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 1961.
Butler was born in 1886 and died in November 1939 while he was still serving on the court. He served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1923 until his death. He is notable for being the first Justice from Minnesota, and for being a Democrat appointed by a Republican president.
Prior to being appointed to the high court, Butler was a prominent civic leader and attorney, who did much of his work for the railroads. He was elected Ramsey County Attorney in Ramsey 1892, and re-elected in 1894. He joined the law firm of How & Eller in 1896, which became How & Butler.
Butler, like much of Frogtown, had ties to railroad magnate James J. Hill. He handled railroad-related matters for Hill. He worked in railroad law in Canada from 1912 to 1922. At the time of his Supreme Court nomination, Butler was in the process of winning about $12 million for the shareholders of the Toronto Street Railway.
In 1908, Butler was elected President of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Longer-term city plans call for Pierce Butler Route to extend east to connect with Interstate 35E and Phalen Boulevard.
]]>The area of West Minnehaha Avenue bounded by Victoria, Chatsworth, and Lafond was the home of Amherst H. Wilder Foundation headquarters until 2007. The site is now eyed as the future home for Frogtown Farm and Park.
The 13-acre site contains some of Frogtown’s best sliding hills. The site has many mature oak and cottonwood trees. A large open field is atop its highest hill, and hikers can enjoy an outstanding view of the neighborhoods and the city.
A dedicated band of neighborhood residents has worked with city officials, the Saint Paul Department of Parks and Recreation and the Trust for Public Land to create a Frogtown park and urban farm at the property, with green space, demonstration gardens, education and community gathering spaces and more.
Between 1883 and 1967, the site was occupied by the House of the Good Shepherd. Operated by the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the facility housed unwed mothers, prostitutes and girls deemed “incorrigible.” The massive Gothic building, with three tall towers and a large dome, was torn down in the late 1960s. Wilder bought the site in 1969 and moved its campus there.
Wilder’s townhouses and nearby Wilder Square high-rise (1975) remain as does a child care center and the Wilder Woods Alice Nicholson Gathering Pavilion, which was built in 2003. The pavilion has tree-trunk columns and a witch’s hat for a roof, and is loved by neighborhood children.
]]>One important Frogtown landmark on Minnehaha Avenue is the West Minnehaha Recreation Center. “West Minne” is one of the city’s older recreation centers. The original Platteville limestone recreation center building was erected in 1937-38 as one of many Works Progress Administration (WPA) buildings in Saint Paul. The WPA was a federal program that provided badly needed jobs during the Great Depression. Many historic Saint Paul buildings, walls and other structures were built as a result of the WPA.
West Minne was one of numerous city parks buildings designed and built during Clarence “Cap” Wigington’s tenure with the City of Saint Paul. He is regarded as the nation’s first African-American Municipal Architect. His creations are all over the city and include the Highland Park Water Tower and the Harriet Island Pavilion.
The building has had additions and renovations over time but the Wigington building is still quite distinctive.
The playground itself dates from the 1920s and was served in its early years by a small wood frame building, which was used largely as a warming house for skaters. The wood warming house was later replaced by a small concrete structure for a time. The playground had more than one skating rink during much of its history. Men would push snow into banks to make a large pleasure skating rink. Boards and a net comprised the smaller hockey rink. Frogtown youth played hockey or skated to music. The rinks were lit for nighttime use. Music was played on a record player or phonograph in the warming house, for the pleasure rink.
As the neighborhood’s largest public space, West Minne Playground has hosted countless events over the years. Those range from neighborhood festivals to Frogtown Football teams.
The Frogtown Festival, ethnic festivals and Saint Paul Winter Carnival events were held there. Recreation center and area school sporting events and practices have also been held there. West Minne has long been used by Saint Agnes School and was used by other neighborhood schools in the past.
It’s estimated that more than two dozen kinds of sports have been played at West Minne, in the gym and on the fields, over the years.
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