August 24, 2005

St. Paul's 7th Street Improvement Arches

I took pictures of the 7th Street Improvement Arches in St. Paul a few weeks back after noticing the cool spiral pattern. The arches were built in 1884 as part of a massive project to bridge 7th Street over the combined valley of Trout Brook and Phalen Creek, several railroad tracks and ultimately link the downtown district with Dayton's Bluff. It was one of the biggest public works projects attempted by St. Paul at the time.

The arches were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and are known for their helicoidal or spiral method, which is both rare and technically demanding. It's the only known example of such a bridge in Minnesota (read the in-depth details of its historic significance). The arches were also designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2000.

Today the railroad tracks are long gone and have been replaced with the Bruce Vento Regional Trail. The trail starts at a parking lot at 7th Street and Payne and curves around to go under the 7th Street Improvement Arches and into Swede Hollow Park. There are plans to continue the trail under I-94 and across 4th Street to connect it with the new Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. The trail will also continue up the bluff to connect to Indian Mounds Park, as well as follow 4th Street to Lowertown. Construction will begin next spring and should be finished by the fall of 2006.

Posted by kevin at 10:23 AM | TrackBack

August 22, 2005

Mill Ruins Park & Minneapolis Riverfront

Taken last week, this shot gives you a view of the work being done on Mill Ruins Park which should be completed this fall. The work will open up the lower tailraces and let you walk among the actual mill ruins.

If you haven't been to the Minneapolis riverfront lately, it's pretty cool. As usual, there's the Stone Arch Bridge and St. Anthony Falls, which are sights worth seeing on their own. But now there's also Mill Ruins Park, which you can see in the picture. Above the park you can see the remains of an old mill which now houses the Mill City Museum. In the distance the goofy looking blue structure sticking out of West River Parkway is the new Guthrie Theater.

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August 18, 2005

North Star Blankets

I love the North Star Blankets building in Minneapolis near the Stone Arch Bridge and the Mississippi River. It's been converted into condos like everything else in the Twin Cities, but it still has the cool sign at the very top. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and consists of three joined structures built between 1890 and 1925. The condos were developed in 1999.

I also love the detail of the star shape behind the bolts in the wall of the building. I don't know if those are washers with a functional purpose or purely decorational, but they're cool. What a nice detail.

Posted by kevin at 9:11 AM | TrackBack

August 17, 2005

St. Paul from the Bluffs

This is the view from Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul. It's located on the bluff east of downtown, and offers a great view of the river and the barge traffic, as well as downtown.

The first bridge you see is Highway 52. Directly behind it you can just make out the Robert Street bridge, and in the distance you can see the High Bridge.

Posted by kevin at 12:23 AM | TrackBack

Mississippi River at Minneapolis: East River Flats Park

This shot was taken from the far eastern end of the East River Flats Park in Minneapolis, looking upriver. The bridge you can just see in the distance is Franklin Avenue. Most of the East River Flats Park is located below the University of Minnesota and the bluffs. There's a parking lot on the western end but as you go east it turns into a bike trail that follows the shoreline for a ways, at one point narrowing to a cantilivered bridge over the water. There's a small waterfall at one point along the trail, and at several places the land is so low it's often in danger of flooding.

It's one of my favorite bits of nature in the midst of the city.

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