Celebrating America's favorite cityscapes, this series combines historic interest and contemporary beauty. Then and Now features fascinating archival photographs contrasted with specially commissioned, full-color images of the same scene today. A visual lesson in the historic changes of our greatest urban landscapes.

An engaging, startling look at the dramatic evolution of landscapes in Minneapolis and St. Paul from the vantage point of their relatively static streets, in seventy-two historic black-and-white photographs, taken from the 1880's to the late 1950's, coupled with informative essays.

Locked together in an affectionate sibling rivalry, Minneapolis and its twin city St.Paul are constantly growing and changing. Minneapolis-St.Paul Then and Now shows how Minnesota’s two largest cities have expanded along the banks of the Mississippi river and merged over the last 150 years. (Although if St. Paul had stuck with its original name it would be Minneapolis-Pig’s Eye Landing, the name came from a notorious whiskey runner.)The long and cold Minnesota winters and humid summers have spawned an architecture to feat the weather with indoor shopping malls, domed stadia, skyways and a whole host of sports and celebrations that thrive in this climate. The St. Paul Winter Carnival is the oldest winter celebration in North America.Using archive photos pairing vintage photos from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with their modern-day viewpoint, local author Bill Lindeke shows how the Twin Cities have developed from simple trading posts on the banks of the Mississippi in "the land of 10,000 lakes."Sites include: Forum Cafeteria, Lumber Exchange Building, Foshay Tower, City Hall, Pillsbury ‘A’ Mill, Milwaukee Depot, Metropolitan Building, Huber H. Humphye Metrodome, Triangle Bar, Loring Park, Basilica of St. Mary, University of Minnesota, Northrup Auditorium, Swedish Institute, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Hennepin and Lake, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, Minnehaha Falls, Fort Snelling, Seven Corners, Landmark Center, Mickey’s Diner, First State Capitol Building. Third State Capitol, Science Museum, St.Paul Union Depot and Castle Royal.

1993 American Institute of Architects International Architecture Book Award

Well known as the most prestigious and beautiful street in the Twin Cities, Summit Avenue runs past the opulent mansion of railroad tycoon James J. Hill, an early home of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and several residences designed by renowned architect Cass Gilbert. In its heyday the four-and-one-half-mile-long boulevard included 13 churches, 9 schools, and 440 residences, 373 of which survive. St. Paul's Historic Summit Avenue highlights the fascinating story of this boulevard, from its pre-Civil War origins, when the area was still considered wilderness, to its fashionable height at the turn of the century. Ernest R. Sandeen discusses the preservation of Summit Avenue and takes readers on a walking tour of the first and grandest mile of the street, beginning with the Cathedral of St. Paul. A second walking tour gives the reader Fitzgerald's Summit Avenue, including excerpts from his notebooks and stories describing the area. The book concludes with an index of Summit Avenue houses built through the 1970s. Before his death in 1982, Ernest R. Sandeen was the James Wallace Professor of History and codirector of the Living Historical Museum at Macalester College. He served as a member of St. Paul's Historic Preservation Commission and as a partner in Lanegran, Richter, and Sandeen, an architectural preservation, design, and land-use firm.

Today, Minneapolis is considered one of the most desirable places to live in the United States. However, like most cities, Minneapolis has its own checkered history. Iric Nathanson shines a light in dark corners of the city's past, exploring corruption that existed between the police department and city hall, brutal suppression of Depression-era unions, and reports on anti-Semitism at midcentury. Still other subjects that on the surface seem disparaging offer the city's residents an opportunity to shine. Community leaders make a difference during the "long, hot summer" of 1967, when racial violence exploded across the country. Concerned neighbors guide transportation policy from more and bigger highways to forward-looking light rail transit. A forgotten riverfront is transformed into a magnet for people wishing to live and play at the site of the city's earliest successes. Nathanson skillfully tells these stories and more, always with an eye toward how noteworthy characters, plotlines, and scenes helped create the Minneapolis we know today.

A concise history, featuring stories that are familiar, surprising, and sure to change the way you see Minnesota's capitol city.