This Queen Anne house at 680 Greenbrier has had not one but three families with Hamm’s connections living inside. It was designed in 1887 by architect Edward P. Bassford for Peter and Emma Classen.…

Peter John was a prominent shopkeeper and saloon owner in Dayton’s Bluff. After marrying Louisa Hamm, the daughter of Theodore and Louise Hamm, the couple lived in this 1906 Colonial Revival house. It…

Phalen Creek was a spring fed-stream flowing from Lake Phalen through a deep ravine that ancient waters had gouged from the land. It ended up forming a small delta on the Mississippi River floodplain.…

The Scope 2015 Material: Corten steel, mirrored stainless steel, 3M dichroic glass, copper-coated rods, 3M-salvaged brick, taconite, quartzite, rubber porous paving, granite Bench 2015 Material:…

Pierce Butler Route is known by many as a shortcut through area neighborhoods, Pierce Butler Route is named for one of Saint Paul’s U.S. Supreme Court justices. The street was platted in…

- 743 Central Avenue - Pilgrim Baptist Church was started in 1863 by Rev. Robert T. Hickman and his prayer group, who called themselves “Pilgrims.” Its current building at 743 Central Av. dates…

- 340 North Robert Street - (at Fourth) - 1889, Solon Beman - The Pioneer Building's owner boasted on his stationery that the building stood "At the Business Heart of Saint Paul." The high value…

(First Trust Center) - 176 East Fifth Street - (enter on Fourth between Jackson and Sibley) - 1914-16, Charles S. Frost - James J. Hill crowned his extraordinary career with a plan to build…

Benjamin Brunson, a surveyor of Saint Paul in 1847, planned Brunson’s Addition in what is now lower Payne Avenue. The neighborhood had pleasing views of Trout Brook, Phalen Creek and downtown, because…

15 West Kellogg Boulevard, Suite 250 // Saint Paul, MN 55102 Ramsey County Court House, and historic Art Deco building built in 1923, features woods, marbles, Art Deco, courtrooms, 38-foot Vision…

Rapinwax Paper operated in Frogtown for many years at 293 Como Av. The company made wax paper for food handling and food preservation. In the days before plastic wrap and resealable plastic food bags,…

Continuing west on George Street, there are three residences worth admiring. Just south of the Riverview Library is the Rau-Strong House at 2 East George. Adam Rau was a stonecutter and…

Hooray for Hollywood! Frogtown’s unique contribution to the early film industry began at 823 University Avenue. A film projectionist named Charles Bell came to St. Paul from Seattle in 1908. He…

All along Rice Street commercial buildings predominate, designed for profit, not for show. Between 1880 and 1925, both sides of the street from Sycamore to Maryland filled with storefronts and…

The familiar Midwest urban decline began along Selby during the Depression, accelerated after World War II, then hit its nadir with two nights of violence after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King in…

- 534 Blair Avenue - Conversion of buildings for housing and moving of buildings to make way for new uses is not uncommon in Frogtown’s history, especially east of Dale Street. This is one of a few…

Located in the North End neighborhood, Rice Street began as a commercial corridor that served St. Paul’s working class. Rice Street is unassuming; when it was rushed into being, more than a century…

A short distance south of St. Matthew's School, at the corner of Humboldt and George, you will find Riverview Library. The industrialist (founder of US Steel) and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie…

The first bridge here opened in 1886 and served until the early 1920s, when a higher bridge was required to accommodate a raised railroad platform at St. Paul Union Depot. Designed by Toltz, King and…

(1831-1900) When the steamboat Northern arrived in 1863 carrying labor and equipment to defuse a Dakota Indian uprising, it also towed a raft of 76 ex-slaves that had been found drifting. The…