Ramsey County History – Summer 2003: “Growing Up in St. Paul: ‘I Didn’t Know If We Were Rich or Poor—Times Were Idyllic Then … We Roamed at Will’”

DF of Johnson article

Growing Up in St. Paul: ‘I Didn’t Know If We Were Rich or Poor—Times Were Idyllic Then … We Roamed at Will’
Author: Carleton Vang

The author said he grew up not knowing whether the family was rich or poor. They first lived on Thomas Avenue above a grocery store. Then his father moved them to a new home at Almond and Aronia near the State Fair Grounds. He remembered learning the Palmer Method of handwriting at Tilden School. There was a site behind the streetcar dump where he and friends “skinny dipped.” His first BB gun was the famed Red Ryder carbine. Vang believes that his experiences were almost “idyllic,” and there was no fear of roaming at will in a neighborhood that was “a place of infinite fun.”
PDF of Growing Up in St. Paul