Minneapolis/St.Paul

 

Minneapolis grew up around St. Anthony Falls, the highest falls on the Mississippi River.

    

We learned that originally Minneapolis was all about flour mills. Wheat from the nearby Dakotas was shipped in by railroad and milled into flour at Minneapolis. The two largest milling companies were General Mills and Pillsbury Mills, but they merged under General Mills. We visited Mill City Museum and learned all about flour milling. We got a good view of the city and the Stone Arch Bridge from the upper floor of the museum.

     

                          

We were captivated by the Stone Arch Bridge and made it our current theme picture for our blog. It is a National Historic Engineering Landmark, and was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1883. It was abandoned by the railroad in 1965, but was fortunately incorporated into Minneapolis’s Heritage Trail system. It is now enjoyed by walkers and bikers like us.

       

     

Minneapolis has been ranked as one of the best biking cities in the country by Bike Score, the #2 biking city by Bicycling Magazine, and the #4 bicycling city in the nation by the US Census Bureau. Not only are there trails all over town along the rivers, but far out into the suburbs as well. One day we rode a loop on both sides of the river.

                

              

                

              

George needed to see the grand former Milwaukee Road station downtown, so we biked over there.

       

 

On another day we rode Minneapolis’s excellent light rail system from the Mall of America that we’ve heard so much about to downtown. It is huge and has an indoor amusement park.

        

      

We visited nearby St.Paul. Our first stop was the Amtrak station to see the privately owned Hiawatha passenger train domed end car formerly in service on the Milwaukee Road between Chicago and Minneapolis. Thank you for your tolerance, Irene

               

             

From there we were captivated with the beauty and architecture of St. Anthony Cathedral.

      

And of course we needed to see the nearby mansion of James Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway.

        

After that, a refreshing ride along the Mississippi in St. Paul was in order.

        

        

On another day we returned to St. Paul to the art deco city hall to see the famous 60 ton, 38 ft. tall white Onyx “God of Peace.” It was built just before the great depression, and when prices fell it came in under budget while the quality of materials and ornamentation were better than budgeted.

                               

       

      

                                                        Ornate elevator doors