He fought often, but with less and less success. He retired
in 1964 with a record of 104-22-2.
1987 Volume 22 Number 1
Diphtheria, Typhoid, Tuberculosis –
Roots Of Ramsey's Health Care Trace Back To Anker Hospital
Author Mary Alice Czerwonka
"St. Paul’s tradition of excellence in health care can be traced to an
old stone mansion at the foot of Richmond Street that opened as the city’s
first hospital more than a century ago." This article describes the history
of Ramsey County’s public hospitals, 1873-1987. The star is Dr. Arthur Ancker,
who took over the ‘old stone mansion" in 1883, and over the next forty
years created a dynamic and much-admired institution. Dr. Ancker got a new
hospital built in 1887, then presided over endless expansions and modifications
– a nursing school, 1891; pathology lab, 1911, motor ambulance service (with
the ambulance designed by Ancker himself), 1912; tuberculosis ward, 1914; and at
least six expansions in space. The hospital for crippled children, later called
Gillette Hospital, spun off from the there. From the City and County Hospital,
later renamed for him, Ancker led public health battles against influenza,
scarlet fever, diphtheria, and tuberculosis and other ailments and pressed
constantly for higher standards of care. He died in his office in 1923.
Though there were stumbles along the way, especially having to do with political
control of the hospital, Dr. Ancker’s legacy remained powerful. The hospital,
especially under Dr. Thomas Broadie, who led it 1936-1967, continued to expand
and improve. It added a diabetes clinic in 1935, heart surgery in the early
1950s, poison control in 1959, psychiatry in 1961, and a burn unit in 1963.
By 1954 it was clear that Ancker Hospital had become physically obsolete and too
small. County leaders eventually chose a site near the new interstate highway
for a brand new medical center, St. Paul-Ramsey County Medical Center, later
Regions Hospital. It opened in 1965. There the traditions of public health and
innovation continued – in burns, emergency medicine (a helipad opened in
1969), pediatrics, and research. There were also innovations in management, with
the establishment of an independent hospital board of directors and physicians
organized in Ramsey Clinic. With 34 illustrations, including front and back
covers, but no annotations, unfortunately.
1986 Volume 21 Number 1
The Mississippi And St. Paul - Change Is Constant For River
And The City That Shaped It
Author Paul Hesterman
"Today’s river is different from the mid-19th century’s
river in virtually every way, from the contours of its banks to the chemical
composition of its water to the variety of species which inhabit it. Within St.
Paul, the Mississippi is an urban river, reshaped by the city that stretches
along it."
This article looks at the river in eight sections.
The Changing River. The Mississippi as it was in its natural state and the many changes made by the hand of man in the last 150 years – filling, damming, building, and polluting.
The Working River. The river and the human economies that have used it, from the Dakota to the present.
Government and the Riverfront. The role of local government in riverfront development and transformation. "Most riverfront development, then, has been in part the result of the use of government to further economic development."
Diversity of Economic Uses. "[T]he river and its valley have been economic resources in a bewildering variety" of ways in addition to transportation. These have included logging, waste disposal, electrical power, and brewing.
Working on the River. "The experiences of people working on or near the river have been as diverse as the economic uses of the river and the river valley."
Neighborhood River. "As people have built the city and its neighborhoods, the river and its valley have played a peculiar double role in defining the nature of St. Paul’s neighborhoods." The wealthy progressively moved away from the river, while the poor congregated near it.
The Recreational River. "The river valley’s role as a recreational resource . . . has been as complex and shifting as its economic role." From whiskey selling to religious revivals to rowing to fishing to beer brewing and drinking to cross country skiing. Pollution severely reduced recreational use; cleanup, park building, and changing attitudes have increased such use again.
Annotated, with 16 photographs including the cover.
1985 Volume 20 Number 3
Farming In The Shadow Of The Cities:
The Not So Rural History Of Rose Township Farmers, 1850-1900
Author Kendra Dillard
Growing Up On Dayton's Bluff - A Turn Of The Century Boyhood
Author Karl Trout
No back issues available
1985 Volume 20 Number 2
Health Care Crisis Of The 1920's -
A 'National Epidemic' Launches Blue Cross And Blue Shield
Author Gary Phelps
"The story of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota … represents one of
the most amazing developments in non-profit health care in the United
States." In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the nation experienced a health
care crisis: millions could not afford medical care, resulting in empty hospital
beds and untreated illness. Existing medical and hospitalization insurance plans
were scattered and inadequate.
In 1932 the Hospital Service Association of St. Paul formed for the purpose of operating a nonprofit prepaid hospitalization plan along the lines pioneered in Dallas by Justin Kimball. The most prominent pioneers in St. Paul were Drs. Peter Ward and Arthur Calvin, and the association’s first manager, E.A. van Steewyk. The association began with capital of $857, and a basic annual premium of $9.00. Contract 1, Group 1, was taken out in July 1933 by the employees of the St. Paul Union Stockyards. In 1934 van Steewyk chose a "blue Greek or Geneva cross, a symbol of relief for those struck by disaster" as the association’s logo. Five years later it became the national symbol of pre-paid hospitalization plans.
In 1935 the association and a group of Minneapolis hospitals merged their plans into the Minnesota Hospital Service Association, with headquarters in the Midway area of St. Paul. By the end of 1936, deep in the Depression, the new organization was making a profit. It was also helping keep local hospitals solvent. Duluth hospitals joined in 1938.
The Minnesota setup became a national model. Van Steewyk left for Philadelphia in 1939, replaced by Dr. Calvin. In 1940 the number of participating hospitals reached 75, the number of subscribers, over 380,000. Growth continued through World War II and after.
Hospitalization coverage was known at Blue Cross, for the logo. In 1945 and ’46 came Blue Shield, a plan for the prepayment of medical expenses, pioneered in Minnesota by Dr. I.O. Sohlberg and Richard Cranmer, and attorney F. Manley Brist. The two organizations were separate but cooperated with one another. Blue Shield grew very fast. The two companies survived various stresses – some with each other – and both reached about a million subscribers by 1960. By this time, though, the two had parted ways and become competitors. Under Richard Crist, Blue Cross prospered in the 1960s and outgrew its St. Paul headquarters; it moved to Eagan in 1970.
In that decade things went badly for Blue Shield. Due in part to computer problems, it fell into insolvency in 1969. Blue Shield approached Blue Cross for help. The two organizations completed a merger in 1972. The company lost a huge amount of money in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, but returned to profitability in 1984. Annotated, with 18 illustrations.
1984 Volume 20 Number 1
Horse - And - Wagon Dairyman Harry Schroeder's Dairy
Author Cathy Daglish
Henry Schroeder was a hard-luck young German who came to St. Paul, penniless, in
1875 from Iowa. A century later the business he created had annual sales of $20
million. Schroeder’s dairy was part of what later became known at urban fringe
farming.
Schroeder, soon along with his brother Herman, began their dairy farm on swampy land in what is now Maplewood. Soon they established milk routes, selling their mile and surplus milk they bought from others. They bought more land and expanded. Henry married a neighbor, Anna Schwartz, 17 years younger than he; together they had seven children. The business prospered – expanded, built many buildings, modernized, and employed many workers, lots of them German-speaking immigrants. A fire destroyed everything – 20 buildings -- in 1921.
Schroeder, now in his 60s, started over. He had new buildings up and operating the next year, when fire struck again. And Schroeder rebuilt again. In 1927 he installed a pasteurization plant and began calling his product "Safe for Baby Milk." He had the best herd and the most modern operation in Ramsey County. But the Depression was hard on the business. Henry Sr. turned over day-to-day operation of it to Henry Jr. in 1934. Rising costs also made turning a profit progressively harder. Another fire hit in 1939. The company went out of the home delivery business. Near the end of the Depression the company was down to two employees. It had become a small family business again.
Henry Schroeder, Sr., died in 1943. His twin grandsons Bob and Bill, age 18, soon took over management of the business. They turned it into a large, industrial business, buying milk from large farms and co-ops, bottling it, and supplying it to grocery stores. The Schroeder family still runs it. With 23 photos and several anecdotes.
No back issues available
1984 Volume 19 Number 2
The Minnesota Club: St Paul's Enterprising Leaders And Their 'Gentlemen's
Social Club'
Author Robert Orr Baker
The Minnesota Club came into being in St. Paul in March of 1869. Among its 75
first members were some of the great figures of Minnesota history, including
Henry Sibley and Norman Kittson. Its first headquarters was the pillared Presley
mansion in old Lowertown. The place had a "refreshment room" with bar,
a card room, a billiard room, and a reading room. Activities were apparently
sedate – "no boisterous mirth, no unseemly language …." Membership
was by invitation only, subject to a vote. It was a men’s social club for the
elite.
The nationwide Panic of 1873 nearly did the club in (as it did the St. Paul Club, a similar institution with several of the same members.) It closed in 1875 and remained closed until revived in 1884, mostly through the efforts of Stanford Newel, a lawyer, a Harvard and Yale graduate, president of the Pioneer Press Co., James J. Hill’s closest chum, and "the quintessential club man among these early entrepreneurs."
Members of the new Club made up an extremely powerful group, for they included Hill, Kittson, Sibley, William Merriam, Conrad Gotzian, Richards Gordon, David Shepard, Amherst Wilder, and Lucius Ordway. They built a new club house at Fourth and Cedar. Cass Gilbert was given the task of furnishing it.
The club grew from105 members in 1884 to 412 fifteen years later. A new headquarters was needed, and in 1909 the site of the Metropolitan Hotel, at Fourth and Washington was chosen. The new club building opened in late 1915. Designed by Clarence Johnston, the building featured two billiard rooms, a gymnasium with squash and handball courts, a bar, and two dozen sleeping rooms. Women had a separate entrance and, though none were members, their own lounge and dining room. Famed brothel owner Nina Clifford had her establishment nearby, giving rise to many stories about possible links between the two pleasure palaces.
Unlike the Panic of 1873, the Great Depression did not terribly affect the Minnesota Club. Saturday lunches for executives were suspended for several years, then reinstated, with great success, in 1948, each lunch having a business sponsor. "The luncheons are an indication that St. Paul business and government people are willing to meet together and talk about how to make their community better."
The club house was expanded in 1964, adding a new dining room, men’s grill, cocktail room, and air conditioning. The club endured a crisis in 1973 when a proposal to move it initially won membership approval. A Save the Minnesota Club movement eventually reversed the decision. In 1974 many of the club’s rooms were given names honoring distinguished members from the past.
The Minnesota Club gradually became less of a private gentlemen’s club and more of a semi-private civic organization. The billiard tables, bowling alley, steam baths, and Saturday poker games disappeared. It became a popular venue for meetings and receptions of all kinds. More than 10,000 people used it in December 1981. "The Minnesota Club has transited its first century with ease and is entering a second century that seems to offer a glittering future." With 11 illustrations and a list of club presidents.
1983 Volume 19 Number 1
The Como Shops - Transformed Into Bandana Square
Author Nancy Tracy
In 1877 the Northern Pacific Railroad moved its headquarters to St. Paul from
Brainerd, but kept its "shops" – repair and maintenance facilities
– in Brainerd. Soon, though, it began acquiring land in St. Paul and in 1885
opened its Como Shops, near what later became the intersection of Lexington and
Como Avenues, for the service of its passenger equipment. Construction began in
1884 and the Como facility definitively took over the Brainerd functions after a
fire there in April 1886.
The new facilities included a machine shop, a blacksmith shop, paint shops, woodworking shops, upholstery shops, office and storage space, and a power plant. All of the main buildings (there were five) were brick except the frame freight car maintenance building. Many buildings were added over the next 35 years as the railroad improved and increased the shops’ capacities. "In all of these later buildings and additions there was an admirable attempt to blend the new construction with the old, architecturally." Nothing new got built after World War I, and after World War II the shops declined.
Eventually the city and its Port Authority bought the shops and saved most of what remained. Many buildings were rehabilitated for new uses, and the effort goes on.
Annotated, with 12 illustrations including the cover.
Swamps, Farms, Boom Or Bust - Como Neighborhood's Colorful
History
Author Patricia Murphy & Gary Phelps
"Before construction of the [Como] shops, the Como neighborhood was an
undeveloped area of timberland, swamps, a few farms, and a few institutions,
charitable and otherwise." Lake Como was probably named by early settler
Charles Perry. Land developer Henry McKenty built the first road to the area in
1857; resort hotels were built soon after, and a railroad line nearby in 1862.
The city began extending streets to the area in the 1870s.
Planning for a park began also in the 1870s, though genuine landscaping did not take place until the 1890s, under Frederick Nussbaumer. The Ramsey County Poor Farm and Minnesota State Reform School were both built nearby in the 1860s, and the Ramsey County Workhouse and the House of the Good Shepherd were added in 1880s. Hamline University moved to the area in 1880. Work on the Northern Pacific’s Como Shops began in 1884. By 1888 two hundred people were working there. The St. Paul Foundry Company built a large plant east of the lake, and the John Martin Lumber Company and Crex Carpet Company located in the area too. Koppers Coke built a plant just south of Como Park in 1916.
Residential development took off in the 1880s. There was a 52-acre development southwest of the lake named Warrendale for one of its investors, Carl Warren. Streetcar lines reached the area in 1892. The national Depression of 1893 slowed development until the 20th century.
A radical transformation of the area occurred in the late 1970sand early 1980s:
The Koppers plant and the Como Shops closed, Midway Stadium (built in 1953) was razed, and the city created Energy Park. Annotated, with seven photographs.
No back issues available
1982 Volume 18 Number 2
Tom Lowry And The Launching Of The Street Railway System
Author Goodrich Lowry
‘Twas ever thus: Public mass transportation does not pay for itself. In St.
Paul it began with horsecars in 1872 and failed twice in the first ten years.
Cable cars came along in 1885 and served mainly to increase debt. Work began on
conversion to electric-powered cars in 1890. Minneapolis businessman Thomas
Lowry took control of the city railway in 1882 and held it until his death, with
a variety of investors and persistently heavy debt. He also controlled the
Minneapolis system. In order to raise the huge sums necessary to convert to
electric power, Lowry merged to two city systems into Twin City Rapid Transit in
1891. The company became profitable only at the end of the 19th
century. In the early 20th century it expanded to Lake Minnetonka on
the west and White Bear Lake to the east, where it built the Wildwood amusement
park. Lowry died in 1909, the streetcars died in 1954, and Twin City Rapid
Transit expired in 1970. Seven photos and two other illustrations including the
cover.
Colorfully Critical: Newspapers And The Horsecars Of The
1870's
Author Denis Murphy
Horsecar service in downtown St. Paul commenced in July of 1872, running from 6
a.m. to 11 p.m. at a fare of five cents. Problems began right away. Demand
strained capacity. In winter, snow forced conversion to sleighs. In spring, mud
buried the tracks. Lack of capital prevented improvements. The nationwide
financial Panic of 1873 hurt business. The company reorganized in 1875 and
improved service, but the service area remained confined to downtown. Financial
problems persisted and the St. Paul Street Railway company went under in 1878,
replaced immediately by the St. Paul City Railway company. With citations and
seven illustrations. The article is based on contemporary accounts and
commentary from the St. Paul Pioneer newspaper.
St. Paul's Fire Insurance Patrol - Gone But Not Forgotten!
Author John Sonnen
From 1895 to 1939 the Fire Insurance Patrol raced the fire department to fires
with the sole mission of salvaging as much property as possible from fire
danger. Authorized by the Legislature but privately financed, the Fire Patrol
had some memorable escapades. Declining fire losses due to improved prevention
eventually made it redundant. Three photographs.
1982 Volume 18 Number 1
The St. Paul Public Library An Its First 100 Years
Author Gary Phelps
A straightforward history of the city library system from its origins into 1982.
The library movement began with the German Reading Association in 1854, the
Mercantile Library Association in 1857, and the YMCA. The city took over only in
1882 after state legislation authorized taxpayer support. Then followed years of
struggle to build collection and clientele, find and keep suitable space, and
maintain financial support. The crucial years were 1913-1917. James J. Hill and
David Shepard pledged enormous sums for a new downtown library; the Market House
fire destroyed the then-current central library and most of the collection; the
new downtown library opened; Andrew Carnegie sponsored the building of the first
three branch libraries; and collections and patronage boomed.
The succeeding decades saw a series of declines and revivals: stagnation in the
1920s, decline during the early Depression, a brief revival cut short by World
War II, good times and expansion in the immediate postwar, stagnation again in
the 1950s with the coming of television. Then came 20 years of decentralization,
expansion, and modernization. The article concludes with a description of recent
initiatives, fund-raising, and the work of the Friends of the St. Paul Public
Library. Fully end-noted and illustrated with 14 photos and other images.
1981 Volume 17 Number 2
The St. Paul Farmer's Market - A 130 - Year - Old Tradition
Author Rosmary Palmer
Swede Hollow: Sheltered Society For Immigrants To St. Paul
Author Mollie Price
No back issues available
1981 Volume 17 Number 1
The City Hall - County Courthouse And Its First Fifty Years
Author Diane Smith
Ramsey County’s first courthouse went up in 1851; it was made of brick and
designed by an amateur for a frontier town. The first city hall was built near
Rice Park in 1857. It had a tower and a clock that sounded every hour.
The courthouse lasted until 1889, when it was replaced by a grand, Richardson Romanesque building designed by St. Paul architect Edward Bassford. Made of Kasota limestone, its clock tower rose to 260 feet. The laying of the cornerstone was a huge civic event. Thirty-five years later the building was judged obsolete and "an architectural mistake."
In 1928 voters approved spending $4 million to replace it. St. Paul lawyer William Oppenheimer led the planning as president of the United Improvement Council.
The Council decided that the new building "should be planned from the inside out," so that its governmental function should be paramount, and that architects should be hired rather than a design competition held. Holabird & Root of Chicago and Thomas Ellerbe & Co. of St. Paul were chosen. The Depression lowered the cost of many aspects of the building, permitting the use of "construction materials and decorative materials of unparalleled opulence," including rare woods from all over the world, marble from Belgium, Italy, France, and Greece, and Carl Milles’s Mexican onyx "God of Peace" statue. The Council wanted a contemporary building, so the reigning Art Deco style was chosen. The final product was and is "a stunning example of innovative public architecture from the Depression era."
The building opened in 1932. The old courthouse came down in 1934 (though the land upon which it stood was not sold, in part because of the Depression, until 1951.) Annotated, with seven photos.
The Trademarks of Classic Art Deco
Six photos of Art Deco interior features of the Ramsey County Courthouse.
God Of Peace: Miles' 'Finest Creation In Stone'
Author Dane Smith
The original interior design of the main hall of the Ramsey County Courthouse
left a space the architect Thomas Ellerbe felt "appeared to cry out for an
unusual imaginative treatment . . . a piece of colossal art in the form of a
sculptured object, a human figure, elongated to fit the space." William
Oppenheimer, head of the building commission, suggested a war memorial. John
Root of Holabird & Root suggested the Swede Carl Milles. Milles, a pacifist,
insisted that his work celebrate not war but peace.
He won the commission on the condition that he produce a design acceptable to the public.
Milles’s first three designs – an apostle St. Paul, a Father of Waters, and a young soldier, nude, returning from war -- were rejected. Milles then disappeared for months before returning with a design based on a Ponca Indian ceremony he had seen in Oklahoma. The commission approved this design in June 1933. It was called God of Peace.
The stone, onyx, came from Mexico, and the
actual cutting was done by St. Paul stone carver Giovanni Baptiste Garatti and
his crew of 19. The statue was unveiled, amid great ceremony, in May 1936.
"The reaction from art critics nationally and around the world was
uniformly congratulatory."
No back issues available
1981 Volume 16 Number 2
Beer Capital Of The State - St Paul's Historic Family Breweries
Author Gary Bruggemann
In 1887 twelve breweries operated in St. Paul and 112 in Minnesota as a whole.
Why so many? "Minnesota had one of the largest German concentrations in the
country and St. Paul had the largest German population in the state." St.
Paul also had barley and hops-growing regions nearby, plenty of good water, and
cool caves for aging.
The city’s first brewery was Yoerg’s, established in 1848. Anthony Yoerg, a Bavarian, started brewing near Seven Corners, then moved to the West Side bluffs in 1871. It developed into a modern, high volume brewery by the end of the century, producing 35,000 barrels a year in 1891. The Yoerg family ran the business until its end in 1952. Martin Bruggeman, a Prussian, started his St. Paul brewery not far from Seven Corners in 1853; in 1872 he moved his operations across the river, a shot distance from Yoerg’s. Unlike Yoerg’s, Bruggeman’s remained a small operation, but also profitable. Martin Bruggeman died in 1897 and the brewing company in 1900.
The North Mississippi Company also began operations in 1853, near the current corner of Shepard Road and Drake. Though founded by someone named Rowe, it was purchased in 1859 by a German, Charles Rausch. He did not prosper, and sold it to F.A.Renz in 1865. He sold it in 1871 to Frederick Banholzer and son William. William made it profitable, raising production to 12,000 barrels a year. But William died youngin 1897, and the brewery closed soon thereafter.
Dominick Troyner founded City Brewery in 1855. By 1865 control of it had passed to another German, Frederick Emmert, and he quickly moved it to second place in local production. "During the 1890s, the brewery specialized in catering to the large saloon district on Eagle Street." Emmert’s sons sold the brewery to Hamm’s in 1901.
Christopher Stahlmann’s Cave Brewery began operations on Fort Road in 1855, to make use of the springs and caves beneath the property. By the late 1870s he had the largest brewery in the state. He died at age 54, in 1883, a wealthy and well-respected citizen. All three of his sons and heirs died young, too, and all of tuberculosis; the company went bankrupt in 1897.
North Star Brewery was founded by non-Germans Drewery and Scotten on Dayton’s Bluff in 1855. By the 1880s it was shipping 16,000 barrels a year. Jacob Schmidt, a Bavarian brewer, took control of it in 1884. When fire destroyed the Dayton’s Bluff facilities in 1900, Schmidt took over the old Stahlmann works. When Schmidt died in 1911, his son-in-law Adolf Bremer took over. The Bremers ran the business until 1951, when they sold it to Pfeiffer.
Andrew Keller, another German, opened the Pittsburgh Brewery at Swede Hollow in 1860 and sold it in 1864 to Theodore Hamm, a native of Baden. By 1882 Hamm had transformed it into a modern company turning out 26,000 barrels annually. His son William ran the business from 1891 to 1931; his son William, Jr., ran it until 1960. Hamm’s was sold in 1975 to the Olympia Brewing Corporation, "thus bringing to a close the 128-year history of St. Paul’s family breweries." Annotated, with nine photographs including the cover, and two other illustrations.
Montgomery Schuyler Takes On 'The West'
Author Patricia Murphy
In 1891 architecture critic Montgomery Schuyler published an article in Harper’s
Magazine entitled "Glimpses of Western Architecture: St. Paul and
Minneapolis." He wrote about nine buildings in St. Paul: the Ryan Hotel,
the Dayton Ave. Presbyterian Church, the Pioneer Building, the courthouse,
People’s Church, the Endicott Building, the Bank of Minnesota, the Chamber of
Commerce Building, and the New York Life Insurance Building. He liked some of
St. Paul’s residential districts: "there is nothing to be compared with
the massing of the handsome houses of St. Paul upon the ridge above the
river." He wrote perceptively about the rivalry between the two Twin
Cities, and concluded that a "national architecture" might soon
emerge. Annotated, with three illustrations from the original article.
1910's "One-Horse' Gladstone Recalled
Author Lucile Arnold
A memoir of the vanished hamlet Gladstone, along Frost Avenue in what is now
Maplewood. The author recalls her two-room schoolhouse with its belltower and
spiral fire escape, swimming in Gladstone Lake, her childhood games, the
frequent railroad traffic and streetcar service, Mrs. Selover’s Sunday School,
and more.
No back issues available
1980 Volume 16 Number 1
Oakland Cemetery: A Safe And Permanent Resting Place
Author Robert Orr Baker
St. Paul’s first cemetery adjoined the little Chapel of St. Paul on the river
bluff. It was soon too small, so a second, then a third, then a fourth were put
in use. By 1850 the newspapers were editorializing for the city to dedicate a
suitably large site for common use. In 1853 the Oakland Cemetery Association was
formed, with Alexander Ramsey its president. The Association bought 40 acres at
the current site, for $40 per acre. The city and county purchased a few acres
for burial of the poor. The Association added the nearby graveyard of Christ
Episcopal Church in 1864 and then bought the land between the two, adding 30
acres to the site. More land was added in 1904, incorporating Zion Cemetery, and
1907, bringing total acreage to 100. The cemetery has been run by the
Association, which consists of lot owners only, for all of its existence. Many
prominent citizens have served on its Board of Trustees.
Land was set aside in 1864 for an all-faiths chapel; construction began in 1883; this chapel was replaced in 1924. The landscaping of the cemetery was designed by Horace Cleveland, who designed also Lakewood Cemetery and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The first mausoleum went up in 1892, though no above-ground interments were permitted until 1905. Wall crypts, lawn crypts, and niches were added starting in 1970. Graves were dug by hand until 1964.
Notable features include Soldiers’ Rest, the Firefighters’ Monument, the Odd Fellows’ Monument, the Major White/Loyal League Monument, and the "Lord Is My Shepherd" Monument.
Many locally famous people are buried in Oakland, among them: Alexander Ramsey, Henry Sibley, Harriet Bishop, Elias Drake, Charles Flandrau, Norman Kittson, William Marshall, William Merriam, Henry Rice, Willis Gorman, Charles and Frederick Bigelow, Amherst Wilder, and A.G. Bush. "Oakland is a record of and a repository for an important part of the history of the city and the county." With 18 photographs including the cover.
"Map of Oakland Cemetery," pp. 12-13.
A map of the cemetery with 16 individual sites identified.
"Cemetery Art," pp. 16-17.
Five photos showing a variety of memorial styles.
No back issues available
Spring 1980 Volume 15 Number
2
Long Kate, Dutch Henriette And Mother Robinson:
Three Madams In Post-Civil War St. Paul
Author Joel E Best
The St. Paul careers of three madams. Samantha "Long Kate" Hutton
arrived in St. Paul from Kentucky in 1867 at age 20. She started as an
independent prostitute and quickly became a successful madam and well-known
character, for her looks (pleasing), stature (six feet), dress (ostentatious),
and shenanigans (many.) She drank heavily, got in fights, once attempted
suicide, and recorded over 100 arrests. She was killed by a lover in 1881.
Henriette Charles was born in Germany around 1837, married there and came to St. Paul with her husband in the mid-1860s. She seemed to prosper as a madam, despite the continuing costs of her arrests, legal fees, and fines. Like Long Kate, she was combative; unlike her, she was stout – "a little too much like an apple dumpling." She died of syphilis at age 38.
Mary E. Robinson "was the central figure and the most fascinating character in early St. Paul’s demimonde. She was the city’s most prominent madam, overseeing its most fashionable brothel, and she was spectacularly successful at her trade." She ran a large house, made money, and accumulated considerable wealth. In 1869 she lost her house to a fire, possibly set by gambler George Crummey, whom she sued. She lost the lawsuit too. She retired from prostitution in 1874 and lived to age 80, speculating in real estate. "[M]anaging a brothel offered a rare opportunity for a 19th century woman – a chance for a lower class or working-class woman, beginning with little money and limited opportunities, to achieve financial independence in the city." Annotated.
Aronovici's Campaign To Clean Up St Paul
Author Gary Phelps
In the spring of 1917 the Amherst H. Wilder Charity hired the Romanian-born
social scientist Dr. Carol Aronovici as its director of social services.
"He immediately addressed himself to the housing conditions in St. Paul
which were among the worst in the nation." His report, issued in December
of 1917, was based on a survey of over 5000 dwellings in the worst slum areas.
Illustrated with many photographs, the report set forth in detail the city’s
housing deficiencies and made recommendations for city legislation to address
the problems. He followed that report with another, co-written by Esther Flint,
entitled "Health Conditions and Health Services in St. Paul." This
publication, highly critical of the city’s Department of Health, touched off a
public war of words with the city’s health director, Dr. Benjamin Simon.
Aronovici made detailed recommendations to the Wilder Board regarding actions it
should take. When it did not, he resigned. Annotated, with three photographs.
Closing Of Mattocks School - End Of An Era In Education
Author Rachel A Bonney
The original Mattocks School was created by the citizens of Reserve Township and
built at the corner of Randolph and Snelling in 1860. The frame building was
replaced by a limestone structure in 1871. Named first Webster School, it was
renamed Mattocks (for John Mattocks, secretary of the Board of Education) after
St. Paul annexed Reserve Township in 1887.
It was a one-room school, heated by a pot-bellied stove, with room for six rows of students in desks bolted to the floor. For water, they had a pail and a dipper. A teacher in the late 1870s called the place a "country school," to which his students, ranging in age from 5 to 25, all had to walk at least a mile to reach. "Grades were taught separately, and lessons recited to the teacher by one class while the other classes worked on their lessons." There was no playground equipment or kitchen. The city built a new Mattocks School at James and Macalester in 1922. The old limestone building found various uses, and finally came to rest on the grounds of Highland Park High School in 1964. Annotated, with two photographs.
Special 1979 Volume 15 Number 1
Murders Mar The Dawning If 1854 –
125th Anniversary Of St Paul 130th Anniversary County
Author Robert Orr Baker
Spring 1978 Volume 14 Number 2
Letters To Fannie Higgins - The Courtship Of Patrick O'Brien
Author Michael Maher
Through letters the author was able to assemble a portrait of the Irish
immigrant Patrick O’Brien, his life, work, and personality. With this come
scenes of life in St.Paul in the 1860s and ‘70s. The letters comment amusingly
on politics, the work of the Catholic Church, popular entertainments and
diversions, the operations of the U.S. mail (he came assistant St. Paul
postmaster), and public health and morals, among other topics. The letters
themselves are in the Ramsey County Historical Society collections.
The Liberated Woman Patrick O'Brien Married
Author Michael Maher
Fannie Higgins, worked in her youth as a dressmaker in Hudson, Wisconsin. The
same cache of family letters that inspired the previous article permit a
portrait of Fannie Higgins and her times. She was independent, a good
businesswoman, constantly concerned for the welfare of her brothers. It took
nine years for her to agree to marry Patrick O’Brien.
A Grandson Describes: The O'Briens' House On George Street
Author George Rea
The author remembers his grandparents, Patrick and Fannie O’Brien, and their
big house (still standing) at 255 George Street. They had lived before on Irvine
Park, but grandfather "decided to move the day a neighbor’s bantam
chickens got into his garden and ate his newly sprouted vegetables. He chased
after the chickens, flailing at them with a buggy whip…." The house,
completed in 1890, had everything a fine house of the time should have: five
fireplaces, parallel gas and oil heating systems, leaded glass windows,
"Gothic designs and turned spindles on the porches," parlors separated
by sliding doors, a library, a stone cistern for storing the soft rainwater.
Grandfather worked seven days a week. Grandmother, with the help of servants,
ran the house and family. For amusement they read, participated in literary
groups, Bible study, and fraternal organizations, and attended performances at
the Metropolitan Opera House. "The horse-drawn buggies were the usual means
of transportation and cutter sleds and sleighs were used in the winter…. Large
bear rugs or buffalo robes were wrapped around passengers in cold weather and
heated bricks, alcohol stoves, or charcoal burners warmed their feet." Both
lived nearly 90 years.
The Ghost Of The Roaring Twenties
Author Lucille Arnold
Lucile Arnold grew up in Gladstone, now vanished into Maplewood, in the 1920s.
She and her friends danced the Charleston, rode the streetcars, shopped (and
worked) at the Golden Rule, talked about Babe Ruth and Nazimova and Charles
Lindbergh, saw shows at the Metropolitan, walked to Phalen Park, sang "Ain’t
We Got Fun?", and attended the old Johnson High School. She, her sisters,
brother, and amused father searched for the ghost lady by the graveyard on
Larpenteur Avenue. In October of 1929 the stock market crashed. "By the end
of the year the dust had settled, and like the lady ghost, the Roaring Twenties
slipped quietly into history."
Fall 1978 Volume 14 Number 1
The Dynamic Sister Antonia And The College Of St Catherine's
Author Sister Karen Kennelly
Sister Antonia does not appear until page 8 of this piece, following a
description of the events leading up to the opening of the College of St.
Catherine in January 1905. The college grew out of St. Joseph’s Academy, the
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Sister Seraphine (Ellen Ireland), and
Archbishop John Ireland, among others, with the help of a generous gift from
Hugh Derham. "That a standard, four-year liberal arts college evolved from
these uncertain beginnings as quickly as it did was largely due to the genius of
Sister Antonia (Anna) McHugh. The daughter of Irish immigrants, she grew up on
the Dakota plains, and attended Catholic boarding schools, including St. Joseph’s
Academy. She joined the Sisters as a novice in 1890. She was on the teaching
staff of Derham Hall, the college’s preparatory school, when it opened. She
received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1909.
Archbishop Ireland persuaded his sister to appoint Sister dean of St. Catherine’s in 1914. Under her leadership as dean and then president, the college achieved accreditation, built six major buildings and a library, upgraded the faculty, acquired a lay board of trustees, and graduated over a thousand students. She raised large sums from foundations. One of her last achievements was securing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for the college, which came just after her retirement, following a stroke, in 1936. "Through some personal magic all her own, Sister Antonia had infused into the college the practicality and the drive of the Midwest pioneer." She died in 1944 at age 71. Annotated, with seven photographs and three other illustrations.
James Henry Skinner's Mansion Reflects Summit Avenue In Its
Prime
Author Caroline Harney
A history and description of the house at 385 Portland Avenue, St. Paul,
designed by Clarence H. Johnston, Sr. The design "combines Georgian and
neo-classical styles," and the construction is all brick. "The
interior of the mansion is as grand as the exterior, with fifteen fireplaces,
eight bedrooms, elegant living and dining rooms, and a billiard room with a
nine-foot ceiling in the basement." James Skinner made his first fortune in
the fur business with the firm Lanpher, Skinner and Company. He and wife Annie
bought the Portland Avenue land in 1901. He founded the Merchants Trust Company,
later First Trust Company, in 1915, and also served the government in London
during World War I.
He died in 1926, but his wife remained at the house until her death in 1945. Railroad lawyer Edwin Matthias and family bought the house in 1945 and lived there until 1957, when it was purchased by John B. Hilton and family. The Hiltons lived there until 1977.
Spring 1977 Volume 13 Number 2
The Plowing Of America: Early Farming Around St. Paul
Author Rodney C. Loehr
An anecdotal piece: a quick summary of early settlement in
St. Paul and how people acquired farmland (and the money to buy it.); a
description of typical frontier dwellings; the crops grown; dealing with the
chronic labor shortage; tools and implements; the use of animals; fencing;
heating; dealing with mosquitoes; and amusements. "As one looks back on
early Minnesota, one is impressed by the enormous amount of hard work that was
necessary to tame the wilderness. Tool were few, machinery was primitive, and
energy came from the muscles of humans and animals."
Annotated, with seven photos and five other images.
Tough Times - The Sometime Fortunes Of Boxing In Early
Minnesota
"Prize fights were rare in St. Paul during the early days, no doubt because
fights could be seen for free on the streets or at the levee almost any
day." The first recorded (and illegal) match was held in 1869. The sport’s
popularity grew in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and celebrated bouts were held in the
metropolitan area, often in the country so as to evade the police. By the mid
1880s regular matches were held openly in downtown St. Paul. Bye and bye local
fighters of some reputation were developed, many of them Irish.
Governor Merriam put the stop to a Bob Fitzsimmons middleweight championship
bout to be held in the city in 1891 and apparently got the legislature to ban it
the next year. That send the sport underground, and for a while wrestling passed
it in public interest.
The popularity of fighter Mike Gibbons helped revive boxing, and the state ban
was lifted in 1915. Eight photographs. This piece came from the Junior Pioneer
Association.
The Not-So-Peaceable Kingdom: Religion In Early St Paul
Author Dennis Hoffa
St. Paul began as a mostly Catholic village, to the extent that religion was
practiced. "The beginnings of Protestantism as a force within the community
centered around the establishment of Harriet Bishop’s Sunday School [in
1847]." Many Yankee settlers arrived in the 1840s, bringing with them some
anti-Catholic feeling. As the city grew, Yankees, Germans, and Swedes added to
the Protestants, Irish and south Germans to the Catholics. Baptists, Methodists,
Presbyterians, and Episcopalians all established churches by 1850. Lutherans
soon followed, with churches divided ethnically, Swedish and German. Catholics
developed "national" churches too. The Jewish religious society was
founded in 1856. "From St. Paul’s earliest days, the presence of
organized religion in the community has been strong and its influence has to
betaken into consideration in the history of the city."
Fall 1976 Volume 13 Number 1
Persecution In St Paul - The Germans In World War I
Author Sister John Christine Wolkerstorfer
"Between 1855 and 1915, Germans in America lived not in an American
culture, but rather in a German-America." All that changed with the sinking
of the Lusitania in 1915. Minnesota participated enthusiastically in the
anti-German mood, most vehemently through the Commission of Public Safety and
its quasi-military arm, the Home Guard. The Commission, led by Governor J.A.A.
Burnquist, was given vast powers: it could stop strikes and labor organizing,
regulate liquor traffic, require the registration of aliens, and investigate
people for a wide variety of activities – including 682 complaints of
sedition. "A virtual spy system took over the state." It focused on
Germans. A 1917 Commission circular declared that "anyone who talks and
acts against the government in time of war, regardless of the ‘constitutional
right of free speech,’ is a traitor and deserves the most drastic
punishment,"
The Commission’s activities were supplemented by those of a national
organization that operated also in Minnesota, the American Protective League.
The League conducted raids in both St. Paul and Minneapolis, detaining hundreds
of German men, almost all of them innocent, on suspicion of draft evasion.
The Non-Partisan League also fell afoul of the Commission of Public Safety,
which hounded and attacked it as disloyal.
The Commission waged war on German language and culture in Minnesota. It forbade
the use of German as a language of instruction in schools, discouraged the
performance of German music, banned some German-language books, and had the
publisher of the newspaper Volkzeitung interned for refusing to stop
publishing in German. Annotated, with eight illustrations.
Kate Donnelly And The 'Cult Of Womanhood'
Author Gretchen Kreuter
Ignatius Donnelly’s 1895 tribute to his late wife, In Memoriam of Mrs.
Catherine Donnelly, praised her as a model of "true womanhood," a 19th
century "cult" of ideal femininity comprised of "purity, piety,
domesticity, and submissiveness." This essay explores the many
contradictions inherent in this cult and in Donnelly’s adoption of it. The
idealized woman of the cult bore little resemblance to most real women, nor to
what most men really wanted. "’The best proof of man’s satisfaction
with the home is found in his universal absence from it.’" Ignatius
Donnelly was no pious traditionalist but a progressive interested in feminism.
And his wife did not in fact conform to the ideals he praised. "Throughout
her life, Kate Donnelly behaved in ways that were distinctly contrary to the
ideals of the Cult of True Womanhood."
No back issues available
Special 1975 Volume 12 Number 2
Minnesota Art And Artists: A Pictorial History, 1820-1914
Author Rena Neumann Coen
Spring 1975 Volume 12 Number 1
James J. Hill: A Search For The Man Behind The Legend
Late in his life James J. Hill remarked, "I’ve made my mark on the
surface of the earth and they [the U.S. Supreme Court] can’t wipe it
out." He knew he’d been a titan. Hill’s legendary "empire
builder" image has obscure other qualities, including "a Celtic sense
of humor and a flair for descriptive narrative." Always a man of action, in
his youth especially Hill was physically intrepid, traveling the prairie in
summer by caravan and in winter by dogsled. But above all he was an audacious
and persevering man of business. This piece summarizes Hill’s early life, his
start in business, and some of his major accomplishments. Ten photographs, two
posters, and two drawings, including the cover.
Fences
Author Lansing Shepard
An essay on fences, followed by a two-page photo spread (11 images, historical
and contemporary) of fences and fence-building.
How St Paul Came To Lose The "Red River War"
Author Dennis Hoffa
The Selkirk or Red River Colony, later Winnipeg, so far from St. Paul, was a
vital source of commerce and wealth in the city’s first few decades. Starting
in 1844, the ox carts trundled south laden with furs, then north again piled
with supplies purchased from St. Paul merchants. The St. Paul trade route at
first competed with, then conquered, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s northern
route. In 1858 the Company adopted the southern route, enriching St. Paul still
further. The Red River Colony was so important that prominent Minnesotans pushed
for its annexation in the 1850s and ‘60s. When the Hudson’s Bay Company
ceded the colony to Canada in 1869 Louis Riel launched a rebellion in
opposition. Both annexation and rebellion failed; the colony became part of
Canada in 1870.
Volstead And Prohibition - A Roaring '20's Memoir
Author Helen Warren Pfleger
The author worked as a receptionist in the Federal Prohibition Administration
office in downtown St. Paul in the 1920s. There she came to know Andrew Volstead,
the ex-Congressman who had drafted the Prohibition amendment to the
Constitution, and also to witness the daily workings of Prohibition enforcement.
She found Mr. Volstead "a dignified gentleman, quiet and unassuming, but
most affable," old, short, and slight. The author recalls also other jobs
she held and the popular entertainments of the time.
Fall 1974 Volume 11 Number 2
John Ayd's Grist Mill -- And Reserve Township History
Author Donald Empson
Ayd Mill Road takes its name from John Ayd, a German immigrant, who bought 160
acres bounded by present-day Lexington, Victoria, St. Clair, and Randolph in
1854. There in 1860 he built the only grist mill and mill house in Reserve
Township. The mill operated using water from a stream originating near Randolph
and Hamline. It passed out of Ayd family hands in 1866. Another German
immigrant, Charles Kramerath, operated the mill until his death in 1878. The
Short Line railroad finished it as a working mill soon after. The site was used
thereafter as a resort, then a park was planned for the area, but neither plan
worked out. The mill was demolished around 1890. The mill house lasted until
1966. Annotated, a photograph, two drawings (one the cover), and a map.
The Necessities Of Life-- Available Early On In The Frontier
Author Kevin Galvin
Six businesses operating downtown in 1859 were still going in 1974. The author
traces their histories. Philip Fabel began selling handmade shoes in 1856. His
descendants still run the store. Albrecht Furs began in 1855, continuing a
family business begun more than a century earlier in Germany. At the beginning
the trade was mainly in buffalo skins and coats for men. As times changed, the
firm shifted to luxury wear for women. The St. Paul founder’s grandson runs
the firm. St. Paul Book and Stationery began in 1851 as D. D. Merrill’s
notions store in a downtown log cabin. Merrill sold his much-expanded business
in 1894 and stayed with it to his death in 1896. The business expanded again and
again in the 20th century, becoming "a leading Midwest supplier
of office and school supplies." Messrs. Cheritree and Farwell opened a
hardware store on Third Street in 1859. It grew and changed ownership various
times, becoming Farwell, Ozmun and Kirk in 1887. "The once small hardware
store now is a corporation with a national and international market." St.
Paul Fire and Marine began selling insurance in 1854. The firm survived claims
from the Chicago Fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; in 1974
it has over 7,000 employees. Parker Paine went into the banking business in
1854. Through a series of mergers and permutations, his little private bank
became the First National Bank of St. Paul. The Field-Schlick Department store
began as Daniel Ingersoll’s dry goods store in 1855. At first, "the store
was lighted by kerosene lamps and much of the merchandise was chained down to
prevent theft." Forty years later Field-Schlick occupied an entire city
block. With three photographs, a drawing, and a list of sources
Promoters Waxed Lyrical In "Selling" St Paul
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
A publication entitled The Minnesota Book of the Year for 1853, published in St.
Paul, offered its readers information on a host of subjects. Among them were:
the makeup of the Territorial legislature and its salient acts, including a
Prohibition law; the non-enforcement of that law; the climate ("without
doubt one of the most salubrious and healthful on the continent"); public
health; the rivers and lakes ("the rural beauty of some of these liquid
mirrors … is altogether indescribable"); the natural products of the
earth, including the prairie turnip, the wild artichoke, and something called
the "mendo;" farm crops ("the quality or quantity of our potato,
turnip, beet, and all other garden vegetables cannot be excelled");
pastureland; how to buy land; tourism; and how to get here. With five
illustrations.
The 1850's Shaping Of St. Paul
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
An 1856 photo of a dogsled team beneath the Summit Avenue bluff displays
"the disparity in housing and jumbled placement of buildings" that
characterized the city then. Minnesota Pioneer editor James Goodhue advocated
replatting the whole mess into some kind of regularity. "His
recommendations, as can be seen today, apparently went unheeded."
Spring 1974 Volume 11 Number 1
Macalester And It's First Forty Years
Author Edward Swanson
Most of Macalester College’s first 40 years consisted of Edward Duffield Neill’s
efforts to get it off the ground. Neill came to St. Paul as a young clergyman in
1849, founded the First Presbyterian and House of Hope churches, the Baldwin
School, which had an off and on existence, and two colleges that never came into
actual being. After Civil War and post-war government service Neill returned to
Minnesota and tried again. He got a Minneapolis building from Charles Macalester,
persuaded the Presbyterian Church to adopt his Macalester College (still then
just a name), acquired land in St. Paul, and found a new president, Thomas
McCurdy, to bring the thing to life. Macalester College held its first classes
in September 1885, with Neill on the faculty. Neill died in 1893 at age 70.
Annotated.
Minnesota's Wandering St. Fair
Author Gordon Hayes
People connived and schemed to get and keep the Minnesota State Fair for over 30
years, 1854 to 1885. The outcome represented a rare win for St. Paul in its
rivalry with Minneapolis. The early fairs moved around – Minneapolis, Fort
Snelling, St. Paul, even Rochester and, once, Owatonna. Some were successful,
some not. Minneapolis businessman and fair booster William King did all in his
power in the 1870s and early 1880s to keep the fair from settling in St. Paul,
going so far as to put on rival fairs in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis-St. Paul
rivalry got in the way of a consistently successful fair. A compromise was
sought in a site between and accessible two both cities. After much wrangling, a
committee settled at last on the site of the Ramsey County Poor Farm, donated by
the county to the State Agricultural Society. The fair has had a permanent home
since 1885.
Explorers, Traders, Farmers - The Early History Of St. Paul
Author Anne Cowie
The basic geology of the river gorge, the early explorers, Pike’s purchase,
Fort Snelling, the Selkirk refugees, Pig’s Eye and the expulsions from Fort
Snelling, Vetal Guerin, Abraham Perry, Louis Robert, Norman Kittson, Henry
Jackson, Lucien Galtier, Matilda Rumsey, Harriet Bishop: a short primer on the
establishment of St. Paul.
Fall 1973 Volume 10 Number 2
Schubert Club History Reflects Romance Of Music In St. Paul
Author Bruce Carlson
The early years of concert-style music in the city. Singing societies, mostly
German, began in the early 1850s. Prof. Philip Rohr introduced opera in the late
1850s, and the Signor Lotti Grand German Opera Company took it up again after
the Civil War.
The railroads made it easy for traveling companies to come to town from the
1870s on.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore made its St. Paul debut in 1879. The
Boston Ideals opera company made the city a regular stop in the 1880s and ‘90s.
Orchestral music appeared in 1858 with a locally organized string quartet. The
quartet grew into the St. Paul Musical Society, led for many years by George
Siebert.
It was "the major orchestra in the state during the last half of the 19th
century . . . ."
Recital music in the city also dates to the mid-1850s, and interest in this form
led to the creation of the Schubert Club, which began in 1882 as the Ladies
Musicale. It put on local events and hosted touring artists, including Josef
Hoffman and Jan Kubelik. The club also produced Minnesota’s first renowned
conductor, Emil Oberhoffer. Stranded in the city in the early 1890s, he was
befriended by and then employed by the Schubert Club. He went on to become the
first conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony. With eight photographs, four of
them portraits.
Highland - Groveland - Macalester Park The Old Reserve
Township
Author Donald Empson
Settlement and development of the southwest corner of the city, bounded by
Marshall Avenue on the north, Dale Street on the east, and the Mississippi
everywhere else.
The first permanent settler was William Finn in 1848. Formal land sales began in
1854, at $1.25 per acre. Prominent early settlers included John Ayd, William
Brimhall, William Davern, Friedrich Knapheide, and Thomas Crosby. What became
the University of St. Thomas began in 1874 as the Catholic Industrial School, on
land purchased from William Finn.
The township became a dairy center in the 1870s and ‘80s; "by 1900 there
were at least twenty-six dairy farms in the area." St. Paul annexed the
township inn 1887.
The city’s first electric streetcar line connected the College of St. Thomas
and St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary with downtown via Grand Avenue in 1890. Still,
"it was not until the 1910’s and 1920’s that the mile-upon-mile of
houses were built that characterize the area north of Randolph today."
Annotated, with three photographs, a drawing, and a map.
Memories Of Early St. Paul - Perilous Escape From Fire Down
Eighty Foot Bluff
Author Mrs. George Becker & George Rea
The author’s father and uncle, August and Charles Mueller, were working in the
downtown tailor shop when fire broke out on May 17, 1870. To save themselves
they had to jump (or let themselves fall) out the back windows and down the
80-foot riverside bluff. Both were severely injured but survived, though with
permanent disabilities. Neither could return to tailoring. Charles and Louise
Albrecht Mueller operated Mueller’s Fancy Goods Store downtown for 20 years.
The author grew up in the downtown neighborhood. She describes the neighborhood,
the uses for "fancy work," the courting customs and school fashions of
the time.
Spring 1973 Volume 10 Number 1
A Revolutionary, A Scientist, And A Civil Rights Leader –
300 Years Of Pioneering For St. Paul's Colorful Markoes
Author Jeffery Smith
The Markoes, originally Huguenots, had a long history in colonial America before
one of the, William, arrived in St. Paul in 1856. He dealt in real estate,
served on the city council, and ran a Catholic school. Markoe was also the state’s
first aeronaut; he made a balloon ascent in September of 1857, rising north of
downtown and coming to rest, after various setbacks, in Anoka County.
William’s grandson John Markoe attended West Point, playing on the football
team with Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. He served along the Mexican border
during the Mexican Revolution, and was cashiered for drunkenness, went into
business in St. Paul, returned to the military, and then turned to the
priesthood. Ordained a Jesuit in 1928, he worked in St. Louis and Omaha, giving
special attention to civil rights. His special vehicle was the De Porres Club,
involved in all the great civil rights struggles of the 1940s and 1950s.
Extensively annotated, with six images.
Play Ball! Lexington Park, Home Of The Saints.
1924's "Prime Underdogs" And Their Two-Title Victory
Author Gordon Hayes And Norvy Muligan
The story of the St. Paul Saints’ 1924 season, where they won the American
Association title, defeated Baltimore of the International League in the Little
World Series, then beat Seattle of the Pacific Coast League. The article also
recounts incidents from the Saints’ 1903, 1904, 1920, and 1923 seasons, and
mentions notable Saints players and managers, including Mike Kelley, Johnny Neun,
Miller Huggins, and Charlie Dressen. With four photographs.
The First "Living Flag"
Author Mrs. George Becker & George Rea
The first-known "living flag," was mounted in Rice Park in St. Paul in
1896. The flag was made up of St. Paul schoolchildren under the direction of
Prof. C. H. Congdon, supervisor of music for the city schools.
Fall 1972 Volume 9 Number 2
Brave Men In Their Motor Machines--And The 1918 Forest Fire
Author Arnold Luukkonen
The Minnesota Home Guard was created in 1917 to replace the Minnesota National
Guard, which had been federalized for World War I. One of its components was the
Motor Corps, made up of volunteers who "offered their private automobiles
as a means of transporting the Home Guard to any point within the state."
The calamitous northern Minnesota forest fires of October 1918 brought the Home
Guard into action. The Motor Corps first carried supplies to the relief trains
in St. Paul and Minneapolis, then troops to Moose Lake. There the volunteer
drivers brought in survivors and ferried firefighters to unquenched fires. Then
they transported troops to keep order and prevent looting. When influenza broke
out, they distributed medical and public health supplies. The Home Guard
commander said, "Had it not been for the Motor Reserve, … the splendid
work done by other organizations would have been seriously hampered, if not
completely nullified."
Forgotten Pioneers - James C. Burbank, The Man Who Used Coach
& Boat
Author Robert Orr Baker
Bringing the Red River country, and by extension all of the "Hudson Bay
country this side of the Rocky Mountains, into communication with St. Paul was
the work of one man, James Crawford Burbank." Burbank started as a patent
medicine salesman, then began a parcel and mail carrying enterprise. From there
he advanced to retail and wholesale merchandising, shipping, then overland
passenger hauling. He ran the Northwestern Express Co., a St. Paul city omnibus
line, and the Minnesota Stage Company, which ran to the Red River country. In
1861 the Hudson’s Bay Co. began shipping furs to the world through Burbank in
St. Paul. Burbank also became the major hauler of supplies to United States
forts in the upper West. He was president of the first St. Paul street railway
and of St. Paul Fire and Marine from 1865 to his death in 1876. Burbank also
served in the legislature and as president of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce.
Annotated, with five photographs and two drawings.
Introduction: Anna Ramsey's Letters
Anna Ramsey was the wife of Alexander Ramsey, Minnesota’s first territorial
governor. Hundreds of her letters survive. The excerpts published here provide
"a survey of various aspects of Mrs. Ramsey’s life." These include
her sense of humor, her relations with husband Alexander and daughter Marion,
church activities, charity work at Home for the Friendless, and travels in
Europe. Annotated, with three photographs and two drawings.
Spring 1972 Volume 9 Number 1
Old Federal Courts Building -- Beautiful, Unique--Its Style Of Architecture
Faces Extinction
Author Eileen Michels
From 1901 to 1967 all federal offices in St. Paul were in this building. Now
mostly empty, the building is in danger, and with it, "a unique local
example of a style of architecture that is fast approaching extinction in the
Midwest – indeed, in the entire country." This article is an
architectural description of the building.
Its general style is Richardsonian Romanesque, but "the building possesses
an equal number of features that are not" of that style. It also has many
elements of the Chateauesque, a style associated with Richard Hunt and Stanford
White. Who designed the building is not known for sure, though the credit is
sometimes given to James Knox Taylor, who worked with Cass Gilbert in St. Paul
and was, when this building was built, Supervising Architect of the Treasury.
Annotated, with 11 photographs and one drawing.
A Teacher Looks Back At PTA, 4---
And How A Frog In A Desk Drawer Became A Lesson In Biology
Author Alice Olson
The second of two parts (see Fall 1971) based on the author’s memoirs of her
50-year teaching career.
In this part, the author has returned to teaching, in Maplewood, after several
years away. The Depression has just begun. She teaches grades four through eight
and is also principal of a two-room school. She writes of her PTA and 4-H work,
school enrichment programs, student discipline, and humorous anecdotes,
including a frog in her desk drawer. Five photographs, including two from the
author’s collection.
Forgotten Pioneers- Josais King
Josias King is believed to have been the first to volunteer for service in the
First Minnesota Infantry. The Civil War memorial statue just below the Cathedral
bears his likeness. The article, originally written for the Junior Pioneer
Association, describes the evidence regarding King’s enlistment and the
history of the statue.
North St. Paul's Manufactories - Come Back--After 1893 Bust
Author Edward Letterman
North St. Paul had been created by Henry Castle as an industrial suburb, and was
just getting going when the Depression of 1893 came along. A mainstay had been
the Luger Furniture Company, which as early as 1888 had 200 employees at its
North St. Paul factory. It survived the Depression and had doubled in capacity
by 1912.
Other major employers were: the Konantz Saddlery; the Harris Company, maker of
farm implements; the St. Paul Casket Company; Cramer and Coney, makers of wooden
boxes; North St. Paul Broom Co.; furniture makers L. D. Hayes Co. and Acme Chair
Co.; Wick Organ and J. G. Earhuff Organ and Piano Co; the St. Paul Iron Co. and
its successor, St. Paul Stove Co.; Union Iron Works; and North St. Paul Brick
Co. These all prospered best before 1893. "After the hard years of the
middle 1890s, things were never the same again in North St. Paul."
Annotated, with four drawings and one photograph.
No back issues available
Fall 1971 Volume 8 Number 2
Woodstoves, Hectographs-- 50 Years A Teacher, She Looks Back At Her First
School
Author Alice Olson
Beginning in 1914 the author taught at a tiny country school in what is now
Maplewood. Years later she wrote her memoirs, from which this article was taken.
She describes the school and conditions, her supplies, her first day, her life
rooming with the Gausman’s on their farm, highlights of her first year,
breaking a leg during recess, her feelings toward her pupils, and her thoughts
on fifty years as a teacher. With eight photographs, including six of her school
and pupils.
Merriam's Vision: Rural Village Between Cities
Author John Sonnen
The Merriam Park neighborhood was the creation of John Merriam, father of
Governor William Merriam. He imagined a rural village halfway between
Minneapolis and St. Paul. Merriam platted the development and placed both the
park and the school (which he also named, Longfellow) where they are today. He
also imposed minimum housing standards that ensured "no cheap or inferior
residences." The village quickly grew and in 1884 was annexed by St. Paul.
With bibliography and two photographs.
Boats, Carts, Rails, Roads--The Trailways Of History
Descriptions of three early, and vital, St. Paul transportation hubs and tracks:
The Lower Landing, the crossroads of the Old Military Road and the Ox Cart
Trail, and the Red River Ox Cart Trail. The first was the city’s main
steamboat landing, the nexus of commerce into the 1870s. The second was the
crossing of the first two main overland commercial "roads," one
leading north from Fort Snelling, the other connecting the St. Paul waterfront
with the trading posts of the far northwest. The Red River Ox Cart trail
established St. Paul as a major trading center – where furs from the frontier
and goods from the rest of the world changed hands.
Forgotten Pioneers - George Loomis Becker
George Becker, like so many pioneer businessmen, was born in New York state and
moved to St. Paul to seek his fortune, in his case in 1849. He was a lawyer and
practiced with Edmund Rice, but made his fortune in the railroad business. He
served as a "line president" of the St. Paul and Pacific, St. Paul
alderman, mayor, state senator, state railroad commissioner. Becker County is
named for him. He died in 1904.
Rice Park -- How It Changed
The early years Rice Park: its donation to the city, its early neglect, the
importation of squirrels, the problems of cows and rug-beating. In time it
became a beauty spot. It declined after World War II but was rescued and revived
in the 1960s.
New Book Traces 115-Year History Of Church Cooperation
Stright, Dr. H.L., Together. The Story of Church Cooperation in Minnesota
(Minneapolis: T.S. Denison & Co., 1971.)
Author William Cavert
Spring 1971 Volume 8 Number 1
Wife, Mother-Doing The Work Of Six - ' For The Sake Of Being Supported'
Author Bonnie Ellis
Women’s work in the late 19th century: Cleaning, cooking, mending,
ironing, slopping, sewing, planning – to say nothing (and nothing is said) of
child care. The articles describes in some detail the physical work of
homemaking in the Victorian era. With three photographs and endnotes.
The Building Of Old Fort Ripley And Its Links With St. Paul
Author Robert Orr Baker
Fort Ripley was built at the confluence of the Crow Wing and Mississippi Rivers,
primarily "to protect the Winnebago Indians who had been placed in the area
as a buffer between the warring Sioux and Chippewa." Construction began in
1849. Though 120 miles from St. Paul, its Ramsey County connections were strong:
St. Paul businessmen had a big hand in its building, and all supplies for its
maintenance came through the city. Henry M. Rice helped choose the site and
supplied the building stone. Jesse Pomroy was chief builder. John Corbitt ran
the stagecoach line. All mail to the fort came through the city. In 1852 the
Pioneer noted that the Fort Ripley trade and payments "constitute much of
the largest share of the business of the port of St. Paul." After the Civil
War and the Indians wars of the West, Fort Ripley fell into disuse, and was
closed in 1877. Four photographs and a sidebar about Henry Rice.
Social Calls Without A Bonnet! Park Residents Set Their Own
Rules
Author Dorothy Hozza
A history of the development of Irvine Park, starting in 1849. Many prominent
citizens lived on or near it, including Alexander Ramsey, Henry Moss, Abram
Elfelt, Horace Bigelow, Joseph Forepaugh, William Spencer, Henry Carver,
Frederick Driscoll, Harry Horn, Nathaniel Langford. The park and neighborhood
reached their early peak in the 1870s. "The families who lived there made
their own laws, socially speaking, and established their own social
customs." The park’s decline began early in the 20th century.
"Today Irvine Park is threatened by encroaching industry, demolition for
urban renewal, and neglect."
The Letters Of Samuel Pond Jr. - Exams: 'Terror Of The
Students'
Samuel Pond, Jr., attended the University of Minnesota in the 1870s and wrote
many letters to his family. Those excerpted here were written in 1870. They deal
with school matters, college activities, lectures and sermons, Pond’s
cross-country walks. Pond was often witty. "Greek adjectives are of a great
deal more importance [than war in Europe if we stuff our minds with rules for
the subjunctive we can not fail of becoming great men." Annotated.
Fall 1970 Volume 7 Number 2
Smallpox, Malaria -- W.R. Brown's Civil War Diary - The War Within A War
W. R. Brown enlisted in the Sixth Minnesota Infantry in 1862 at the age of 46.
He served mostly in hospitals, in the field, at Fort Snelling, and in Helena,
Arkansas. He kept a diary in which he wrote "not of battles but of the
struggle to survive disease." The many diary entries printed here dealt
with daily camp life, weather, the standard medicines of the time, smallpox, his
railroad trip to Arkansas, the attitudes and conditions of the people of the
South, his own bout this typhoid fever and, probably, malaria. With seven
images, including a portrait of Brown.
Ramsey County Medical Society Survives 100 Years
Author Robert Rosenthal
Founded in 1870, it went into a "nearly fatal state of coma" by 1879,
revived in 1882, faded again, and recovered permanently in 1889. The articles
describes the society’s struggles to define itself, find meeting places,
establish a library, publish its St. Paul Medical Journal, and lists some
of the achievements of its members. With nine photographs, one drawing, and a
bibliography.
Forgotten Pioneers - Edward Phelan
Edward Phelan, discharged from the Army at Fort Snelling in April of 1839,
became one of St. Paul’s founding settlers. He was a contentious fellow, tried
and acquitted of murder, and later indicted for perjury. He fled in 1850 and
reportedly "met with a violent death in crossing the plains."
Book Review - From Whole Log To No Log
(Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1970.)
Author Vernon Helman
Spring 1970 Volume 7 Number 1
St Anthony Park: The History Of A Small Town Within A City
Author Fredric Steinhauser
A history of the development of this St. Paul neighborhood. Gov. William
Marshall and landscape architect Horace Cleveland played key roles in its early
development, as did investors from Wisconsin and Virginia, the University of
Minnesota, and the Great Northern Railroad. Cleveland was responsible for the
street layouts that conform to the natural contours of the land. The area
originally had two parts, north and south, divided by railroad tracks, but now
only the north part is thought of as St. Anthony Park. Settlement in earnest
began in the mid-1880s, and soon institutions grew: Murray, Breck, and Gutterson
Schools, the Children’s Home Society, Luther (originally United Church)
Seminary, the public library, and the St. Anthony Park Association. The article
includes a section on the area’s geological history. Six photographs.
To Stillwater, Hastings, White Bear Lake –
St. Paul's Yellow Trolleys Rocked, Rumbled Through A Colorful Era
A summary history of street railway service in St. Paul, from 1872 to 1953. With
two photographs.
Murder Most Foul! Early Historian Solves' Mystery Of
Whatever Happen To Pigs Eye Parrant?
Author Edward Lettermann
In 1868 New York writer, publisher, and fabulist "Col." Hankins
published a history of St. Paul entitled Dakota Land; or, The Beauty of St.
Paul, "an altogether charming conglomeration of local history, fact and
fancy, dreams and revelations, [and] exquisite word pictures of the area."
Among the fancies was Hankins’s description of the finding of Parrant’s
grave, along with a pistol engraved with his name. Despite the inventions, the
book "has value to the historian … in its contemporary descriptions of
the city and of Minnesota during the 1860’s." With five images, including
three from the book.
Forgotten Pioneers - John R. Irvine
John R. Irvine came first to St. Paul in 1843 from Prairie du Chien, with a
sleigh full of groceries to "look over the field which has been presented
to him by his old friend, Henry Jackson, as the Eldorado of the Northwest."
He liked what he saw. He bought what had been Edward Phelan’s claim and, over
time, bought and sold many parcels of real estate. He also ran a ferry and a
sawmill and served on the city council. Irvine Park is named for him. Two
photographs and a bibliography.
No back issues available
Fall 1969 Volume 6 Number 2
Student, Protests, Marches - 100 Years Ago At The University
Author Edward Letterman
The first years of the University of Minnesota were hard, debt-ridden, and
tumultuous. A territorial university had begun in 1852, but closed in 1858.
Undergraduate classes at the state university began in 1869 with nine professors
and 175 students. Because the state had accepted land under the Morrill Act, to
support the university, the university was required to offer courses in
agricultural science. Students were not interested. The first professor of
agriculture, Daniel Robertson, had a hard time. So did his successor, Charles
Lacey. It took until the second decade of the 20th century for
agriculture to get well established at University.
The Letters Of Samuel Pond, Jr. Students Cooked Their Food ,
Built The Fires
Samuel Pond, Jr., was a student at the University of Minnesota in the late1860s
and early 1870s. Many letters he wrote to his brother Judson, back home in
Shakopee, have survived and some are published here. He wrote of the ordinary
events of his student life; his professors, the food, the sermons he attended,
his fellow students ("I never saw a duller set"), his long walks over
the city, the work going on to repair the St. Anthony Falls tunnel disaster.
These letters cover just his first semester, November 1869 to February 1870.
Kellogg Boulevard: The Story Of Old Third Street
A short history of Third Street in downtown St. Paul from roughly 1857 to its
renaming as Kellogg Boulevard in 1929. It went from being the city’s prime
retail street to a wholesale business street ("this stage probably was the
most picturesque") to a traffic-moving boulevard.
Forgotten Pioneers - Bishop Joseph Cretin
A brief account of Joseph Cretin’s early life and his six years in St. Paul,
1851-1857. As a young priest in France he burned to do missionary work, but had
to wait until he was 38; then he came to Iowa and Wisconsin. He was appointed
bishop of St. Paul and vicinity in 1851. He presided over a huge expansion of
the Roman Catholic Church, in parishioners, churches and other buildings,
societies, institutions, and influence.
Norman Kittson And The Fur Trade
Few Minnesota pioneers painted on a bigger canvas than Norman Kittson. He traded
furs around Fort Snelling in the 1830s, then moved farther and farther north and
west, to Pembina. He battled with the Hudson’s Bay company (and later worked
for it), and established the Red River oxcart caravans in the 1850s. He dealt in
St. Paul real estate, served as the city’s mayor and in the territorial
legislature. He ran steamboats on the Red River and went into the railroad
business with James J. Hill. He built an office building, a hotel, a stable, a
race track, and a mansion where the Cathedral stands today. He fathered as many
as 26 children. He died in 1888 at the age of 74; few fuller lives have been
led.
Spring 1969 Volume 6 Number 1
Fort Snelling - "Hardship" Duty At The Frontier Post And A
Training Ground For Generals
Orders, Letters, Lists Of Possessions - Colonel Snelling's Journals
Pen portraits of some of the notable officers who served at Fort Snelling
between 1820 and the early 1860s, including Zachary Taylor, Bernard Bee, Simon
Bolivar Buckner, Winfield Scott Hancock, and John Pemberton. With 11
illustrations including nine portraits.
The Enterprising Salesman And The Old Road To Lake Como
This article is based on Josiah Snelling’s 1827 journalThe excerpts printed
here, joined by explanatory text, touch upon death by disease, military
discipline, relations with Indians, his planned participation in a duel, his
transfer to St. Louis, and an inventory of his possessions. . "The colonel
himself, how he lived and the problems of command, all stand revealed."
Forgotten Pioneers - Dr. John H Murphy
Dr.John Henry Murphy was "virtually the first formally-trained doctor to
settle in what is now the Twin Cities." He and wife Adelaide, the daughter
of Ramsey County pioneer Benjamin Hoyt (see RCH Spring 1966) settled in St.
Anthony in 1849. He served in the territorial and state legislatures, as a
regimental surgeon in the Civil War and in the West, as president of the St.
Paul school board, as physician to the Ramsey County Poor Farm, as state surgeon
general, and vice-president of the American Medical Association. He died in
1894. Two photographs including a portrait.
Summer Evenings, A Smudge Kettle, Tallow Candles - A Farm Life
Recalled
Author Lillie Gibbs Levesconte
Fall 1968 Volume 5 Number 2
Theaters In Old St. Paul - Extravaganzas, Melodramas
Author Frank Whiting
Vignettes from early theater in St. Paul, beginning with an amateur production
at Fort Snelling in the winter of 1821-22, through an "Around The World In
80 Days" extravaganza in 1890. Professional theater began in 1851 and
traveling shows dominated the early decades. The first Grand Opera House went up
in 1867, providing a suitable venue for national and international stars as well
as burlesque entertainments. Many women’s productions were tried –
"Female Minstrels," "Living Art Statues," "Frisky
French Favorites," some to acclaim. Storms, fires, disputes, and mishaps
enlivened the cavalcade. "We may smile at the old Nineteenth Century
theater of spectacle, thrills, laughter and tears but it had its merits."
Seven photographs and four other illustrations including the cover.
The Wandering Skeleton Of Charley Pitts
Velocipede Races In Armory Hall - Bernheimer Block Is Gone But
The Memory Lives On
'Salubrious Minnesota' - Kohlman's Hotel And Resort Era
Author Jerome Schueler
The Bernheimer Block, at the corner of Kellogg and [Minnesota?], was built in
1859. It was the site of many noteworthy events: the first Civil War
enlistments; the first velocipede demonstrations; one of the first known boxing
matches. The St. Paul Gymnastic Society, the YWCA, the St.Paul and Chicago
Railroad, and the trial lawyer W.W. Erwin, among many others, used the building.
It came down in 1968. Five photographs.
Kohlman’s Hotel and the Resort Era
"People came out in these tally-hos (double-decked, horsedrawn carriages),
on horseback, and in surreys with the fringe on top," to Kohlman’s Hotel
on Lake Gervais in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Kohlman’s had a saloon, boats, a walk-in ice house, and a dining room
featuring fish from the lake and sausage and sauerkraut made on site. . The
article evokes a lost time, when Minnesota was considered "a large health
resort," and institution. Three photographs.
Forgotten Pioneers - Stephen Desnoyer
Stephen Desnoyer operated a saloon and hotel on the old ox cart trail from
Pembina to St. Paul. The site was later occupied by the Shriners Children’s
Hospital. He came to St. Paul in 1845 and died there in 1877. The Desnoyer Park
neighborhood is named for him.
Silver Lake Childhood -- Revisited
Spring Wagons And No Roads - A Pioneer Family's Sunday
Author Lillie Gibbs Levesconte
A reminiscence left by the youngest child, born 1865, of Jane and Heman Gibbs.
The little white church, the Sunday carriage rides, the noted evangelist Maggie
VanCot, and "some of the pleasantest scenery in the state."
Spring 1968 Volume 5 Number 1
Ramsey County's German Americans - Their Struggle With Pride & Prejudice
Author Sister John Christine Wolkerstorfer
Through most of the modern history of Ramsey County Germans have comprised the
largest ethnic group. This article covers many aspects of German immigration to
Ramsey County and the participation of German-Americans in business, political,
religious, and cultural life in the period roughly 1845-1890. Among the themes
addressed: patterns of immigration; preservation of German language and culture,
especially in schools; arts and cultural organizations and newspapers; some
noteworthy German-American businessmen. With citations and seven illustrations.
In North St. Paul - Boom, Boom, Boom Come-Back!
Author Edward Lettermann
North St. Paul was an early planned community, first residential, then
industrial.Just as industrial development seemed to be taking hold, the Panic of
1893 came along. Still, developer (and historian) Henry Castle never gave up.
Forgotten Pioneers - William Randall
William Randall came to St. Paul from New York and became the city’s first
millionaire, mostly in real estate. He was ruined in the panic of 1857 and died
in 1861 at 55. He was a man of great energy and a big heart, optimistic and
charitable even in the midst of failure.
From A Pioneer Farmer -Memories Of Those Early Years Make 'A
Chill Run Up My Back
"The days were too short for the work that must be done, the nights too
short for the needed rest." John Scofield came to St. Paul from upstate New
York in 1849. In 1914 he wrote a memoir, excerpted here. He arrived with $2.50
and two shirts, found work, built a little capital, acquired farmland at Red
Rock, built a farming and threshing business, moved to present-day Bloomington,
married, had and lost children and a wife, in all lived a long and productive
pioneer life. And he wrote well: the excerpt is vivid and forceful.
Fall 1967 Volume 4 Number 2
Marshall Sherman & The Civil War - St. Paul's First Medal Of Honor
Winner
Author Anne Cowie
In April 1861 Marshall Sherman, age 37, a St. Paul housepainter, became one of
the first to enlist in the Civil War Union Army. He was there at Bull Run, Ball’s
Bluff, The Seven Days, Antietam, and Gettysburg. There, Sherman and comrades
were among the troops that absorbed the desperate fury of Pickett’s Charge;
Sherman emerged with the battle flag of the 28th Virginia, a flag now
in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. He received the
Congressional Medal of Honor. Sherman lost a leg in battle in August of 1864 and
returned to St. Paul, where he lived until his death in 1896. Annotated, with
four illustrations.
Case Of The Vanishing Historic Site Or What Happened To
Carver's Cave
Author Charles Burnley
A reprint of a 1913 article from the St. Paul Dispatch. The entrance to Carver’s
Cave was rediscovered and the cave reopened, with considerable ceremony, in
1913. Jonathan Carver had come across the enormous cavern beneath Dayton’s
Bluff in 1767.
Much Indian legend surrounded the cave, but railroads had closed the entrance
around 1885. The city planned to turn the area into a park and the cave into a
tourist attraction.
With three photographs, a map, and a drawing, plus post-script and annotations
not part of the original article. The author was still alive and a member of the
Ramsey County Historical Society. The city’s plans came to nothing.
Charles Borup - Fur Trader, Banker, Lumberman, And Minnesota's
First Danish Consul
Author Nancy Woolworth
Charles Borup lived in St. Paul only 11 years. Born in Copenhagen in 1806, he
was educated to be a physician, but chose adventure instead. In 1830 he landed
at the Mackinac Island fur trading post. In 1848 he set up his fur trading
business in St. Paul, and quickly expanded into real estate and banking –
"the first legitimate banking-house in St. Paul." Borup and his wife
built a fine "villa" downtown and were renowned for their musical
soirees. He died suddenly in 1859 leaving a large estate, a widow, and nine
children. Annotated.
Forgotten Pioneers - Women
"Among the most forgotten of Ramsey County’s forgotten pioneers are the
patient, courageous wives of the men who founded, settled and built St. Paul and
the surrounding communities in the county." Mrs. Abraham Perry was among
the very first, settling near Fountain Cave in 1838. Rose Perry had the
distinction of participating in St. Paul’s first wedding; she married J. R.
Clewett in April of 1839, when St. Paul was still Pig’s Eye. Adele Perry
married Vetal Guerin in 1841, with Father Lucien Galtier presiding; the
descriptions of the wedding feast and honeymoon are memorable; Vetal and Adele
survived both. Mary Turpin married Louis Robert, joining him in a life of
fortune-seeking adventure. Matilda Rumsey built a school in St. Paul in 1845.
Mrs. M. L. Stoakes had her own store in the city around 1850. Mrs. J. W. Selby
toiled with her husband to build a fortune in the early 1850s. Annotated.
Memories Of The University - 1870's
Author Lillie Gibbs Levisconte
Lillie Gibbs grew up on what became Ramsey County Historical Society’s Gibbs
Farm at Larpenteur and Fairview. At age 79 she wrote her memories of the
University of Minnesota. She attended commencement ceremonies 1873 through 1877.
Annotated.
Spring 1967 Volume 4 Number 1
Early Explorers' Trails Criss-Crossed Today's' Ramsey County
Author Alan Woolworth
A summary of the deeds of explorers who passed through or near Ramsey County
(the piece in fact covers Minnesota generally) before 1840, including LeSueur,
Carver, Hennepin, Pike, Long, Cass, Schoolcraft, and Nicollet. With 10
illustrations including a portion of Nicollet’s 1843 map.
Restless, Troubled Opportunist - Portrait Of A Pioneer
Photographer
Author Henry Hall
William Illingworth, born 1844, came to St. Paul in 1850 and became a
professional photographer in 1867. A pioneer of outdoor wet-plate photography,
he made an expedition with Custer in 1874, then illicitly sold the prints but
got away with it. Back in St. Paul, he made many images of the young city prized
today. Illingworth had a tormented personal life; he married three times, was
widowed twice and divorced once. He took his own life in 1893. Illustrated by a
portrait of Illingworth and seven of his photographs.
A Bridge, A Street, A Levee - Louis Robert's Name Lingers In
St. Paul
Author Patricia Condon
He was one of the ur-pioneers – early settler, merchant, fur trader, steamboat
captain and entrepreneur, real estate speculator, politician. He even got in on
the Dakota Uprising of 1862, narrowly escaping with his life. Robert came to St.
Paul from Prairie du Chien in 1843, bought, sold, and gave away huge portions of
what became downtown, ran a fleet of five steamboats in the 1850s, built the
first frame and then the first brick residences in town, and participated in the
organization of Minnesota Territory. He died rich in 1874.
The Saga Of Charley Pitts' Body
Charley Pitts was part of the James-Younger gang that robbed the First National
Bank in Northfield in September of 1876. He was killed by a posse two weeks
later. His body was exhibited at the state capitol. What became of it after
that? In 1946 Lillie Gibbs LeVesconte wrote of what she had seen and heard as a
girl in St. Paul – details of the body’s treatment and fate.
Forgotten Pioneers - Rose Township
Roseville takes it name from Isaac Rose, but he never lived there. A soldier and
farmer, Rose came to St. Paul in 1843 and farmed mostly in what became the
Merriam Park neighborhood. He once owned the land now occupied by Macalester
College. Rose Township received his name because he helped map the area in 1850.
Time, Luck & Stamina - Pioneers Needed Them All When
Seeking A Farm
Coates P. Bull of St. Paul, age 93, recalls the story of how his parents came to
Minneapolis in 1857, found and bought farm land at what became 50th
and France in Edina, and began farm operations.
Fall 1966 Volume 3 Number 2
Encamped At Fairgrounds, Minnesota Troops Fight Typhoid Fever Epidemic Of
1898
Author Herbert Plass
Random Recollection- 45 Years As A School Board Member
Author Robert Jordan
Reminiscences Of A Lady In The Vicinity Of St. Paul - A Sioux
Medicine Dance And A
Perilous Journey
Author Ellen Rice Hollinshead
Forgotten Pioneers- Benjamin F. Hoyt
Spring 1966 Volume 3 Number 1
Colorful & Handy With The Pistol - St. Paul's Territorial Editors
Author Berneta Hilbert
Early newspapering in St. Paul was competitive and rancorous. D.A. Robertson of
the Minnesota Democrat wrote the James Goodhue of the Pioneer was
"a moral lunatic … [whose] transparent wickedness would excite only the
pity and compassion of the community." Though still a comparative village,
the city in 1855 had five dailies, and they battled each other in print and out,
for readers, advertisers, and contracts. Conflicts sometimes even became
violent, as when Goodhue and a favorite target, Judge David Cooper, wounded each
other in a knife and pistol brawl. Along the way, these early editors wrote some
memorable prose and left an invaluable record of St. Paul’s pioneer era. With
nine photographs, including portraits of seven early editors, and endnotes.
Minnesota's Early Libel Laws
Author Henry Cowie
Early Minnesota libel laws put a brake to the excesses of early journalism. The
first state supreme court libel decision, in 1860, held that accusing an editor
of stopping low enough to "steal children’s diapers from the clothes
line" was libelous. An 1884 case ruled it libelous to call a lawyer a
shyster. An 1885 statute made certain libels criminal, while an 1887 statute
made retractions a partial defense. These and other legal develop-ments moved
Minnesota journalism toward its modern era, but "undoubtedly led to
powering reader interest in the editorial pages by raising the standard of their
contents."
With endnotes.
Box Stoves, Cipher-Downs, Sleigh Rides - Memories Of A Rural
School
Author Frank Paskewitz
The author, a member of the Ramsey County Historical Society Board of Directors,
attended a one-room school in Todd County in the first decade of the 20th
century. He recalls that school in detail – its appearance, the wood stove,
traveling to and from by sleigh, lunches carried in old sorghum buckets, writing
slates and cipher-down competitions, swimming in the nearby creek at lunchtime.
"The one-room rural school is passing from the American scene but it is
leaving behind it memories of a more simple, less complex and, as I remember it,
a happier way of life." Three photographs.
The Press And The Public-100 Years Ago
A short except from a synopsis of the first day of a Minnesota Editorial
Association convention in St. Paul in 1867
Forgotten Pioneers -Justus Ramsey
Justus Ramsey was Alexander Ramsey’s brother. He came to St. Paul in the late
1840s, engaged in various business ventures, served in he Legislature, and was
carrying the treaty payment to the Dakota when the 1862 Dakota Conflict broke
out. At age 58, wealthy, unmarried and in ill health, he took his own life. With
portrait and endnotes.
Corn Husking And Sweeping Out –
1901 Graduate Recalls The Early Years Of The St. Paul Campus
Author Coates Bull
The author attended the University of Minnesota school of agriculture in the
early and late1890s, shortly after its creation. He recounts the school’s
founding, dormitory life, anecdotes of his professors. In 1902 he joined the
faculty and stayed there 19 years. He recalls highlights of his work and names
agricultural leaders who came from the school. Four photographs.
A Pioneer Farmer And The Civil & Indian Wars
Excerpt’s from Coates Bull’s letter describing his father’s getting caught
up in the Dakota Conflict and an uncle’s service in the Civil War.
No back issues available
Fall 1965 Volume 2 Number 2
The Story Of White Bear Lake - Hardship And Struggle In A Rugged Wilderness
Author Nancy Woolworth
The town’s first 14 years, 1849-1862. The first settler in 1849, the official
opening for claims in 1850, James Goodhue’s booming, the first resort hotel in
1853, early prominent families, the first school, 1857, the first post office,
1859, the removal of the last of the local Sioux, 1862. End-noted, with five
illustrations and a map.Foolish And Childlike Fierce Or Savage?
St. Paul's Early Settlers And The Indians Among Them
Author Edward Letterman
"In the history of American, the relationship of white man to Indian has
swung wildly between cordial and aggressively hostile…. Whites seem to regard
the Indians alternately as foolish children and fearsome savages…. In the St.
Paul of 100 years ago these attitudes showed clearly in what was written about
the Indians of the area by the men and women who knew them …."
The author drew from early sources an array of attitudes toward the mostly
Dakota people who lived near and visited St. Paul: Indians as shrewd traders,
drunks, beggars, stoics, providers of staple goods, trustworthy, thieving, and
comical. With three images, a map, and a bibliography.
'Floating Down The River...'
Today Boaters See Landmarks As Pioneers Once Viewed Them
Author Bruce Shepherd
The author surveys the history of 43 miles of the Upper Mississippi, from St.
Anthony Falls to Red Wing, with history and observations for each stop along the
way: Fort Snelling, Fountain Cave, Harriet Island, Lambert’s Landing, the
burial mounds, Kaposia, Red Rock, Inver Grove, Merrimac Island, Grey Cloud
Island, Nininger, Point Douglas, Hastings, and Red Wing. With three
illustrations and a bibliography.
Spring 1965 Volume 2 Number 1
Can History Come Alive? In Its Historic Sites, Nation Finds Its Roots
Author Elmer Anderson
The author, a former governor of Minnesota, surveys historic preservation
efforts in Minnesota and elsewhere. The loss of Ignatius Donnelly’s Nininger
house is contrasted with the preservation of the Alexander Ramsey House, the
Oliver Kelley farm, and other sites. He urges legislation and improved public
awareness. "We must not permit any more of our heritage to be plundered and
destroyed." With eight photos and one drawing.
St. Paul's Stately Buildings - Going, Going, Almost Gone
Author Georgia Ray Decoster
"American cities are threatened by a steady dilution of historic character
and architectural personality … Therefore, it is time to establish one and for
all the economic merits of the case for preserving older buildings …. "
The author urges attention to seven Victorian era buildings in downtown St.
Paul: the Guardian Building, the New York Building, the St. Paul Building, the
Federal Courthouse, the McColl Building, the Pioneer Building, and the Endicott
Building. These buildings and their virtues are described. With four photos, a
map, and bibliography.
A Fateful Decade - The Negroes In Minnesota And The Role They
Played
Author Earl Spangler
The decade was 1850-1860. Though Negroes in Minnesota (most of them living in
Ramsey County) were few at this time, their presence brought the national issues
of race and slavery to the area. The national debate affected the 1856 and 1860
presidential elections in the state, the anti-slavery agitation of Jane Grey
Swisshelm, and the drafting of the state constitution in 1858. "By 1858,
each state was a microcosm of the nation and Minnesota was no different. The
physical presence of Negroes determined, in part, the political choices of white
residents. The status of Negroes was a matter of concern to all." With
endnotes and five illustrations.
Fall 1964 Volume 1 Number 2
Steam Boats & Cable Cars - St. Paul's Gaslight Era
Author George Brack
A detailed description of some aspects of the city in the second half of the
nineteenth century: railroad service and depots, bridges and ferries, public
transportation, street lighting, manufactures, city growth, housing types. Four
illustrations.
Little Canada - Heritage From The French
Author Margaret Whitney Wall
The early days of Little Canada. Most of St. Paul’s first settlers were French
Canadians. Two of them, Benjamin and Genevieve Gervais, sold their downtown St.
Paul land and claims in 1844 and moved north, near the lake that became Lake
Gervais. Other French Canadians soon followed, and Little Canada was born. Other
early settlers bore the surnames Ducharme, Lambert, Vadnais, Garceau, LaBarre
(changed later to LaBore), Nadeau, Belland, Bibeau, Auge, Morrisette, etc. By
1851, there were 40 French-surnamed families there. Father Ravoux often said
Mass for these people in the Benjamin Gervais house. Later that year, settlers
donated land for what became St. John the Evangelist Church. It was a log cabin,
replaced by a brick church in 1881 and a new building in 1956, both on the
original site. Services were conducted in French into the 1920s.
A German immigrant, William Kohlmann, came to Little Canada in 1870 and opened a
lake resort that flourished for many years. (See RCH Fall 1968.) The most famous
Little Canada event was the Lake Gervais cyclone of 1890. "Little Canada
today has much the same appeal for its residents as it had for its original
settlers. Lake Gervais, despite the tornado, is just as beautiful as it ever was…."
Three photos, map, and endnotes.
'We Was Ordered Out On The Double-Quick…
They Skeedadeled" Sergeant Ramers Indian War
Author Virginia Brainard Kunz
James T. Ramer was a soldier, diarist, and letter-writer. He joined the Union
army on August 15, 1862; on August 18, the Dakota Conflict broke out. Ramer
fought in the conflict and recorded his experiences in his diary and letters. He
was at Mankato to witness the execution of the 38 Dakota prisoners. Excerpts
from his diary and letters are supplemented here with narrative of the war,
placing them in context.
No back issues available
Spring 1964 Volume 1 Number 1
Sod Shanty On The Prairie…Story Of A Pioneer Farmer
Author William Cavert
A brief recounting of some basic facts about the Gibbses of the Gibbs house and
farm. Heman and Jane came to St. Paul in April of 1849 and quickly moved onto
the 160 acres in Rose Township that they had acquired by claim. For Jane it was
a return to Minnesota: she had grown up with missionaries to the Dakota near
Lake Calhoun. Their first house was mostly underground and mostly sod. He
farmed, she hunted and fished. They built the house that became the museum
1867-1869.
'…Conclude It My Duty To Enlist & Therefore Enlisted…
' The Diary Of A Civil War Soldier
Author Hal McWethy
Newell Burch joined the Union army in August of 1862 in Jamestown, New York.
Slightly wounded at Chancellorsville and captured at Gettysburg, he spent the
rest of the war a prisoner in Virginia and then Andersonville, Georgia. He kept
a diary, which he later added to and revised. Burch moved to Minnesota many
years later. This article, extracts from the diary plus editorial enlargement,
came from his son-in-law, a member of the Ramsey County Historical Society Board
of Directors.
The excerpts deal with camp life, his capture, and then prison camp life. At
Andersonville Burch suffered from illness, injury, and the terrible conditions.
He treated his own gangrene and helped organize treatments for gangrene and
scurvy sufferers in the camp. He was released April 21, 1865. The diary is at
MHS.
Wolves, Indians, Bitter Cold… A Fur Trader's Perilous
Journey
Daniel Hunt came to St. Anthony, Minnesota, in 1857 and, like so many others,
engaged in the fur trade. He served in the Civil War, married, and settled in
St. Paul, where he lived until his death in 1891.
In the winter of 1859 Hunt traveled by dog sled from Fort Garry in Canada to St.
Anthony, a three week journey that he described in his diary and in a letter
written thirty years later. It was a very hard trip. Hunt ran into cold, heavy
snow, illness, fire, an encounter with an angry Ojibwe; he also hired, and then
held by force, an Ojibwe boy as a guide. The diary and letter are at Ramsey
County Historical Society.
St. Paul's Municipal Forest & Its 50 Year Growth
Author John Allison
In the spring of 1914 the University of Minnesota department of forestry and the
St. Paul Water Department undertook to create a pine and spruce forest near Lake
Vadnais. It was believed that woodlands would contribute to the purity of the
city water supply. This project eventually became the John H. Allison forest.
The author, for whom the forest was named, recounts here how the forest came to
be. With one map and a photo of Prof. Allison.
You can view back issues by visiting our Research Center.
323 Landmark Center, 75 West Fifth Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102
Phone: (651) 222-0701, Fax: (651) 223-8539
info@rchs.com
Copyright 2012
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