Eyota, Minnesota, USA

Defining Main Street: The City Hall. If a place is incorporated under the laws of the state, it must have a municipal building. In the case of cities, these administrative headquarters are probably called city halls. In the past, their architecture was almost always meant to command respect. What to you think of the Eyota city hall's public face? [2019]

Sauk Centre, Minnesota, USA

Defining Main Street: The History.  Sinclair Lewis did not sentimentalize Main Street in his novel by the same name. Today, we do. We glorify it. We have even shaped our country's newly-built "town centers" as Main Street mimics. Because of its importance, we will spend all month on Main Streets trying to appreciate both their diversity and their unity. [2012]

Eyota, Minnesota, USA

♫ If you think that you're strong, wanna fight well come on and line up - line up. ♫ What would you expect of Minnesota? Huge snow plows, useless during the summer and lined up for safe-keeping along the railroad tracks. [2019]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Here is some art in the heart of Minneapolis:

In Indiana, it's not. In Minnesota, it is.

By Indiana, it is. But unique, it's not.

[2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Here is some art in the heart of Minneapolis:

If you do not not climb and do not touch,

the cock on top will thank you very much.

If you choose to climb and choose to touch,

the cock on top will make you need a crutch.

[2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Here is some art in the heart of Minneapolis:

A bridge to a cherry too far, 

A catapult spoon that makes passers-by swoon

And imagine cerises by Renoir.

[2021]

St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Covid Behaviors: Eat on the street. So many cities and towns turned at least some of their public streets into outdoor bistros. Everybody wanted to go somewhere but no one wanted to share indoor space with anybody but family. Outside many restaurants, therefore, automobile space was turned over to the people. [2021]

Red Wing, Minnesota, USA

Silos like these punctuate the American wheat belt, and Red Wing early evolved as one of the centers of wheat production. Why? The Mississippi River tells the story. Not only was the land and climate ideal for cereals, but the river was ideal for getting grain to market. Then came the railroads, and the river lost some of its significance as a highway. [2021]

St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Kumi-daiko, or Japanese drums, has been part of Japanese culture for centuries, and now it is part of American culture, too. Like it or not, that is what North America does so well. It takes the best the world has to offer and owns it: cultural appropriation notwithstanding! [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

February is all about the number two, and 2/22 is a palindrome too! Every city has signs like this. Some organization ought to sponsor a Covid sign contest: What city has the most creative? the most empathetic? the most threatening? Maybe there should even be an award for the most generic. Be sure to see yesterday's post. [2021]

Osseo, Minnesota, USA

It's only a row of storefronts along the town's main street. What sets it apart? A water tower with the town's name in all caps. Other towns may have water towers, but there is only one town named Osseo. Maybe Osseo could add some pole banners that exploit the name of the town as well. Oh, wait, they already did! [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Minneapolis is among the coldest of America's big cities. But indoors, the landscape looks like spring year round. Wending around 80 city blocks, the Minneapolis Skyway connects islands like this, plus the businesses and offices they serve. It comprises a system of 2nd-story bridges that permit travel around the city without braving the elements. [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Who can turn the world on with her smile? The answer awaits on Minneapolis's Nicollet Mall: Mary Tyler Moore, of course. Her ground-breaking TV show in the 1970s was set in Minneapolis, and each episode ended with a hat toss, filmed on this very spot. With the statue, the fictional history of Minneapolis lives on, often eclipsing the city's real history. [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Today, Mill Ruins Park hosts one lonely piano (at least for the summer). A hundred years ago, however, twenty flour mills occupied this very site, a place where the Mississippi River drops 50 feet. Minneapolis used to be the flour milling capital of the world. Then, the center of gravity began a shift to Buffalo, and Minneapolis's last lonely mill closed in 2003. [2021]

Robbinsdale, Minnesota, USA

"The elements that make Robbinsdale special": That's what the the muralist wanted to show when she turned a tabula rasa into a home for the spirits of place. What's the number one element that makes Robbinsdale special? No, not robins (see them?). Every town has robins. It's the place name itself. There is only one Robbinsdale in the whole United States. [2021]

Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA

Odds and Evens, Ones and Twos, Singles and Doubles, Which one be You? Here is a single animal with two names. In North America it is a caribou, but in Europe it is a reindeer. The setting: the Minnesota Zoo, one of the best for seeing creatures of the upper middle and high latitudes. [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Odds and Evens, Ones and Twos, Singles and Doubles, Which one be You? Here are two dudes united by music and gathered around an oddly painted piano. The setting: The IDS Center right on Nicollet Mall, along which several of the many Pianos on Parade are stationed. [2021]

Red Wing, Minnesota, USA

 
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Finally, an answer: "Dear Jumbo, Eggciting news! The research is conclusive. THE EGG CAME FIRST! Signed, The World Poultry Council." How long have we all be waiting by our mailboxes to get an answer to that question? [2021]

Hastings, Minnesota, USA

What does your town have to make it proud? Perhaps something unique like a new bridge. Across the mighty Mississippi, no less. Yes, things that are new can be as unique as things that are old: if they are built with an eye toward aesthetics. In Hastings, the arches, geometry, colors, and landscape architecture make the newest span a sunny delight. [2021]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro hosts the headquarters of 26 Fortune 1000 companies. In Minneapolis, itself, are U.S. Bancorp, Target, Ameriprise Financial, Alina Health, and Sleep Number, among others. U.S. Bank Plaza is easy to pick out, but the tallest building is now home to online Capella University. 3M, GM, and Best Buy are in the suburbs. [2021]