East Seventh Street was the main business strip of Dayton’s Bluff starting in the 1870’s. The railroad tracks just to the north attracted industry which, in turn, promoted the building of worker’s houses that joined the fashionable homes of more prosperous neighbors. At the time people walked or used horses to get around. Then the streetcar arrived on East Seventh and, starting on June 15, 1889, ran from downtown to Duluth Street.
Because horses could not easily make it up the steep hill, a cable car was used. It was replaced in 1893 when the system was electrified. East Seventh was one the main arterials in an out of downtown and eventually it went all the way to the suburb of White Bear. Like other streetcar strips, businesses lined both sides of the street.
Mom and pop stores served the needs of area residents who could find what they needed by walking up East Seventh, although they could take the streetcar to the large department stores in the city’s center. People later became more mobile when automobiles were more commonplace. Seventh Street stores suffered somewhat because of the lack of easy parking as residents could get to outlying suburban establishments.
Like the developments in transportation, there were also changes in the demographics in the surrounding area. Today the neighborhood is quite diverse and many of the stores reflect newer arrivals. You might keep this in mind as you stroll up Seventh Street and look at some of its landmarks.
]]>- 208-66 East Seventh Street (between Sibley and Wall) -
- 1875-87 -
The extroverted designs of the historic buildings on Seventh Street caught the attention of shoppers and workers riding the streetcars and farmers hauling produce along the bustling thoroughfare.
]]>The number of Latino people living on the East Side has increased dramatically since the 1980’s. There are now numerous restaurants, groceries and other stores that respond to their specific cultural tastes. The historic Latino area in the city was on the West Side, across the river from downtown. There are a number of groups there to serve the immigrant community, but in response to the growing number of Latino residents on the East Side, one of the important institutions chose Dayton’s Bluff for the location of their new headquarters building.
The groundbreaking for the new home of Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) at 797 East Seventh Street took place in 2004. CLUES was founded in 1981 as the first language-appropriate and culturally-competent mental health clinic for Latinos. It has become a vital organization in Dayton’s Bluff and beyond, providing services that focus on health and wellness, education, and employment. They focus on the six core services: mental health, chemical health, aging well, family economic advancement and community health worker services.
A Mexican Consulate, the first in the state, was opened in a remodeled section of the CLUES building in 2005. In addition to its work in St. Paul, the organization will serve Mexican immigrants living in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and northern Wisconsin. The consulate can issue passports and an identification card called a "matricula consular," which can be used to open bank accounts, cash paychecks and obtain marriage licenses. It also offers visas, as well as emergency services and educational and cultural programs. Mexican citizens living in the Upper Midwest no longer have to get to Chicago or elsewhere to obtain such documents.
]]>The W. F. Stutzman Block, a Victorian commercial structure stands at 721-733 East Seventh Street. It was designed by August Gauger and constructed in two stages from 1885 to 1889, with the easternmost tower area going up last. Two of the original sections have been destroyed but the name of the original owner still remains in a rooftop pediment.
For many years it was a vibrant commercial corner. William F. Stutzman was a bookkeeper for a wholesale supplier of grain and produce and for a time also served on the Saint Paul City Council. William died in 1943 and his wife Bertha died in 1992 a few days before her ninety-fifth birthday. A Stutzman family member lived in a second story apartment through the 1930's.
In the early 1990s, this building was a victim of urban decay. It had become a problem for local neighbors and received many visits from the police. The area was heavily paved, littered with trash and blighted by a large billboard on the western end of the block.
The Upper Swede Hollow Neighborhood Association (USHNA) purchased the building in 1994. Their goal was to return this highly visible Victorian building to a community asset. Years of grassroots efforts and fundraising from foundations and area residents allowed the restoration of the building. It is now home to nonprofit organizations, affordable rental apartments and a busy café with an attractive outdoor patio. USHNA also made the structure more environmentally friendly and, instead of sending runoff into the storm sewer, water now goes into a rain garden area.
In September 1994, the west end of the property was named August Gauger Park, to honor the architect who lived in the neighborhood and also designed the nearby Schornstein Grocery and Saloon and many area homes. The community garden project, with its terraced flowerbeds and a stone pathway was started in 1993 with help from a class at Metropolitan State University, the Dayton's Bluff Community Council, USHNA, and many community people.
Gauger Park contains two items of women’s history. The first is a stone marker found at the base of the large cottonwood tree. It was placed there in memory of Bonnie Luke (1948-1994), a member of the nursing faculty and academic advisor at Metropolitan State University from 1988 to the year of her death. Metro students, staff and community volunteers worked to develop the surrounding park. Bonnie’s family and friends brought flowers from her former yard and planted them near her memorial.
The second item is the Maria Bates Rain Garden named for early resident Maria Bates Dayton who, with her husband Lyman, built a house in the area in 1854. Lyman became a prominent businessman and local land owner and their name became attached to the neighborhood.
Maria died in 1896 and several years later her son gave a tiny triangle for a park in her memory. The land was created when two early additions met at a forty-five degree angle at Bates and North Street. The city recently vacated a section of Bates Avenue between East Seventh and North Streets and the land was added to small the park, connecting it directly to what would later become Gauger Park. What had been the former triangle area is now known as the Maria Bates Rain Garden.
]]>The “Home for the Friendless” as it was first called, was founded in 1867 to provide shelter for destitute women and children. A group of twelve women - including pioneer teacher Harriet Bishop - from various local churches, formed a sewing group to raise money to provide services. Starting in 1869, a home for them was located in a converted large house on nearby Payne Avenue.
The next location at 753 East Seventh was originally the site of the Mayall family’s stone mansion, which had been built in 1881. When the original owners left in 1903 it was used as the Nugent Institute, a drug and alcohol program, the City Cycling Club headquarters and the Parental School and Detention Home, which the neighborhood children called the "Bad Boys Home."
Around 1913 Ada L. Mayall offered the group the family homestead. When the organization purchased the site, they decided to replace the original structure. Architectural plans called for for a Tudor style building with six double and thirty-nine single rooms. On January 3, 1917 the new "Home for the Friendless" as it was still known, opened its doors. Initially people could buy a life membership for $1,000. The building still stands in the middle section of today’s structure. Mercifully, in 1935, the name was changed to “The Protestant Home” and the term “inmate” was replaced by "resident."
Over the years, several additions were made to the original building and different organizational structures emerged, but it always remained a residence. The mission slowly changed and the focus became providing eldercare. Until recently it was part of the Wilder organization and then the Cerenity Senior Care system, which vacated the premises in 2011. The current plan is for another group to take ownership and develop the building into an assisted living facility.
]]>The Dayton’s Bluff Commercial Club was started in 1905 to provide a place for social exchange and community leadership. The clubhouse at 770 East Seventh Street was built for meetings and socializing for the area’s professional class. Later expansions added bowling lanes, private dining rooms, a men’s smoking room, a billiard area, as well as a banquet hall and dance floor.
The Commercial Club often spoke on behalf of the community and undertook a number of local initiatives. In 1909 they published a booklet entitled Picturesque Dayton's Bluff. In it, they discussed "the wonderful strides in material progress" that had been made in the area. There were photos of many area businesses and industries around East Seventh and the nearby homes of their owners. According to the booklet, “the many advantages offered on Dayton's Bluff are attracting home builders and residents” and over 700 new houses were going to be built.
The Commercial Club was involved in many activities in its early years. It had raised money for the erection of a ski slide in Indian Mounds Park. The organization launched an “industrial expansion project” to “encourage the establishment of industries in the East District. An energetic Women’s Auxiliary held many events including many “canned goods parties” to give food to charities. Large crowds also came to their annual picnics.
The Commercial Club shifted away from involvement in civic and economic matters after World War Two. The members were no longer the wealthy, but more of a cross section of the neighborhood. The leadership of the group had slowly shifted to small businessmen. It continued as a location for neighborhood events, including community sings, wrestling matches and wedding receptions. The annual bowling banquet after "pin season" was eagerly awaited by the community. Hundreds of people came to Commercial Club events such as musicals and vaudeville acts.
There were commercial clubs in many Saint Paul neighborhoods, but they slowly faded away. The Dayton’s Bluff Commercial Club was one of the few that hung on and continued to have members into the 1970’s. Since it closed, the building has often been empty, but has been sold from time to time. In the late 1970’s it was owned by a man who raised wholesale fish bait there and dubbed it “Worm City.” Most recently it has served as the meeting place for an Ethiopian Church.
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