Former West Side Flats residents have mixed memories about their old neighborhood
Good morning,
Part 1 of our latest wintry event is taking place right now. Expect snow up to 4-plus inches for central and northern Minnesota, and rain for south. Then the next phase will bring 2-3 inches of slushy snow in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota. Highs today will be in the mid-30s to lower 40s. Find more on Updraft. | |
|
|
|
| Former West Side Flats residents have mixed memories about their old neighborhood | Some of the earliest immigrants to the city of St. Paul lived in areas that were eventually torn down, leaving residents to find new places to live. Many Mexican immigrants settled in areas like Swede Hollow and the West Side Flats.
Some of those former West Side Flats residents have mixed memories about their old neighborhood.
“The West Side Flats was a melting pot as far as I was concerned,” says Augustine “Augie” Garcia who lived in the West Side Flats until his family moved in 1959.
He also recalled going to Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe on Sundays; and then stopping at the Jewish bakery. They’d buy horns and bagels and then go to his grandfather’s to eat.
The West Side Flats was also home to other immigrants. Russian Jews began settling there in the 1880s.
“That’s where I also learned how to eat rye bread and pumpernickel. But I did like bagels. And I was having bagels at a young age where most of the time people my age didn’t know what a bagel was,” Garcia said.
The West Side Flats was not the only place where Mexican immigrants and other newcomers settled. Swede Hollow — as its name implies — was settled by Swedish immigrants in the 1850s. In its nearly 100 years welcoming immigrants, Swede Hollow never had a sewer system. Citing unsanitary conditions, the city of St. Paul ordered the settlement to be burned down in 1956.
Read more about the historic neighborhoods. | |
|
|
|
| In Rochester, unlikely activists rally to save heron nests | For more than a year, a group of Rochester citizens has been trying to save a unique great blue heron nesting ground on the outskirts of town.
The land is slated for development, and the effort has produced some unlikely activists: from an adjunct community college professor who recently won a local election in a landslide on a platform to protect the nests to a group of high school students who’ve protested the development.
"I feel like all of us care enough about the environment to be able to do something about it,” said 18-year-old Manal Assoula at a recent meeting of students in support of preserving the rookery. “We actually want to preserve this for our next generation and the next generation afterwards."
[Continue reading] | |
|
|
|
| What else we're watching: |
|
|
|
The fire that burned the exterior of the downtown St. Paul Lunds and Byerlys was likely intentionallyset, fire officials say. The city Fire Department spokesperson said that firefighters were also called to two dumpster fires in the area about the same time, and arson investigators are trying to determine if the fires are connected.
Prosecutors are reviewing the state's probe for possible charges in the police killing of Amir Locke. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday confirmed the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s probe into police killing of Amir Locke is in the hands of prosecutors. Minneapolis police officer Mark Hanneman shot and killed Locke in February during a SWAT team raid of a downtown apartment.
Alleged drug dealer left trail of tragedy across nation Federal prosecutors say customers of Aaron Broussard purchased what they thought was a stimulant. Instead, the 31-year-old Hopkins, Minn. man allegedly sent them fatal doses of fentanyl. | |
|
|
|
Preference Center ❘ Unsubscribe You received this email because you subscribed or it was sent to you by a friend. This email was sent by: Minnesota Public Radio
480 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN, 55101 |
|
|
| |
|
