The dominant Rice Street institution for the past 120 years has been St. Bernard’s Church and School. Like St. Mary’s several blocks to the south, St. Bernard’s has its roots in the Austro-Hungarian…

A century ago the Rice Street area, especially between Atwater and Front, was a new and densely populated neighborhood. There were lots of rooming houses and many big families. Lyton Place today is a…

Just three blocks east of Rice Street lies, very quietly, one of St. Paul’s loveliest, most serene, and most interesting greenspaces – the Oakland Cemetery. Founded in 1853, Oakland is St. Paul’s…

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…

One small ethnic community made a striking contribution to the Rice Street landscape. Around 1900, a few hundred Romanian emigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire made their way to St. Paul, and…

Other key commercial districts in the neighborhood include Dale Street and the Dale-Como-Front intersection, which abuts the North End, Lower Rice Street and several small pockets of commercial…

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…

University Avenue was once one of Saint Paul’s “auto row” districts, where people could shop for cars. Owens Motor Sales (now Lifetrack Resources) at 709 University Av. (1917, second floor 1922-23) is…

Faith Lutheran Church at 499 Charles Avenue is a 1932 Gothic brick structure that is largely unchanged, except for the closing of its once-large basement-level windows. Otherwise the church retains…

Saint Stephanus Lutheran Church was built in 1890 at Lafond and Grotto to serve a German Lutheran congregation. The building has been renovated twice, after a 1925 fire and a 1990 windstorm. Visitors…

Trinity Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church, 515 N. Farrington, came to Frogtown in 1885. Its longtime building was erected in 1902. The brick building, with a limestone foundation, was built in the…

- Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill - While Catholicism is considered a dominant religion in Saint Paul history, Frogtown has been home to many Lutheran congregations. Christ Lutheran Church…

Saint Vincent de Paul School, 643 Virginia St. The school’s groundbreaking was in November 1900. The school opened in July 1901, with 190 children. Four Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, who lived…

Saint Adalbert’s Catholic Church, 265 Charles Avenue, was built in 1911 to serve Polish Catholics. Today its three-tiered twin front towers greet many Vietnamese worshippers. The original church…

Frogtown’s largest church is Saint Agnes Catholic Church, 548-50 Lafond Avenue. The current church is the third church built on this site since 1887, when Archbishop John Ireland founded the parish to…

What is now Saint Paul Fellowship was designed in 1907 and built in 1908 as University Avenue Congregational Church, and is located at Victoria and Sherburne avenues. It was designed by noted…

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…

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…

Ryan Park, at Thomas Avenue and Avon Street, was until 1974 the site of Benjamin Drew Elementary School. Benjamin Drew Elementary School was designed by prolific and prominent Saint Paul architect…

Scheffer Elementary’s old school bell is in front of Scheffer Recreation Center, 237 Thomas Avenue. The recreation center’s ball fields include the site of the city’s first playground, Como…