DISTRICT FORUM Volume 22, No. 9 www.daytonsbluff.org November 2009

Neighborhood Meetings ....Page 2

Swede Hollow news .......Page 2

Fundraising pizza party .......Page 2

Bethlehem Lutheran events ..Page 2

St. Paul City news ..............Page 3

Mounds Theatre events ....Page 3

Budget decorating ideas ....Page 3

Online history research .....Page 4

Mound Park School ........Page 5

Al Johnson retires .........Page 5

Letter to the Editor ......Page 5

Phoenix Market interview ...Page 6

CLUES hosts job fair ..........Page 6

Our Youth. Our Community ...Page 7

Metro State News ................Page 7

Let’s talk about it, parents ..Page 8

Inside This Issue Thank you to all who worked so hard this year

Dayton’s Bluff District 4Community Council798 East 7th Street

Saint Paul, MN 55106

NONPROFIT ORG.U. S. POSTAGE

PAIDSAINT PAUL, MNPERMIT NO. 3996

ECRWSSPostal Customer

November Events

Tuesday November 3Election Day

Wednesday November 11Veterans Day

Sunday November 1Daylight Saving Time Ends

Thursday November 26Thanksgiving Day

Thursday November 5Community Meeting

Saturday November 7Take A Hike

By Executive Director Maryann Chowen September marked the second uni-versity of the Dayton’s Bluff SeniorsLiving at Home /Block nurse program(LAH/BNP), housed in the FirstLutheran School at 8th St. and MariaAvenue.

Our mission is to keep agingDayton’s Bluff residents living indepen-dently and remaining in their ownhomes as long as possible. Some of theways the program helps elders isthrough preventing falls, and support-ing the family and care providers.

Referrals come from family mem-bers, clinics, clients, and communityservice providers such as Senior Link-age and Merrick Services. The nextstep is the outreach call or home visitto determine the individual and familyneeds and complete a request of ser-vice. Last year with two part time staffand a working team of twenty volun-teers, the program was able to sup-port 42 Dayton’s Bluff elders to re-main safe in their homes. With the partnership of the Univer-sity of Minnesota and Parkways Gar-dens management, Dayton’s BluffSeniors is running a wellness cliniceach Wednesday from 1 - 3 p.m. ser-vicing a diverse population of approxi-mately twenty-five people. The stu-dents, under the supervision ofMaryann Chowen PHN, teachchronic disease maagement, and linkformal and informal health care ser-vices. Another program that was devel-oped was the neighborhood watch, avolunteer program where the residentshang a sign on their door each morn-ing and evening. If the sign is notchanged, then a volunteer will checkon the individual. Next year we are planning to in-crease our volunteer driver base sothat we can reach out to more seniorresidents in Dayton’s Bluff. We need volunteer and donor supportfrom the Eastside community. If you areintersected in assisting us, or know of asenior who needs help, please callMaryann Chowen at 651-776-7210 ext 303,or visit www.daytonsbluffseniors.org.

The Dayton’s Bluff District 4 Com-munity Council is looking for threepeople in Dayton’s Bluff to add to thehonor roll this year. If you know ofsomeone who has done an outstand-ing job of volunteer work in Dayton’sBluff, call Karin at 772-2075 or emailKarin@DaytonsBluff.org for moreinformation. The Saint Paul NeighborhoodHonor Roll started in the 1980s and isa listing of Saint Paul citizens whohave done outstanding service in theirneighborhoods over a long period oftime. Each year all 17 District Coun-cils can add three names to the honorroll. Past honor roll inductees volun-teered for years at a church or aschool, served on their communitycouncil board of directors, were blockclub leaders, led projects like buck-thorn removal or spearheaded a com-munity event. Last year the Dayton’s Bluff Dis-trict 4 Community Council addedDiane May, Matt Mazanec, and BethHyser for their years of service in theDayton’s Bluff neighborhood. The Saint Paul NeighborhoodHonor Roll is located in the hallwayon the third floor of Saint Paul CityHall. The quality and amount of vol-unteer time that make our communi-ties better is amazing in Saint Paul.

Seniors looking for help find it here Looking forNeighborhood Honor

Roll Candidates

Daylight Saving Time ends onNovember 1st. Remember toset your clocks back one hour.

November 18 & 20Eastern District Police

Meetings

Clockwise from upper left: Community Design Center workers and sidewalk flower pots; Metro State volunteers working in SkidmorePark; buckthorn removal by FOSH volunteers in Swede Hollow; and Metro State volunteers planting flowers in Swede Hollow Park.

Page 2 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum November 2009

Dayton’s BluffCommunity Meeting

Block club meetings

Meet with the police

The next Community Meeting isThursday, November 5th from 6:30to 8:00 p.m. in the meeting room atthe Dayton’s Bluff Community Coun-cil, 798 East 7th Street at the cornerof 7th and Margaret The Dayton’sBluff Community Council holds itsCommunity Meeting on the 1st Thurs-day of most months. The purpose ofthe meeting is to work with block clubsand neighborhood residents on prob-lem properties, criminal and nuisancebehavior, code enforcement issues andany other neighborhood issues, con-cerns, and/or new ideas for improve-ment in Dayton’s Bluff If you can get me the addresses ofproblems ahead of time I can get themto the police and code enforcement. Then they can bring information aboutthe problems to the meeting. AllDayton’s Bluff residents are welcometo attend. If you need more informa-tion email Karin@DaytonsBluff.org orcall Karin at 651-772-2075.

The Eastern District Police hosttheir monthly meetings for communitymembers at 722 Payne on the cornerof Payne and Minnehaha Avenues.One is on the third Wednesday of eachmonth at 6:30 p.m. and the other onthe third Friday of each month at 9:30a.m. In November the meetingsare on the 18th and 20th. The meetings are intended as a timeto listen to and address people’s con-cerns about crime and other issues onthe East Side.

Dayton’s Bluff Take a Hike occurson the first Saturday of most months.The next hike is on Saturday,November 7th. We meet at 10:30 a.m.in Indian Mounds Park at Earl St. andMounds Blvd. We’ll hike from Mounds Park to theBruce Vento Nature Sanctuary andthen walk along the Bruce Vento Rec-reational Trail through Swede HollowPark to the new East Side HeritagePark. Along the way we will sharestories and learn some local history ofthe area. The hike is about four mileslong with some moderately rough ter-rain. Transportation will be availableto return to Mounds Park, if needed. Join us and explore some of ourparks and the regional trail. For moreinformation contact Karin at 651-772-2075 or Karin@DaytonsBluff.org.

Take a Hike * Wilson Avenue Block Club meetson the second Wednesday of eachmonth at Mounds Park United Meth-odist Church, at Earl and Euclid, at6:30 p.m. * Margaret Rec Center Block Clubmeets on the second Thursday ofeach month at the Margaret RecCenter, at Margaret and Frank, at6:30 p.m. * Beech/Margaret 654 Block Clubmeets on the last Thursday of eachmonth at the Bethlehem LutheranChurch at Margaret and Forest at6:30 pm. This block club covers thearea Minnehaha, Beech Margaret,6th, 5th, and 4th between Cypressand Arcade. * Frank Street Block Club meetson the third Wednesday of eachmonth at Immanuel City of RefugeHealing Temple at 815 Frank Streetat 6 p.m. This block club encom-passes 7th, Ross, Bush. Reaney, andMinnehaha between Earl andJohnson Parkway. If you wish to have your block clublisted, or need information aboutstarting you own block club, pleasecontact Karin at 651-772-2075 orKarin@DaytonsBluff.org.

Budget Towing of Minnesota,Minnesota’s largest towing company, isowned by Roy Carlson, an active Dayton’sBluff Community Council board member. Budget Towing will remove any junk caror truck—located anywhere in SaintPaul—and dispose of it at no charge tothe vehicle owner or the property ownerwhere it is located. The vehicle owner willreceive paperwork for a tax donation, andRoy will also make a small donation to theCommunity Council for each car he tows. Just call Karin at 651-772-2075 to findout how you can get a junk car out of theway—and help clean up Dayton’s Bluff.

Get rid of a junk car

The ground was white with snow as volunteers started dragging Buckthornout of the woods in Swede Hollow on the October 10th Work Day. Friends ofSwede Hollow (FOSH) volunteers helped remove a huge amount of Buckthornfrom Swede Hollow. The day started with coffee and rolls at Water and OilGallery, and then everyone worked in the park until about noon. The pizza and salad lunch was going to be in the parking lot, but due to thecold weather lunch was served at Water and Oil Gallery instead. Everyone hada very enjoyable time looking at the art on the walls, chatting and eating lunch.A special thank you to Yarruso’s Restaurant for the salad and to Pepsi for thepop and water for the volunteers. Because of the cold weather the number of people that showed up was lessthan expected. Even with the lesser amount of volunteers much work wascompleted. The people who worked on this project were Mike Grealish, LindaArnesen, Jim & Sue Davidson, Brad Griffth, Kristin Bauer, Mary Wise, JamieMcCarthy, and Angela and Karin DuPaul. For more information about FOSHemail SwedeHollow@gmail.com or call Karin at 651-772-2075.

All of a sudden the sky cleared andthe sun began to shine as the peoplegathered near Swede Hollow Hengein Swede Hollow Park September25th. The glow was bright as storiesof working at Hamm’s Brewery andliving in Swede Hollow were told. Some of the people only see eachother each year at the “Watch theGlow” event. Several former SwedeHollow residents took others onmemory walks telling stories and point-ing out locations from the old days. “Watch the Glow of the Setting Sunon the Red Brick Brewery” is an an-nual event that started in 1995. It isan opportunity for everyone to joinFriends of Swede Hollow to see thebeautiful red/orange glow of the brickas the setting sun shines on the build-ings. The celebration picnic followedthe sun setting. The evening was filled with greatHamm’s Brewery and Swede Hollowstories, and music courtesy of JoeSanchelli. The event was a great success withlots of great conversions and goodfood thanks to Morelli’s, Culver’s onOld Hudson Road, Rainbow on Ar-cade, Cub on Clarence, Pepsi andMike Grealish. Friends of Swede Hol-low is already planning next year’s“Watch the Glow” on Friday, Septem-ber 24, 2010. For more information about FOSHvisit www.swedehollow.org.

By Tabitha Benci DeRango Dayton’s Bluff held its firstfundraiser through Davanni’s restau-rant on September 26th. When I re-ceived the E-mail about the fundraisermy mind started to wonder how Icould help it gain some momentum, getthe neighborhood folks to rememberthe date and to participate in this wor-thy cause. AHA! I immediatelystarted making phone calls to anyoneI knew who might be interested in apizza party. Emails came next and thena stroll around the neighborhood to seewho was out and about. “ How aboutjoining in a pizza party at my house onWednesday night?” By Tuesday the calls were pouringin for pizza orders. I called Davanni’swith a warning that I would be plac-ing a large order for the Dayton’s Blufffundraiser and asked them whenwould they like me to call it in.Wednesday early afternoon was thetime and they were so very efficientwith all the different orders from piz-zas to hoagies. Wednesday night at5:40 I showed up at Davanni’s withmy big truck, loaded up a whole lot offood and then delivered it to my housewhere the party was already hopping.40 people, kids and adults, took part inthis wonderful night of fun, picnics,chatting and pizza. What a wonderfulway to build community. Who will you invite to the nextDavanni’s night?

Chilly Swede Hollow Work Day

Friends of Swede Hollow volunteers fortify themselves before heading out to removeBuckthorn from Swede Hollow Park on a cold and snowy October morning.

The Rev. James Fandrey will be theguest preacher for the first ever JointMetro Reformation Service atBethlehem Lutheran Church, 655Forest St.. The Rev. James Fandreyis the executive director at TheLutheran Heritage Foundation inMacomb, Michigan. He is also anative of St. Paul. The service will be

Battle Creek Middle School (BCMS) islooking for volunteer tutors to give an hour aweek to make a difference in the lives of theirstudents. The students at Battle Creek arewonderful, energetic, caring and hopeful kidsand some of them need a little extra attentionand guidance to help them achieve their fullpotential. BCMS is a diverse and promising school.Many of the students have several risk fac-tors, like poverty and English not as theirprimary language, that can lead to these kidsslipping through the cracks. The staff andadministration at BCMS are marvelous andthey try their best to give these children ev-ery tool they need for success, but due tobudget and time restraints they are not al-ways able to provide the intimate attentionthat some children need to help them gainbasic literacy and math skills. Tutoring has been shown through researchand experience to be one of the best ways toreach children that need that little extra houror two of personal attention to understandtheir lessons. Many of these children maynot have a parent that can read to them inEnglish or help them with their math prob-lems and that’s where tutors can make a worldof difference. Tutors don’t just help studentsunderstand and master their school work but,more importantly act as role models that thechildren can look up to and be inspired by.Tutoring not only affects the students posi-tively, but will give the tutor a feeling of greaterself-worth and connection to the students andthe community. These students are an integral part of thecommunity and they deserve to have everyopportunity to succeed that the communitycan provide. If you would like to know moreabout tutoring visit www.sppsfoundation.org.If you would like to volunteer an hour a weekand make a difference for your community,yourself and a student in need, email RobbNelson at robb.nelson@spps.org or call himat (651) 293-8960 ext 1991.

held on Sunday November 1 at 4:00p.m. at the church. Bethlehem Lutheran will hold itssecond annual Holiday Boutique onSaturday, November 21st, from 9:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If you would like toparticipage in the event by having atable, call the church office at651.776.4737 as soon a possible.

BCMS beginstutoring p rogram

Fundraising pizza party They saw the glow

Upcoming Bethlehem Lutheran events

November 2009 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum Page 3

The classic film “A Christmas Story” isbrought to life on stage for the sixth yearat the Mounds Theatre. Humorist JeanShepherd’s memoir of growing up in theMidwest in the 1940’s follows 9-year oldRalphie Parker in his quest to get a genu-ine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree forChristmas. Ralphie pleads his case be-fore his mother, his teacher and even SantaClaus himself, with the same and alwaysconsistent response: “You’ll Shoot YourEye Out, Kid.” All the elements from the beloved mo-tion picture are here, including the family’stemperamental exploding furnace; ScutFarkas, the school bully; the boys’ experi-ment with a wet tongue on a cold flag-pole; the Little Orphan Annie decoderpin; Ralphie’s father winning a lampshaped like a woman’s leg in a net stock-ing as a major award, Ralphie’s fantasyscenarios, and more. “A Christmas Story” has become a the-atrical holiday perennial for hundreds ofMounds Theatre goers. When: December 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19 –7:00 p.m. Matinee Shows – December 6,13, 20 – 2:00 p.m. Tickets: To order tickets in advanceplease call the Mounds Theatre box of-fice at 651-772-2253 or order your ticketsonline at www.moundstheatre.org. Giftticket packages are available for those“hard to please” folks on your Christmaslist. Purchase your tickets early, as theysell out very quickly. The Mounds Theatre is located in theDayton’s Bluff neighborhood just east ofdowntown Saint Paul at 1029 HudsonRoad, St. Paul, MN 55106.

Starting Gate Productions eighthseason begins with “The Nerd” writ-ten by Larry Shue. Willum Gilbert hasit all - a promising career, devotedfriends, even maybe a serious girl-friend. Then Rick Steadman, the ulti-mate social misfit, comes to visit andputs everything in peril. “The Nerd”is a madcap farce by the author of“The Foreigner.” The play is directed by RichardJackson and features the talents ofJane Froiland, Archie Gallivan, DwightGunderson, Daniel Ian Joeck, CorbyKelly, Gail Ottmar and Luke Weber When: November 6-29, 2009; Fri-days - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sun-day matinees at 2:00 p.m. “Pay whatyou can” night is Monday, November16, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. All performancestake place at the Historic Mounds The-atre. Tickets: $18 general, $16 studentsand seniors. $10 for high school stu-dents. Call 651-645-3503 for ticketsor visit http://www.startinggate.org. Coming in January, Starting Gate’ssecond production of their three-playseason is “Light Up the Sky” by MossHart. It will run January 8-31, 2010.This classic 1948 comedy about thecast of a Broadway-bound show thatmay or may not have a hit on theirhands is a wickedly comic valentineto the theater. This play is from thepen of the co-author of “You Can’tTake It With You.”

Coming up at the Mounds Theatre“The Nerd” pays avisit in November

“A Christmas Story”returns in December Printed with permission from

HomeStagingRedesign.com Knowing how so many people arebudgeting and saving now, and manypeople are just scraping by or underwater in the short term, it seems ap-propriate to include some tips in thisissue that are really low cost ideas soyou can still spruce up your home orgive it a fresh look without breakingthe bank. So let’s kind of start at the begin-ning with the basics - like buying a newcolor of paint and doing some majorpainting around the house. Dramaticand bold are inexpensive too.Next let’s anchor your room with oneor two fairly large pieces of furnitureto act as the “hub” and perhaps evena focal point. In many cases this willbe a sofa or perhaps a bed. Too oftenpeople buy small items, small furniturebecause it is often cheaper. Then theyare not happy with the results. A roomneeds to have a good mixture of large,medium and small items to look andfeel right. I know that sounds expen-sive, but you can pick up good qualityfurniture at garage sales, estate salesand discount stores. Have at least onemajor piece of furniture in the room. Next we want good lighting. Natu-rally you want to take advantage ofany natural light coming into the room,blocking it out during the hottest timesof the day, but allowing it to fill theroom the rest of the time. Think interms of triangulation - you shouldhave good lighting spread out in the

room that forms, at the very least, atriangular coverage of the room. Pur-chase low wattage bulbs to savemoney. Look for fabrics in the remnantsdepartment at your favorite stores.You can save a lot by buying remnantsinstead of yardage from the regularstock. Make a throw. Cover some pil-lows. Bingo, instant changes. Use a lot of greenery, whether it islive or artificial. You can easily fill aroom up with greenery. It hides un-sightly areas, is great filler, and it justsoftens the room oh so much. Buysmall plants and place in larger con-tainers and wait for them to grow ifmoney is really tight. Or just stick toartificial green, which will never die. Maximize your storage. Look forfurniture that doubles as storage:chests instead of tables. Buy tall book-shelves and cabinets to take advan-tage of your room’s vertical height.Shop at your library for books they aredisposing of at huge discounts. Shopat second hand bookstores. Inter-sperse your greenery, books and fam-ily photos around the room for thatpersonalized, designer look. Use fake architectural elements inthe room for that finishing touch. Youcan get inexpensive elements at yourhardware store or even buy lumberremnants and get creative. If your budget is tight, don’t despair.Get creative. You can still make ahuge difference in the way your homelooks and feels for very little money.

Budget decorating ideas can change the lookof your home without breaking the bank

Page 4 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum November 2009

By Steve Trimble Online historic newspaper research.When I was in graduate school many,many years ago there was no such thing.You were lucky to find an old paper thatwas even partially indexed. But timeshave changed, and I don’t just mean theNew York daily. The Library of Congress (LOC) has beencreating a digitized newspaper project. I’veknown about it for some time, but hadn’tgotten around to using it until recently. Idecided to see how helpful it would befor finding information about Dayton’sBluff history. It’s been an interesting ex-perience. A person can search newspapers fromall over the country, but I decided to staywith the only one from this city - the oldSt. Paul Globe. So I typed in Dayton’sBluff and there was an overabundance ofpossibilities—several thousand listings.That’s because the real estate advertise-ments that mentioned the neighborhoodname were included. Still, even these can reveal some inter-esting information. The July 25, 1886 is-sue had more than a dozen real estate list-ings for this community. Here’s theagent’s pitch for one group: “Dayton’sBluff. The coming boom—With the build-ing of the Third Street bridge and exten-

sion of the horse car lines…there willsurely be an advance in prices in that vi-cinity. It is the cheapest property in thecity at present prices, and any investmentwill pay good profits. We have a large listof bluff property and can give some goodbargains.” It was a boom time and urban real estatemade more than one local personwealthy—at least until the crash that camewith the 1893 depression. This particularcompany then listed lots on Pacific,McLean, Suburban, Maple, Plum, Beechand Minnehaha. In another place he as-sured that the value would surely in-crease, adding the fact that “as the Chi-cago, Burlington & Quincy railroad im-provements will raise values in this local-ity.” Notice that then, as now, transpor-tation played an important role in market-ing. Other frequently occurring on-line hitsfor Dayton’s Bluff items were the societypages. Here is a sampling from the Globeon April 1, 1894. And unlike the spuriousApril Fool’s articles that are said to ap-pear in April issues of the Forum, theseappear to be genuine. It was revealing tosee how many different groups and clubswere active in only one community be-fore the days of automobiles, radio andtelevision.

Mrs. John Seeger of Maple Street, forinstance, had entertained the Ladies’ Eu-chre Club and prizes were won by Mrs.Bohn and Mrs. Haas. The Bates AvenueM. E. church ladies were giving a concertto celebrate the silver anniversary of theorganization. Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Smith ofEast Fourth were hosting a meeting of theDayton’s Bluff Reading Circle. A MissCoggshell of River Falls spent a week asthe guest of Mrs. H. T. Eachus of EastFourth. Miss Frances Kennedy of BatesAvenue spent her Easter vacation withfriends in Minneapolis. And—finally aman—“Master Gilbert Henry of BatesAvenue, spent the past week with his rela-tives in Waverly, Minnesota.” There were some larger articles thatpopped up during the search and I hadnever seen the information before. Oneof them, found in the November 5, 1903Globe, had a large headline that read “TheCity’s Most Picturesque Section” with alengthy sub-heading that stated “SecondWard may Safely Claim this Distinction,and Residents are being Brought to Ap-preciation of the Natural Attractivenessof their Locality and the Possibilities ofBeautification.” Mention was made of Indian MoundsPark as well as other lookouts in the areawith commanding views. Residents whodo not appreciate the area’s “picturesquepossibilities” were becoming a small mi-nority because of the force of educationand public sentiment, according to thenewspaper. “There has always been a little band ofpublic-spirited citizens who have fullyrecognized the value of the natural ad-vantages which they possess, and whohave been keen to improve them,” the ar-ticle continued. Around 1900 these citizens formed anorganization “the chief object of whichwould be the care of Dayton’s Bluff inter-ests.” They called themselves the Sec-ond Ward Improvement Association.Their first meeting was small, with onlyten people attending, but the group grew,bylaws were written and its members be-came active. One of the first projects was raisingmoney to buy land so that the State FishHatchery could expand rather than leave.The convinced the city to add to theircollections and they were successful.They were only partially successful in theattempt to raise money to build a newThird Street bridge to replace a somewhatrickety structure built in the 1870s. Theywere only able to do some improvements. They were also somewhat involved in acourt case. Some of their members weretrying to stop a local resident from quar-rying limestone on Hudson Road. Many articles revolved around theneighborhood’s participation in the 1886Winter Carnival, the first time the eventwas held in St. Paul. On February third ofthat year, the Globe reported a serenadeand reception for the opening of theDayton’s Bluff toboggan slide. Although the carnival authorities hadannounced the suspension of the cer-emony because of “the inclemency of theweather,” the newspapers own tobogganclub with 55 men and 10 women venturedout that night to formally open the slide.All of them carried a colored light whichthey carried to a reception at the nearbyhome of prominent resident P. H. Kelly. There were musical numbers from aband, the club cheers were given and thenthe host made a welcoming speech. Kellysaid that “the good people of Dayton’sBluff … have shown their pluck, energyand enterprise in furnishing the necessaryfunds to erect the tower and slide whichyou have seen this evening.” After two

hours of music in the mansion, the groupreturned for some festive tobogganing. The official closing of the tobogganslide was reported in some detail in theGlobe on February 21, 1886. Like the open-ing, it was a gala affair. According to thearticle, Chinese lanterns were strung alongseveral blocks and “were suspended closetogether on a line above the swiftly-glid-ing toboggans.” A band was stationed atthe head of the slide and entertained thecrowds. The Ladies Auxiliary “did a briskbusiness” serving refreshment in color-fully decorated quarters. In the crowd the reporter noted the uni-forms of many different toboggan clubs.The attendance was so great that a per-son was lucky to get the chance to maketwo slides an hour. Some of the most beautiful features ofthe landscape were the structures them-selves. “The ice tower was illuminatedand a brilliant display of red fire, rockets,roman candles and bombs touched off infront of the tower gave that structure theappearance of being ablaze, to one look-ing toward the bluff from a distance.” It is amazing how many neighborhoodgroups and activities were occurring inthe 1880s and 1890s. There might still betime for some of the current residents“with pluck and energy” to get togetherand arrange for a renewal of the tobog-gan slide tradition for the 2010 WinterCarnival. Or maybe something less elabo-rate, but at least some sort of event inDayton’s Bluff in the forthcoming St. Paulcelebration. For those interested in doing some lo-cal history research of their own, the Li-brary of Congress website is easy to find,although a little confusing to use. Justtype in the full name into Google or an-other search engine and up pops theirpage. It has a button to click on that saysdigitized collections which then allowspeople to search newspaper pages. Pa-pers from all over the country are avail-able, but the only St. Paul paper currentlyincluded is the Globe. I have had the bestluck putting key words into the “exactphrase” space. Good luck and be sure tolet the Forum know what you find.

Dayton’s Bluff history: Online historic newspaper research

1886 Dayton’s Bluff Winter Carnival toboggan slide and ice tower from a drawing foundonline in the Wednesday morning February 3, 1886 St. Paul Daily Globe.

A closer view of the 54 ft. high ice tower.

November 2009 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum Page 5

More memories from the MoundPark Grade School class of 1959

Letter to the Editor

By Kathy Whitney and Dave Petrie On Saturday, August 22, 2009, the 19598th grade class of Mound Park Grade Schoolcelebrated the 50th anniversary of their gradu-ation with a picnic in historic Indian MoundsPark. Last month they shared some of theirmemories from Mound Park School andDayton’s Bluff. Here are more of them. Mounds Theatre: One of our destinations,when crossing the [Cypress St. bridge overHudson Road], was the Mounds Theatre. Ourmothers and fathers had gone to “theMounds” when they were in grade school likeus. We spent many a happy Saturday or Sun-day afternoon at “the Mounds” watchingHeckle & Jeckle cartoons, Tarzan, Roy Rogers,“Hoppy” Cassidy, Gabby Hayes, GeneAutry, Abbot & Costello, Dean Martin &Jerry Lewis, Francis the talking mule or theThree Stooges. School Police: Since most Mound Parkstudents walked to and from school twice aday, it was important that they be supervisedto insure their safety when crossing mainstreets near the school. This was the job ofthe school police – normally 7th and 8th gradestudents. School police had permanently as-signed intersections referred to as their “Cor-ners.” We all had to wait in our “Lines” untiltold to cross the street. Today school policeall have crossing flags but at Mound Park wehad hand-held yellow and black octagonal stopsigns on wooden handles. These were eighthinch thick heavy metal. After years of use,many of the edges had been honed on stone-walls making the signs rather lethal weapons.During the winter, they also made nifty imple-ments for chopping ice. Mound Park Funfests: Another annualevent remembered fondly is the “Fun Fest,”put on as a fundraiser by the Mound ParkParent Teacher Association. The gymnasiumwas transformed into a carnival atmospherewith the mat room turned into a fishpond andthe gym stage transformed into an elevatedcakewalk. Mounds Park – Old Tennis Courts: Theold Mounds Park tennis courts were just south

of the former dead end turn-around at the endof Thorn Street. We grew up on the oldMounds Park tennis courts playing from gradeschool to college and in weather from 40 de-grees to 100 degrees. The courts were made ofrolled gravel dating back to the 1920s. Resur-facing consisted of just dumping more finechalk gravel on the courts and rolling it topack it down. Of course, there is no way topaint lines on loose gravel so the lines con-sisted of heavy cloth ribbons. Bluff Playground: Unknown to youngergenerations is the old brick building that oncesat right where the Mounds Boulevard exitoff I-94 is today. To our parents, it was knownas “Tuxedo Recreation Center” but to us itwas just “the Bluff.” We played our youthsports for “the Bluff” against other St. Paulrecreation center teams. There were Bluff teams for football in fall,hockey and basketball in winter, baseball andsoftball in summer. There were times whenwe had to stack eight year old “pee-wee” foot-ball players in full football equipment likecordwood in a parent’s station-wagon. Some-times the starting team had to go first and theparents had to come back to transport therest of the team. In addition to sports, therewere craft classes at “the Bluff.” “The Bluff” also offered social events. Someat the reunion remembered the junior highdances held at Bluff Playgrounds. For the guysit was a place to stand against the wall andeventually work up the courage to ask a girl todance one of the “slow ones.” For the girls itwas fun to show off those special new blouses,skirts and saddle shoes, dance to the “fastones” with their girlfriends, and whisperamongst themselves about which boys theyhoped would ask them to dance the “slowones.” The directors at Bluff Playgrounds werelooked up to and respected. It was generallyagreed that the ideal recreation center wouldhave Chet Petrie running the athletic programsand Belle Searle running the social activities.No other recreation center in the city wouldbe able to come close to that combination.

I have been reading with deep interest andappreciation the regular articles on child de-velopment that have been appearing inDayton’s Bluff District Forum. Their author,Mary Ann Cogelow, has been presenting usefuland pointed information about how we canbetter understand the children in our lives.Her insistence on the emotional and intellec-tual complexity of children is refreshing. Andher insights into their behavior and develop-ment and our own as parents and caregiversare deeper than one would expect to find in aneighborhood newspaper. I know Mary Ann from her days as an edu-cator at the Dayton’s Bluff Early ChildhoodFamily Education (ECFE) program. I was aparent in the program and under her persis-tent and patient tutelage I learned how to morecarefully observe my own children (and otherchildren too). I learned too how to stop andreflect on what I observed before acting tooquickly or impatiently. I still have a long way to go with develop-ing greater patience and understanding withmy children. I suspect I am not the only par-ent who needs the kind of intelligent remind-ers that the Forum is providing with MaryAnn’s articles. Thank you for publishingthem. Sincerely, Becca Barniskis

Thank you, Mary Ann

By June Bennett Mexico, now that sounds nice and warm.Well Mr. Al Johnson of Johnson Account-ing Service 699 Arcade has started build-ing his new home in Bruno, Mexico. It isgoing to be a winter home and he will begoing there in December 2009. Mr.Johnson has retired as of the first of July,after forty years in the accounting busi-ness. Born in Little Falls, Minnesota in Octo-ber of 1940, he lost his father when hewas only 18 months old. His mother re-married a young man whose last name wasJohnsen but since her name and Al’s namewere already Johnson, the step-fatheradopted their last name. Mr. Johnson graduated from HumboldtHigh School and then went into the Ma-rine Corp for four years. During that timehis family had moved to the Eastside.After getting out of the service Al workedfor H.L Green in management, then the 7-Up Bottling Company as a route sales-man, and after getting married went toMTC to work as a bus driver. Al later joined the Veteran Administrationas an agency paymaster so he attended St.Paul Vocational for a quick class in bookkeep-ing. He found out he enjoyed it, so he contin-ued on to get his degree in accounting andgraduated from Century Community College,formerly known as Lakewood CommunityCollege. After completing college he openedhis own business. Al started on Jenks andArcade and was there for nine years beforemoving to 780 E. 7th St. where he stayed fornine more years. For the last thirteen years hehas been at 699 Arcade St. Al has four children and 5 grandchildren. Inaddition, there is one grandchild due in No-vember and his first great grandchild was duein October. Al has clients from seventeen otherstates, which add up to about 500 clients. Inthe meantime he has found a young womanand her husband, Dustin and GwendolynRoman, to take over the business. Theystarted on July 1, 2009. We want to say con-

gratulations to them for that and their newdaughter. One of the things Al hated was seeing 3Mleave and watching other small businessescome and go. Al stated, “That when you losea business like that it affects all the other busi-nesses.” He is hoping for something nice tocome out of the 3M buildings in the future. Al is not ready to give up living yet. He willcontinue to do what he can for the commu-nity and would like to fix up old houses. Hehas plans to open another business in Mexico.So thank you Mr. Johnson for being part ofthe Dayton’s Bluff Community for all theseyears.

Al Johnson retires after a long career

Page 6 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum November 2009

A talk with Phoenix Market manager Tarig MohamedBy Kyle Burns When did you begin working with Alifor the Phoenix? It was 1998. How did you become a part of Phoe-nix? How did you know Ali? Actually I came here for a friend of mine.I used to live in California. I don’t like bigcities. At that time there were many crimesin Oakland. A good friend of mine here,he said, “Come over.” He said it is thebest, with nice people. The only thing, hesaid the weather is bad here. As youknow, we came from a hot country. I camehere and I worked for somebody who hada store in Saint Paul. I worked for him oneyear, two years…something like that. Idrove a taxi at the airport, too. Then theowner at that grocery, he knew Ali, theowner of this store, at that time I becamea friend of Ali, too. At that time, he said,“Come work for me.” I told him, “Yes” andI have worked for him since that day. So when you started it was in the cur-rent building and location? Yeah. When I came, Ali was still goingthrough surgeries and stuff. I visited him,because we Sudanese have a good rela-tionship here in the Twin Cities. We usedto live in the same apartment building. How is the Phoenix different from whenyou first started? Now the economy is down. That’s whyAli thought about doing a deli here. Thelife was so easy then; I came in 1997. Lifewas better than now, I don’t know why.Maybe the people have been changed. Idon’t know. At that time I was like, “Oh Ifound the place where I should live.” Be-cause it was nice, the people are so nice.I never had problems before 2003 or 2002.But now the economy is getting bad, likeyou see today. People stole newspapers.One of them was white and the other wasblack. That means now the community isgetting worse. Why do you think people might dothat? Adults do that too, of course. I don’t want to say it is all economics. Ibelieve the way they have been treatedwhen they were a child. If they see theirparent do something like that, I bet youthey are going to raise their own that way.For me, I never smoked in my whole life. Ihad a teenager who came for cigarettes, Itold him, “We don’t sell to minors. Youhave to have ID.” After a while I see hismom come and buy them for him. That iswhy I don’t want to say the problem isonly economic. It is the family. What kind of role do you think the Phoe-nix plays in the neighborhood? Thereare some things you do not sell. We don’t sell alcohol, which is actuallyagainst our religion. Our belief is that wehave to have a good community. Some-

times there are children around us herewho come to clean the streets around theneighborhood. We help them. I tell them,“Every time you come around here to dothis good thing, come over and I’ll giveyou something free. I get permission fromAli and he says, “Oh yeah, do that be-cause we have to be part of the good com-munity here, you know?” Do you live around here? I live in the East Side by Sun Ray. I havelived there all the time I am in Minnesota.I like it and now I do have a family there,too. I have three children and I love them.They love me, I believe. (laughs) Mostthe people here know me. People can’tsay my name correctly so they call me,‘Tally.’ I like that. How do you feel Dayton’s Bluff haschanged over the years? In the past we used to have a lot ofpeople who hang around the store, sell-ing drugs outside. If we see stuff like that,we have to stop it. We can’t stop it al-ways, but have to do our best. I believethe community has improved. I believeMetro State does a good job there toowith education and working with the po-lice department… that helps a lot. I don’tsee many crimes like it used to be. Theonly thing I see is stealing. How has your relationship with thepolice been over the years? Good. I always call them if I need somehelp, and they always help us. We’venever had a big problem here, to tell youthe truth. Why do you think that is? Just luck orsomething else? Maybe luck but Ali, when he had thatexplosion and he was inside, I believe hesaved some kids and the community likeshim. We came here and we didn’t haveany problems with the customers aroundus. What is the Phoenix’s relationship withthe community garden? We let them use our water. We let themuse the bathroom. Any help I can do forthem, I do it for them, no doubt. As I toldyou before, Ali also tells me to help them,and if he didn’t tell me I would do it bymyself, but it’s not my store so I have torespect the owner,but he told me to doit so… Something Imust tell you…mypeople, Sudanesepeople, they are sokind. If you go toSudan, they are sokind. Like yesterday,we had a big partywith my kids andAli’s kids and so on.We’re stuck to each

other. You know what I mean? Ali says todo anything to help the community. Have you always worked here ? Yes, but I used to work here in the morn-ing and drive a taxi in the afternoon. NowI have to spend a lot of time with my kids.If the economy stays like this, I bet I willhave to have another job, too, if I couldfind one. Do you have family back in Sudanstill? Do you keep contact? My mom, she lives in Sudan, inKhartoum. I was born in Khartoum, thecapital. I was in Sudan from birth to sev-enteen years old. What was your childhood like? In Sudan, it was marvelous. For real. Yesit is a poor country but the life was sonice. Just playing soccer all day? (Laughs) Yeah, we do love soccer. Wewatch on the laptop. Me and Ali are atwar in soccer. Most of the world, excepthere loves soccer. When I spoke with Ali he mentioned hisfirst encounter with snow. What wasyours like? I was shocked. I heard of snow, but Ihad no idea what it looked like. I knew itwas white. My dad used to live here inAmerica, in California. He did graduatestudy there; he has two PhD’s. He is sosmart; I wish I was like him. Did you go to college? Yeah, but I am not done yet, maybe oneday. I went in India for four years. What do you think is in store for the futureof the Phoenix? I hope the economy goes up, first of all.That’s why Ali wanted to do the deli. Todaywe haven’t had many customers. Some comein and buy cigarettes; we get no profit fromcigarettes. Ali has employees besides me whowork here and his family he wants to sup-port. I hope the economy goes up for every-body. That’s what we like. We like everybodyto be in a good way, healthy, and happy. Iwon’t say that money brings happiness; thatcomes from inside, but money helps. Anything else? Thank you for this interview. I would liketo tell the people in Dayton’s Bluff we haveto work together to keep our community awayfrom bad habits. We have to be together andhelp each other.

In a blaze of suits and ties, a bevy of jobseekers flocked to the ComunidadesLatinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) JobFair and Community Resource Expo onWednesday, September 30th at the SaintPaul RiverCentre in Downtown Saint Paulin order to search for jobs, benefits, andexplore career growth. The Mexican Consulate of St. Paul inMinnesota was a partner of the Expo, andBlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota andMedica generously sponsored theCLUES-hosted event. The Job Fair andCommunity Resource Expo allowed over500 diverse jobseekers to learn about thehiring process of many major companies,financial institutions and businessesheadquartered or with offices in Minne-sota by meeting face-to-face with recruit-ers looking to diversify their workforce. Attendees also had the opportunity toconnect with organizations and commu-nity resources showcasing their services.Indeed, agency exhibitors answered ques-tions about childcare, financial counsel-ing, food support, health care, and trans-portation, among other things. Before job seekers crossed the thresh-old of the exhibition hall, exhibitors par-ticipated in a networking breakfast inwhich CLUES President Jesse BethkeGomez opened the day by welcoming allof the honored exhibitors and thankingthem for their thoughtful support andparticipation in the Expo. He thenbroached several talking points, includ-ing the importance of cultural diversity inthe workplace and how it utilizes ourcountry’s skills to the fullest; how diver-sity brings cultural sensitivity and aware-ness of the fastest growing market seg-ment in the nation; how a moremulticultural workforce benefits compa-nies by offering diverse opinions andviews; and finally, how increasing diver-sity helps to reflect the customer base.Mr. Bethke Gomez soon after introducedthree speakers from within the Latino com-munity in Minnesota, who highlightedhow building up a diverse workforce al-lows companies to provide new perspec-tives to the community, giving them acompetitive advantage in the globalizedmarketplace. Presenters included Key-note Speaker Honorable Head Consul ofMexico in St. Paul, Ana Luisa FajerFlores; Luz Maria Frias, Director of Hu-man Rights and Equal Economic Oppor-tunity Department of the City of St. Paul,and formerly External Affairs Director forSt. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman; andAdriana Martinez, Airlines Consultant forUnisys Corporation, and Licensed RealEstate agent with Coldwell BankerBurnett. In the late morning and early afternoon,job seekers also had the opportunity toparticipate in a workshop entitled,Change Your Stripes!™ Stand out fromthe Herd!, which was hosted by CatherineByers Breet. Ms. Byers Breet, Job CoachSpecialist of ARBEZ™, taught job seek-ers three simple tricks they can use tomake a great first impression, and get thejob they want in a faster and easier man-ner. Following the Expo, the LatinoRoundtable sponsored a Latino network-ing event in a nearby room at the SaintPaul RiverCentre. Hillary Van Wyngeeren, Job Developerof CLUES, stated, “The Expo providescompanies, agencies, and job seekers asingle place to discover what opportuni-ties are available, as well as talk to peoplewho are actually hiring and offering com-munity resources. This event has provento be a success in years past, and contin-ues to be so today.”

CLUES hosts 2009 JobFair & Community

Resource Expo

November 2009 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum Page 7

Dayton’s Bluff residents have longadmired the stately trees gracingSwede Hollow Park. Now, thanks toresearch conducted by two Metropoli-tan State University students, residentscan access facts and figures that fur-ther enhance their appreciation for thepark. Earlier this year the students conducteda detailed census of the park’s oaks andother large trees. They followed up witha PowerPoint presentation to Friends ofSwede Hollow, a nonprofit group thathelps maintain and beautify the park andfashion future plans for it. The initiative by the students–AmandaSwanson and Andrew Merryman, bothseniors majoring in biology–is an exampleof community-based research performedby Metropolitan State. The research isintended to benefit the community whileoffering an alternative educational oppor-tunity for faculty and students. “The university has a commitment toimprove the welfare of individuals, not justin academia but out in the community,”said August Hoffman, associate profes-sor in psychology and facilitator of theuniversity’s Community Circle Based Re-search. “We have a responsibility to workmore cooperatively with each other toimprove the overall living conditions forsociety in general.” The students’ efforts were an out-growth of an ecology class that VirginiaCard, associate professor of natural sci-ence, has been teaching for a decade.Supporting the students’ field researchwas an American Democracy Project grantobtained by the university’s Center forCommunity-Based Learning.

Their initiative produced revealing in-formation: 169 oak trees in the park, withburr oaks dominating. Some of the fourspecies of oaks–burr, white, pin and north-ern red–have survived for more than 150years. In fact, photos taken a century agoshow the same oaks thriving today. Whilethe oaks command attention, the largesttrees are cottonwoods; one was 220 feettall. Other large trees included elm, bass-wood, ash and box elders. “The students’ work will help Friendsof Swede Hollow and other communityresidents better understand what exactlyis in the park, how valuable it is and itsnatural history,” said Card. “Over theyears the community has paid a lot of at-tention to the park, and the students’ re-search will help people continue to makegood decisions in caring for it.” Karin DuPaul, president of the Friendsof Swede Hollow, concurs. “The stu-dents’ information will help us decide, forexample, how many and what kind of treesto add to the park,” said DuPaul, a com-munity organizer for the Dayton’s BluffDistrict 4 Community Council. For their part, students Swanson andMerryman enjoyed the hands-on learn-ing outside the classroom. “I learned alot more doing that than just listening toa lecture,” said Swanson. “I also enjoyedlearning about the history of the park andthe surrounding neighborhood.” Said Merryman, “We had a lot more flex-ibility in doing this work. It became anexercise in time management.” And what about the fact the students’research benefited the community?“That,” said Merryman, “was a very nicebonus. I was happy to be part of it.”

Metropolitan State Univ. performsresearch benefiting the community

Page 8 Dayton’s Bluff District Forum November 2009

Dayton’s Bluff District Forum798 East 7th StreetSaint Paul, MN 55106Phone: 651-772-2075FAX: 651-774-3510E-mail: karindupaul@comcast.net

Monthly Circulation: 7,000Also available online at www.daytonsbluff.org This is a publication ofHopewell Communications, Inc. and is intended to provide a forum for theideas and opinions of its readers and to be an instrument for developingcommunity awareness and pride. No material contained in this paper maybe reprinted without consent of the editor. Articles and letters to the editorare welcome and may be emailed to KarinDuPaul@comcast.net or faxedto 651-774-3510. The Dayton’s Bluff District Forum is delivered to everyhome and business in the Dayton’s Bluff area. Outside this area, subscriptionscost $12 and may be arranged by calling 651-772-2075.Board of Directors: Greg Cosimini, Karin DuPaul and Steve TrimbleEditor & Layout: Greg Cosimini.Next issue: December 2009. Deadline for material: November 5, 2009.

By Mary Ann Cogelow I ended my last article for the Forum with aplea for all of us who are part of the villageraising children to become more informed sowe can do a better job. I was absolutely sin-cere in this plea. I cannot imagine how muchpoorer my understanding of children wouldbe without the many, many books, articles,lectures, etc. from which I have benefited.Nonetheless, I want to use this space thistime to say more about the enormous benefitsof participating in an on-going discussiongroup focused on child raising. There is a flood of information and opinionabout children circulating in today’s world.Parenting experts sometimes bemoan thisabundance of information claiming that itmakes raising children more difficult, noteasier. In fact, available material runs the gamutfrom brilliant and helpful to absolutely ter-rible. I know of one best selling parentingbook which resulted in a warning from thepediatric division of the American MedicalAssociation because a significant number ofinfants whose parents followed its adviceended up diagnosed as having failure to thrive,a serious pediatric diagnosis. This is whythoughtful evaluation of information aboutparenting is crucial. It is also why, on furtherreflection, I want to encourage parents, thosewho are most influential in their children’slives, to join Early Childhood Family Educa-tion with their babies, toddlers, andpreschoolers. One of the goals of Minnesota Early Child-hood Family Education is to help every par-ent develop a sound personal philosophy ofparenting. A discussion group is one of thethree main components of the Program. Eachdiscussion group offers the expertise of a pro-fessional parent educator and the collectivewisdom and experience of a dozen or moreparents. Participation in such a group offersbroader support for building a solid individualphilosophy of parenting than other avenuesof gaining information, immensely valuable asthey may be, cannot offer. Each of us does have a philosophy ofparenting based to a large degree upon ourown experiences as babies and children. Wedo not often think in these terms, but part ofthe challenge of parenting our own children isto evaluate the ways in which we wereparented, both by our real parents but also byother members of the village who influencedour lives. We need to decide which parts ofthis philosophy we want to keep, which partswe want to modify, and which parts we wantto discard altogether. This can be tricky business. A good groupprovides a safe place for parents to thoroughlyconsider assumptions made very early in lifewhen they believed their parents to be all pow-erful and all knowing. Parents can come tounderstand that they can remain loyal to theirown parents while building a philosophywhich is different in small or big ways. Themultitude of personalities and experience inthe group demonstrate that there is no single“recipe” for raising children. People can dis-agree with each others’ opinions while yetaffirming each other as immensely valuablehuman beings. A group offers opportunities for membersto ask for clarification or further explanation

when they have questions. (When I write, Isorely miss this aspect of working in a group.)As conversations bounce back and forth, is-sues are expanded upon, examples are pro-vided, and problems are shared. Finally groups offer more complete com-munication than do print or any of the mediawhich send an active message to a compara-tively passive audience. Experts say that acomparatively small part of communicationis carried in words. Other important parts arein body language, tone of voice, facial expres-sion and eye contact, forms of communica-tion which can potently enhance learning.Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., author of EmotionalIntelligence, Working with Emotional Intelli-gence, The New Science of Social Relation-ships, and Ecological Intelligence describesemotional intelligence (“EQ”) as includingsuch qualities as empathy, social competence,self-motivation, and impulse control. He hasalso claimed that the amount of “EQ” demon-strated in our society is declining. I wonderif part of this decrease is attributable to overdependence on forms of communication whichdeprive us of the kinds of feedback whichgroups provide in rich abundance. Face toface we see and hear and learn from all theways in which people communicate. Parenting well depends upon emotional in-telligence. A group offers its members thesupport of emotional intelligence while alsoencouraging every member to more fully de-velop their own “EQs.” People frequentlymeet in a group as strangers, but over timethey learn to know each other and often findfriends. Coming to know each other helpsindividuals feel supported and better able touse the information they gain. During the years when I was both parentingmy own dependent daughters and leadinggroups at Dayton’s Bluff Early ChildhoodFamily Education my knowledge of childrencontinued to expand due to learning frommany sources not the least of which was thegroups which I “led.” However, I was acutelyaware that the actual job I did as a mother ona day to day basis fluctuated more based onhow I felt than it did on what I knew. When Ifelt supported, understood, valued I did a bet-ter job than I did when I felt discouraged, over-whelmed, or alone. The most common themein the thousands of parents’ evaluations ofDayton’s Bluff Early Childhood Family Edu-cation I read over 30 plus years was, “I learnedI was not alone.” Groups do real work. Some-time it’s painful, but often it’s exciting, andrewarding, satisfying. Frequently it’s a lot offun. I am persuaded that the discussion groupsin MN ECFE offer parents of children frombirth to school entrance an opportunity togrow and learn which is not replicated in anyother format. But this wonderful programalso offers two additional components whichincrease its value. One of these is a develop-mentally appropriate classroom for childrenplanned and staffed by early childhood pro-fessionals. The other component is parentchild time together to learn and play. Thesecomponents offer parents important additionalways of learning more about kids and helpfulways of interacting with them. The benefitsto kids are enormous. But that is a subject fora different article.

Let’s talk about it - Parent discussion groups