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http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/15754904.htm
Ayd Mill Road? Nusbaumer Drive? Quirnia Avenue? Xina Park? If you've ever wondered about the origins of these and other St. Paul streets and landmarks both well-known and obscure, you should love the new, expanded version of "The Street Where You Live" ($19.95), a 1975 book long out of print. It's written by historian Donald L. Empson, with contributions from his wife, Kathleen M. Vadnais.
Ayd Mill Road? Nusbaumer Drive? Quirnia Avenue? Xina Park? If you've ever wondered about the origins of these and other St. Paul streets and landmarks both well-known and obscure, you should love the new, expanded version of "The Street Where You Live" ($19.95), a 1975 book long out of print. It's written by historian Donald L. Empson, with contributions from his wife, Kathleen M. Vadnais.
Book talk and signing: 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at Barnes & Noble, 2080 Ford Parkway, St. Paul; light reception to follow event.
Book talk and signing: 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at Micawber's, 2238 Carter Ave., St. Paul.
Anyone else gonna go to Micawber's?
We'll get over $8 per book if you buy it from ME :smile: paweeeeese! you don't have to come down here, I can save it for you.
If you sign up that day for membership -you can get the book for $19 get it signed AND recieve 4 magazines a year from RCHS AND into Gibbs Farm for FREE all year.
IF you buy it on Saturday anywhere else (say barnes and noble) than we don't get the sale.
Orchard Park and cemetery being one of um :smile:
I've emailed several of my friends asking if they remember what it was called, but I know what their response will be. They'll say, "How the heck do you remember this stuff?" :chagrin:
But the husband of one friend is an urban geographer who specializes in Twin Cities geography and history, so maybe he'll be able to locate it for me.
Did you happen to see these people there OT? :smile:
I might have seen this guy there though.
OT? was it maybe Mayalls Alley? It used to run through where the Xcell Energy Center now is - bound by 7th st, the auditorium and St. Peter.
I think it went near St. Joes Hospital and Assumption church too.
I heard back from one friend and all she did was confirm that she remembered the place. :chagrin:
I'm not sure it would even show up on any plat maps as Alley 21. Alley 21 was just the location name. Kind of like a strip mall isn't a street name, just a designation. Like Signal Hills wasn't on Signal Hills Street, for example.
THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT FROM THE 1ST ONE---HOW???
OH I'M SPECIAL...THANK YOU mucluck!!!
I managed to keep my purloined and dog-eared copy of Don's book, under lock and key, for almost 30 years
FROM THE ABOVE LINK
UNIVERSITY AVENUE
Because this street initially ran between the University of Minnesota and Hamline University, it was given its name in 1874.The establishment of the Minnesota Transfer Yards, however, blocked the street, and it was necessary to shift the eastern end of the avenue one-half mile south.
University Avenue appropriated the name of what had been Melrose Avenue, and the original University Avenue became part of Minnehaha Avenue.
In 1889, University Avenue was first paved with tree trunks about 6 to 8 inches in diameter, cut to half-foot lengths, and set in the street on a cement base, the space between the blocks being filled with asphalt and cement grout.
In the first half of the 20th century, University Avenue was the busiest street in the city. This street marks a one-half section line on the land survey.
VAN SLYKE AVENUE
Recalled as a man who made two blades of grass grow where there was but one, William A.Van Slyke (1833-1910) was called the founder of our present park system because of his efforts on the City Council as chairman of the committee on parks.
Born in New York state, he moved to St. Paul in 1854 as a store clerk; by 1857, the business was his. Active in many public affairs, he was "the man above all other men who has transformed our dirty, somber, dark, forbidding parks into gems of loveliness."
Upon his death, the park board moved a boulder, the only remaining relic of Baptist Hill, from Smith (Mears) Park to Van Slyke's grave in Oakland Cemetery. His name was selected for this street because of its proximity to Como Park.
Ayd Mill Road? Nusbaumer Drive? Quirnia Avenue? Xina Park?
If you've ever wondered about the origins of these and other St. Paul streets and landmarks both well-known and obscure, you should love the new, expanded version of "The Street Where You Live" ($19.95), a 1975 book long out of print. The book is by historian Donald L. Empson, with contributions from his wife, Kathleen M. Vadnais.
Through Friday, we're offering excerpts in an A-to-Z sampler of streets scattered throughout the capital city.
The excerpts here are reprinted with permission from "The Street Where You Live: A Guide to the Place Names of St. Paul" by Donald L. Empson, foreword by Don Boxmeyer (University of Minnesota Press).
SELBY AVENUE AND TUNNEL
Reckoned as "industrious, economical, and thrifty," Jeremiah W. Selby (1812-55) traveled to St. Paul in 1849 for his health and purchased a 40-acre farm on St. Anthony Hill where the Cathedral of St. Paul now stands. On this farm, for which he paid $50 an acre, Selby built a house and made a comfortable living raising potatoes and vegetables.
This street, part of his homestead, was named in Dayton and Irvine's Addition in 1854.
In the fall of 1982, there was an effort by city Council Member Bill Wilson to change the name of the street to honor Roy Wilkins (1901-81), longtime head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Selby Avenue Tunnel: In 1906, the streetcar company, unable to surmount the 16 percent grade on the hill rising from Pleasant Avenue to Selby Avenue, reconciled itself to tunneling through the hill. The 1,500-foot subway was 15 feet high, 23 feet across and 50 feet underground at its greatest depth, and it afforded a 7 percent grade.
With the dismantling of the streetcar system in the 1950s, the tunnel was no longer used for transportation. For some years after, it served as a shelter for the homeless and various underworld purposes. The sealed entrance can be seen adjacent to Cathedral Square, a short distance from the corner of Old Kellogg Boulevard and College Avenue.
TEMPERANCE STREET
One of downtown's most obscure avenues, this block-long street was named in Joel Whitney's Addition in 1851 for the virtue of abstaining from alcoholic beverages.
At this early date, temperance was a spirited question, and the first society for that purpose had been organized in St. Paul only three years previous. It is said that in its later years the street was disgraced by a saloon.
Today, for the first time in 130 years, there are residential units on the street with, we hope, no intemperate occupants.
Ayd Mill Road? Nusbaumer Drive? Quirnia Avenue?
If you've ever wondered about the origins of these and other St. Paul streets and landmarks both well-known and obscure, you should love the new, expanded version of "The Street Where You Live" ($19.95), a 1975 book long out of print. The book is by historian Donald L. Empson, with contributions from his wife, Kathleen M. Vadnais.
Through Friday, we're offering excerpts in an A-to-Z sampler of streets scattered throughout the capital city.
Q
Uirnia Avenue
This Highland Park street was named in 1927 as part of the estate of Peter Bohland, a pioneer farmer of the area. Quirnia and Xina (now Hampshire Avenue) were designated at this time; both seem to have been chosen for their singular sound.
OBERT STREET
This is one of the original 15 street names of the city. It was named in 1849 on the plat St. Paul Proper, on which the street was only 55 feet wide.
A tall, muscular man of great energy, with strong features and decided convictions, Capt. Louis Robert (1811-74) was a fur trader on the Missouri River before moving to St. Paul in 1844 with his wife, Mary, where he purchased part of the original town site and named this street in 1849.
The owner of several steamboats he piloted, Robert also dealt heavily in real estate, ending life with considerable money and a reputation for generosity and public spirit. Because Robert was French-Canadian, his name was originally pronounced "Row-bear." On the West Side, Robert Street was known as the Capitol Highway.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Ayd Mill Road? Nusbaumer Drive? Quirnia Avenue? Xina Park?
If you've ever wondered about the origins of these and other St. Paul streets and landmarks both well-known and obscure, you should love the new, expanded version of "The Street Where You Live" ($19.95), a 1975 book long out of print. The book is by historian Donald L. Empson, with contributions from his wife, Kathleen M. Vadnais.
O
Live Street
In the early years, there were several Olive streets within the city. This one was named for the tree in 1852 in Kittson's Addition in the original Lowertown, a prominent residential area of the 19th century.
The northern end of the street is enjoying a resurgence with the new St. Paul police station on the corner of Olive and Grove streets. There is, moreover, a completely new segment of Olive Street, wide and flat, entering the Williams Hill Business Center.
RINCE STREET
Originally Third Street, the name of this downtown street was changed in 1862.
"A good and very popular public officer," John S. Prince (1821–95) was five times mayor of St. Paul in the 1860s.
Born in Cincinnati, he came to St. Paul in 1854 as the agent of a fur trading company. While here, he supervised an early sawmill near the street now bearing his name. Prince held a number of offices, both public and private, and was accounted one of the leading citizens of the day.
A tiny, 16-foot-wide brick-paved street behind Summit Avenue, really an alley, was made necessary by the topography of the land. Platted in 1854, it most likely takes its name from a narrow street in London, famous as the home of Voltaire.
USBAUMER DRIVE
Frederick Nusbaumer (1850-1935) was called the "father of the St. Paul park system" for his work as superintendent of parks from 1889 to 1922.
Born in Baden, Germany, he attended the polytechnical school in Freiburg. Upon graduation at 17, he went to London to work in the famous Kew Gardens, after which he traveled to France, where he worked in its largest nursery. In France, Horace W. S. Cleveland, then recognized as one of the world's leading landscape gardeners, urged him to come to the United States.
Nusbaumer immigrated to St. Paul in 1878 and did contract landscaping for 12 years until becoming superintendent. His skill earned Como Park a national reputation. This street within the park was named in his honor in 1967.
This street was added to the city in 1950 in the McDonough public housing development. The name of Robert John Klainert (1924-45), a serviceman killed in World War II, was suggested by the Nels Wold (No. 5) Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart because both Robert and his father, Joseph, were recipients of the Purple Heart award.
John J. McDonough (1895–1962), for whom the project was named, was mayor of St. Paul from 1940 to 1948.
ARRY HO DRIVE
Larry Ho was the pen name of Laurence Curran Hodgson (1874–1937), mayor of St. Paul in 1918-22 and 1926-30. Born in Hastings, he began work at age 14 as a printer's devil on the Hastings Democrat, working his way up to the staff of the Minneapolis Tribune by 1897.
In subsequent years, he held several posts within city government and wrote for St. Paul newspapers. A prolific writer and an entertaining speaker, he had a great facility for relating to people. He wrote a playful obituary of himself in 1935:
"He was a sort of foolish fellow, but he never failed when we needed him. His brain may have been wobbly, but his heart was staunch. He was our friend."
Upon his death, Hodgson's body lay in state at the foot of the giant statue of an Indian god of peace in the concourse of the city hall. This street near Battle Creek was named by the city council in 1959.
Today Hodgson is forgotten; the only living memory of his accomplishments is the ribald poem he is said to have written when the brothel of Nina Clifford on Washington Street was demolished to make way for the city morgue in 1937 — which says something about what history comes down to us.
Harwood Iglehart, William Hall, and Charles Mackubin, natives of Maryland, may have had that state's more temperate climate in mind when naming this East Side street in 1857.
At 982 E. Ivy Ave. are the brick Ivy Park Apartments that were once the ladies dormitory of St. Paul Luther College, the only building remaining of several that were on that campus. Across the street at 985 E. Ivy is the only remaining building — beautifully restored inside and out — of the Gillette Children's Hospital, now the home of the Minnesota Humanities Commission.
ACKSON STREET
As a developer of the 1849 plat St. Paul Proper, Henry Jackson ascribed his name to this street, one of the original 15 street names of the city.
"A short, thick-set man, slow in speech, quiet in his movements, with a florid complexion, and a mouth full of tobacco" — such is the description of Jackson (1811–57), one of the first St. Paul pioneers.
Born in Virginia, Jackson drifted through Texas, New York, Wisconsin and Illinois before he and his wife, Angelina, settled in St. Paul in 1842, where he established a general store and served as the first postmaster.
Originating at one of the city's steamboat landings, Jackson Street, then only 39 feet wide, became a commercial thoroughfare of the city. In the early days, the northern part of Jackson Street was known as the "old cemetery road" for its route to Oakland Cemetery.
Writing in 1958 in "St. Paul Is My Beat," Gareth Hiebert characterized three periods of downtown Jackson Street:
"It has been a gay street of commerce, hotels and cafes (1870-1915). And Jackson has been a misery street of lost weekends, poverty and wobbly gaited men whose blank stares were as bare as the empty show cases behind plate glass windows into which they looked (1915-60). And now, the wheels of commerce hum on Jackson again and, like Jericho, some of the old walls are tumbling down to make way for parking lot after parking lot, and quite a few people think it is a mighty good thing for Jackson to be so accommodating (1960+)."
I'm not forcing anyone to buy it - I'm just saying if you buy it than please get it through me so we get the money. It pays my salary in the long run.
and I'm bringing my old copies to be signed as well :smile:
STILL GET ALL THIS???
I knew this :grin:
Thats like 2 blocks from me.
Ive been adding tidbits practically daily via post-it notes into my streets where you live book
Its not easy to stump me on a St. Paul city street. The past street names are not usually listed in his book except by current street name and then what it used to be called. In my line of work I need to know everything in reverse!
So today was the old Winnebago St. It used to run east/west through what is now Cherokee Park. cool.
Wakefield Ave over on the East Side was Birch
I got that book for x-mas from my mom, already knew a ton of stuff thats in there.... made me feel pretty good....