Preserving a “Fine Residential District”: the Merriam Park Freeway Fight Tom O’Connell and Tom Beer, Page 3

Helping the Sun Shine Brighter for Farmers Robert Freeman on Mount Ramsey Harlan Stoehr — page 14

Winter 2013 Volume 47, Number 4 Preserving a “Fine Residential District”: The Merriam Park Freeway Fight Tom O’Connell and Tom Beer, page 3

The front cover of the May1967 issue of Minnesota Highways magazine, the official Minnesota Department of Highways employee newsletter between 1951 and 1976. At the time this cover illustration was drawn, the nation was in the midst of building the vast Interstate Highway system that was largely paid for with federal money. This illustration conveys an idealized view of how the new freeways would safely and efficiently transport automobiles and trucks into and out of a city. Plans that called for the construction of an interchange on I-94 in St. Paul at Prior Avenue produced plenty of controversy and called into question some of the underlying assumptions behind these new roadways. Image courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Digital Libary. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY Executive Director John M. Lindley Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 47, Number 4 Winter 2013 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: Paul A. Verret President The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations Cheryl Dickson to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program First Vice President of presenting, publishing and preserving. William Frels Second Vice President Julie Brady Secretary C O N T E N T S Carolyn J. Brusseau Treasurer 3 Preserving a “Fine Residential District”: Thomas H. Boyd Immediate Past President The Merriam Park Freeway Fight Anne Cowie, Joanne A. Englund, Tom O’Connell and Tom Beer Thomas Fabel, Howard Guthmann, Douglas Heidenreich, Richard B. Heydinger, Jr., 14 Helping the Sun Shine Brighter for Farmers John Holman, Kenneth H. Johnson, Elizabeth M. Kiernat, David Kristal, Robert Freeman on Mount Ramsey Carl Kuhrmeyer, Father Kevin M. McDonough, Harlan Stoehr Nancy W. McKillips, Susan McNeely, James Miller, Robert Muschewske, Richard H. Nicholson, Jeffrey Slack, 22 “Cold Blooded Fraud”: Ralph Thrane. The White Bear Lake Sewer Project of 1926–1935 Director Emeritus James Lindner W. Andrew Boss EDITORIAL BOARD Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Thomas H. Boyd, John Diers, Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. Douglas Heidenreich, James Miller, and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon John Milton, Debra Mitts- Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Paul D. Nelson, Richard H. Nicholson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, Steve Trimble, Paul A. Verret, Mary Lethert Wingerd. A Message from the Editorial Board HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD William Fallon, William Finney, George amsey County is changing every day—witness the new light rail cor- Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl. R ridor on University Avenue—a transportation line that we could not RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS have envisioned a few years ago. In this issue, we remember some earlier Commissioner Rafael Ortega, chair Commissioner Toni Carter changes. Harlan Stoehr recounts the professional life of Robert Freeman, Commissioner Blake Huffman the longtime Ramsey County agricultural extension agent who began his Commissioner Jim McDonough Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire job in the 1920s, when the county contained over 1,000 farms, and su- Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt Commissioner Janice Rettman pervised that service through drought, grasshopper infestations, and fi- Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, nally, suburbanization. James Lindner reminds us that public works are Ramsey County Ramsey County History is published quarterly frequently political in his story of the construction of White Bear Lake’s by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 sewer system. And even freeways have stories: Tom O’Connell and Tom Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in U.S.A. Copy- Beer recount the Merriam Park neighborhood’s passionate opposition to a right © 2013, Ram sey County His torical So ciety. ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. Prior Avenue exit on Interstate 94. Hope you enjoy reading about how our No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written values— then, as now—have shaped our built environment. permission from the publisher. The Society assumes no responsibility for state ments made by Anne Cowie, contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: [email protected]; web site address: www.rchs.com Chair, Editorial Board

2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Preserving a “Fine Residential District”: The Merriam Park Freeway Fight

Tom O’Connell and Tom Beer n hope of ending their three-year anti-freeway campaign, Merriam Park activists ramped up the pressure on city hall in early March of 1962. IHundreds of residents assembled to challenge the Prior Avenue freeway interchanges, long sought by government planners and business leaders. Behind the scenes, the Merriam Park Residential Association (MPRA) lobbied city commissioners and the mayor. A multi-sided game of political leverage was being playing out in St. Paul, and the outcome was still in doubt. Mayor George Vavoulis’s compromise position could solve a piece of the citizen group’s strategic puzzle, and if the City Council agreed, Merriam Park neighbors would score a victory in what had become a marathon campaign.1 The community campaign that led to became over time a significant catalog of this point—and ultimately to victory for community concerns. Merriam Park—was the first successful Motivated by deeply felt grievances, neighborhood effort to resist the freeway Merriam Park residents forged an im- in the city. Three neighborhoods stood out pressive opposition movement. At the during the early resistance to freeway en- dawn of the 1960s, with ideas about com- croachment in the Twin Cities. The African munity control and neighborhood power American Rondo community, economi- just over the horizon, Merriam Park resi- The smiles tell the winners’ story. Cheerful cally mixed Prospect Park in Minneapolis, dents demonstrated that well organized Merriam Park women assemble at city hall and the middle-class Merriam Park neigh- and creatively led citizens could oppose prior to the finalSt. Paul City Council vote borhood all faced the onslaught of I-94. In powerful outside interests—and win!2 on the I-94 freeway accord. At a time when Rondo, community leaders were unable to men predominated in public affairs, women Background to a Conflict played important roles during the three-year win critical legislation to maintain a viable campaign, turning out at public hearings, writ- neighborhood in the wake of freeway ex- The dream of a national highway that ing letters, conducting petition drives, and in pansion, while the University of Minnesota would connect major cities and regions other ways nurturing these grass-roots efforts. and downtown Minneapolis commerce across the United States had its origins St. Paul Dispatch photo, March 6, 1962. Photo influenced decisions near Prospect Park. in the 1930s, but it would take until the courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. Only the Merriam Park neighborhood built end of the Great Depression for planning a lasting community organization to chal- to begin in earnest. In 1939, Franklin reflected this national commitment. The lenge freeway plans within its area. Delano Roosevelt presented a hand- Federal agency in charge, the United Though the specifics of each struggle drawn sketch of six routes that together States Bureau of Public Roads, long pro- varied, all three neighborhoods fought to would cross the nation. But the real turn- posed freeways as linchpins to the future preserve the character and integrity of their ing point did not come until 1956 with the of American cities, and by the late 1940s communities. In the nearly bucolic, mostly passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act the Federal government was responding middle-class neighborhood of Merriam (FAHA), the largest public works project to the demands for jobs, housing, educa- Park the goal was preserving quiet streets in U. S. history. Under terms of the legis- tion, and improved transportation. A war for local use by postwar families with their lation, the federal government would pay weary but growing American populace large numbers of school-aged children. 90 percent of the costs of interstate high- supported a fast pace, and in the years lead- Concerns about the Prior exit were a spe- way construction. The legislation jump- ing up to the 1962 St. Paul council vote, cial catalyst for neighborhood opposition. started many state plans, and within the Minnesota officials had finalized most of The prospect of a thousand cars daily hur- next decades over 41,000 miles of free- St. Paul’s freeway plans.4 tling past the community’s largest elemen- way were constructed.3 But government action also gener- tary school was the most alarming of what Minnesota’s support for Interstate 94 ated controversy with conflict emerging

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 3 The sprouting “garden suburb” of Merriam Park is shown in this 1890 photo of the developing neighborhood, the spire of the firstSt. Mark’s church built a year before in the distance. Situated midway between both downtowns, Merriam Park was prime real estate for residential development and transportation links. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society and the archives of St. Mark’s Church. in communities in the freeway’s path. corridor for I-94, as did industry and missed opportunity for the new commu- Freeway construction had far-reaching some local businesses. Organized labor nity of Merriam Park. Colonel Merriam’s impacts on neighborhoods and urban looked forward to the jobs freeway con- son, William R. Merriam was gover- regions. Freeways made the commutes struction offered and residents of fast nor of Minnesota from 1889 to 1893. between city and suburb much quicker, growing postwar suburbs supported the Expecting a favorable outcome, back- furthering the flight of citizens and busi- quick access between work and home. In ers of a Merriam Park state capitol site nesses away from core cities. In the a speech to road builders in 1957, DFL offered land from what is now the Town process, previously cohesive neighbor- Governor Orville Freeman expressed the and Country Golf Club for construc- hoods were divided and in many cases mood of the pro-freeway coalition. “I am tion of the capitol. Proponents of a uni- destroyed. convinced that what we have seen since fied Minneapolis and St. Paul, one city Rapid and ubiquitous, freeway devel- (the passage of FAHA) is only a hint . . . rather than two Twin Cities, enthusiasti- opment sparked a national debate. Social of what is yet to come. In our office, we cally backed the proposal. And for this critics like Lewis Mumford urged greater are highway conscious because this is the purpose, Merriam Park was perfectly lo- balance in transportation planning “. . . to way of the future.”7 cated, almost precisely at the midpoint of fit a diversity of human purposes.” Urban the two cities and only a twelve-minute neighborhoods should not be torn apart by Merriam Park: train ride from either downtown. When automobile traffic, Mumford argued, and Roots of Resistance the legislature chose the present site for greater consideration should be given to Wave of the future or not, general support the state capitol just north of downtown alternatives such as public transportation.5 for freeways soon gave way to resistance St. Paul, the future of Merriam Park as In one of the country’s most cele- when specific neighborhoods found them- a residential neighborhood was set. By brated cases of neighborhood opposition, selves in the path of a proposed interstate. 1916, the community was completely the West Greenwich Village neighbor- In many ways, Merriam Park was well built up. Although the grandest dreams of hood in New York City organized strong situated to mount a successful community opposition to planner Robert Moses’s campaign to defend itself against freeway Midtown Manhattan Expressway, an ele- encroachment. One of St. Paul’s thriv- vated superhighway through the commu- ing middle class neighborhoods, it had a nity. Author and community planner Jane proud history and strong community co- Jacobs helped fuel the revolt, giving voice hesiveness. Founded in 1882 as a garden to Village residents. Neighborhoods had suburb, Colonel John H. Merriam had vi- to be powerful enough to fight city hall, sions of an exclusive neighborhood for the Jacobs wrote. “The highway-men with Twin Cities wealthy. The new community fabulous sums of money and enormous had strong ties to the Catholic Church, power at their disposal are at a loss to with St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary and make automobiles and cities compatible the Catholic Industrial School, the prede- with one another.”6 cessor of the University of St. Thomas, Critics like these, however, were established by Archbishop John Ireland. Pittsburgh architect John T. Comes designed the present St. Mark’s Church in the distinc- in a minority in the years leading up to In 1887, the Archbishop laid the foun- tive English Gothic style. First services were the massive freeway construction of the dation for the Cathedral of St. Paul on held in November 1918, although the opening 1960s. The plans for Interstate 94 in St. Laurel and Cleveland only to change his was delayed a week when the city closed all Paul had been set in the 1950s; yet most mind and build the Cathedral in its current churches due to the fluepidemic. The flagship citizens remained poorly informed. The location overlooking the state capitol and parish of its time, over 1,500 elementary-age students attended St. Mark’s school when the Minnesota Department of Highways downtown St. Paul. freeway was built in the 1960s. Photo cour- (MDH) backed the St. Anthony/Rondo Loss of the Cathedral was not the only tesy of the archives of St. Mark’s Church.

4 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY to rally local support and draw others to after a renowned career as Minnesota’s fight the freeway. most famous and effective social justice The new Association could count on a priest. Beginning in the 1930s, Gilligan strong cadre of business, professional, aca- forged ties with the emerging labor demic, and church volunteers who contrib- movement and the Twin Cities African uted time and talent to the grass roots orga- American community. Appointed in 1943 nization and made up the Association’s first by Governor Edward Thye as chair of the officers: John Slusser, First Vice Chairman; newly formed Governor’s Human Rights Lou Gelfand, Second Vice Chairman; and Commission, he led the Commission for Phillip McDonald Secretary-Treasurer. twelve consecutive years under four gov- In a time when men dominated public ernors. No Minnesotan did more to advo- affairs, women nevertheless played im- cate for both labor and civil rights than portant roles. They turned out for public Francis Gilligan. When confronted with hearings, wrote letters to newspaper edi- the freeway’s direct threat to his parish tors, volunteered for petition drives, and Governor Wendell Anderson appointed community, he was ready to apply the po- J. Douglas Kelm (1923–1999) to the Metro- in other ways nurtured the grassroots. litical skills and connections he had forged politan Transit Commission (MTC) in 1971, Pass-the-hat fund raising and bake sales over three decades of public leadership. almost ten years after his leading role in op- raised money to pay Association ex- Dozens of other Merriam Park resi- posing I-94. At the MTC he was an advocate penses, which were kept to a minimum. for public transit and an early supporter of dents would take on leadership roles as No costly lawsuits were launched and the anti-freeway campaign developed, but light-rail. The governor’s point man on trans- volunteers designed and conducted their portation was denied appointment as MTC the complementary assets of these two pri- chairman in 1975, although the full Minnesota own surveys, door-to-door canvases, mary leaders was a key to the campaign’s Senate did confirm his appointment a year and petition drives. St. Mark’s offered ultimate success. Doug Kelm had an acute later. Photo courtesy of the Kelm family. room for groups big and small to meet, sense of public policy and direct knowl- and Association issues drew public at- edge of local, state, and national decision- tention through creative use of the Twin its founder were never realized, Merriam making channels. To Kelm’s powerful Park’s character was established as one City newspapers. Leaders contributed by absorbing expenses out of their own connections in the rising Democratic- of St. Paul’s several thriving middle-class pockets or found ways to cover larger ex- Farmer-Labor Party, Gilligan added neighborhoods.8 penses as needed.10 In the 1950s, as freeway plans devel- Two men emerged as the most influen- oped in earnest, Merriam Park’s population tial leaders of the anti-freeway campaign: topped 14,000, with over 3,000 families. A J. Doug Kelm, a resident of the neighbor- quintessential postwar community, it was hood, and Monsignor Francis Gilligan, a neighborhood full of children, with two pastor of St. Mark’s parish. They be- thriving elementary schools—Longfellow, came regular spokesmen for the MPRA. a public school, and St. Mark’s, which Kelm was born in Chanhassen, the son of with over 1,500 students was the larg- Elmer Kelm one of the founders of the est Catholic elementary school west of modern DFL Party, and grew up amidst Chicago. St. Mark’s parish, founded in politics. To get involved in city issues, 1880, had literally grown up with the he moved to St. Paul and later worked neighborhood. For many, the Merriam on Hubert Humphrey’s 1948 U.S. Senate Park neighborhood was the St. Mark’s campaign. Rubbing shoulders with the neighborhood. And critical to the impend- men and women who would shepherd ing community campaign, St. Mark’s was the DFL’s rise to power, Kelm became located on Prior Avenue, the very street a master of the political arts and honed proposed as a freeway off-ramp.9 an interest in transportation. Building Merriam Park’s cohesion was rooted the DFL Party was a grassroots activity, The portrait of Francis J. Gilligan (1898–1997) in middle-class homeownership, strong and Merriam Park was the perfect place was taken about the time he became pastor local institutions like St. Mark’s Catholic at St. Mark’s in 1957. The important parish for a political operator to hang his hat. assignment came after a thirty-year career as parish, and neighborhood businesses such In the late 1950s he became active in the Minnesota’s most recognized and honored as Quigley Motors, the IGA grocery, freeway issue and first president of the civil rights and labor priest. It was during that Metcalf Hardware, and Merriam Park Association. He would prove to be a key career Gilligan made the acquaintance and Floral, owned by the Bilski family and in tactician and strategist during the com- friendship of local politicians he later called on to oppose the freeway. Photo by Kenneth M. operation since 1911. Residents organized munity campaign. Wright. Photo courtesy of the archives of St. the Merriam Park Residential Association Monsignor Gilligan came to St. Mark’s Mark’s Church.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 5 his own broad sweep of friends on both As spokesmen for the community, the Federal Bureau of Roads was required sides of the political divide, and exten- Kelm and Gilligan articulated the neigh- to approve local plans, but the Minnesota sive Church relationships, including borhood perspective: a safe place to raise Department of Highways was the key Archbishop William Brady himself.11 children, maintain a home and forge agency driving freeway construction. strong community institutions. They op- Staffed by engineers, the MDH was Neighborhood Opposition posed commercial and industrial inter- a fortress bureaucracy in state govern- By the summer of 1959, Merriam Park ests whose priorities were moving goods ment with a national reputation for ef- was in the freeway planners’ cross hairs. from point A to B in the most efficient fective planning and timely execution. City and state officials wanted quick way possible, or as Gilligan put it in the The agency was also under pressure to Federal approval for freeway interchanges St. Mark’s Bulletin: the trucking firms act fast. Responding to public expecta- at Cretin and Prior Avenues and an ele- and other industrialists who want to “run tions for freeway construction, agency vated one-mile section of freeway over across town with no regard.” leaders tried to avoid costly delays de- Fairview Avenue. The concerned residents Trucking companies like Admiral- spite funds being stretched to the limit. who met at St. Mark’s on a warm evening Merchants Freight did indeed support the As Merriam Park residents were just in August to launch the MPRA likewise freeway plan. But Merriam Park residents starting to get organized, the MDH was moved quickly, choosing officers, setting also had to contend with the pro-freeway prepared to execute Minnesota’s portion objectives, and contacting the neighbor- stance of large manufacturing and dis- of the largest public works program in hood. The St. Mark’s Bulletin announced tribution firms, like Brown & Bigelow the nation’s history.14 the Association’s first concerns, noting and Skelly Oil, and the Midway Civic In 1957, Frank Marzitelli was ap- “. . . an Elevated Freeway will do more Club, which spoke for 1,600 other busi- pointed deputy commissioner of MDH damage to the district than a depressed nesses that backed the freeway. These to manage freeway development. He highway [and] accesses and egresses from firms wanted quick transfer for goods was well suited for the job. A past com- the Freeway had to be limited.” The prior- and services within the Twin Cities and missioner of public works in St. Paul, ity of safety for children and seniors was beyond. Multiple freeway interchanges he had impressive credentials and a tal- mirrored by the MPRA, which adopted were considered essential for commercial ent for public relations. Marzitelli grew “Action today” as its motto.12 traffic and for consumers to drive in and up along the Italian Upper Levee on St. And action it was. Over the next three out of the Midway area, which bordered Paul’s river flats, a neighborhood that years Merriam Park residents utilized Merriam Park.13 produced success stories of the “local many tools to build grass roots people boy makes good” variety. He early pur- power. They conducted petition drives, Bureaucracy, Politics, sued a baker’s trade, organizing the local held bake sales, packed public hearings, and Community Pressure union and becoming its business agent. In and lobbied local officials. They mobi- By 1959 the rules governing freeway con- 1950 he was elected to the City Council lized school children, churchgoers, and struction also had changed. The Minnesota and proved so skilled a negotiator and local civic organizations and businesses Legislature ended local government veto adept at public affairs that the Republican to their cause. And they wrote letter after power over highway projects, substan- powers in the Democratic town also em- letter laying out their case against the tially strengthening the hand of the MDH braced him. freeway exit. “Yes, we will go along with over city councils and local citizens. City His knowledge of St. Paul, both or- progress,” wrote homeowner and lifelong government had a consultative role, while ganic and learned, contributed to a long resident Clement L. Smith, “but we will fight this asinine idea of the interchange at Prior Avenue.” This energetic and creative opposition to the freeway reflected different views of urban life and government decision-making. The engineers, professional planners, and public officials who built freeways used tools of prediction and rational analysis, and considered the Interstate Highway “a pure path to progress.” Merriam Park activists thought otherwise. They considered the state’s approach insensitive and out of touch As this 1959 photo of Snelling Avenue looking northwest toward University Avenue documents, with urban realities. Powerful economic heavy trafficon city streets was a common problem as the volume of cars and trucks increased interests, they believed, also pushed for after World War II. Advocates for the I-94 freeway, with its multiple exits into the city and neighborhoods, thought the interstate offered the best way to facilitate quick transfer of the freeway with little regard for commu- commercial goods and ease access for shoppers and commuters. St. Paul Pioneer Press nity input. photo. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

6 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY public career that included time as state highway commissioner, deputy state wel- fare commissioner, St. Paul’s first city administrator, and executive director of the St. Paul Port Authority. Candid and trusted, he was a first-rate facilitator, his skills serving his native town well into retirement when he saved the Landmark Center from the wrecking ball and built the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.15 His boss at MDH, Loyal P. Zimmer- man, wanted the urban section of the freeway built quickly and quietly. The agency acquired property well in advance of construction and tried to maintain se- crecy over its plans. Building through the city was a special challenge, Zimmerman believed, that involved local government partners, organized citizens, and multiple engineering problems. MDH’s job was to Shown when appointed deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Highways push ahead through any obstacle or pub- (MDH; now the Minnesota Department of Transportation) in 1957, Frank Marzitelli lic controversy to finish the work. With (1914–2000) was a skilled negotiator who guided the MDH during the Merriam Park free- control of information and good public way fight. His encounter with Archbishop Brady would fuel the freeway controversy. Image relations, MDH officials believed they courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Digital Library. could manage whatever problems might arise.16 own interest.” Residents were aware that the St. Anthony Freeway west of Snelling Election politics also affected free- homes and businesses were threatened, Avenue to the Walter Butler Company?” way momentum. In the months preced- and some demolished. Fred Scherman, Probing further, the Association asked if ing his 1958 reelection, Governor Orville who lived on Ashland Avenue, offered a “a more flexible plan [could be consid- Freeman was pummeled by Republican protest poem, as he saw things. ered] which would direct traffic around claims that he failed to maximize road the periphery of the city?” construction. Freeways were political We would like to see the Freeway pass by The MDH response was measured, yet commodities and construction contracts Prior Avenue . . . packed with traffic and engineering data produced profits for companies and good We would like to see the Freeway leave our that spoke to its expertise. Department wages for workers. The Minnesota Asso- playgrounds stand. officials challenged Association claims ciation of General Contractors, the lobby We don’t like to see the Freeway cut our that the proposed freeway designs would group of the construction industry, also houses down. lower property values in Merriam Park, weighed in against Freeman. In response, We don’t like to see the freeway ruin our or that freeway exits were in violation 18 Freeman directed his Commissioner of part of town. of Federal standards. According to the Administration, Art Naftalin, to expedite MDH, the elevated freeway at Fairview MDH’s planning and projects. MDH sent In prose, not poetry, the MDH suc- Avenue and the proposed Cretin and out their own press releases, asserting it cinctly categorized the fledgling MPRA Prior Avenue exits were justified.19 would act “. . . swiftly to do its part to as “. . . an organized effort . . . to bene- Numerous meetings between MPRA increase employment and accelerate fit and protect the immediate neighbor- leaders and state and local officials took highway construction as called for by the hood.” Signaling its intentions, the Asso- place over the next twelve months on emergency programs of the Federal-Aid ciation sent a list of questions to MDH these and other questions, but little prog- Highway Act. . . .”17 in late 1959 demanding clear and com- ress was made in resolving neighborhood In the face of the political storms and prehensive answers to concerns about concerns. Another chance to air com- the determination of MDH to complete its the freeway. Association officers were plaints occurred when the Legislative mission, Merriam Park neighbors contin- blunt with their inquiry. “What public Interim Commission on Highways took ued to support the goals their leaders had necessity dictates the foregoing plans testimony from five “community im- articulated. “The freeway was a very big [for Fairview, Cretin, and Prior Avenues] provement associations,” including the issue,” one long-time St. Mark’s mem- with all of their harmful effects?” And, MPRA, in April 1960. The hearing before ber recalled. Another said, “. . . the par- “Why did the highway department con- state legislators was the first time differ- ish definitely saw the freeway fight in its tract away a portion of the engineering of ent Twin City community or ganizations

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 7 made common cause on freeway issues. took the direct route, asking Brady to get The groups presented evidence of esca- involved in the freeway fight by meeting lating freeway costs to the legislators, but with Deputy Marzitelli in August 1960. conflicting objectives hampered greater The man Gilligan knew for over fifty cooperation. One disagreement was over years and thought “utterly decisive” re- the freeway’s Mississippi River crossing. sponded without hesitation.22 Minneapolis groups appeared to back a Brady’s account of the meeting is cap- crossing at 26th Street, which lined up tured in a long follow-up letter he sent to with St. Anthony Avenue on the St. Paul Marzitelli. In it he thanked the deputy for side. The MPRA was reluctant to support clarifying “the triple authority” of state, any bridge site without knowing its im- federal, and city agencies. “These divi- pact on Merriam Park and before other sions of authority are not always clear to design issues, particularly the freeway us simple citizens,” the Archbishop wrote, exits, were resolved.20 “. . . and your explanation is helpful to our As the freeway controversy entered a understanding of whom we must approach third year, Merriam Park leaders vigor- when, as citizens, we find it important ously maintained their attack, while occa- to take part in the democratic process.” sionally extending an olive branch to offi- Some previously raised Association is- cials, elected and otherwise. “The people sues were put to rest. The freeway’s main in this area do not object to a Freeway,” route through St. Paul was “. . . no longer the St. Mark’s Bulletin declared. “They William Otterwell Brady (1899–1961) was a matter of debate.” Likewise, the free- the sixth archbishop of St. Paul and a builder do object to the way that it is planned and promoter during his short reign. A lifelong way river crossing at 26th Street, or else- by the public officials.” Freeway plan- friend of Monsignor Gilligan, he put himself where, would be set aside, to be left to the ners, it added, were absorbed in mate- forward during the I-94 controversy, motivated Legislature to determine. rial things and might disregard the most by institutional interests and church holdings The letter went on to mention certain sacred things in life. “. . . This state was in Merriam Park. He died suddenly in Rome “common understandings” with Marzitelli before the convening of the Second Vatican settled by persons who [protected the] Council. Photo courtesy of the archives of the that seemed to favor Merriam Park. After little home owner, and we have enough Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. noting the hazard to drivers of an ele- hope in the resourcefulness of Minnesota vated freeway at Fairview Avenue, and engineers that the technical problems can its negative impact on property values be overcome,” the Bulletin concluded.21 with an ambitious promotion of funds for and city tax revenues, the Archbishop religious vocations. St. Mary’s Hospital wrote he could bring these matters “. . . to Allies was enlarged and “initial steps” were taken the public attention of all the people of While the Association probed for open- to erect a new archbishop’s house and St. Paul . . . to Washington . . . and to ings to help its cause, it also searched for chancery near the Cathedral. As a builder spearhead a movement to raise whatever allies to balance off powerful opponents. and promoter Brady was clearly the man funds may be needed to complete this They found one in William O. Brady, in charge, and Interstate 94 must have project, as it should be done.” Archbishop of the St. Paul Archdiocese. seemed an opportunity, although it raised Brady suggested resolving the Fairview Gilligan had grown up in Massachusetts reasons for concern. An intrusive freeway elevation issue by tying it to the Prior and with Brady. They were lifelong friends would threaten over $40 million in church Cretin Avenue interchanges. Arguing for and both had taught at the St. Paul Semi- capital investment in Merriam Park, in- “. . . Elimination of ramps at Prior [to] nary. Their relationship created an impor- cluding Our Lady of Good Counsel can- reduce overall costs of the freeway,” he tant partnership against the freeway. cer home, St. Thomas and St. Catherine’s noted the savings could be used to cover Brady’s tenure as archbishop (1956– colleges, St. Thomas Academy, and St. the depressed construction at Fairview. 1961) was short, but he demonstrated en- Mark’s parish and school. Then he added a startling claim. Brady ergy, vision and commitment to build and Other Brady reforms more directly wrote of an agreement to eliminate the modernize the Archdiocese. Fund rais- helped the Merriam Park cause. He hired interchange at Prior Avenue. It would not ing and capital campaigns for secondary a professional newspaperman to run The be planned “. . . now or in the future.” education were started, adding Benilde, Catholic Bulletin and make it “an effec- Assertive as always, Brady might have Murray, and Hill high schools and moving tive instrument in parish and diocesan been reading from a Gilligan sermon St. Margaret’s and St. Thomas Academies life.” The Bulletin consistently promoted when he added that Merriam Park needed to larger campuses. Higher education was the Merriam Park agenda. He drew clear to be preserved “. . . as a fine residential encouraged by a $10 million building lines with parish priests, expecting all district.”23 drive for the College of St. Catherine’s, communication by letter, although mat- The Archbishop had not only ad- an all women’s school, and improvements ters requiring his personal attention might vocated the Association position; made at the crowded diocesan seminaries be handled directly. Gilligan and Kelm he had extracted commitments from

8 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY with the Midway Civic Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He had a long record in civic affairs and supported highway improvements; he also owned a tire and rubber company on West Sixth Street in St. Paul. These public and private roles made him the Council’s lead on freeway matters, and someone who would figure into the widening conflict.25 Business groups presented another threat to freeway opponents. Long sup- portive of the MDH plan, they now circulated a petition in support of the Prior Avenue exits. Henry B. Lund, executive secretary of the Midway Civic Club, believed the freeway interchanges were needed for “industrial, retail and com- St. Mark’s elementary students line Dayton Avenue for a religious procession in 1962. Msgr. mercial life” in the Midway district. Gilligan employed similar and powerful symbolism during the freeway fight when 1,500 grade Phillip Troy, president of the Chamber school children were assembled along Prior Avenue to oppose the freeway exit. Photo courtesy of the archives of St. Mark’s Church. of Commerce, claimed the interchanges were needed to “improve rather than dis- rupt” Merriam Park and relieve traffic on Minnesota’s chief freeway spokesman. out council approval.” St. Paul Public University and Marshall Avenues. Why would Marzitelli agree? In fact, Works Commissioner Milt Rosen re- Gilligan’s response to both was to had he agreed at all? The record is not acted by saying the city lacked authority suggest St. Mark’s grade school might clear. Notes from the meeting are not to “. . . tell the state or federal agencies close and warned the city of the $600,000 known to exist, if notes were even taken. what to do,” although he asked the MDH cost it would bear to educate St. Mark’s Marzitelli would have been mindful to temporarily drop design work on Prior students if his hand was forced. To fur- of the many Catholic households that Avenue and offered yet another hearing ther demonstrate his resolve, Gilligan di- would hear Brady’s message and be in- on the Association’s issues. rected teachers to line up the St. Mark’s fluenced by his arguments. His job was Rosen allied himself on the freeway student body along both sides of Prior to handle the public, and what he said to Brady during their meeting may have been equivocal. Decisions about the freeway were always complex, as the Archbishop acknowledged, and further twists and turns might mitigate whatever the deputy had said. Nevertheless, over the next two years Association leaders would cite the Brady letter to strengthen their own claims in the on- going fight.24 The Conflict Expands While Archbishop Brady’s letter was a major boost to the freeway opponents, the outcome of the Merriam Park conflict was much in doubt. Determined to win support from local government, Kelm had asked Mayor Vavoulis “to get into the fight” and have the city corporate counsel render an opinion concerning A depressed (at grade) freeway at Fairview Avenue was a top Merriam Park Residential the actions of the MDH. “Inform the City Association priority. The MPRA brought enough pressure to bear, with Archbishop Brady’s Council of its authority and responsibil- help, to persuade the Minnesota Department of Highways to back off from its proposal to elevate the freeway at Fairview Avenue. In this construction photo, Fairview Avenue (looking ity,” Kelm wrote, and “. . . force the state south) is flooded as it runs under the freeway, a problem that persisted. Photo courtesy of the to stop further land acquisitions . . . with- Minnesota Historical Society and the archives of St. Mark’s Church.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 9 allies. An Association press release in January 1962 put it succinctly. The MDH report gave 70 pages to questions other than “engineering and traffic flow.” MDH’s social, educational, and economic views were “not the concern of highway engineers.” Only elected leaders could make such decisions. Once more, they asked city and state officials “to take quick action in behalf of the citizens of Merriam Park.” After two and a half years of protest, organizing, lobbying and confrontation, the central issue of freeway exits was still up in the air. With neighborhood and business leaders deadlocked in their positions and key elected officials still uncommitted, the showdown over Prior Construction of I-94 as seen in about 1964 from the Snelling Avenue interchange look- Avenue loomed.29 ing west toward the pedestrian bridge in the background. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society and the archives of St. Mark’s Church. All Politics Is Local Support by members in Congress had en- Avenue. The visual image of 1,500 chil- Blatnik. . . . I keenly appreciate the ser- couraged Merriam Park leaders, but the dren stretching the five blocks from vice which his office . . . gave me in need to bolster their case and to pressure school to the proposed freeway exits fur- Washington.” Blatnik was from Chisholm, city officials once again shifted the focus. ther galvanized the neighborhood. The Minnesota, and a powerful member of the The mayor had appointed John Slusser, Association’s “David versus Goliath” House Public Works Committee. With an Association member, to the St. Paul image was growing.26 St. Paul business executives also travel- Planning Board in 1961. Slusser dug for While treading water with city and ling to Washington, D.C. to press their details about MDH proposed traffic counts state during much of 1961, Association side of the story, the Merriam Park re- and other technical information for the officials started to act on the federal gov- lationships in Congress paid off when MPRA, only to be told the state agency ernment. Father Gilligan, Doug Kelm, and Humphrey, McCarthy and Karth prom- wouldn’t “give out piecemeal informa- other leaders contacted Hubert Humphrey ised their support to the neighborhood.27 tion.” The Bureau in Washington wanted and Eugene McCarthy, U.S senators, and Responding to political pressure, the the MDH study to “. . . provide answers Joe Karth, St. Paul’s representative in Bureau of Roads had earlier asked the to many, if not all of the questions that had Congress. The political connections ran MDH to conduct its own comprehensive been raised to this project,” and as a result deep: Father Gilligan, for example, had review of the Association’s claims, after mollify the MPRA in its press for changes. known Humphrey for over twenty years. local discussions had failed. The spiral Clearly, this was not going to happen.30 The Bureau of Roads, with final sign-off bound, 150-page study MDH produced The public back-and-forth between authority on freeway design, was the in- took a year to complete. With maps and freeway opponents and backers was con- tended target of their lobbying. artist renderings, it repackaged the agen- tinuously in the four Twin City news- A well-organized political constitu- cy’s old design and engineering recom- papers. The St. Paul Dispatch carried ency, the Association was helpful provid- mendations, adding certain agency as- a lengthy and spirited debate that fea- ing information to their representatives in sessments about social and economic tured Kelm and Gilligan jousting with Congress. Congressman Karth attested impacts on the neighborhood that would businesses leaders on the merits of the to the importance of the help when he prove controversial. It did support one Prior Avenue interchange. In another wrote Bureau head Ray Whitten that Merriam Park contention: the depressed press story, City Council candidate and “. . . Monsignor Gilligan’s contention [on freeway at Fairview Avenue was fea- Merriam Park resident James Dalglish Prior Avenue traffic volume] does indeed sible after all, as the Association, the characterized the MDH study as “phony, have great merit.” Archbishop, and some city officials had pseudo engineering gobble-de-gook,” Some of Gilligan’s ecclesiastical held. But the MDH gave no ground on and then was chastised by the president friends were asked to lobby as well. “I the contentious issue of freeway exits.28 of the Minnesota Society of Professional am writing to ask for a small service,” MPRA leaders countered the MDH Engineers for his comments.31 Gilligan wrote Francis Schenk, the Bishop study by crafting their own analysis of Despite the lengthening dispute and of Duluth. “. . . would it be possible . . . what MDH had written, making it avail- seeming stalemate, Father Gilligan re- to send a message to Congressman able to City Council and Congressional mained upbeat, citing the support of

10 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY recently elected Republican Governor were still supporting the interchanges sideration, but it was not to be a finished Elmer Andersen as evidence of progress. that Merriam Park opposed. Kelm lev- document. Needing a political compro- Neighborhood activists began mobilizing eled his blasts at them as well, charging mise, the mayor tried to quiet Merriam for the 1962 city elections to put more the businessmen as the only remaining Park by tying their issues to Marshall’s pressure on the mayor and council mem- “interests” seeking construction of exits threat to stop freeway funding, then cou- bers. One DFL front group chaired by at Prior Avenue.33 pling it to another freeway issue involv- Doug Kelm circulated flyers reminding Before city officials would have ing two downtown hospitals. Affirming residents to keep their freeway champi- their freeway stewardship scrutinized the consensus for a depressed freeway at ons in mind. “When you go to the polls, in the March and April city elections, Fairview Avenue, the mayor left the Prior remember Karth and Doody! They sup- State Highway Commissioner James C. Avenue interchanges open “for later con- ported us; now let’s support them!” Joe Marshall gave a real push to break the sideration,” an idea floated by the MDH Gabler, a Merriam Park resident, was the Merriam Park logjam. Marshall was frus- and Governor Andersen.35 DFL endorsed candidate for mayor. He trated by the delays, now almost three The reaction from the Association was announced his opposition to the freeway years in running, so in February 1962 predictable. “It would be grossly unfair to exits in January, charging mayor Valoulis he threatened to withhold freeway funds leave the Merriam Park community with a with “complete indifference toward the to St. Paul pending solution of Merriam sword hanging over their heads for many Merriam Park’s freeway concerns.”32 Park’s issues. years to come,” Doug Kelm blistered The pressure signaled to the mayor the mayor. The Association demanded City Council and City Council members that decision the City Council reject the mayor’s Prior Decision and After time had arrived. Doug Kelm, the master Avenue resolution and support a north only Merriam Park ire was fiercest toward the political chess player, sent another sig- exit at Cretin Avenue. Senators Humphrey MDH determination to build the exits nal, reminding Vavoulis and the council and McCarthy as well as Congressman at Prior Avenue. The state’s completed of their responsibility to support or re- Karth sent telegrams urging the city to study was characterized as a “propaganda ject the MDH recommendations. Local “adopt an expression of policy.” Pressure book,” and its proposed Fairview Avenue newspapers continued their coverage of by phone, flyer, and on foot bombarded freeway solution a sham, “deliberately any and all freeway news, while the DFL the City Council, dividing freeway back- inviting rejection of its own [MDH] ap- Party and its candidates jumped to criti- ers from opponents. When questioned plication,” Kelm said. The MPRA put cize the mayor and Commissioner Rosen just days before the council vote about no faith in the MDH findings and rec- for evading a decision. City Council al- Marshall’s threat to withhold freeway ommendations. Kelm was “. . . confi- lies of the MPRA held committee meet- funds, Governor Andersen gave a nuanced dent the Governor [Republican Elmer L. ings to air MDH recommendations and reply. “Marshall is acting on the facts, I’m Andersen] would step in to “. . . give consider citizen rebuttals, all of it re- acting on human relationships,” he said.36 direction to the Highway Department,” ported in the daily press.34 After a series of weekend meetings although the powerful Midway Civic Finally, Mayor Vavoulis announced the in early March “with highway officials Club and St. Paul Chamber of Commerce resolution he had crafted for council con- and various interest groups,” Vavoulis announced a reworked set of recommendations. Commissioner Rosen, however, had been left out of the deal. Vavoulis had been pressured toward a no- interchange policy at Prior Avenue, but Rosen repre- sented a harder line, publically supporting “the heavy taxpayers of this city,” a reference to the Midway Civic Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Further study of the Prior Avenue exits, as the mayor first proposed, had been roundly attacked by the MPRA and was not the solution Rosen and his backers wanted. The mayor’s revised plan, as announced, included a north-only freeway exit at Cretin Avenue, the depressed interstate Gilligan and Kelm sparred with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Midway Civic Club roadway at Fairview Avenue, a river cross- in a two-part St. Paul Dispatch Q&A article in June 1961. The map reproduced here shows ing at 26th Street and finally, no exits at the contested intersections along the freeway’s length in Merriam Park. Citizen opposition to Prior Avenue. the freeway reflected different views of urban life from those of the commercial interests, engineers, and professional planners who termed the freeway “a pure path to progress.” St. Paul The Merriam Park residents who ar- Dispatch map, June 22, 1961. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. rived at city hall on March 5th to applaud

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 11 encouraged. In short, citizen activism had accomplished a great deal, although the massive Interstate Highway program that transformed cities and the living patterns of most Americans could not, in the end, be totally resisted. Its completion was also a tribute to creativity, and to power. Perhaps as well, Merriam Park’s victory was a confirmation of the power of race and class in city life. After all, residents of Merriam Park were able to preserve the integrity of their neighborhood while their counterparts in Rondo, the center of African-American community life in St. Paul, were unable to do the same a few years earlier. Leaders of the Rondo-St. Anthony Improvement Association had sought fair housing legislation in the wake of Highway 94. They never got it. No re- The front-page headline greeted St. Paulites the Monday after Mayor George Vavoulis ne- cords provide insight on how the old civil gotiated a multi-sided “accord” to settle the freeway dispute. “In essence this is the program rights activist, Father Francis Gilligan, felt requested by Merriam Park residents,” the Dispatch reported. It was ratifiedthe next day, and as he watched the negative consequences although attempts to amend it continued for a number of years, the core agreement held. St. of freeway expansion on his old allies just Paul Dispatch, March 5, 1962. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. two miles down the road. Near the close of the Merriam Park the mayor’s deal would witness more po- a depressed roadway would be built at struggle, Mayor Vavoulis reflected that litical drama. “I’m just sick,” Commis- Fairview Avenue. The mayor told the things might have been resolved “more sioner Rosen complained at Monday’s Pioneer Press there was no reason any- easily” had it not been an election year council conference, his frustration show- one should quarrel with further stud- in St. Paul. That it was an election year, ing. “I’m not trying to kill people, as ies of Prior Avenue. The Bureau was of course, had everything to do with the those in the area have said.” The mayor merely making certain that “the purpose outcome of the freeway fight. It’s hard tried to salve the hurt. Rosen did an out- of the freeway construction is being ac- to imagine the result without politics, standing job as a public official, Vavoulis complished here.” As always, Kelm or grassroots organizing, or the citizen told the assembled crowd. But his gra- responded. The Bureau’s decision was leaders of the Merriam Park Residential ciousness could not hide the fact that the “complete treachery” and the Governor’s Association who marshaled their own St. Paul City Council, with only Rosen recommendation to further study traffic power “to fight city hall.”39 dissenting, had given Merriam Park the flow at Prior Avenue was “the kind of a freeway agenda it had long sought. “In tactic we can expect from him.”38 Tom O’Connell is a professor of Political essence,” the St. Paul Dispatch summa- In the end, the parties in St. Paul’s great Studies at Metropolitan State Univer- rized, “this is the program requested by freeway fight may have just worn each sity. He attended St. Luke’s grade school Merriam Park residents.” Last-minute ap- other down. Freeway building would re- (St. Mark’s arch rival) through fifth grade. peals from Albert Shiely, director of the main a highly political matter, and per- With Tom Beer, he coauthored “Father Midway Civic Club, and other freeway sistence by the MDH did result in dual Francis Gilligan and the Struggle for proponents made no impact.37 exits being built at Cretin Avenue. The Civil Rights,” which appeared in the Sum- And yet, there was still wiggle room prediction of Midway Civic Club man Al mer 2011 issue of Minnesota History. for interchange advocates. Despite the Shiely, however, that heavy traffic would Tom Beer grew up a Catholic kid in St. stand by the mayor and City Council, the ultimately force building the Prior Avenue Paul. His family home on Carroll Avenue, final decision was still in the hands of interchange never occurred. which was three blocks from St. Mark’s, the Bureau of Roads. Later in March A lone, but well organized, community was taken during the freeway’s construc- 1962, a spokesman for Governor Andersen organization had resisted state, federal, tion. His father’s hardware store, on made the announcement. The Prior Avenue and local government plans, along with Marshall Avenue, is now occupied by interchanges would be dropped “pend- private business pressure to achieve much Izzy’s Ice Cream. ing further traffic counts and study.” The of what they had set out to accomplish. sword over Merriam Park remained. No They had shown intelligence, creativity Both authors thank Peter Kessler, archi- mention was made of Bureau action on and spirit, and had enhanced the demo- vist at St. Mark’s Church, for his assis- the interchanges at Cretin Avenue, but cratic process, as the Archbishop had once tance with the research for this article.

12 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Endnotes

1. St. Paul Dispatch, March 6, 1962, p. 1. Choices and Fair Prices, Transportation and 24. Altshuler, The City Planning Process, 53. MDH 2. Alan Altshuler, The City Planning Process: A Growth Studies Report, #17 (Minneapolis: Center inflexibility, it was believed, held down controversy Political Analysis (Cornell, N.Y.: Cornell University for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, and kept the demands of any one group from en- Press, 1965); F. James Davis and Alice Onque, 2003), 6; Cavanaugh, Politics and Freeways, 13; couraging others; The Catholic Bulletin, editorial, Freeway Exodus—Experiences in Finding Housing St. Paul Dispatch, January 17, 1961, p. 7; St. Paul April 28, 1961. Dispatch, June 22 & 23, 1961, pp. 17 & 10. as a Result of the St. Anthony-Rondo Freeway 25. St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 8, 1960, p. C2; Displacement from Western to Lexington Avenues in 14. Minnesota Statutes, Chap.161.17 subd. 2. With St. Paul Dispatch, January 17, 1961, p. 7 and St. Paul: A Research Report (Hamline University, the change, MDH could refer highway decisions to a September 1, 1970, p. C; Rosen had served on the 1963). A strong, at times militant challenge was metro area planning body; Cavanaugh, Politics and council since 1930 and was himself a past president raised by Rondo, but strategic failures and inconsis- Freeways, 12. of the Minnesota Good Roads Association and board tent community pressure affected the outcome there. 15. Frank D. Marzitelli Papers, Minnesota member of the St. Paul Automobile Club. 3. Patricia Cavanaugh, Politics and Freeways: Historical Society, Minnesota History Center, 26. St. Paul Dispatch, January 17, 1961, p. 7; St. Paul Building the Twin Cities Interstate System St. Paul, Minn., 107.H63B; St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dispatch, June 22, 1961, p. 17; author interview (Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional August 18, 2000, p. 1A; St. Paul Pioneer Press, with Patricia Turbes, May 18, 2011. Affairs and the Center for Transportation Studies, February 25, 1994, p. 2B. University of Minnesota, 2006), 8. 27. Gilligan knew Humphrey from the 1940s when 16. Memo from L.P. Zimmerman, Commissioner, both were active in civil rights and labor causes; 4. Ibid., 11–13. to MDH directors and engineers, November 8, 1960, letter from Joseph E. Karth to Ray M. Whitten, 5. Lewis Mumford, The Highway in the City (New Box 1, Marzitelli Papers, MHS. January 24, 1962, St. Mark’s archive; letter from York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1963), 13. 17. St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 29, 1958, p. 3. Francis J. Gilligan to Most Rev. Francis J. Schenk, 6. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great Amer i- A number of other Pioneer Press stories in March January 30, 1962, St. Mark’s archive; Minneapolis can Cities (New York: Random House, 1961), 7. 1958 reveal the Freeman Administration’s concern Star, “Decision Expected on Interstate 94” March 1, 7. Cavanaugh, Politics and Freeways, 10; St. with recession, unemployment, and the possibility 1962. for a special Legislative session; Marzitelli Papers, Anthony Avenue still runs intermittently from the 28. A Study of Interstate Highway 94 (MDH), foot- State Capitol to the Mississippi River. 1957–1958 folder; Minnesota Highway News, June 9, 1958, Marzitelli Papers, MHS. note 12. 8. Cavanaugh, Politics and Freeways, 16; David 29. Press release, MPRA, January 30, 1962, Lanegran, “Four Nineteenth Century Residential 18. George Schnell and Patricia Turbes, author St. Mark’s archive. Districts,” in P. Kane, B. Hayskar, et al., St. Paul interview, St. Paul, May 14 and May 18, 2011; Omnibus: Images of the Changing City (Old Town Sherman’s poem was one of many in the St. Mark’s 30. St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 7, 1961, Restorations, Inc., 1979), 115–19. archive. p. 17; State of Minnesota, County of Ramsey, sworn deposition of John W. Slusser, January 13, 1962, 9. 1950 U.S Census of Population, U.S. Department 19. A Study of Interstate Highway 94 (MDH), of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Mpls.-St. Paul p. iii; MPRA letter to Adrian P. Winkler (St. St. Mark’s archive; A Study of Interstate Highway 94 Census Tracts, MHS –C3.950-7 2 M66; Peter Paul Commissioner of Public Works) and L.P. (MDH), iii. Kessler, St. Mark’s Parish, 1889–1989: A Century of Zimmerman, September 3, 1959, St. Mark’s ar- 31. St. Paul Dispatch, June 22, 1961, p. 17; St. Paul Catholic Commitment (St. Paul: St. Mark’s Parish, chive; “St. Anthony Avenue Fact Sheet” (MDH), Dispatch, March 2, 1962, p. 19. September 9, 1959, St. Mark’s archive. Walter 1989), 4, 16–17 and 34–35. The booklet was written 32. St. Mark’s parish bulletin, August 6, 1961, St. to mark the parish centenary. Authors’ possession. Butler Company was a Republican-owned construc- Mark’s archive; “Merriam Park Neighbors for Karth tion firm. Terms “elevated” and “depressed” were 10. A main business district serving Merriam used to describe placement of the Interstate roadway and Doody,” not dated, St. Mark’s archive. Robert Park ran east of Cleveland Avenue on both sides relative to the adjacent street level. Doody was the DFL candidate for state House of Marshall Avenue. The Association had the District 44 North and block captain and executive 20. St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 29, 1960, p.3; support of local merchants, the Snelling Avenue member of the MPRA; St. Paul Pioneer Press, St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 28, 1960, p. 19. Commercial Club, and the St. Paul Association of January 31, 1962, p. 11. Commercial Clubs; letter dated September 3, 1959, 21. St. Mark’s Bulletin, July 26, 1960, and other 33. St. Paul Dispatch, March 3, 1962; press release, signed by Association officers, in the St. Mark’s issues not dated, St. Mark’s archive. parish archive. MPRA, January 30, 1962, pp. 1 and 2. 22. In 1928 Archbishop Austin Dowling recruited 34. Minneapolis Star, March 1, 1962, p. 1B; MPRA 11. Minneapolis Star, September 22, 1999; John three young priests, Brady, Gilligan, and William letter and candidate questionnaire on freeway issues, Milton and Ray Faricy, authors’ interview, St. Paul, Connolly, to come to St. Paul and teach at the St. November 11, 2011; Tom Beer and Tom O’Connell, Paul Seminary; St. Paul Dispatch, January 17, February 1962, St. Mark’s archive. “Father Gilligan and the Struggle for Civil Rights,” 1961, p. 7 and September 1, 1970, p. C; Cavanaugh, 35. Resolution, St. Paul City archive, Minnesota Minnesota History, 62, no. 6 (Summer 2011): Politics and Freeways, 16; Marvin R. O’Connell, Historical Society, Minnesota History Center, 107. 204–15. Pilgrims in the Northland: The Archdioceses of St. H6.3.B, March 1, 1962. 12. A Study of Interstate Highway 94 from Pillsbury Paul, 1840–1962 (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of 36. St. Paul Dispatch, March 2, 1962, p. 19. to Aldine Streets, St. Paul, prepared by the Minnesota Notre Dame Press, 2009), pp. 463–66 and 605–11. 37. St. Paul Dispatch, March 5, 1962, p. 1; St. Paul Department of Highways, September 1961; St. 23. Letter from Archbishop William O. Brady Pioneer Press, March 5, 1962, p. 15. Mark’s Bulletin, August 1959, St. Mark’s parish to Frank Marzitelli, Office of the Archbishop of archive. Diocese of St. Paul, August 12, 1960, St. Mark’s 38. St. Paul Dispatch, March 14, 1962, p. 1. 13. St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 3, 1962; Market archive. 39. St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 5, 1962, p. 15.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 13 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. Postage PAID Published by the Ramsey County Historical Society Twin Cities, MN Permit #3989 323 Landmark Center 75 West Fifth Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102

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In this photo from the 1940s, Herman and Jeanette Zuettel pick beans on their farm in Rosetown (now Roseville). For more on market-garden farming and life in rural Ramsey County between 1920 and 1950, see page 14 for Harlan Stoehr’s article on Robert Freeman and his work as the Ramsey County Agricultural Extension Agent in those years. Photo courtesy of the Roseville Historical Society.