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Ramsey County History Summer 2023 – Roller Skating

Heidi Heller

Volume 58, Number 2: Summer 2023 Rolling through the Decades Roller Skating in Ramsey County Author: Heidi Heller What better way to spend a Saturday night than rolling ‘round and ‘round a skate floor with friends? Some will remember the disco era, complete with a sparkly, mirrored ball and…

March of the Governors #30: Special Edition Billy Williams

Frank White, Paul Nelson

March of the Governors Special Edition: Billy Williams March of the Governors Series Podcast #30 William F. (Billy) Williams never served as Minnesota’s governor, but he served more Minnesota governors than any public servant in our state’s history. He caught the eye of…

Ramsey County History Spring 2023 – Billy Williams

Frank White

Volume 58, Number 1: Spring 2023 From a Star on the Ball Diamond to a Star at the Minnesota State Capitol Billy Williams Author: Frank M. White In 1904, Billy Williams would have been happy making a living playing baseball. He loved the sport. He was good…

Ramsey County History – Summer 2022: “Traveling Without Aggravation: How Victor H. Green Changed Travel for Black Americans: Green Book Locations in the Historic Rondo Community (1940-1956)”

Nieeta L. Presley

Traveling Without Aggravation: How Victor H. Green Changed Travel for Black Americans: Green Book Locations in the Historic Rondo Community (1940-1956) Author: Nieeta L. Presley Traveling, especially with young families, is never easy. Scheduling, packing, locating gas stations, and securing reservations can be a challenge. Traveling for…

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…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2007: “Growing Up in St. Paul: Frogtown’s Arundel Street”

James R. Brown

Growing Up in St. Paul: Frogtown’s Arundel Street Author: James R. Brown Driving through his old neighborhood brought back memories to James Brown, especially while he was looking at the Edmund Street home where he lived in the 1920 and ‘30s. One of his recollections was about climbing up…

Ramsey County History – Fall 2006: “Memories of Frogtown in the 1930s”

James R. Brown

Memories of Frogtown in the 1930s Author: James R. Brown Poet and playwright James Brown relates vignettes of the life of his family in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood during the 1930s. It was a community that was a mixture of public schools, churches, bars, and gambling houses, with a…

Ramsey County History – Winter 2006: “Rabies Scare in St. Paul  ‘Mad Dog on the Loose.’ Panic Prevails as Fear Rips through the City in 1910”

Susan Dowd

Rabies Scare in St. Paul  ‘Mad Dog on the Loose.’ Panic Prevails as Fear Rips through the City in 1910 Author: Susan Dowd A short article that looks at two weeks of fear that began in St. Paul on April 13, 1901. On that day, a dog was reported…

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…