Catalog
Ramsey County History – Spring 1986: “The Mississippi and St. Paul—Change Is Constant for the River and the City That Shaped It”
Paul Donald HestermanThe Mississippi and St. Paul—Change Is Constant for the River and the City That Shaped It Author: Paul Donald Hesterman The article’s theme is how today’s Mississippi River is different from the mid-nineteenth century river “in virtually every way, from the contours of its banks to the chemical composition…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1985: “Farming in the Shadow of the Cities: The Not-So-Rural History of Rose Township Farmers, 1850–1900”
Kendra DillardFarming in the Shadow of the Cities: The Not-So-Rural History of Rose Township Farmers, 1850–1900 Author: Kendra Dillard The story of farming in the shadow of the city of St. Paul focuses on the Gibbs Farm and the Gibbs family history as an example of agriculture’s relation to nearby…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1985: “Growing Up on Dayton’s Bluff—A Turn-of-the-Century Boyhood”
Karl H. TroutGrowing Up on Dayton’s Bluff—A Turn-of-the-Century Boyhood Author: Karl H. Trout The author recalls the everyday life of a boy who lived in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood. His family lived on Burns Avenue in a home with no central heat, gas, or electric heat. Warmth was provided from coal…
Ramsey County History – Special 1979: “Murders Mar the Dawning of 1854”
Robert Orr BakerMurders Mar the Dawning of 1854 Author: Robert Orr Baker An essay drawn from primary source material documenting events in the burgeoning town of St. Paul in 1854. Excerpts from St. Paul’s first newspapers relate to the town’s first murder, early businesses, transportation, entertainment, and other topics. Riverboats brought…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1974: “Promoters Waxed Lyrical in “Selling” St Paul”
Virginia Brainard KunzPromoters Waxed Lyrical in “Selling” St Paul Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz A publication entitled The Minnesota Year Book 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…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1974: “The 1850s Shaping of St. Paul”
Virginia Brainerd KunzThe 1850s 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 at the time. Minnesota Pioneer editor James Goodhue advocated replatting the whole mess…
Ramsey County History – Spring/Summer 1977: “The Plowing of America: Early Farming Around St. Paul”
Rodney C. LoehrThe 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…
Ramsey County History – Spring/Summer 1975: “How St. Paul Came to Lose the “Red River War””
Dennis HoffaHow 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…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1974: “John Ayd’s Grist Mill and Reserve Township History”
Donald EmpsonJohn 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 avenues in 1854. There in 1860 he built the only grist mill and…