St. Paul: An Urban Biography

by Bill Lindeke

Overview

How did the city of St. Paul come to be where and what it is, and what does that show us about the city today? In eight place-based chapters, Bill Lindeke provides intriguing insights and helpful answers. He tells the stories of the Dakota village forced to move across the Mississippi by a treaty—and why whiskey sellers took over the site; the new community's close ties to Fort Snelling and Winnipeg; the steamboats and railroads that created a booming city; the German immigrants who outnumbered the Irish but kept a low profile when the US went to war; the laborers who built the domes over the state capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul; the gangsters and bootleggers who found refuge in the city; the strong neighborhoods, shaped by streets built on footpaths and wagon roads—until freeway construction changed so much; and the Hmong, Mexican, East African, and Karen immigrants who continue to build the city's strong traditions of small businesses.

This thoughtful investigation of place helps readers to understand the city's hidden stories, surrounding its residents in plain sight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681342016
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	07/20/2021
Series:	Urban Biography , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Bill Lindeke is an urban geographer who writes about sidewalks and cities. He is the author of Minneapolis–Saint Paul: Then and Now and the co-author of Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives, and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities.

Read an Excerpt

John O'Connor was a legendary figure. While he was in office, many people in the city were amazed at his almost preternatural ability to know exactly where to find criminals, while others realized the gift came hand in hand with what was known as the O'Connor system. While O'Connor was chief, and for over ten years after he retired, criminals in St. Paul were required to follow three basic rules. Within a day of arriving in town, they checked in with O'Connor's point men at the Green Lantern Saloon, a hole-in-the-wall joint on the north edge of downtown, and told them where they were staying. Second, they kicked back bribes to the cops, who paid people off to look the other way. And finally, they had to promise not to commit crimes within city limits. In exchange, criminals had free rein to roam St. Paul unmolested, and would be sure to get tipped off by the police about possible raids or impending arrests.
Criminals in on the deal would inform on their colleagues for stepping out of line, and O'Connor took pleasure in personally administering the beatings they would receive when they were caught. Mug shots would splash on the front pages of the next day's paper, or the cops would make a big show of demolishing slot machines or busting up a den of thieves that had broken the rules. Despite the attention, most of the time it was little more than a big show, O'Connor's boys performing for their audiences on both sides of the law.
The O'Connor system proved lucrative for folks in the vice business, anyone running one of St. Paul's famous nightclubs, gambling joints, brothels, or pool halls. Gangsters and crooks partied as you’d expect, and for years afterward, waiters at downtown sandwich shops swapped stories about fat tips they earned from people like John Dillinger or Homer Van Meter. If you were a criminal, the system was similarly slick. Crooks appreciated having an oasis amidst the fragmented justice systems that stretched across Minnesota in the early twentieth century.
The main victims of the scheme, on the other hand, were those unlucky enough to be living in nearby cities. St. Paul became a home base for crooks to run crime sprees throughout Minnesota and the Midwest. As Prohibition took hold, and liquor running became the default underworld pastime, bootlegging, gambling, money laundering, heists, and violence grew at alarming rates.

Table of Contents

Prologue
Chapter 1: Naming
Chapter 2: Dispossession
Chapter 3: Boomtown
Chapter 4: Overshadowed
Chapter 5: Wheeling and Dealing
Chapter 6: Bulldozer
Chapter 7: Resilience
Chapter 8: Renaissance
Suggestions for Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

Bill Lindeke has long served as a critical local historian, offering a thoughtful perspective on the factors that have shaped our city. There is much to learn from St. Paul’s blended history; this book offers a fascinating look at where we’ve been and where we can dare to go.”
Melvin Carter, mayor of St. Paul

“Examining the intersection of people and place, Bill Lindeke’s St. Paul uses powerful stories that speak to the complex history of our beloved capital city—the growth of its people, neighborhoods, economy, and more. The book is an essential read for those who want to imagine and build a future St. Paul.”
Terri Thao, community activist, organizer, and longtime St. Paul resident

“Bill Lindeke brings the heft and deftness of an engaged scholar to this project while writing a book that is a pleasure to read. By showing how diverse communities, from the Dakota to the Hmong and Somali, not only live here but also make sense out of their experiences here, Lindeke provides a history that lives up to his dictum that ‘the uneven geography of St. Paul is best understood from contrasting perspectives.’”
Peter Rachleff, co–executive director, East Side Freedom Library

From the Publisher