Birth of the Electric Fetus

I recently took a historical walking tour of Cedar-Riverside which is in large part a history of the music scene in Minneapolis. The Electric Fetus record store is no longer in this part of town but here's where it started.

1968

A new exhibit has opened at the Minnesota History Center - 1968 - and the first thing visitors see is news images of the Tet offensive in Viet Nam. History many of us can remember.

Hmmm... fresh bread

The Mill City Museum is more than visual exhibits. You can smell and taste what comes out of the museum's baking lab.

Harvest time

They'll be wrapping up the fall harvest soon at Fort Snelling and cooking up a storm with all that wonderful produce.

Old Glory

When Fort Snelling was completed in 1825, the United States was not yet fifty years old. Happy 235th birthday to us!

Flag Day

Our birthday may be July 4 but the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes is June 14, 1777. The flag is nearly as old as we are and these soldiers at Fort Snelling are taking great care with it.

Soldiering c. 1828

Long before we celebrated Memorial Day, Fort Snelling soldiers were drilling on the grounds of the fort.

Dakota land

The confluence of the rivers - the Mississippi and the Minnesota - at Fort Snelling. And a good day to be out taking pictures.

Stone Arch Bridge

The Stone Arch Bridge was built downstream from St. Anthony Falls in the late 19th century by local railroad baron, James J. Hill (whose mansion still stands on Summit Avenue in St. Paul). On a recent spring day, strollers and bikers were out traversing the river between St. Anthony Main on the east side and the recently developed Mill Ruins Park on the west side. This is the view from the mound at Gold Medal Park looking across to some of the old mill buildings and new condos in the trendy part of the Marcy Holmes neighborhood.

Ionic? Corinthian? Doric?

The Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul has one of the most beautiful interiors in the Twin Cities. The former court house and post office hosts a lot of civic events like the governor's inauguration and a popular St. Pat's day celebration. But what kind of columns are they?

Ramsey House

Yesterday's view of the Alexander Ramsey House was pretty limited. I was more interested in the melting snow on the lacy wrought-iron fence surrounding the property. Here's a more complete view - dirty snow not withstanding.

Landmark in St. Paul

The Landmark Center was originally a federal courthouse that nearly got bulldozed in the 1970s. It was the site of last week's inauguration of Democratic governor, Mark Dayton. It's like our new world version of a fairy castle.

Time travel

Nearly 200 years separate the period represented by the soldiers firing the cannon and the visitor to Historic Fort Snelling who doesn't want to damage his ears.
This photo is part of the City Daily Photo theme day for December 2010 - Time. To see thumbnails of other theme day photos, click here.

Fall on the farm

The Oliver Kelly farm in Elk River is getting ready for winter. You can see the farm workers making hay, putting up pickles, storing vegetables. Life was different back then!

Harvest meal

The kitchen in the commander's house at Fort Snelling really knows how to dish out a good meal.

Pump at Soudan

 A large pumping thingy that was used to run the elevator that took miners down the Soudan Underground Mine.

Soudan Underground Mine

A crazy crazy week last week, and so I forgot to post yesterday. Ah well. That's only the second time.

This is something used to transport taconite and iron mined at Soudan Underground Mine, now a state park that you can tour. You can even go down into the mine--very cool stuff. Check it out if you're ever in northern Minnesota.

Historic Fort Snelling

It's Civil War Weekend at Historic Fort Snelling today and tomorrow. I am somewhat connected with this site, so maybe I'm biased, but if you come down, it'll be a lot of fun. This is a shot of the living history interpreters, 1827 U.S. soldiers in this case, firing off a cannon during the regular season programming. (Credit goes to my mom for this one...)

Dorothy Molter Museum

One of the oddest little museums I have ever visited--about "The Root Beer Lady" of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Check it out at their website.

SPAM Museum

Visited the SPAM Museum in Austin, MN a few days ago. Look at all that canned meat!