place

Island Station Power Plant

1926 establishments in MinnesotaBuildings and structures demolished in 2014Buildings and structures in Saint Paul, MinnesotaCoal-fired power stations in MinnesotaDemolished buildings and structures in Minnesota
Energy infrastructure completed in 1926Former coal-fired power stations in the United StatesFormer power stations in MinnesotaHistory of Minnesota
Island Station Power Plant
Island Station Power Plant

Island Station Power Plant was a coal power plant on the Mississippi River less than a mile up-river from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. St. Paul Gas & Light Company commissioned construction of the plant in 1921. In 1923, before construction was even complete, a more efficient technology for burning coal was developed, rendering the plant obsolete before it even opened. The plant came online in 1926 and operated at three-fourths the intended capacity until 1943 when it was shifted to an off-peak use and only produced power 6–10 weeks per year. In 1975, Northern States Power Co. (who acquired the plant shortly after it was finished) decommissioned the plant and used it for storage. In 1985 John Kerwin bought the plant and converted portions of the building into studio apartments for local artists. For a time a colony of a half-dozen to a dozen houseboat dwellers moored at the plant. In 2003 Island Station L.L.C. purchased the property for $1.5 million with the hope of turning it into a 235-unit condo with a 20-slip marina. After the $80 million project started work and more than 100 units had been reserved, the project stalled. In 2013, the property was sold for $4.05 million to St Paul Riverwalk, LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona. In February, 2014, a permit was authorized to demolish the plant. The entire structure was imploded on March 16, 2014, at 9:58 am.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Island Station Power Plant (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Island Station Power Plant
Randolph Avenue, Saint Paul West Seventh - Fort Road

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Island Station Power PlantContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 44.926388888889 ° E -93.115555555556 °
placeShow on map

Address

Waterford Bay

Randolph Avenue 380
55102 Saint Paul, West Seventh - Fort Road
Minnesota, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Island Station Power Plant
Island Station Power Plant
Share experience

Nearby Places

Omaha Road Bridge Number 15
Omaha Road Bridge Number 15

Omaha Road Bridge Number 15 is a swing bridge that spans the Mississippi River in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1915 by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (Omaha Road), though it, and the line from St. Paul to Mendota, was jointly owned with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway (Milwaukee Road). The causeway curves around Pickerel Lake in Lilydale, Minnesota, before crossing into St. Paul. The bridge was designed by I.F. Stern of Chicago. It is unusually shaped, because the swing span is asymmetrical. According to local legend, the original bridge design had equal length spans on either side of the center pivot. Once the bridge was completed, the owner of the property on the south side of the river did not want the swing span crossing his land. In response, the owner removed most of the south end of the swing span and added a concrete counterweight to compensate for the lost material. Legends aside, the reason for the "bobtail" configuration of the bridge is that the section of the river deep enough for navigation at that point is not wide enough to accommodate a full-sized swing bridge. The counterweight is necessary to keep both ends of the bridge in balance over the center pier, which is near the right descending bank. While the legend may be an appealing one, it cannot withstand the fact that no qualified bridge engineer would lavish the material and effort required to build a swing span over land. The bridge forces barge traffic heading up river to cross over to their respective port (south) shore of the river, while those heading downstream are able to maintain their normal traffic pattern. An earlier bridge in this location, built in 1869, was a wooden Howe truss design. This was one of the original 15 bridges spanning the Mississippi River. The first bridge was an 8-span drawbridge, but much of the superstructure had to be replaced in 1877 because of decay in the original pine chords. It was a joint bridge of the Minnesota Valley Railroad Company (predecessor of the Omaha Road) and the Minnesota Central Railroad Company (predecessor of the Milwaukee Road)

High Bridge (St. Paul)
High Bridge (St. Paul)

The Smith Avenue High Bridge or the High Bridge is an inverted arch bridge that carries Minnesota State Highway 149 and Smith Avenue over the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was built and opened in 1987 at a cost of $20 million. The bridge carries two lanes of street traffic over the river and is the highest bridge in St. Paul, with a deck height of 160 ft (49 m) and a clearance below of 149 ft (45 m).The current bridge replaced a 2,770-foot-long (840 m) iron Warren deck truss bridge constructed in 1889. In 1904 the original bridge was partially destroyed by a tornado or severe storm and the southernmost five spans had to be rebuilt. With modest alterations it served for nearly a century, but in 1977 an inspection found irreparable structural deficiencies. The Minnesota Department of Transportation enacted a weight restriction on the bridge until it was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1985. The ornamental ironwork on the replacement was built using iron from the old bridge. The first bridge had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and was delisted in 1988. In February 2008, City Pages, a weekly publication in the Twin Cities, published a feature about the long history of suicide at the bridge. The article included testimony of a survivor who leapt from the bridge.The bridge closed September 2017 for a redecking project. It reopened to traffic the afternoon of November 21, 2018.

Anthony Waldman House
Anthony Waldman House

Until recently, the limestone building at 445 Smith Avenue North, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, was known in surveys and local architectural history books as the Anthony Waldman House. However, recent research and analysis of the building has revealed that the Waldman House was not in fact built by Waldman, and was not originally a "house" either. Instead, the structure was a small commercial building with residential quarters on the second floor. Evidence of this commercial design include a side porch/loading dock facing the alley to the north (since removed); obvious stone in-filling of the first-floor shop-front windows; a large structural beam above the one-time shop front that supported the second-story stonework; photographic evidence from the 1940s of remnants of the original first-floor commercial cornice (see enlarged image below); physical evidence of a central entrance step into the shop; and wooden sleepers that served as nailers for decorative wooden pilasters or perhaps signs at either side of the shop windows below the cornice. Documentary evidence suggests that the stone portion of the building dates to the late fall of 1857, coinciding with the onset of the Panic of 1857. Another unexpected discovery is that parts of the wood frame addition to the rear of the stone building actually predate the stone portion, making the latter the true "addition." The research is ongoing, and no doubt the Waldman House has more stories to tell. The house was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1983 as part of the West Seventh Street Early Limestone Houses Thematic Resource, along with the Joseph Brings House and Martin Weber House. The Waldman House received an NRHP reference number, #83004866, but the listing was never finalized. None of the three buildings are officially on the National Register. It was listed with listing code DR, meaning "Date Received" and nomination pending, in 1983.