While the house at 470 Hopkins Street is not on the National Register, it has a rich history that can help explain the changes over time in the Railroad Island neighborhood. The stories of the people who lived here were discovered by a researcher…

Swede Hollow. Even though it has been gone for half a century, there are people who still remember it fondly. A number of articles have been written about its history, often in a nostalgic manner. Some say it was a slum, while others think it was…

The Brunson House, located at 485 Kenney Street and built around 1856, is thought to be the oldest brick residence in St. Paul. Its original owner was Benjamin W. Brunson who was born in Michigan and went with his parents to Wisconsin in 1835. He…

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 no railroads had yet cut through the area. The…

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. Surrounded by trees and wetlands, it served as a…

The Payne Avenue State Bank, a two-story brick building at 961-63 Payne Avenue, was constructed in 1923. With its four large classical columns it is probably the most impressive building on the commercial corridor of this part of the East Side. …

Casa Bella Plaza Latina — whose building was once slated to become a pawn shop--is a colorful mercado with a wide variety of locally owned businesses. Its 35,000-square-foot commercial space is located at 925 Payne Avenue. The project was driven…

Francesco and Dora Yarusso were the founders of today’s Yarusso Brothers Restaurant at 635 Payne avenue. They arrived in St. Paul in 1904 and headed for Swede Hollow, where they started to raise their fourteen children. They soon moved up the hill…

Morelli’s, located at 535 Tedesco Street on the northwest corner of Payne Avenue, has been in the Italian food business since 1915. James Morelli and his young wife recognized that the growing number of immigrants who lived in the area were eager to…

The David Barton Labyrinth and Reflective Garden is located just west of Maria Avenue and East Seventh Street on the Metropolitan State University campus. The community connection with the university began in the 1980’s when it chose the Dayton’s…

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…

Inside of the municipal forest is an almost forgotten historical remnant. Its first mention appeared in the St. Paul Park Department records at the turn of the last century: “The grove will be known as the Past Matrons Grove of the Order of Eastern…

One of the remaining walls runs from the scenic overlook and heads west along the bluff line behind the Indian Mounds. The second of the WPA work is a more dramatic curved limestone wall that follows the turn of Mounds Boulevard as it leaves the…

Just beyond the easternmost Indian Mound, there is a scenic outlook that gives a nice view of Mississippi River below. In 1954 The Geological Society of Minnesota and the city of Saint Paul placed a plaque on a limestone structure that gives a brief…

Today, there are six remaining Indian Mounds found on both sides of the current pavilion. At one time there were thirty nine, found in two separate areas along the bluff, but they were destroyed by early farming, houses and park development. These…

German-born Albert Koehler, who actually had the first name of Heinrich, was a foreman at Hamm’s Brewery. He married Wilhemina Hamm, the daughter of Theodore and Louise Hamm. Since there was little remaining open land near the family grouping on…

When the European settlers arrived in vicinity of Saint Paul, the Mdewakanton band of Dakota had already lived here for decades. They called the general area "Imniza-Ska" or "white cliffs” referring to the towering sandstone bluffs. …

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…

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 was the work of the architectural firm of…

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. Bassford was probably the busiest designer in the…