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Ramsey County History – Spring 2005: “Growing up in St. Paul: Simple, Carefree Days—Hague and Fry—and the Center of a Boy’s Universe”

James B. Bell

Growing up in St. Paul: Simple, Carefree Days—Hague and Fry—and the Center of a Boy’s Universe  Author: 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.

Ramsey County History – Fall 2004: “The Rondo Oral History Project Kathryn Coram Gagnon: Operettas, Dances, Parties, and a Growing Love of Music”

Kate Cavett

The Rondo Oral History Project Kathryn Coram Gagnon: Operettas, Dances, Parties, and a Growing Love of Music  Interview by 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. The interview…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2004: “The Life and Death of Central Park—A Small Part of the Past Illuminated”

Paul D. Nelson

The Life and Death of Central Park—A Small Part of the Past Illuminated Author: Paul D. Nelson 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…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2004: “The Rondo Oral History Project Beulah Mae Baines Swan Remembers Piano Lessons and a ‘Nice Vegetable Garden’ Out Back”

Kate Cavett

The Rondo Oral History Project Beulah Mae Baines Swan Remembers Piano Lessons and a ‘Nice Vegetable Garden’ Out Back An Interview by 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…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2004: “Spring Wagons and No Roads: A Gibbs Daughter Remembers a Pioneer Family’s Sunday as a ‘Serious Undertaking’”

Lillie Gibbs LeVesconte

Spring Wagons and No Roads: A Gibbs Daughter Remembers a Pioneer Family’s Sunday as a ‘Serious Undertaking’ Author: Lillie Gibbs LeVesconte This is a reminiscence of the youngest daughter of Heman and Jane Gibbs. She recalls that getting to church services was no easy task in the 1870s. It…

Ramsey County History – Spring 2004: “A Quilt and a Diary: The Story of the Little Girl Who Rode the Orphan Train to a New Home”

Ann Zemke

A Quilt and a Diary: The Story of the Little Girl Who Rode the Orphan Train to a New Home Author: Ann Zemke The author made a quilt that is used to tell the story of her grandmother, Margaret Peterson, who was an orphan. From 1854 to 1929, thousands…

Ramsey County History – Spring 2004: “Growing Up in St. Paul: Mechanic Arts—An Imposing ‘Melting Pot’ High School that Drew Minorities Together”

Bernice Fischer

Growing Up in St. Paul: Mechanic Arts—An Imposing ‘Melting Pot’ High School that Drew Minorities Together Author: 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,…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2004: “A Century Ago: Hundreds of Thousands Greet the Liberty Bell the Day It Came to Town”

Susan C. Dowd

A Century Ago: Hundreds of Thousands Greet the Liberty Bell the Day It Came to Town Author: 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…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2003: “Growing Up in St. Paul: A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Payne Avenue in the 1950s—’It Was Like Living in a Small Town'”

DeAnne Marie Cherry

Growing Up in St. Paul: A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Payne Avenue in the 1950s—“It Was Like Living in a Small Town” Author: 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…