Laughter, Falling Water and Time
The Edna S. Purcell house was designed by William Gray Purcell & George Grant Elmslie for Purcell and his family in 1913. The house is considered on of the finest examples of work done by the local architecture firm of Purcell and Elmslie. The structure’s horizontal plane, flat roof, use of natural materials and colors … Read more
Did you know the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. is the most inclusive, comprehensive and democratic club in the city? Do you know it is about the livest, red bloodedest social center in the whole state of Minnesota? Do you know that as a member you are privileged to bowl, play billiards, pool, chess, checkers, handball, basketball, volleyball, … Read more
Built in 1864, the yellow limestone walls of the Frederick Spangenberg House came from banks of the Mississippi River. The rocks were hauled up on a sled by oxen. Frederick Spangenberg was a German immigrant dairy farmer. His 80-acre farm become the best part of Saint Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood. When August Spanburg died at … Read more
The Art Deco St. Paul Women’s City Club Building in downtown Saint Paul once provided a dining room, assembly rooms, dressing rooms, and bedrooms for members and guests of the club.The St. Paul Women’s City Club. The organization grew out of a post World War I American Woman’s Club movement. The group met in the … Read more
St. Paul’s historic Landmark Center was completed in 1902. Originally, the building served as the United States Post Office, Court House, and Custom House. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke, who served as Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1891-92. The exterior is pink granite ashlar with a hipped red tile roof, … Read more
East Lake was one of 13 library branches established by the first female head librarian at the Minneapolis Public Library. Gratia Countryman made it her mission to bring people closer to books. She served in the position from 1904 to 1936. The East Lake Library was designed by Jerome Paul Jackson. The modest building was … Read more
The Wabasha Street Bridge built in 1998 replaced an earlier structure that was built in 1889. The new bridge is actually two bridges, one for northbound and one for southbound traffic. The use of a concrete segmental box girder bridge provided a construction advantage because no falsework needed to be built beneath the bridge. Pedestrian … Read more
Built in 1852 the Prescott house at 4458 Snelling Avenue South, was the third oldest house in Minneapolis when it was demolished to make way for public works vehicle storage in 1980. Philander Prescott was born September 17, 1801, the son of a doctor and a native of Phelps, New York. In the spring of … Read more
The Franklin Avenue or F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge was designed by and named for Frederick William Cappelen. The bridge was completed in 1923. Cappelen died during the construction of the bridge, and as a memorial to his life and career, the bridge still bears his name. The reinforced-concrete open-spandrel arched bridge took a couple years … Read more