“It Was Like Living in a Small Town” Three St. Paul Neighborhoods That Worked: Dayton’S Bluff, Payne Avenue, and Arcade Street in the 1940S and ’50S Steven C
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Once There Was a Street Called Decatur Paul D. Nelson —Page 20 Fall 2010 Volume 45, Number 3 “It Was Like Living in a Small Town” Three St. Paul Neighborhoods That Worked: Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Avenue, and Arcade Street in the 1940s and ’50s Steven C. Trimble Page 3 A portion of the “Souvenir Guide Map of Saint Paul, Showing Pieces of Historic, Scenic and General Interest” that was circulated by St. Paul’s leaders in 1957. The area reproduced here concentrates on the city’s East Side and highlights the Hamm’s Brewery, the Whirlpool (Seeger) plant on Arcade Street, and 3M’s headquarters and large manufacturing facilities (identified as “MMM”) that turned out “tapes, abrasives, chemicals.” Photo by Maureen McGinn; courtesy of the Collections of the Ramsey County Historical Society. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY Executive Director Priscilla Farnham Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 45, Number 3 Fall 2010 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON DECEMBER 20, 2007: Thomas H. Boyd President The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations Paul A. Verret to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program First Vice President of presenting, publishing and preserving. Joan Higinbotham Second Vice President Julie Brady Secretary C O N T E N T S Carolyn J. Brusseau Treasurer 3 “It Was Like Living in a Small Town” Norlin Boyum, Anne Cowie, Nancy Randall Dana, Cheryl Dickson, Charlton Three St. Paul Neighborhoods That Worked: Dietz, Joanne A. Englund, William Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Avenue, and Arcade Street Frels, Howard Guthmann, John Holman, Kenneth R. Johnson, Elizabeth M. Kiernat, in the 1940s and ’50s Rev. Kevin M. McDonough, Susan McNeely, Steven C. Trimble Debra Mitts- Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Richard H. Nicholson, Marla Ordway, Jay Pfaender, Jeffrey Slack, Ralph Thrane, 20 Once There Was a Street Called Decatur Richard Wilhoit. Directors Emeriti Paul D. Nelson W. Andrew Boss George A. Mairs* Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Richard T. Murphy Sr. Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. EDITORIAL BOARD and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas H. Boyd, John Diers, John Milton, Debra Mitts- Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Paul D. Nelson, Richard H. Nicholson, Jay A Message from the Editorial Board Pfaender, David Riehle, G. Richard Slade, Steve Trimble, Mary Lethert Wingerd. his issue celebrates the history of St. Paul’s East Side. In our lead article, Steve Trimble HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Texamines the ways in which three East Side neighborhoods—Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Av- William Fallon, William Finney, Robert S. enue, and Arcade Street—worked through national mobilization during World War II and the Hess, George Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, challenges of adapting to peacetime and the changes of the 1950s. These East Side communities Rosalie E. Wahl. had a strong sense of place that helped them to weather wartime hardships and to prosper despite * deceased the challenges of the 1950s and ’60s. In our second article, Paul Nelson profiles the people who RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS called the one-block-long Decatur Street, which ran above Swede Hollow, their home between Commissioner Jan Parker, chair the 1890s, when the street was platted, and the early 1930s, when the city of St. Paul decided to Commissioner Tony Bennett Commissioner Toni Carter eliminate Decatur so that Payne Avenue could be connected to East Seventh Street. The Ramsey Commissioner Jim McDonough County Historical Society is especially thankful for the generous support and encouragement for Commissioner Rafael Ortega Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt the publication of this in-depth look at the East Side that it received from the Chairman of the 3M Commissioner Janice Rettman Company, George W. Buckley, himself an enthusiastic reader of history, and the 3M Company. Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, RCHS recently announced at its annual Members’ Event that Barry L. and Joan Miller Cotter Ramsey County had won the 2010 Virginia Brainard Kunz Award for the best article published in Ramsey County Ramsey County History is published quarterly by the Ramsey County Historical Society, History in 2008–2009 for their two articles on Truman M. Smith, St. Paul banker and horticul- 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. turalist. Because the Cotters were not able to be present to accept their award, they have commu- Paul, MN 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in nicated their thanks in an email that says that winning the Award is a “very gratifying surprise.” U.S.A. Copy right © 2010, Ram sey County His torical So ciety. ISSN Number 0485-9758. The Cotters also stressed that the work they did “was only possible because of the warm and All rights reserved. No part of this publica- encouraging response” they received from RCHS and the Society’s policy of carefully consider- tion may be reprinted or otherwise repro- duced without written permission from the ing manuscripts written by “people who may not be historians by training but want to add their publisher. The Society assumes no respon- bit to the ongoing story of Ramsey County history.” Congratulations to Barry and Joan Cotter. sibility for state ments made by contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: admin@ rchs.com; web site address: www.rchs.com Anne Cowie, Chair, Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY “It Was Like Living in a Small Town” Three St. Paul Neighborhoods That Worked: Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Avenue, and Arcade Street in the 1940s and ’50s Steven C. Trimble e have no choice about our sex; we have no choice about our age; ing Dayton’s Bluff, Payne Avenue, and we have no choice about skin color; we inherit religion; we don’t Arcade Street had once been economi- even have much choice about a job unless you’re successful. The cally diverse, by the 1920s the economic W elite and much of the middle class had only time you express yourself is in the choice of residence, and that is what left the area. Many of these people had seems to gauge the social and political configuration of most American cities.1 moved into new homes constructed fur- ther away during the city-wide building — Richard C. Wade, urban historian boom in the late nineteenth and early When sociologists such as Calvin Schmid wrote about cities in the 1930s, they typi- cally looked at general trends and often focused on how external forces such as the national economy, housing booms and busts, and large demographic changes af- fected urban communities.2 Rather than take this approach, in the pages that fol- low we will examine three neighborhoods on St. Paul’s East Side that had a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial properties in the 1940s and ’50s to de- termine how the residents of these com- munities developed internal responses to the circumstances that shaped their very particular characters and histories and set them apart from the rest of the city. In the middle third of the twentieth century, Dayton’s Bluff, located south of the multiple buildings that comprised Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing’s facilities; Arcade Street, spreading north from the Seeger Refrigerator plant; and Payne Avenue, consisting of the area northwest of Hamm’s Brewery were communities that worked. This article will show how the people who lived there responded to the opportunities and problems of World War II and the post- war years of the 1950s and examine how these neighborhoods changed over time in response to both external forces and internal community dynamics. Although the neighborhoods surround- RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 3 twentieth centuries. By the 1930s all In all three of these East Side neigh- three areas had become solid working- borhoods, people generally lived near class neighborhoods. their jobs and walked to work, to school, Census data from four U.S. census tracts to attend social functions, or to seek en- indicates that the top three occupations for tertainment at numerous movie theaters, men in these communities were as crafts- restaurants, or bars. The three neighbor- men, operatives, and laborers. Women who hoods were socially resilient because worked outside the home most often had they were tied together by multiple clerical, sales, or service jobs. City direc- bonds. They not only lived together, but tories provide even more detail and the often attended the same church, patron- 1944 St. Paul edition shows that the resi- ized the same merchants, and belonged to dents were almost all blue-collar workers. local clubs and organizations. There were According to the directory, the men who also a number of large venues where lived on Brunson Street, Beech Street, and East Siders could gather for meetings, Sims Avenue were employed as laborers, An interior view of Hamm's Brewery, 681 weddings, and various get- togethers. drivers, helpers, printers, painters, and East Minnehaha in 1937. Photographer: These institutions included the Dayton’s A. F. Raymond. Photo courtesy of the machine operators. Several individuals Minnesota Historical Society. Bluff Commercial Club on East Seventh, were also listed as members of the armed forces. In some cases the directory identi- fies a resident’s place of work. Minnesota Church (established 1911), located in Mining and Manufacturing (3M), Hamm’s the Railroad Island area, served Italian Brewery, and the Seeger Refrigerator residents, while further up the avenue Company regularly appear in these list- the Scandinavians attended Lutheran ings.