Minnesota’s Storied City: A Walking Tour to St. Paul’s State Capitol
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About the Tour
About the Tour
St. Paul may be the most historic city in Minnesota. It’s been home to gangsters, great writers and is filled with ghosts of the past.
Our walking tour of St. Paul’s history begins in Rice Park, in front of the Landmark Center, the city's cultural hub and “St.Paul's very own castle”. You’ll make your way down the Mississippi River to look out where the Dakota village of Kaposia was once located, and hear about the early history of the area.
From Union Depot, the city’s once bustling Beaux Arts-style train station, you’ll begin your journey through St. Paul’s Lowertown. At Mears Park, you walk through a corridor of modern architecture toward the Minnesota State Capitol and its surrounding Capitol Mall, where you'll find out how a young architect named Cass Gilbert won the commission to build this magnificent building.
Along the way, you’ll have a chance to:
- Learn the true story of “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, the French fur trader who was historically considered St. Paul’s first resident
- Pass the historic Fitzgerald Theater, the oldest theater in St Paul, originally called the Sam S. Shubert Theater
- Meet some of St. Paul’s most famous progeny, including the author F. Scott Fitzgerald, hockey coach Herb Brooks, and Charles Shulz, the cartoonist behind Charlie Brown – and find out why Charlie was so sad
- Hear about the city’s friendly (or less-than-friendly) rivalry with Minneapolis, in the so-called “Census War” of 1890
- Find out what the pineapple hubcaps on the State Capitol’s golden chariot mean
- Walk past the one-time headquarters of St. Paul’s criminal underworld and learn how police chief John O’Connor turned the city into a true gangsters’ paradise
Come along for a fun 75-minute walk along the many roads that run through the history of the Saintly City.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Frank Bures
Frank Bures is an award-winning writer and essayist. His books include Pushing the River: An Epic Battle, a Lost History, a Near Death, and Other True Canoeing Stories, Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology, and The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes, which Newsweek called one of the best travel books of the decade.
His work has appeared in Harper’s, The Atlantic, Outside, and other publications, and has been included or selected as “Notable” in the Best American Travel Writing, Best American Essays and Best American Sports Writing nineteen times.
Apart from giving tours of his hometown, Bures has tracked down genital thieves in Nigeria, gone on Sasquatch expeditions in the north woods and competed in the World Rock Skipping Championships on the Great Lakes. He has interviewed everyone from sitting U.S. Senators to Klingon Karaoke aficionados to plant psychics. He has lived in Italy, Tanzania, New Zealand and Wisconsin. He still speaks Italian and Swahili passably well, and used to be able to get by in Thai. Currently he lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters, not far from the Mississippi River, which he grew up on further to the south.
Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 18
Sibling Rivalry II
[five seconds pause]
Once across, keep going down Kellogg keeping the road on your left.
The sibling rivalry between the Twin Cities goes all the way back to the beginning.
In the 1800s, as I mentioned, St. Paul was growing fast.... Read More
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Landmark Center
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F. Scott Fitzgerald Statue
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Rice Park
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Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
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Saint Paul Public Library - George Latimer Central Library
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Science Museum of Minnesota
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Kellogg Park
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Union Depot
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Mears Park
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Fitzgerald Theater
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Minnesota Peace Officers Memorial
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Minnesota World War II Memorial
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Minnesota State Capitol
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Upper Mall Minnesota State Capitol
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Lowertown
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Saint Paul Winter Carnival
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The Saint Paul Hotel
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Herb Brooks Statue
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CHS Field
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St. Paul Farmers' Market
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Minnesota Children's Museum
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Veterans Service Building
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Quadriga: Progress of the State
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Minnesota Government
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Minnesota House of Representatives
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Minnesota History Center
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start location175 W Kellogg Blvd #502, St Paul, MN 55102, USA
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Total distance3km
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Distance back to start location990.16m
Directions to Starting Point
The tour starts in Rice Park, in front of the Landmark Center next to the circular modernist fountain, where the park's diagonal sidewalks converge. The fountain should be between you and the Landmark Center.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
If you'd like more history, the Minnesota History Center is the place you'll want to go, along with the James J. Hill House. The Minnesota Transportation Museum isn’t far from here downtown. The Science Museum of Minnesota is also worth a stop, as is the Children’s Museum if you have kids along. You can also check out the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and at Seven Corners near the Science Museum there are many lively restaurants and bars.
Best time of day
It's best to take this tour during daylight hours or early evening, for reasons akin to Charleton Heston's in The Omega Man.
Precautions
St. Paul is a large city with all the attendant issues. Though generally safe, pay attention to your surroundings and enjoy the tour!
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Questions and Reviews
Questions and Reviews
