place

Rondo Neighborhood

African-American history in Minneapolis–Saint PaulNeighborhoods in Saint Paul, MinnesotaUse mdy dates from February 2021

St. Paul's Rondo Neighborhood was the center of the black community in the Twin Cities for much of the 20th century. The Rondo neighborhood consisted of a working-class community, supported by social clubs, religious organizations, community centers and a thriving business community. It was demolished between 1956 and 1968, to make way for the construction of the I-94 freeway. Over 500 families were displaced from the neighborhood, as well as many businesses and community locations.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rondo Neighborhood (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Rondo Neighborhood
North Dale Street, Saint Paul Summit - University

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Rondo NeighborhoodContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 44.951388888889 ° E -93.126388888889 °
placeShow on map

Address

North Dale Street

North Dale Street
55103 Saint Paul, Summit - University
Minnesota, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Share experience

Nearby Places

Summit-University, Saint Paul
Summit-University, Saint Paul

Summit-University is a neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that stretches roughly from University Avenue in the north, Lexington Parkway to the west, Summit Avenue to the south and to the east along John Ireland Boulevard, Kellogg Boulevard and Marion Street. Summit-University, Selby-Dale, St. Anthony Hill, Cathedral Hill, Woodland Park, Crocus Hill, Ramsey Hill, Hill District, Historic Hill District, Uni-Dale, North Quadrant, and Central Village all refer to parts of the neighborhood that is broadly known as Summit-University.The neighborhood is an ethnically and economically diverse community. In 1983 the neighborhood was home to Saint Paul's largest concentration of minority residents. Among the many groups living in Summit-University are the Hmong community as well as the city's other Asian communities, of whom Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians are represented in large numbers. Summit-University also includes the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood, as well as what remains of "old Rondo" - a former neighborhood of the city. Rondo was the center of Saint Paul's African-American community since the Civil War, but was broken apart by the construction of Interstate 94 in the 1960s. Famous Summit-University natives include baseball great Dave Winfield. Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in this neighborhood, although he is generally associated with the Summit Hill neighborhood where he later lived.

Unidale Mall
Unidale Mall

The Unidale Mall is a shopping mall located at the intersection of University Avenue and Dale Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The mall is in the Summit-University neighborhood just across from the Frogtown neighborhood. The Rondo Community Outreach Library is west across Dale Street. The Dale Street station on the Green Line is also at the intersection. The idea for the mall was first started in 1971 as part of the Model Cities Program. The project's ideal result was to create a suburban shopping mall in the heart of the city. The project was pushed by neighborhood activists on city planners. Construction of the mall was completed in 1978 with the mall losing money from 1979 to 1989. In 1987 there were plans to move a nightclub and restaurant to the mall. The mall was owned and operated by Kraus-Anderson in 1988. The anchor of the store in 1989 was the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store. Plans were brought up in 1989 to do a $6.3 million renovation so the mall could host "United Noodles Oriental Food Inc., a drug store, a food court, and several specialty shops."A 1989 report on the surrounding neighborhood described the mall has a failure and noted the mall's perennial problem of finding suitable tenants. The tenants, such as a welfare office were not the type originally intended. The mall was described as nearly empty 1992 article detailing the problems the surrounding community faced. The mall appeared to be faring better in 2000 when the vice-president of Kraus-Anderson described the mall as fully leased. The mall has hosted a farmers' market on weekends in the parking lot since 1998.The Saint Paul Public Schools district had plans to purchase the property to host adult literacy education and multicultural programs. The Saint Paul Area Learning Center moved to Unidale Mall on February 1, 1991. Those programs eventually moved out of the mall and became Gordon Parks High School.

Church of St. Agnes (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Church of St. Agnes (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

The Church of Saint Agnes is an onion-domed Catholic church designed by George Ries, built 1901–1912 for the German-speaking Austro-Hungarian population of immigrants in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The parish was founded in 1887 by Archbishop John Ireland, who wanted to serve German-speaking immigrants who were settling in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul to find work with the Great Northern Railway. The first building was designed by George Bergmann, a St. Paul architect who was also a parishioner. The current building was begun under the direction of Reverend James Trobec, who later became the third bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud. Two competing designs were submitted by architects Hermann Kretz and George Ries, and the design by Ries was selected. Ries modeled his design after Stift Schlägl, a Praemonstratensian monastery in Northern Austria near Aigen im Mühlkreis. The Baroque architecture style was familiar to immigrants who came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and southern Germany. It is also influenced by Beaux-Arts ideals of balance and symmetry.Construction began in 1897, when the basement was built. The basement was used for services while funds were raised to build the full structure. In 1909, after around $200,000 was raised, work on the structure resumed, to be completed in 1912. The onion-domed bell tower is 205 feet (62 m) tall, and placed at an unusual location at the back of the sanctuary. The front of the church has a monumental staircase leading to a terrace with three grand entrance doors. The central entrance door has an ornate window with niches on either side with statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Above that, there is a pedimented gable with a statue of Saint Agnes, the patron saint of the church. The church and the tower are clad in Indiana limestone. Architecture critic Larry Millett calls the church, "The monument in Frogtown and one of St. Paul's finest churches."The church was dedicated in 1912 in a four-hour-long service conducted by Archbishop John Ireland, accompanied by 32 priests. Brass chandeliers were salvaged from the former Minnesota State Capitol building which was located on Wabasha and Exchange Streets in downtown St. Paul. Stained glass windows were installed in 1930, along with a marble altar. The altar has a mosaic depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint John.

F. Scott Fitzgerald House
F. Scott Fitzgerald House

The F. Scott Fitzgerald House, also known as Summit Terrace, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, is part of a group of rowhouses designed by William H. Willcox and Clarence H. Johnston Sr. The house, at 599 Summit Avenue, is listed as a National Historic Landmark for its association with author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The design of the houses was described as the "New York Style" in which unit was given a distinctive character found in some rowhouses in eastern cities. Architecture critic Larry Millett describes it as "A brownstone row house that leaves no Victorian style unaccounted for, although the general flavor is Romanesque Revival." The Fitzgerald house is faced with brownstone and is two bays wide with a polygonal two-story window bay on the right, and the entrance, recessed under a round arch that is flush with the bay front, on the left. The mansard roof has a cross-gable with two round-arch windows and decorative finials.Fitzgerald's parents, Edward and Mollie, moved back to St. Paul in 1914 while F. Scott Fitzgerald was a student at Princeton University. They lived in the unit at 593 Summit Avenue for a while, then moved to the 599 Summit Avenue unit in 1918. In July and August 1919, Fitzgerald rewrote the manuscript that became his first novel, This Side of Paradise. He lived here until January 1920, writing short stories, and then moved to New Orleans. Of the several places the Fitzgeralds lived, this one is most closely associated with his literary fame, and typifies the environments of some of his later works.It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. It is also a contributing property to the Historic Hill District, listed in 1976.F. Scott Fitzgerald was noted for disliking Summit Avenue, stating that Summit Avenue is “a mausoleum of American architectural monstrosities.”