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Ramsey County History – Winter 2005: “Union Park in the 1880s—Band Concerts, Balloon Ascensions Once Lured 10,000 People in a Single Day”

Minnesota Junior Pioneers

Union Park in the 1880s—Band Concerts, Balloon Ascensions Once Lured 10,000 People in a Single Day Author: Minnesota Junior Pioneers 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…

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 – 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 – 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: “A Pillar of Modern Psychology: Alfred Adler and His 1937 Lecture at the Historic St. Paul Women’s City Club”

Roger Ballou

A Pillar of Modern Psychology: Alfred Adler and His 1937 Lecture at the Historic St. Paul Women’s City Club Author: 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. The…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2003: “‘Laid to Rest by Strangers’ Hands’ Death in the Railroad Yards: The Century-old Mystery of a Beautiful Young Woman”

Susan C. Dowd

‘Laid to Rest by Strangers’ Hands’ Death in the Railroad Yards: The Century-old Mystery of a Beautiful Young Woman Author Susan C. Dowd In the late evening on March 12, 1902, a young woman was run over by a train just west of the railway station at Dayton’s Bluff.

Ramsey County History – Summer 2003: “Fog and the Dark of an October Night—The Fabled Wreck of the ‘Ten Spot’ in Its Plunge Twenty-five Feet to the Mississippi Below”

David Riehle

Fog and the Dark of an October Night—The Fabled Wreck of the ‘Ten Spot’ in Its Plunge Twenty-five Feet to the Mississippi Below Author: David Riehle Shortly before 6 a.m.. on October 15, 1912, with the landscape covered in a dense fog, a bridge tender on the Terminal Bridge…

Ramsey County History – Spring 2003: “The Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company”

Virginia Brainard Kunz

The Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz This is a short article on Wilson Farrell’s Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, which was established in 1854. Like other groups of this type, its members were elected and had to buy their own ladders, buckets, and rope. Arson,…