Saint Paul, Minnesota USA Last Update: September 14, 2001 (Skip introduction and go directly to postcard listing) I've been interested in the history of the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota for quite awhile because I was born and raised here. However, it is not easy to find a lot of information about it. I got the idea of collecting postcards from a booklet Steve Trimble created for the August 17, 1996 Neighborhood Pride Celebration, "A Short History of Indian Mounds Park." In it he showed a number of postcards from the early 20th century featuring Indian Mounds Park The Minnesota Historical Society has many postcards in its collection but what fun would it be to just get copies of those? Instead, I searched flea markets, antique shows and postcard shows put on by the Twin City Postcard Club. Dayton's Bluff postcards are surprisingly easy to find and fairly inexpensive, costing between 50 cents and $15.00 with the typical price being about $3.00. I started looking for them in September 1998 and now have over 70 different postcards and many variations on the same card. I don't know how many Dayton's Bluff postcards were printed or how many are still in existence. At first I made the mistake of looking for postcards in very good condition with no postmarks or writing. Then I realized that it is very difficult to date such postcards because very few contain copyright dates. A postmark or written date does not give an absolute issue date for the card but it does set an upper limit. Sometimes historical data, such as when a structure was built, can set a lower limit. I am now checking for dates and will add that information as it becomes available. After a long delay, I'm finally starting to update these pages. I've decided to split the postcards up into multiple pages containing thumbnail views of related cards. That should keep downloading time to a minimum. The thumbnails can be clicked to get an expanded view of a card plus information regarding that card. NEW - September 13, 2001: The Miscellaneous Buildings page contains 6 new postcards. These include a picture of the new Dayton's Bluff Commercial Club, three churches and two views of the old John A. Johnson High School. NEW - September 14, 2001: The 1938 Winter Carnival Ice Court page contains 4 new postcards with day and night views of the Ice Court, one with fireworks. The Hamm Brewery page contains 2 new postcards showing aerial views of the brewery. Coming Soon (I hope): More postcards of Mounds Park, some views of dowtown St. Paul taken from Mounds Park and some faraway views of Dayton's Bluff. Someday I may add postcards from outside of Dayton's Bluff such as Phalen Park and various locations around St. Paul and Minneapolis. I hope you enjoy these postcards. Please send comments to Greg Cosimini at cosim001@tc.umn.edu. |
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