350 St. Peter Street // St. Paul, MN 55012
Built by Thomas Lowry in 1911 as the Lowry Medical Arts Building, The Lowry is one of the loveliest buildings in downtown, built to fit in with the surrounding buildings like the Saint Paul Hotel. Renovated recently as The Lowry Condominiums, it contains several restaurants and specialty shops, including The Q Restaurant and Coffee Shop.
]]>350 Market Street // St. Paul, MN 55102
The Saint Paul Hotel, members of Historic Hotel of America and rated four diamonds by AAA, is Minnesota's landmark hotel for business and leisure.
]]>345 Kellogg Boulevard West // Saint Paul, MN 55102
The Minnesota History Center is home to an innovative museum with ever-changing exhibits and a modern library.
]]>Landmark Center, once the Federal Courts Building and Post Office and now a vibrant cultural center, offers some of the Twin Cities' most gorgeous architecture, and is open daily to the public with free tours on Thursdays at 11:00 am, and Sundays at noon. Landmark Center also houses five museums: The Schubert Club Instrument and Document Galleries, the American Association of Woodturners Gallery, TRACES Museum, Ramsey County Historical Society and the Landmark Archives. Other amenities include Landmarket gift shop, Anita's Cafe, and an information center.
]]>People arriving in Saint Paul between 1900 and 1940 generally came by train through the Union Depot. In its heyday, this neoclassical structure served 282 trains and 20,000 passengers daily. The depot is significant both as a point of entry for African Americans and as an opportunity for job-seekers. Although most black workers were confined to menial roles, the industry did provide educated African Americans with a more respected occupation as Pullman porters. Regardless of job status, black station employees were important ambassadors. They were often the first friendly face for a new arrival, and their networks of information about where to find shelter and a good meal were invaluable.
]]>A block from Rice Park stands the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. Renamed in 1984 for the executive director of the NAACP and longtime civil rights advocate, the auditorium has been an important venue for live entertainment since 1932. Entertainers booked there have included Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, B.B. King and Herbie Hancock. The original building was designed by Minnesota's first African American municipal architect, Clarence W. Wigington, whose other buildings, Harriet Island Pavilion and Highland Water Tower, are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was born in St. Louis, and raised in Saint Paul by his relatives. Educated at the University of Minnesota, Wilkins went on to edit NAACP's Crisis magazine and eventually lead the national institution. For his work, he received the country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Lyndon B. Johnson. Saint Paul boasts two memorials to the "favorite son" of Minnesota: one at the interior entrance to the Roy Wilkins Auditorium and a large interactive monument on the State Capitol Mall.
]]>Even though pre-Civil War legislation attempted to restrict the movement of African Americans to Minnesota, free blacks and fugitive slaves continued to come. The highest concentration of blacks resided in the downtown commercial districts where jobs and affordable rents were more readily available. Most workers were relegated to occupations as porter, waiter and laborer. But some blacks owned successful businesses.
One of those entrepreneurs was Robert James Hilyard, who established a popular clothing store and used his success to develop several black institutions. These included the first Masonic Lodge for African Americans in Minnesota and the "Western Appeal," launched in 1885 as Minnesota's first black newspaper. Another was Thomas H. Lyles, one of the city's wealthier citizens, who pursued ventures in real estate, publishing and mortuary sciences. Highly persuasive, Lyles recruited Frederick L. McGhee, and Dr. ValDo (Valdo) Turner, Saint Paul's first African American lawyer and doctor, respectively, to relocate here. Lyle's wife, Amanda, was also influential. She opened The Hair Bazaar at 4th and Wabasha Streets and managed the funeral parlor after her husband's death.
]]>- Saint Paul Early Settler, 1799-1884 -
James Thompson arrived at Fort Snelling as a slave in 1827. He married an Ojibwe woman and learned the language. In the 1830s, he was hired by missionary Alfred Brunson as an interpreter. Thompson's success on Brunson's behalf prompted the missionary to purchase Thompson's freedom. Thompson became one of Saint Paul's first settlers and a man of property. He eventually donated materials and money in the 1840s for the construction of the city's first Methodist church, formerly at 352 Market Street in downtown Saint Paul.
]]>(Johnson's Service Station)
-271 East Kellogg Boulevard (between Wacouta and Wall) -
- 1907, J. Walter Stevens -
Since before the Civil War, Wells Fargo expedited national parcel delivery in areas beyond the reach of railroads. By the time this building was constructed, Wells Fargo had become part of American Express, organized principally to enable immigrants to send money to their families overseas. Conveniently located near the Depot, this building served largely clerical functions, which may account for its small scale.
]]>(James J. Hill Office Building)
- 281-99 East Kellogg Boulevard (between Wall and Broadway) -
-1887, James Brodie -
James J. Hill's success at building a railroad empire made him Saint Paul's most famous citizen. He earned his place in history with a combination of aggressive business sense and incessant hard work. His Great Northern Railway had its headquarters in this building until it moved to the Railroad and Bank Building shortly after his death in 1916. The archway on Broadway where Hill entered the enclosed courtyard of his office building has been a local landmark for over a century.
- Profiles in Prosperity: James J. Hill -
James J. Hill, Saint Paul's legendary "Empire Builder," came to Minnesota Territory from Rockwood, Ontario, in 1856 and took a position as warehouse clerk at the Lower Landing. A successful businessman by his mid-forties, Hill went into railroading. With astonishing energy and imagination, he built his Great Northern Railway into the centerpiece of a railroad network that dominated the Northwest.
]]>- 300 Broadway Street (at Kellogg) -
-1894, Edward P. Bassford -
Real estate investors financed this warehouse for use by Farwell, Ozmun, and Kirk, hardware wholesalers. At the turn of the century, F.O.K. salesmen canvassed a territory stretching west to the Pacific Coast and south as far as Arkansas. Today, the company lives on as the national chain of OK Hardware Stores. This massive warehouse illustrates the pleasing effect of rhythmic Romanesque Revival designs in commercial architecture.
]]>(Northern Warehouse Building)
- 308 Prince Street (at Broadway) -
- 1907-08, Northern Pacific Railway Company -
The Northern Pacific Railway completed construction to the West Coast in 1883. Thereafter, the line played a key role in supplying merchants in North Dakota and Montana with goods from Lowertown wholesalers. Lines connecting with Great Lakes shipping routes created an efficient link with the East Coast. Beyond this warehouse stands one row of an earlier generation of railroad freight houses, the last survivors in Lowertown of a structure once common to all rail centers.
]]>(Lowertown Commons)
- 300 East Fourth Street (between Wall and Broadway) -
- 1905 -
Originally built for the Saint Paul Rubber Company, this building supported the tremendous weight of E. W. Honza Printing Company's presses and type for many years. Redevelopers found that rot and foundation settling had taken a toll by the mid 1980s. They had to rebuild nearly one-fourth of the structure to make it fit for reuse as apartments. A beautiful central atrium transforms former industrial space into desirable living space.
]]>(Market House)
- 289 East Fifth Street (between Wall and Broadway) -
- 1902, J. Walter Stevens -
Like many others in Lowertown, this warehouse was built as a rental property with considerable unheated space for storage. Ambrose Tighe, who married one of Conrad Gotzian's daughters, apparently considered capital investment in Lowertown a good way to make his money work.
]]>- 281-87 East Fifth Street (at Wall) -
- 1904, Reed and Stem -
In 1897, Crane and Ordway Company led the Northwest in the manufacture of valves, fittings, and supplies for steam engines. Their engines probably powered the hoists used in constructing Lowertown buildings and drove the freight elevators that made the multistory structures practical. A year after the completion of this building, Lucius P. Ordway gained control of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, which became 3M, now one of Minnesota's most important corporations.
]]>(American House)
- 352 Wacouta Street (between Fourth and Fifth) -
- 1895, Cass Gilbert -
Adjacent buildings illustrate Cass Gilbert's commercial work in the 1890s. After nearly forty years of steady growth, Gotzian Shoe Company could afford to hire one of Saint Paul's most prominent architects to design a new factory and wholesale outlet. Paul Gotzian turned the outlet into rental property soon after its construction. Years of use by the American Beauty Macaroni Company gave the building its familiar name. In the 1980s, the factory was renovated into residential space.
- Profiles in Prosperity: Conrad Gotzian -
Conrad Gotzian came to Saint Paul about the same time as James J. Hill. A German immigrant, Gotzian established a shoe manufacturing firm that continued to flourish into this century. The two men were fast friends and built neighboring houses in the residential area surrounding the First Baptist Church.
]]>(Spin Knits Fabric Company)
- 350-64 Sibley (at Fifth) -
- 1882, attributed to J. Walter Stevens -
The buildings on the south side of Mears Park share many business connections. Noyes Brothers and Cutler rented the John Wann Building before constructing their own building a block to the north. After only a few years, they built the Powers Dry Goods Company building, apparently with that tenant in mind. Powers grew into a major Twin Cities department store before Donaldson's (now Carson Pirie Scott) bought them out in a struggle to keep pace with Dayton's.
Noyes Brothers and Cutler employed Stevens to design yet another wholesale house. The Fairbanks-Morse Company, makers of scales, windmills, pumps, and engines, took over this building in the 1920s. Adaptation for use as Metropolitan Council offices required expanded space, so renovators combined this structure with its neighbor. By strategic location of elevators and connecting stairways, they were able to compensate for different floor heights in the two buildings.
The Wann building, with its neighbor, illustrates the evolution of decorative fashions in architecture. The Wann building still retains the rounded window hoods characteristic of its Italianate design, although the original heavy cornice and elaborate entrance disappeared years ago. The Fairbanks-Morse building demonstrates the more subdued features of the Classical Revival style, using contrasting brick and stone for decorative effects in place of fancy carving or brickwork.
]]>(Cosmopolitan Building)
- 366 Wacouta Street (at Fifth) -
-1911, James F. Denson, architect; C.A.P. Turner, engineer -
-1923 addition, Clarence Johnston Jr., architect -
Finch, Van Slyck, and McConville started as a dry goods store in 1856 and moved into wholesaling by the early 1860s. By the turn of the century, they had become the largest dry goods wholesaler in Saint Paul. Thanks to C.A.P. Turner, an innovative Minneapolis engineer, Finch, Van Slyck, and McConville were able to consolidate their citywide operation in one new warehouse in 1911. Turner's revolutionary reinforced-concrete construction technique called for flat slabs supported by mushroom-capped columns. The system could support heavy loads across broad spans and soon became standard practice in reinforced-concrete construction. Today, the voluminous space provides ample room for 255 condominiums.
]]>(Gilbert Building)
- 413 Wacouta Street (between Sixth and Seventh) -
- 1893-94, Cass Gilbert -
The Boston Northwest Realty Company saw great money-making potential in the commercial expansion of Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth in the early 1890s. They built a warehouse in each city, choosing Cass Gilbert to design the Saint Paul structure. The handsome corbelled brick cornice and graceful windows demonstrate the attention to detail that earned Gilbert his national reputation. More important to the first tenant, T.L. Blood's Northwestern Paint Works, was the "slow-burn" construction. Exterior walls of brick support massive, fire-resistant timbers. Cast-iron columns provide interior support without taking up valuable space. Today, tenants choose this building for its meticulous renovation and ready access to the skyways.
]]>- 499 Wacouta Street (at Ninth) -
- 1875, William Boyington -
(adapted by master builder Monroe Sheire)
The First Baptist Church links Lowertown with its earliest history. The congregation built its first chapel in 1851 on a prominence called Mount Pisgah which soon earned the nickname Baptist Hill, now Mears Park. The present church replaced a second "meeting house" on Wacouta near Eighth Street, built at the center of Saint Paul's residential area. The original 190-foot spire proved too heavy for foundations based in swampy ground, so it was removed in 1945. Norman Mears supported the church's commitment to stay in the inner city as part of his vision of a Lowertown revival, symbolized by the steeple reconstruction in 1965.
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