Above: Kids, don’t try this at home.  Flick (left), played by Nickels Krause, gets into trouble after accepting a “triple dog dare” while  Ralphie, played by Jake Erickson, looks on. Below: Ralphie (Jake Erickson) is amazed by his father’s “major award”, a leg lamp that his mother doesn’t appreciate nearly as much.  Photos by Ben Lacina

   The Mounds Theatre presents A Christmas Story - Live!  Based on humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoirs of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s, it follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB Gun under the tree for Christmas.  Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself.  The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out.” 
   All your favorite moments of the film are brought to life on stage, including the family’s temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkus, the school bully; the boy’s experiment with a wet tongue on a cold flagpole; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin; Ralphie’s father winning a lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in a net stocking; Ralphie’s fantasy scenarios and more.
   The play is directed by Chad Allen, with scenic design by Don Eller, costume design by Sherry Johnson, and lighting design by Ursula Bowden.
WHEN:
December  9 at 7:30 p.m.        December 10 at 7:30 p.m.
December 11 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m
December 12 at 2 p.m.   
December 16 at 7:30 p.m.
December 17 at 7:30 p.m.
December 18 at 2 p.m. and 7:30p.m.
December 19 at 2 p.m.
WHERE:
  The Mounds Theatre, 1029 Hudson Road, Saint Paul, MN 55106. 
TICKET INFORMATION:
   Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors (55+) and students.
   Tickets may be reserved in advance by calling the Mounds Theatre Box Office at 651-772-2253. Also, a mail-in  ticket order form can be found at www.moundstheatre.org.

Metropolitan State U hosts free holiday concert on Dec.10
 
   Metropolitan State University presents “Holiday Pops” as the first of a four-concert series of the Minnesota Sinfonia conducted by Jay Fishman, on Friday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. in the university’s Auditorium, 700 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul. The concert is free and open to the public.
   The Minnesota Sinfonia will perform holiday favorites. Featured guest soloist is Rose Marie Bart, cellist and winner in the junior division of the 2004 Young Artist Competition. She will perform Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major.
   Concert seating is first come, first served. For special accommodations call Disability and Special Services at 651-793-1540 (voice) or 651-772-7687 (TTY).
   This concert is the first in a series of four free performances at Metropolitan State by the Minnesota Sinfonia, thanks to a grant from the Anna M. Heihnaier Charitable Foundation. The next concerts are on Fridays, Jan. 28, Feb. 11 and March 18.
   Metropolitan State University, a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, provides high-quality, affordable education programs for adults seeking baccalaureate and master’s degrees. It is the only state university in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Grocery Give-Away

   A Grocery Give-Away will take place on Saturday, December 18  from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Mounds Park United Methodist Church, Euclid and Earl.  Free produce, dry goods and bread items will be given to anyone who can use them.  No registration or sign-up is necessary.  Sponsored by United Methodist churches on St. Paul's east side. 

Greening Dayton's Bluff 2005 planning meeting

   A Greening Dayton’s Bluff 2005 planning meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at the Dayton’s Bluff Community Council offices at 798 East 7th Street at 6:30 p.m.  Please come and learn more about Greening Dayton’s Bluff and help plan activities for the new year. Some of the greening things that happened in 2004 included gardening workshops, spring plant swap, free public spaces plants, garden tour, buckthorn removal, and discounts for Greening Dayton’s Bluff members. For more information call Karin at 651-772-2075.

A look back

First Lutheran Church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.  The present church at 8th St. and Maria Ave. was built in 1917.  This photo was taken in 1928 from the Wolfangel yard in what is now the church parking lot. Also shown  is 5 year old Joe Cosimini and his dog Fido. They lived around the corner.  Photo courtesy of the Cosimini family photo archive.

Dayton's Bluff Take a Hike
  
  Dayton’s Bluff Take a Hike meets on the first Saturday of every month at 10:30 a.m. in Indian Mounds Park at Earl Street and Mounds Blvd. Join us on December 4 for the next hike.
   We hike from Mounds Park through Swede Hollow Park and then walk the length of the Bruce Vento Recreational Trail to its end, near Phalen Park.
    The hike is about 6 miles with some moderately rough terrain.  Trans-portation will be available near Johnson Parkway and Maryland to return to Mounds Park or you may hike back if you wish. 
   Join recreational trail supporters and explore this recreational trail. The paved trail runs from East 7th Street and Payne Avenue through Swede Hollow to Phalen Park. Dayton’s Bluff Take a Hike started in December of 1990 and over the years hundreds of people have attended these events.
   Take a Hike will continue throughout the winter on the first Saturday of the month. For more info, call 776-0550. 

Volunteer opportunity! Be an intrepreter

Volunteer at the Marian Center

Junk cars? Free towing!

Great River School Open House

Rowing the Boat: A monthly column from Mounds Park -- Thoughts on recycling plastic, paper and presidents

National American Miss Cover Girl

A Short History of Dayton's Bluff - Chapter 5: The 1860s and early 1870s

By Steve Trimble

   The home construction and business in general in the Dayton’s Bluff area increased during the 1860s and early 1870s. People began building homes and businesses beyond the edge of the bluff. Most of the houses were still within what has been called “the walking city,” but a few people ventured further out, relying on horse drawn carriages to get them to town and back.
   William and Harriet Wakefield were among those who dwelt in what were called “country estates.” The two came from Rhode Island in 1857 and bought a plot of four acres from Lyman Dayton. William supported the family by being a bookkeeper and selling real estate. According to a contemporary it was “a very lovely and desirable home” and “one of the beautiful residences of the city.”
   An 1886 historian described William as a “slender man, unpretentious…. Very conscientious in his beliefs, and always anxious to do right.”  The writer said that the Wakefields had adorned their area with “beautiful trees, and it is a very lovely and very desirable place.”
   Their two story early Italianate frame house was constructed sometime around 1860, though the exact date is uncertain. “What Cheer Lawn,” as they called their home, sat in the middle of the holdings in a beautifully landscaped lawn that was surrounded by a high board fence in later years.
   The recently restored house still stands at 963 Wakefield—the street name was changed from Birch in 1892. One of its unique features is the fact that it sits at an angle to the sidewalk and other homes. This is because it was built to face the old Territorial Road that cut across today’s grid pattern.
   In 1861, a man named William Branch built a house at the northeast corner of today’s Bates and Wilson. “A medium-sized man, cool and collected, and possessed of considerable ability,” as one writer described him, he was originally a mason or a carpenter by trade.  In either case, he ended up a contractor for large jobs such as grading the first forty miles of the Superior and Mississippi Railroad that ran below Dayton’s Bluff.
   Branch was interested in politics and had been part of the Territorial Legislature.  He was a Republican member of the city council from 1856 until 1861 and simultaneously served as a county commissioner in 1858 and 1859. Branch was elected to the State Legislature in 1866.
   When Branch died at the age of 50, his obituary said he “did not have the advantages of much education when young,” but was “endowed by nature with a great deal [of] shrewdness, hard common sense, practical judgment and business sense.” According to an 1880’s writer, “he owned a home on Dayton’s Bluff, and in his former grounds his body now reposes.”
   An 1864 newspaper notice of Branch’s activities reveals the existence of two other outlying residences. Discussing the fact that Branch had received the contract for the construction of the first twenty miles of the Superior Railroad, it noted that the route ran from downtown along the west bank of “Phelan’s Creek.” It then followed the natural grade “and then meets up with Dr. Patterson’s Villa in the prairie.”
   As the line continued, it ran about a hundred yards in front of Dr. Post’s residence - somewhere near today’s Earl and East Seventh - “and then follows along the Stillwater road for a mile.” It crossed the creek four different times. “It seems,” the paper concluded, “as if the valley of Phelan’s Creek were just made for such a road.”
   While it is relatively easy to find mentions of houses from this era, detailed descriptions are rare. One of the best features the home of H. L. Dousman, who built an elegant home on the bluff in 1872. Originally from Prairie du Chien, he was a partner in the American Fur Company. A Milwaukee paper wrote the following exposition on the Dousman mansion:
   “The building is of liberal proportions covering an area of some 8,000 square feet, and will be of two lofty stories, on heavy cut-stone foundations, and capped by a lofty Gothic… roof, the whole thing having an altitude of forty-eight feet from the ground to the crest line of the roof, exclusive of the campanie or tower, which is to be about eighty feet high.
   “The arrangement of the rooms comprises the porch, sixteen feet square, being base of tower; a central hall, fifteen by fifty feet, with family rooms, library and dining room, and garden entrances on the right side, and conservatory, drawing room, billiard room and side hall, leading to the porte cochre (or carriage porch) on the left side, with steward’s room and vault for silver, servant’s hall, kitchen… at the rear, all admirably arranged and of generous proportions.
   “The grand stairway leading to the second floor is at the rear of the main hall, with landings, and over it, in the ceiling of the second story, is a domed skylight, suitably enriched.
   “The second story of the house is divided into chambers, with ample dressing rooms, bath rooms, & etc., attached. The lofty… story in the roof being devoted to servants’ rooms and storage.
   “From this floor a spiral iron stairway will run to the apex of the lower roof. The house will be warmed by steam throughout, and a very perfect system of ventilation introduced, and of course all modern appliances for comfort and elegances are provided for. The building will be substantially fireproof and very thoroughly built.
   “The exterior walls are to be of brick, dressed liberally with cut stone for caps, sills, belts, cornices and ornaments, and the roof will be of slate. The casings and interior wood work being of dark, rich native woods, and the walls harmoniously tinted, to correspond with in tone, and the ceilings frescoed.
   “The style of the building is a modification of the medieval domestic architecture now somewhat used by our more educated architects, as embodying most of the requirements for taste and convenience, where a liberal expenditure is allowed.”
   Descriptions of daily life in the 1860s and 1870s are also hard to find. But a biographer of James J. Hill, the railroad baron, was able to dig up information that sheds some light on the matter, although it may not be typical.
   For a short time, the Hill family lived in the neighborhood. They were waiting for the completion of a home in Lowertown and stayed in Dayton’s Bluff from 1876 to 1877. They resided in what a son called “a country place.”  It was a roomy stone structure of white brick that stood on seven acres in today’s Mounds Park area. The outbuildings included a horse barn, cow barn, chicken house and icehouse, and there was a large garden.
   Even though it was on a street with some neighbors, water came from a well. There was plumbing, but not furnace or lighting.  Instead, stoves and kerosene lamps provided heat and lighting. “I remember the spacious garden for fruits and vegetables the wagon departing for town in the morning with my father and the two elder children, often followed by a goat,” one family member recalled. “There were many railroad tracks to be crossed, then unspanned by any bridge, but life was full of hazards in those days.”
   While living on Dayton’s Bluff, the Hill family had the luxury of a grand piano, but produced most of their own fruit and vegetables, milk and eggs. There were five children, however one of them, a frail girl named Katie, died that summer. Another daughter, Charlotte, was born while the family was living on the Bluff.
   Even though many new homes were being built during the 1860s and 1870s, Dayton’s Bluff still had a lot of empty land. St. Paul residents often used the open spaces for recreation. In early 1863, for instance, a newspaper said that on Friday a “Grand Shooting Match” would be held in the neighborhood. Sponsored by a man named Mueller, the event featured prizes of turkeys and chickens. There had been a similar match in the same unnamed site around Christmas time.  
   A few years later a local paper reported that a baseball team named the “North Stars” had been reorganized and would be playing their summer games on what was described as the “new grounds” on Dayton’s Bluff. The first game was to be held on June 14, 1867.
   Perhaps the liveliest use of open land in the neighborhood was that made by a man named William Grube. He was a German immigrant who originally lived in the New Ulm colony but couldn’t stand the hardships there. He moved to St. Paul in 1853 and, according to one historian, “bought a good deal of land on Dayton’s Bluff.” In his early life he taught himself stone cutting and  “he seems to be a genius at almost everything, but more especially in the accumulation of property,”
   In 1873 the Daily Press reported “William Grube will open a fine park tomorrow at the end of Seventh street on Dayton’s Bluff, and the Great Western Band has been engaged for a concert at the Park lasting from 2 to 7 p.m. Mr. Grube has created an attractive place, and the opening will be well conducted and successful.”
   The 1860s and early 1870s brought important changes to Dayton’s Bluff. More elegant homes and numerous smaller residences began to fill the landscape. The area’s development even affected one of the venerable neighborhood landmarks. In July 1869, the St. Paul Daily Press had a headline that read “Digging off the Bluff.” According to the article around a hundred men “are now busily engaged digging off Dayton’s Bluff, and grading just below the track of the St. Paul and Chicago Railway.”
   Another source said that the railroad had “condemned for their use the strip of land along the river bank” which included the  “cliff in which is the cave.” They dug it down and almost entirely destroyed it. “But a shallow cavity now remains to mark its site. The pool or lake is gone,” the writer commented, “and the limpid stream that flows through it now supplies a railroad tank. Its poetry and romance are destroyed by the necessities of our modern trade and material growth.”

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

The Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary under construction near 4th and Commercial Streets.  Photo by Karin Du

   The 27-acre floodplain at the foot of Dayton’s Bluff is in the midst of being transformed into the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, Saint Paul’s newest park.  Land for the sanctuary was purchased in November 2002, and a community partnership known as the Lower Phalen Creek Project has been working with Saint Paul Parks and Recreation on a multi-year effort to restore the area’s native ecosystems.

Give the gift that keeps on growing - a tree

Jackson Katz will speak on violence, media and masculinity

Best Dayton's Bluff garden of 2004

The winning entry in the 2004 Dayton’s Bluff Garden Contest  belongs to Sandy and Frank Ritter, Conway Street residents who have been gardening in Dayton’s Bluff for over 30 years.  Photos by Karin DuPaul

Photos by Robert Johnstone

Tanya Johnson - a political artist

By J. Wittenberg
   It was a fine autumnal day when I met the Dayton’s Bluff artist named Tanya Johnson.  The sun was out and all seemed right with the world.  The view from the Bluff was fine as the sun hinted at closing out the day in dramatic fashion.
   Alas, Ms. Johnson was feeling “gloomy” from the recent election results and who could blame her.  Happily, after a time, she found some solace in our own Betty McCollum once again winning the day.  A lone bright spot, we both agreed, and at least one victory for decency.  Ms. Johnson found it curious that with all the mean-spiritedness and selfishness so prevalent in today’s politics, that someone who has done so much good for so many should actually prevail in an election!  We both agreed – will wonders ever cease?
   Such topics were acutely apropos, as Ms. Johnson makes much in the way of political art.  Only recently this Dayton’s Bluff artist has shown her work upon the walls of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, as part of their ongoing daring political exhibit.
   Ms. Johnson lamented how conservative our state has been leaning; so contrary to how historically progressive our state has traditionally been with figures like Humphrey, Mondale, and Wellstone.  She mused upon our late, great senator and said: “We’ll never have another like him.  We could have used him now, more than ever…in these terrible times, where social programs, after-school programs, the arts, and empathy are being hung out to dry.  But I guess these are not moral enough.”
   In gazing at some of Ms. Johnson’s collage work, I may discern how dark these last four years have been to her and to many, and where as far as the eye may see, one may take no joy. In her faces there are eyes and mouths burned or scorched out.  These are images that predict a day of reckoning. Indeed, they speak of censorship and intolerance.  Besides found images, her collages include charcoal and acrylic paint.  Upon the wall, with all the other art so cramped on display, I feel her work would be better served in being seen all by itself, away from the deluge surrounding it.
   Ms. Johnson is self-taught and is not overly keen on promoting herself. Indeed, I approached her upon learning she was from Dayton’s Bluff.  Presently, her work is not for sale, but one can take home a feeling of the despair that has come over many of our citizens over the last four years  “Thankfully, a person’s right for free expression is still relatively intact.  But there are other rights which may soon be slipping away,” Ms. Johnson said.
   Her work holds a powerful message, one which is being seen, and deservedly so.  Of her own creations, Ms. Johnson said, “It does not predict a bright future, but perhaps it can bring some awareness and hope that wholesale change is so important to remove us from the downward course on which some have so recklessly desired to take us.”

Johnson Parkway Place to open in 2005

Photo by Greg Cosimini Johnson Parkway Place, the senior rental complex being built near Johnson Parkway and Hudson Road, is on track for completion in 2005.

Photo by Fred Kaphingst Meanwhile, the four houses moved from Hudson Road near Frank St. to the east end of the site were demolished in October.  There goes the last one.

CLUES opens it new offices

Top: The new CLUES office building at 797 E. 7th St.  Above: CLUES staff members Barbara Pena, Stacy Opitz, Fanny Gutierrez and Dr. Luz Sanchez at the front desk in the new building.  Photos by Karin DuPaul

   Chicanos Latinos Unidos En Servicio (CLUES) opened its doors on Monday, November 1st at its new offices located at 797 East 7th Street.  This location will allow CLUES to meet the needs of over 14,000 Latinos now living on the East Side while maintaining a presence on the West Side, the traditional home of Latinos in Minnesota.  CLUES will keep its Elder Services at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and provide ESL classes at the offices of the St. Paul Red Cross, both located on the West Side. 
   Half of the building will house four of its five services: Mental Health, Chemical Health, Education and Employment.  The focal point at CLUES new site will be the Latino Learning Institute as a reflection of our commitment to improving literacy and the educational attainment of Latino children and adults.  Part of the first floor will be leased to a local healthcare organization that will operate a primary healthcare clinic.
   BWBR Architects designed the new two-story, 21,500 square foot building that is located in the heart of St. Paul’s growing Latino community.  Kraus Anderson Construction Company constructed the building and Sterns & Associates, LLC managed the project.
   CLUES Latino Learning Institute is always looking for new committed volunteers.  Classes are held in the morning and evening and Spanish is not a requirement.  The new quarter begins in January 2005.  For more information, please contact Alejandra Reyes at 651-379-4229.
   CLUES is Minnesota’s premier Latino social and behavioral health services agency. Our mission is to “enhance the quality of life of the Chicano Latino community in Minnesota.”   We provide a continuum of five core services: Mental Health, Chemical Health, Education, Employment and Elder Wellness. 
   Recent recognitions include:
2004 - Ranked among the top 25 Hispanic nonprofits in the United States by Hispanic Business Magazine
2003 - National Healthcare Affiliate of the Year - Helen Trías Rodríguez Award  National Council of La Raza
2002 - Outstanding Community Organization of the Year Award - La Prensa de Minnesota

The Clothes Line -- Put on your thinking cap

Minnesota Historical Society Mixed blood (Indian and French) fur trader around 1870.

Dayton's Bluff Rec Center December Events

Dayton's Bluff teacher receives national award

   It’s not every day that U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige sends someone to a teacher’s classroom to express gratitude for a job well done.
   But that’s exactly what happened to Brandon Phillips early this fall when Kristine Cohn, a regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education, stopped by Dayton’s Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary School to tell him that he’s been named an American Star of Teaching.
   “It’s very nice to have your work recognized by the U. S. Department of Education,” said Phillips.  “But the real reward is being able to help my students learn and grow.”
   The award is an effort by national education leaders to recognize effective classroom teachers who are successful in improving the academic performance of their students, and are making a real difference in their students’ lives.
   A colleague nominated Phillips for the award, and he is the only Minnesota teacher recognized.  American Stars of Teaching have been identified in every state and the District of Columbia.
This article was originally published in the November 2004 issue of SPPS Today.

Holiday Boutique, Craft and Bake Sale at Marian of Saint Paul was a big success

HealthEast Senior Care - Marian of Saint Paul held its annual Holiday Boutique, Craft and Bake Sale on November 19th.  Photos by Robert Johnstone