Winter Carnival Legend
From:
Erik Hare
Date:
2007 Jan 29 22:28 UTC
Short link
So many questions!
First of all, Diane is completely correct. Up to and including the
"nuking" of Williams Hill. I thought it was for the Phalen Corridor, but
the main point is that with I-35E next to it, it was doomed.
> Is Mounds Park covered by Dayton's Bluff?
Yes, some of the names are a bit archaic. For example, "Cathedral Hill"
and "Ramsey Hill" are the same - "Crocus Hill" is considered different.
Go figger. I think there was a small ravine separating them once.
> Isn't Prospect Park in Minneapolis?
Well, there's one there - but there's another one on the bluff overlooking
Downtown Saint Paul on the West Side. That name is the only one we have
for what you might otherwise call "The West Side Bluff".
> I know that the Highland hill with the 3 water towers is the second
> highest point in St. Paul, so why isn't it one of the hills? In other
> words, what was the basis for the "hills" designation?
Highland "doesn't count" because it's ... [waves hand] ... over there.
Keep in mind that until 1880 (I think) Western Avenue was the western
boundary of the city (hence its name). Highland was quite far away.
The designation comes from Fr. Lucien Galtier, who noticed the hills when
he first arrived. The original "City of Seven Hills" is Rome, so the
designation by Galtier would be a proclaimation of an ecclesiastical
capitol (rather than the start of a hedonistic empire, which is too bad
for us). He's also the guy who gave us the name "Saint Paul", so his
ideas about what the town should become apparently carried a lot of
weight. [Insert your opinion about "Pig's Eye" here.]
In other words, we had a decent claim to be the Rome of the New World
before we nuked Williams Hill for some transit project. Go figger. But
in the end, It's not that dissimlar to nuking Fountain Cave to make way
for Shepard Road. Perhaps someone should mention that in a book. :-)