St. Paul - only about 10 mi away from Minneapolis (16 km) it is a metropolis on its own, but different from Minneapolis in many regards. First impression was: it’s a little more „laid-back“, less hectic and more residential. Located on the East bank of the Mississippi River it is connected to its twin city, the airport and the Great Mall by streetcar. It is the Capital of the State of Minnesota, which became part of the Union in 1858.
We started and ended our tour with Nick at Harriet Island Regional Park, an unusual park with riverboats, a marina, and a public pier. It offers a great view towards St. Paul’s skyline from an observation point up the hill.
There are two really unique buildings in St. Paul: the Capitol (left picture) and the Cathedral (below). The Capitol was built 1895–1905, designed by Cass Gilbert, who also - among many other projects - designed the Woolworth Building in NYC. It has the largest free standing cupola (220 ft/68 m high and almost 27 m/89 ft. in diameter) and a eye-catching gold quadriga at the front, where four horses symbolize the elements whereas the two drivers stand for the most important economical pillars of the state: industry and agriculture. The capitol was renovated in 2017 - a $ 310 mio. project – and murals and other paintings show brilliantly vibrant colors now and there is a lot of glitz and glimmer thanks to the newly polished different marble varieties. We walked into the Governor’s Reception Room, saw the Senate’s and the House’s Chambers and the „Rathskeller“ - with German sayings on the wall - in the basement.
The religious counterpart to this monumental administrative building is the Cathedral of St. Paul, built beginning of the 20th century with St. Peter’s cathedral in the Vatican in mind. Its cupola is almost equally impressive and the church accommodates about 5,000 prayers. The cathedral is located at the beginning of Summit Avenue, one main axle and an architectonic gem of the city. Along approximately four miles (6 km) there are gorgeous mansions to be seen, on huge plots, in very diverse, mostly Victorian styles of the 1850s to 1880s. Also, at the cathedral starts Selby Ave, a rather funky, up&coming street with lots of restaurants (and some shops). That’s where we had dinner with our friends at a Chicken & BBQ place called „Revival“. Great beef brisket and fried chicken!
The city center’s core is Rice Park (right now under construction) with the Landmark Center. Built in 1902 as the Old Federal Courts Building in a contemporary castle-like style. Today it accommodates many cultural institutions, small museums and the Visitor Info Center. All around town there are bronze statues of Snoopy characters. Its creator, Charles M. Schulz, was born in Minneapolis and spent much of his childhood life in Saint Paul.
We toured Irvine Park Historic District with the Alexander Ramsey House. It's the former residence of Alexander Ramsey, who served as the first governor of Minnesota Territory and the second governor of the state of Minnesota. Especially beautiful was the tree in front of the house. Something pretty unusual are the Wabasha Street Caves Caves - originally used for fungus growing, then transformed into a nightclub in 1933 called the 'Castle Royal'. Today, Historic Cave Tours talk of mushrooms & mining, gangsters & ghosts. Gangsters apparently have played an important role in St. Paul. In the late 1920s and early 1930s the city was known as a "haven" for gangsters, bank robbers, and bootleggers from all over the Midwest to run their operations or to hide from the FBI. There was an interesting exhibition about this part of the history in the Landmark Center.
Another impressive St. Paul building: The Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company, founded by a German immigrant. Founded in 1855 the brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann, Cave Brewery, its name was changed to in 1900 and in operation until 1954 as such. Afterwards, it changed ownership a couple more times and nowadays it consists of Schmidt's Artist Lofts and - newly opened - the Keg & Case Market, a fancy food hall. There are food vendors of all kinds - like smoked meat from „Revival“, sausages from "K'nack", donuts, ice dream, a fungus grower with its own „fungus tower“ (see pic below), a honey vendor with an unusual beehive (with a copper chimney for the bees to get inside), a brewery and a restaurant, a coffee roastery and other unique stores.
The culinary and the brewery scene in both, Minneapolis and St. Paul, is incredible. Especially, breweries are popping up everywhere, there are dozens of them in the meantime in the metro area. Next visit, we need to go on a brewery tour! But, even without that it's been a great visit and we have seen and learned a lot in a short period of time.
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