St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Robert Street Bridge is a reinforced concrete multiple-arch bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The bridge is notable for its complex design that was required to accommodate river traffic, the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge crossing underneath it at an angle, and roadways on the downtown side of St. Paul. The bridge is also notable for a monumental reinforced concrete rainbow arch. The rainbow arch not only provides 62 feet of headroom above the river, but also provides a strong aesthetic focus. It was built in 1924–1926 by Fegles Construction Company, Ltd. and designed by Toltz, King & Day. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The bridge as well as Robert Street itself are named after Captain Louis Roberts, a notable French Canadian river boat captain, businessman and early settler of Saint Paul, MN. The bridge was commissioned in the early 1920s to replace a wrought-iron span, originally built in 1884-1885, that had become obsolete due to increasing traffic. The engineers who designed the bridge had several obstacles to work around. The tracks of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, St. Paul Union Depot, and the Chicago Great Western Railway mainline were factors. The engineers also had to provide adequate clearance above the river, as defined by the United States War Department at the time. Finally, the bridge had to clear Second Street in downtown St. Paul and work through a busy manufacturing district at the south end. The location of nearly every pier was dictated by these requirements. As a result, the bridge was designed with a combination of barrel-arch and rib-arch flanking spans and a rainbow arch for the central span. One of the members of the crew building the bridge was Warren Burger, future Chief Justice of the United States.

The St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is one of only three vertical-lift bridges along the Mississippi River, along with the Hastings Rail Bridge in Hastings, Minnesota, and the Wabash Bridge in Hannibal, Missouri. It was designed by Waddell & Harrington and built in 1913. In 1925, the north end of the bridge was raised about 16 feet (4.9 m) to tie in with tracks that served the St. Paul Union Depot yard. The vertical-lift span has 105-foot-high (32 m) towers, and the electrical lift system was built with a possible 45-foot (14 m) elevation. However, by 1973, the amount of lift was reduced to 37 feet (11 m) because of aging of the equipment. The bridge was originally built by the Chicago Great Western Railroad, which later became part of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company. The Robert Street Bridge, built later in 1926, had to be carefully engineered around the railroad bridge. In April 1997, high water on the Mississippi River reached the bottom of the span. The Union Pacific Railroad spotted a train of hopper cars laden with rocks on the bridge to help anchor it and keep it from being washed away. In 2021, Union Pacific proposed demolishing the bridge and building a replacement with a drawbridge design.

Saint Paul Union Depot is a historic railroad station and intermodal transit hub in the Lowertown neighborhood of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves light rail, intercity rail, intercity bus, and local bus services. It is the eastern terminus for the METRO Green Line light rail line, with the stop located outside the station's headhouse. It is also the Twin Cities' stop for Amtrak, the national intercity railroad service. In addition to rail, Union Depot also serves Metro Transit, Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), Jefferson Lines, Greyhound Lines, and Megabus. The headhouse, located at the 4th Street entrance, was designed by architect Charles Sumner Frost and is neoclassical in style. The concourse and the waiting room that extend over the tracks are viewed as a great architectural achievements. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is also a contributing property to the Lowertown Historic District.In addition to its transit uses, Union Depot also contains a Hertz rental car location, coffee shop, restaurant, a bike shop, offices, a museum, and loft condominiums.

The Lafayette Bridge is a bridge carrying U.S. Route 52 across the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. At this point, US 52 is on the Lafayette Freeway. The bridge spans across railroad yards north of the Mississippi, the river itself, and industrial areas south of the Mississippi. The Lafayette Bridge is one of the longest Mississippi River bridges in the Twin Cities. An earlier bridge on Lafayette Street, built in 1905 by C.A.P. Turner, was removed to make room for the Lafayette Bridge. The 1905 bridge spanned the Soo Line Railroad tracks, not the river itself. This was an experimental bridge of Turner's design, being a flat slab resting on mushroom-capped columns for support. The existing Lafayette Bridge was constructed during the 1960s and opened to traffic in 1968. In the aftermath of the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi bridge in Minneapolis, the old Lafayette Bridge (Pre-2015) was cited as another bridge in Minnesota with insufficient redundancy—a so-called "fracture critical" structure which could collapse with the failure of just a single support element. The old Lafayette bridge underwent in-depth annual bridge inspections using special procedures for inspecting fracture critical bridges. A consultant inspection in 2007 reported the overall condition of the structure as fair, with only minor repairs and spot painting recommended. This work was done in 2008. The annual Mn/DOT inspections also report the overall condition of the bridge as fair, and that the bridge was satisfactory for public use. The most recent inspection of the old bridge was carried out in September 2010 and found no significant problems. The bridge nearly collapsed in 1975 after a large crack in a main beam caused a 7-inch (180 mm) dip to form at the road surface. It was temporarily closed to traffic as that damage was repaired. The Lafayette Bridge was already scheduled to be replaced in 2011 before the I-35W bridge collapse occurred in 2007. That event did not impact the replacement schedule, which began in January 2011. It was completed in 2015. The two new bridges (northbound and southbound) each provide two through-lanes and an auxiliary lane in each direction for entering and exiting traffic. The project also included replacement of the Hwy 52 bridges over I-94 and redecking of the Hwy 52 bridges spanning Plato Boulevard south of the Mississippi River. A pedestrian and bicycle crossing over the river was included in the plans. The project limits stretched along Hwy 52 from East Seventh Street to just south of Plato Boulevard. Lunda Construction Company of Black River Falls, Wisc. was the prime contractor for the $130.4 million project. While the old Lafayette Bridge was a safe structure to use, it was nearing the end of its designed life. The old Lafayette Bridge is not in use any more, the last day it was open was March 1, 2014. The bridge’s age and condition were driving the planned replacement.

The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Cases are also heard in the federal courthouses of Duluth and Fergus Falls. Appeals from the District of Minnesota are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Raspberry Island (formerly called Navy Island) is located in the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Buildings for the Minnesota Boat Club have sat upon the island since 1885; the Minnesota Boat Club Boathouse structure was built in 1910. Between 1949 and 1968, the island was used by the United States Navy. The City of Saint Paul manages the island as part of the Harriet Island Regional Park. Paths, a plaza, and a bandshell were installed on Raspberry Island during renovations by the city in the early 2000s.

The Railroad and Bank Building at 176 E. 5th Street in St. Paul, Minnesota, renamed Great Northern Building in 2019, was the largest office building in the Upper Midwest from its completion in 1914 until 1973. For most of its existence, it was the headquarters of the business empire created by 19th century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill. The building is the work of architect Charles Sumner Frost and is a contributing property of the St. Paul's Lowertown Historic District. After the decline of the railroads in the United States, the building has been used as leased office space with some retail operations on the lower floors.

The Minnesota Museum of American Art ("The M") is an American art museum located in the Historic Pioneer Endicott building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum holds more than 5,000 artworks that showcase the unique voice of American artists from the 19th century to the present. Guided by the belief that art should reflect the constantly shifting landscape that defines the American experience, the museum desires to celebrate the work of artists from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as new voices that have emerged from communities of color, immigrants, their children and grandchildren.

CHS Field is a baseball park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is home to the St. Paul Saints of the International League of Minor League Baseball, as well as home to Hamline University's baseball team. With the Saints' affiliation to the Minnesota Twins, beginning in 2021, CHS Field is the smallest Triple-A ballpark in the Minors, and the closest (at a distance of 12.9 miles along surface streets and Interstate 94) to its tenant's parent MLB club.

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.

The Wabasha Street Caves is an event hall built into the sandstone caves located on the south shore of the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. The caves have been home to mobsters, speakeasies, and for the past 30 years have hosted Swing Night every Thursday night with professional live Big Bands and vocalists, playing music of the old Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington Big Bands. Dances are open to the public and draw crowds in the hundreds. The Wabasha Street Caves also provide historical tours and Murder Mystery Tours in these sandstone caves in Saint Paul, Minnesota near the Mississippi River.[2] Moonlight Serenaders Big Band

The Pioneer and Endicott Buildings are two office buildings located in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The 1890-built Endicott building forms an L-shape around the 1889-built Pioneer Building. At its completion, the Pioneer building was the tallest in Saint Paul. The Endicott building was designed by Cass Gilbert and James Knox Taylor; the Pioneer Building was designed by Solon Spencer Beman in the Romanesque style; it was the first building in the United States to have a glass elevator. Connected in the 1940s, they are together listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Pioneer Building was the tallest building in Saint Paul, Minnesota from its construction in 1889 until 1915 when the Cathedral of St. Paul was constructed. It surpassed the Globe Building.