Tag Archives: history

A truck is parked 2.5 feet into the current bike lane. The former bike lane would have been fine.

MNDoT, City, County Break Another Promise

Or, A Park and Portland Update. If you’re someone who bikes in south Minneapolis, you’ve probably noticed that the bike lanes on Park and Portland have not been restriped back to include the buffer zone. This goes against all of the city’s goals, and it is completely predictable. Let me back up a few decades […]

Relief Map

A History of Minnesota’s Interstates, Part One

Previously I’ve written a six part series of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Now it’s time to go back periodically for topics that were skipped as outside the main story arc, or that were deserving of separate articles. One of these is the story of our interstate system. The Dawn of the Dream As late as […]

Old US 61 Scenic Overlook

Along Old Highway 61 to Duluth, a Phototour: Part Three

This is Part Three of a photour along Old Highway 61 from St. Paul to Duluth. Part One covered St. Paul to White Bear Lake, and Part Two left off just before Hinckley. Now it’s time to enter the town and beyond. Hinckley Most travelers know Hinckley as the place with the casino, Tobie’s bakery, and a […]

History Book Cover Lower

Book Review: A People’s History of the Seward Neighborhood

The new book, A People’s History of the Seward Neighborhood, provides a narrative on Seward West Neighborhood that is needed for a comprehensive account of the 35-block area of the Seward Neighborhood. Most of the information is accurate. However, other passages fall short due the writers’ not being able to gain a needed grasp of […]

Highway 61 and Main Street North Branch, 1950s, looking east

Along Old Highway 61 to Duluth, A Phototour, Part Two

This is Part Two of a phototour of Old Highway 61 to Duluth. Previously we covered St. Paul to White Bear Lake, now we continue north at Forest Lake. Forest Lake Early on the cutoff to where the road from Minneapolis met the road from St. Paul to Duluth moved from White Bear Lake to […]

Density Trends Us Urban Areas Cu

Chart of the Day: Urban Density in Minneapolis & Other US Cities, 1900-1960

Here’s a fun chart (if blurry and too small) that shows historic trends around density and population growth in US cities, Minneapolis included. It’s from a 2001 paper by the Transportation Research Board that I found online about transit and land use, comparing the US and other countries around the world. Here’s the chart, with […]

Screenshot 2018 09 25 18.45.46

Nicollet Island: Seeing the Forest for the Trees

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ometimes people ask if I am bummed to not win last year’s Minneapolis Park & Rec Board race and my answer is always a resounding No. Five seats flipped and my Big Ideas won, along with a new majority ready to implement the same goals. A personal favorite, the Triangle Improvement Plan, was fully and […]

Minnesota State Fair

Sunday Summary – August 26, 2018

The Great Minnesota Get-Together started August 23, so what better than Robert Roscoe’s My Annual Minnesota State Fair Experience. Of course, we’d like more stories, your stories about the Fair, too; here are some past posts for better than fair reading.   The week on streets.mn Chris Steller continues his investigation of pedestrians in history with […]