Reading List

First of all, thanks again to all that attended the kick-off of the Lecture Series! Ted Lentz was a wonderful an inspiring speaker, and we really appreciated the great conversation and ideas! We hope to post some if his information later in the week.

As Ted touched upon, there are several great books discussing the history of the area. I've just gotten off the phone with Common Good Books at Western and Selby, and they are making arrangements to stock the following:

- St. Paul's Historic Summit Avenue - the quintessential book on the street by Ernest Sandeen
- AIA Guide to St. Paul's Summit Avenue and Hill District - by Larry Millett (his full guide to the Twin Cities is also great)
- Grand Avenue: The Renaissance of an Urban Street - by Billie Young and David Lanegran
- Claiming the City: Politics, Faith, and the Power of Place in St. Paul - by Mary Lethert Wingerd
- St. Paul's Architecture - by Jeffrey Hess and Paul Clifford Larson
- A Grand History (referenced below, new stock coming in soon!)

So stop into Common Good Books (they are open 10am-10pm Mon-Sat and 10am-8pm Sunday), support a local store, and learn more about your neighborhood. Mention that you are a SARPA member; though we have not developed and discount or referral program yet, we are working on it!

If people would like to read the books and get together to discuss them (either in a one-off situation or a longer running book club), we'd love to facilitate that as well! Leave a comment below or email the SARPA Webmaster for more information.

Lecture Series Starts TOMORROW - Sep. 27

Please join us for the kick-off of the FREE Summit Avenue lecture series, with a lecture by Ted Lentz about the history and role of Summit Avenue. At the University Club (420 Summit) starting at 7pm on Monday, September 27 (if you're a Ramsey Hill Association member, go to the Meet & Greet first and then come!). 7pm, lasts under an hour. Hope to see you there!

Speaking of Summit History...

I was just reading my copy of A Grand History: The Summit Hill Neighborhood's First 200 Years (written by Gabrielle Horner, published by the Summit Hill Association in 2010).

What a great book for the local history scholar! As a native St. Paulite and Ramsey Hiller, I mistakenly presumed I wouldn't learn too much by reading Horner's slim book. I was happily wrong.

Now, of course, this is not strictly a Summit Avenue book. Summit Hill includes a midsection stretch of the South side of Summit Avenue and not the whole of the Avenue, but I nonetheless recommend it for anyone who is interested in local history.

Here's a short snippet of what I learned.

Bicycles on Summit

There have been bikes on Summit longer than there has been pavement. There is a photo of a man named John Lawton riding his "safety bicycle" on Summit in the year 1900. Summit was paved with asphalt in about 1915.

Before Black Top

Summit Avenue was first paved with wood. Wood "hunks," 4" x 4" x 10" (or less) and impregnated with creosote to keep them from rotting, were used to pave major street before asphalt was introduced.

(The alley between Summit and Portland, just west of Lexington, still has wood pavement. In that alley, the wood is cut grain up and laid like "cobbles." If you decide to investigate, wear good shoes. Wood cobbles can be slippery.)

Ramsey Street Extension

In 1859, the orthogonal stretch of Summit Avenue was called "Ramsey Street Extension." The map illustration (on page 7) that features this less-than-flattering name for Summit, only shows land west of approximately Dale Street, but educated guessing would tell us that the "Ramsey Street Extension" began at Ramsey Hill. Summit, already platted in 1859 along the bluff overlooking downtown, crossed Ramsey and curved down Summit Court, where it came to its end. Imagine how different Summit would feel if it were still a mere "extension."

Plat Mystery Solved

One of the maps I enjoyed most was by ecologist Daniel Wovcha, author of Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley and Anoka Sandplain: A Guide to Native Habitats. The map (reprinted with permission) on page 5 of A Grand History is a representation of the lands of Summit Hill in 1847, with the current street grid overlaid for reference. I would love to scan the map in for reference, but it is copyrighted material so you will just have to go buy A Grand History from the Summit Hill Association.

The dominant ecosystem of Summit Hill was "Oak Openings," sometimes called oak savanna. Oak Openings is a fire-dependent, savanna type of ecosystem dominated by oak trees; the tree cover is less dense than a forest, having between 10% and 60% canopy. Triangle Park, located at Goodrich and South Dale Street, still has native old-growth burr oaks, offering a glimpse of what the Oak Openings once looked like.

Summit Hill was almost entirely Oak Openings, with a small corner of Big Woods in the southwest corner and, more interestingly to me, a little insert of Prairie from the north. A large swath of Prairie lay north of central Summit Hill, crossing what is now Summit between Grotto and Dale.

It is this little bit of prairie that piqued my attention.

If you have ever looked at a plat map or read your house's legal description, you likely know that the city is divided into subdivisions, "additions" and "outlots" that were added to the city as it grew. One would probably assume that these divisions were added to the city by proximity, with the first new additions being immediately adjacent to downtown, and subsequent additions radiating outward until the City bumped into Minneapolis or some other obvious stopping point.

I have always been curious about Holcomb's Addition. Holmcomb's includes two blocks of Summit, from Grotto to Dale Street (and from Summit extends northward not-quite-to Marshall Avenue), and was platted in 1857, more than 20 years before the land to its East. Holcomb's was an island belonging to the city, but separated from it by a square mile or so of unplatted land for more than a decade: Woodland Park Addition (Stretching from Dale east to Western Avenue) is dated 1870. To illustrate, the map below is a scan from Building Our Future from Our Past: A Report of the Saint Paul Historic Hill District Planning Program (1975), now out of print.

Thanks to A Grand History I now understand why Holcomb's was platted first. It was prairie. No trees to clear, easy building. The more laborious, wooded tracts were left for later development.

SARPA and Historic Saint Paul FREE Lecture Series

The Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association and Historic Saint Paul are excited to co-sponsor a free lecture series on the history, architecture, and preservation of Summit Avenue, widely considered the nation's best-preserved example of the Victorian monumental residential boulevard.

This series is designed to be educational — discussing the history of Summit Avenue — but also inspirational, promoting ideas for future private (and public) development. It’s also a great chance to meet and socialize with other Summit Avenue homeowners and area residents. The lectures are free, and you don’t have to be a member to attend, but why not take this chance to join? (membership form on the back of the newsletter).

All three lectures will be held at the University Club of St. Paul (a co-sponsor of the series), located at 420 Summit Avenue. Lectures will begin at 7:00pm and run about an hour, with some time for socializing (cash bar) afterwards.

Topics are as follows:

Monday, September 27 – Awareness
The history of Summit Avenue and its role in Saint Paul
Presented by Ted Lentz

Monday, October 25 – Stewardship
Summit Avenue’s architectural styles and the development of the historic districts

Monday, November 22 – Enhancement
Design guidelines, appropriate work and changes, and resources, as well as planning for the future

We hope to see you there!

Smooth Road

Summit East of Dale and West of Ramsey Hill has received a new surface. These photos were snapped on my camera phone September 9th, the cones have since been removed. They were both taken near the corner of Summit and Summit Court.

I stopped and chatted with one of the city workers a few weeks back and he said that the repaving project will include portions of Grand Avenue as well and will conclude early fall.

Century-Old Chinese Elm

Dave Thune's office has heard from a constituent who is concerned about one of the last remaining Chinese elm trees at the east end of Summit, located directly across from the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

The tree is dying and marked for removal, but the constituent commented on the trunk's "beautiful structural form" and felt it would make an ideal candidate for a wood carving, perhaps commemorating historical figures from the area. SARPA has agreed to provide some financial support, as long as it is matched by at least three other groups or individuals, and Parks and Rec has agreed to hold off the removal — but only until September 3.

We're looking for a leader in this project. If you're concerned and want to get the ball rolling, please contact Ward 2 Council Aide Pat Lindgren, 310B City Hall, 651.266.8621.