• Clear Filters

Ramsey County History – Summer 2019: “William DeWitt Mitchell: The Other William Mitchell”

Thomas H. Boyd and Douglas R. Heidenreich

William DeWitt Mitchell: The Other William Mitchell Authors: Thomas H. Boyd and Douglas R. Heidenreich “Like Father, Like Son” is a common saying that most certainly applies to this article. Thomas H. Boyd, a St. Paul attorney, and Douglas R. Heidenreich, former dean of the William Mitchell College of…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2019: “One Hundred Years Serving New Americans: The Centennial of the International Institute of Minnesota”

Krista Finstad Hanson

One Hundred Years Serving New Americans: The Centennial of the International Institute of Minnesota Author: Krista Finstad Hanson 2020 Co-Winner of the Ramsey County Historical Society Virginia B. Kunz Award As visitors and clients open the doors to the International Institute of Minnesota in St. Paul, they…

Diesel Heart: An Autobiography

Reviewer: Mary Lethert Wingerd

Diesel Heart: An Autobiography Author: Melvin Whitfield Carter, Jr. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019 256 pages; soft cover; 27 b&w photos; $17.95 Melvin Carter and I both grew up in Saint Paul in the 1950s and ’60s. But Carter’s hometown was a world away…

The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions, 1946–1954

Reviewer: Gary Gleason

The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions, 1946–1954 Susan Bartlett Foote Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018 312 pages; soft cover; photos; $22.95 Susan Bartlett Foote has written an impressive book that combines a great story and exhaustive research about the early years of social…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2018: “Growing Up in St. Paul: Fifteen Minutes with My Dad: Reginald Hopwood”

Victoria Hopwood

Growing Up in St. Paul Fifteen Minutes with My Dad: Reginald Hopwood Author: Victoria Hopwood This is a daughter’s tribute to her father, a waiter on the Great Northern Railway’s Empire Builder that ran between Chicago and the two Pacific coast cities of Portland and Seattle…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2017: “William T. Francis, at Home and Abroad”

Paul D. Nelson

William T. Francis, at Home and Abroad Author: Paul D. Nelson William T. (Billy) and Nellie Francis were a “Golden Couple” in Ramsey County in the 1920s. They were good-looking, intelligent, talented, ambitious, and successful. Then they went to Africa, and things went terribly wrong. This article presents the…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2016: “John Anderson’s Fall from the High Bridge”

John T. Sielaff

John Anderson’s Fall from the High Bridge Author: John T. Sielaff On May 2, 1902, John Anderson, a painter working as part of a crew repainting the St. Paul High Bridge, fell 125 feet into the Mississippi River and survived. Although injured when he hit the footing of the…

Ramsey County History Podcast #5 – Spring 2016: Mayor for Life – George Latimer

Paul Nelson and George Latimer

Mayor for Life – George Latimer He was sometimes known as “mayor for life.” George Latimer served as mayor of St. Paul from 1976 to 1990, the longest consecutive term in St. Paul history. A lot happened on his watch: the Town Square and Lowertown developments; the…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2016: “The West Publishing Company Buildings and Ramsey County’s Adult Detention Center”

Paul D. Nelson

The West Publishing Company Buildings and Ramsey County’s Adult Detention Center Author: Paul D. Nelson Founded in 1876 in St. Paul, West Publishing Company established its offices and manufacturing plant on the south side of Kellogg Boulevard west of the Wabasha Bridge. By the 1920s, West provided…