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Wabasha Street Bridge

Box girder bridges in the United StatesBridges completed in 1889Bridges completed in 1998Bridges in Saint Paul, MinnesotaBridges over the Mississippi River
Cantilever bridges in the United StatesConcrete bridges in the United StatesHistoric American Engineering Record in MinnesotaRoad bridges in Minnesota
Wabasha Street Bridge 2014
Wabasha Street Bridge 2014

The Wabasha Street Bridge is a segmental bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was named Wabasha Street Freedom Bridge in 2002, to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. It actually consists of two separate bridges, one for northbound and one for southbound traffic. The use of a concrete segmental box girder bridge provided a construction advantage because no falsework needed to be built beneath the bridge. The bridge opened to traffic in 1998; some decorative elements were not completed until late 2001. It was built by Lunda Construction Company and was designed by Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson & Associates, Inc. The new bridge replaced an earlier structure that was built in 1889. The new bridge was built with pedestrians in mind. It features 11-foot-wide (3.4 m) sidewalks, six overlooks at the pier locations, and a stairway down to Raspberry Island. The color scheme of the bridge was also planned to reflect the architectural heritage of Saint Paul, with a soft buff color (the color of sandstone) to reflect the colors used in many downtown Saint Paul buildings. The color of terracotta roofs in the city was used to select the color of the railings, and the green patina of the Saint Paul Cathedral is echoed in the ornamental color of the overlooks. The new bridge has won several awards, including the Federal Highway Administration 1998 Excellence in Highway Design Award and the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers 2001 Seven Wonders of Engineering in Minnesota award. The pedestrian walkways are on the outside of the bridge. There is a gap of 8.7 feet (2.7 m) between the two bridge decks, between the southbound bridge and the northbound bridge. In July 2011, a man jumped over the inner railing, on the side not designated for pedestrians, thinking a landing was on the other side. Instead, he fell 55 feet (17 m) and landed on Raspberry Island underneath the bridge. He survived the fall but was critically injured.To mark the Minnesota Senate's vote to allow same sex marriage in Minnesota, mayor Chris Coleman issued a proclamation on May 13, 2013, temporarily renaming the bridge "Wabasha Street Freedom to Marry Bridge" and ordered dozens of rainbow flags to be flown on the bridge.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wabasha Street Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wabasha Street Bridge
Sam Morgan Regional Trail, Saint Paul Downtown

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N 44.941944444444 ° E -93.091111111111 °
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Wabasha Bridge

Sam Morgan Regional Trail
55146 Saint Paul, Downtown
Minnesota, United States
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Wabasha Street Bridge 2014
Wabasha Street Bridge 2014
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Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse
Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse

The Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse, located at 15 Kellogg Boulevard West in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, in the U.S. state of Minnesota is a twenty-story Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1932. Built during the Great Depression era of high unemployment and falling prices, the four million dollar budget for the building was underspent, and the quality of materials and craftsmanship were higher than initially envisioned. The exterior consists of smooth Indiana limestone in the Art Deco style known as "American Perpendicular", designed by Thomas Ellerbe & Company of Saint Paul and Holabird & Root of Chicago and inspired by Finnish architect, Eliel Saarinen. The vertical rows of windows are linked by plain, flat, black spandrels. Above the Fourth Street entrance and flanking the Kellogg Boulevard entrance are relief sculptures carved by Lee Lawrie. The interior design in the "Zigzag Moderne" style drew its inspiration from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which promoted soft ornamentation and sensuous curves. In Memorial Hall the white marble floor contrasts with three-story black marble piers leading to a gold-leaf ceiling. At the end of the hall is the 60-ton, 38 feet (11.6 m) white onyx Indian God of Peace by Carl Milles (later renamed Vision of Peace). Other features include woodwork fashioned out of twenty-three different species of wood and uses five different types of imported marble. Murals were painted by John W. Norton while the six bronze elevator doors were made by Albert Stewart.

Twin Cities Jazz Fest

The Twin Cities Jazz Fest, formerly Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival, is a jazz festival in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Founded in 1999 by Steve Heckler, the festival is centered in the Lowertown neighborhood in downtown St. Paul. The main stage is located in Mears Park with additional stages throughout the city. The festival closes several blocks and has used clubs such as the Bulldog, Hat Trick, St. Paul Hotel, Mancini's, Black Dog, Hygga, Vieux Carre, Union Depot, Amsterdam Bar and Gril and the Citizen Bar and Grill. In partnership with the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education and Walker West Music Academy], over 100 young musicians perform at the festival. In addition, master classes and clinics are held at schools hosted by the festival headliners. All events are free and open to all. Media partners have included Jazz 88 radio (broadcasting live locally and streaming live on the internet internationally), WCCO-TV, , City Pages, Jazz Police, La Prenza, and MPLS-St. Paul magazine. The festival has received coverage in the Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and Skyway News. Festival performers have included McCoy Tyner, Joey Alexander, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joshua Redman, The Bad Plus, Nayo Jones, Eric Alexander, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Dave Brubeck, Gary Burton, Joey DeFrancesco, Eumir Deodato, Bill Evans, Von Freeman, Benny Golson, Hiromi, Red Holloway, Kristin Korb, Bettye LaVette, Howard Levy, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Frank Morgan, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, David "Fathead" Newman, Tiger Okoshi, Danilo Pérez, Bernard Purdie, Phil Hey Quartet, Dewey Redman, Return to Forever, Melvin Rhyne, Bobby Sanabria, Esperanza Spalding, Spyro Gyra, Percy Strother, Ira Sullivan, Lew Tabackin, Clark Terry, Butch Thompson, Jon Weber, Jerry Weldon and the Yellowjackets. No Jazz Fest was held in 2020.

Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center of Minnesota's government. The Minnesota State Capitol and the state government offices all sit on a hill close to the city's downtown district. One of the oldest cities in Minnesota, Saint Paul has several historic neighborhoods and landmarks, such as the Summit Avenue Neighborhood and the James J. Hill House. Like the nearby and larger city of Minneapolis, Saint Paul is known for its cold, snowy winters and humid summers. As of 2020, its population was 311,527, making it the 63rd-largest city in the United States, the 11th-most populous in the Midwest, and the second-most populous in Minnesota. Most of the city lies east of the Mississippi River near its the confluence with the Minnesota River. Minneapolis is mostly across the Mississippi River to the west. Together, they are known as the "Twin Cities" and make up the core of Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the third most populous metro in the Midwest.The Legislative Assembly of the Minnesota Territory established the Town of St. Paul as its capital near existing Dakota Sioux settlements in November 1849. It remained a town until 1854. The Dakota name for where Saint Paul is situated is "Imnizaska" for the "white rock" bluffs along the river. The city has two sports venues: Xcel Energy Center, home to the Minnesota Wild, and Allianz Field, home to Minnesota United.Saint Paul has a mayor–council government. The current mayor is Melvin Carter III, who was first elected in 2018.

Vision of Peace (Indian God of Peace)
Vision of Peace (Indian God of Peace)

The Vision of Peace is a statue in the three-story memorial concourse lobby along the Fourth Street entrance of the Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The memorial to the Minnesota 20th-century war dead was created by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, who named it Indian God of Peace. He drew on memories of a Native American ceremony he witnessed in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Although there is no connection between Native American spirituality and his own vision, Milles depicted five Native Americans seated around a fire holding sacred pipes. Emerging from the smoke of those pipes is a "god of peace" which Milles imagined speaking to "all the world.” Near the base small cased models show earlier proposals of a statue for this space. Included are Saint Paul, the "Father of Waters" representing the Mississippi River, an idealized out of uniform Doughboy, and a left handed version of the final figure. The statue was unveiled on May 28, 1936, as the Indian God of Peace. Originally there were 340 names to commemorate those who died in World War I. In 1988 the VFW started a funding campaign to add names of Minnesota soldiers who died in combat from other wars such as World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There are 1,578 names engraved of those lost to war. Although the sculptor had died in 1955, the statue was renamed Vision of Peace in 1994 at a special community ceremony involving three major Minnesota Native American tribes. The statue weighs approximately 60 tons, stands 38 feet high, and was carved from creamy white Mexican onyx using Milles’ full-scale model. The statue sits on a revolving base which goes through a rotation of 66 degrees left and an equal amount right before recentering every 2.5 hours. There are 98 sections fastened to a steel I-beam and supported by three-quarter-inch bronze ribs.