Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Circa 1902. "St. Paul, Minnesota, from across the Mississippi River." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
Villaume Box and Lumber (founded 1885) evolved into Villaume Industries. At some point, they moved out to Eagan, MN and they developed a specialty building trusses for houses. The same family ran the company until 2021, when it was sold to US LBM.
A quite thorough photo album documenting construction of the Capitol Building seems to support the 1902 date (or at least is doesn't contradict it.) I spy no fewer than five survivors in this shot, four in the downtown area: the aforementioned Landmark Center and Pioneer Press, plus the Church of the Assumption and Saint Paul (the latter was technically visible in the previous post, but heck, "two far back" sounds better that "three far back").
From this angle, you can see (from left to right in the upper left) the twin-towered Church of the Assumption (still standing), the brand-new federal post office and courthouse (where gangsters were eventually tried in the Thirties, and which stands today as the Landmark Center, facing Rice Park), and behind them, the white granite State Capitol (designed by Cass Gilbert, who also designed the U.S. Supreme Court building) which would open three years later, and which is as beautiful as ever. Above the second of three Wabasha bridges over the river, you can see the second of three Ramsey County courthouses. Further to the right, you can see the top floors of the Germania Life Insurance building (now gone, and which which "rebranded" in the frenzy of WWI anti-German sentiment which hit Minnesota particularly hard) and the Germania bank building (still standing, despite the bank's demise in 1900).
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5