Ramsey County History Spring 2024

Greetings! Our spring issue of Ramsey County History magazine has published.

Our first two articles—Paul Nelson’s “The Fraud of the Century” and Drew M. Ross’s “Decisions, Destiny, and Dreams: Plympton’s Reserve, St. Paul’s Founding, and Desnoyer’s New Bridge Square”—cover the seedier side of St. Paul’s history with tales of fraud, Ponzi schemes, self-serving decisions, inebriation, lawsuits, and prison sentences!

On a lighter note, however, we offer a delightful story about a homemade dollhouse, which Shoreview resident Wendy Ham Rossi recently donated to RCHS. On her third birthday in 1941, young Wendy’s Gumpa Guy built her a six-room dollhouse—a replica of her family home at 435 Charles Avenue in Frogtown. Wendy has written a delightful article focusing on her early years at the house. She brilliantly weaves anecdotes about the home, her family, and the dollhouse, adding wisdom from her favorite childhood book, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. We share a recording and video of Wendy reading her story online. Be sure to check that out, too.

We encourage you to access any of our articles—from the most recent to the original issues dating to 1964—online here.

We greatly appreciate your continued support as a member of Ramsey County Historical Society. If you would like to donate to our organization, click here. To renew your membership, click here.