The Kimball Hotel Then and Now
The four story Kimball Hotel was built in 1925 and named after the owner and proprietor, Root. E. Kimball. At one time there was a barber shop and restaurant at basement level. The business was renamed as the Hamline Hotel in the 1940′s. The old place has been used as an apartment building for [...]
The Astounding Angus
The Blair Flats apartment building designed by Hermann Kretz and William H. Thomas was completed in 1887. The Blair was converted to a residential hotel and renamed the Albion in 1893. An even larger hotel , called The Aberdeen went up the same year. Thomas Lowry, president of the St. Paul Street Railway Company, bought [...]
The Snelling Cafe Then and Now
Sixty some years ago Madelon’s Ice Cream Shop served up mighty cones for the Midway. This little store front has seen all sorts of business over the years and is currently home to an Ethiopian hole in the wall called the Snelling Cafe. As far as I know nobody has ever had a bad [...]
The Associated Bank Building Then and Now
Associated Bank is the successor to Liberty State Bank, which opened its doors at Selby and Snelling in 1917. I’m going to guess the building got boarded up and had its bottom rocked out in the late 70′s. Associated came into the neighborhood after acquiring First Federal Capital Corporation and Liberty in 2004. [...]
The Hamline Park Building Then and Now
Built by the WPA in 1938, the Hamline Park Building on Snelling Avenue is one of over 50 buildings designed by Clarence Wesley “Cap” Wigington that still stand in the city. During the 1920s and 30s, Wigington designed most of the Saint Paul Public Schools buildings, as well as golf clubhouses, fire stations [...]
