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St. Paul's Rondo Neighborhood was the center of the local black community in the 20th century Twin Cities area. It was demolished during the period from 1956 till 1968, due to the construction of the I-94 freeway.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Over 500 families were displaced from the neighborhood, as well as many businesses and community locations.^{[4][6][7][note 1][2][8][9]}

Location

Rondo in 1950 was bounded by Lexington Avenue to the west, Rice Street to the east, Marshall Avenue to the south and University Avenue to the north.^{[10]:xvi-xvii[11]}

The freeway I-94 runs east-west, centered between what had been Rondo Avenue and St. Anthony. Originally Rondo Avenue and St. Anthony Avenue were thoroughfares that ran parallel, both beginning at Rice Street. Rondo ended at Dunlop Street and St. Anthony went the full length to Cretin Avenue at the Town and Country Club Golf Course. The construction of I-94 took the north portion of Rondo and the south portion of St. Anthony. The remainder of both Rondo and St. Anthony became freeway service roads, and Rondo Avenue was renamed Concordia Avenue.^[12]

Four bridges over I-94 connect the two halves of what had been Rondo neighborhood: Lexington Avenue, at the western boundary of Rondo; Victoria Avenue; Dale Avenue; and Western Avenue, close to its eastern boundary. East of Western Avenue in 1966 Saint Paul College) built a new single-building campus at 235 Marshall Avenue.

The area south of I-94 was absorbed into the Summit-University neighborhood. The neighborhood of Frogtown starts at University Avenue and extends northward, but does not include the section of what had been Rondo between University Avenue and I-94.

Community description

Rondo was an important gathering of the black community in St. Paul. Organizations in Rondo included the St. Paul chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in which Roy Wilkins was involved, and black newspapers included the Appeal, the Northwest Bulletin, and the St. Paul Recorder (now the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder).
The St. Paul chapter of the Urban League, the Hallie Q. Brown community center,^[13] the Phyllis Wheatley Community Center and many other community resources took form in Rondo.^{[14][note 2]}

Decision to route I-94 through Rondo neighborhood

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 provided funding to American cities to build a network of freeways, necessitated by greater automobile use nationwide. A choice of routes existed; one other option was farther north, along abandoned rail tracks. The more central route— through the majority-black neighborhood of Rondo— was chosen.^[16][17] In hindsight, there is widespread agreement that the negative ramifications of this construction fell disproportionately on the residents of Rondo.^{[7][2][6][9][note 3][note 4][15][note 5]}

Other negative outcomes of the route chosen include the separation of the Minnesota State Capitol building from the commercial district of Downtown St. Paul, and some inconvenience for the Prospect Park neighborhood in Minneapolis.^[18]

Light Rail Transit - Green Line

During the years of planning and preparation for the Green Line (2nd main route of the Twin Cities Light Rail Transit system, originally known as the Central Corridor project), attention was re-focused on Rondo Neighborhood and its history. Since the Green Line was planned to go on University Avenue, just a few blocks away from Highway I-94, the same groups were affected. Communities were concerned about the past repeating itself. A number of groups formed in order to ensure that this process was different.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, was among those who ran for and won the seats on the St. Paul City Council in 2007 for the main purpose of improving the Green Line project as it related to Rondo. A specific action taking by groups concerned about the Green Line was a lawsuit filed against local project planners and the Federal Transit Administration by the NAACP, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, Rondo residents and businesses and other organizations including Pilgrim Baptist, the state's first black church. They charged that the Metropolitan Council inadequately engaged in mitigating efforts on poor people and minorities, potentially repeating Rondo's results. From the actions including that lawsuit, three additional stops were added to better serve Rondo/Frogtown residents. Also, additional funds to address parking and business-loss concerns during the construction process were made available. On the national level, the Federal Transit Administration changed its so-called cost-effectiveness index, which had given preference to shorter travel times and longer distances between stops. Instead, under FTA administrator Peter Rogoff, transportation issues were being examined from a civil rights perspective. Social equity & livability factors, including economic development and congestion relief, were added to the decision-making process.^[19][4][20]

Aftermath

In 2016, the current MNDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle, and the current St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, together formally apologized for the way the interstate construction was handled.^{[9][note 6]}

Rondo Days is a weekend-long celebration of the spirit of the Rondo community, now in its 35th year. Two prominent members of the Black community who were Rondo residents, Marvin Roger Anderson and Floyd G. Smaller, founded an organization called Rondo Avenue Inc to turn Rondo history into a current, ongoing awareness; they launched the annual festival in 1982. Initial celebrations included a parade and senior supper, the event has continued to grow and develop each year through the efforts of the Rondo-diaspora community and now also includes the Northern Lights Drill and Drum International, a competition that draws drill and drum teams nationwide.^[9][21]

The Rondo Commemorative Plaza was installed in 2016 on Old Rondo Avenue (Concordia Avenue) just west of North Fisk Street to commemorate the Rondo community. Funds were provided by a variety of sources including a Community Development Block Grant from the City of St. Paul and donations from several local foundations and the 3M African-American Employee Network.^[7][2][9]

The Minnesota History Theater presented a work called "The Highwaymen" to explore the related issues.^[22]

Macalester College in St. Paul initiated a collaboration with Rondo Avenue, Inc. (RAI) to team-teach a multi-faceted "History Harvest" course about Rondo, within Macalester's emphasis on community-engaged curriculum, culminating in "Remembering Rondo: A History Harvest", with the partnership of the Macalester Civic Engagement Center (CEC).^[16]

A portion of Concordia Avenue has been renamed "Old Rondo Avenue" for some blocks between Victoria and Dale. In 2013, organizers of "Rondo Days" were honored when the St. Paul City Council co-named the section of Concordia Avenue between Lexington Parkway and Dale Street "Marvin Roger Anderson Avenue", and a segment of St. Anthony Avenue between Victoria Street and Western Avenue "Floyd G. Smaller Jr. Avenue".^[7]

See also

• Rondo Days


• Roy Wilkins Auditorium


• Roy Wilkins


• Toni Stone


• Lou Bellamy


• Jane Jacobs


• The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Notes

References

Further reading

• 
  Fairbanks, Evelyn (1990). "The Days of Rondo". Saint Paul: MN Historical Society Press.
  


• Griffin, Jimmy with Kwame McDonald "Jimmy Griffin: A Son of Rondo, a memoir" (St. Paul: Ramsey County Historical Society, 2001)


• CultureBrokers Foundation, Inc. 2008. "Points of Entry: The African American Heritage Guide to Saint Paul." , “Education and Athletic Achievement,” Saint Paul Historical, accessed January 13, 2018, http://saintpaulhistorical.com/items/show/263.


• 
  Consildine, Basil. "PREVIEW: High Stakes in The Highwaymen (History Theatre)". Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  


• 
  Nathanson, Iric (June 13, 2014). "Linking the Twin Cities: In 1968 the attention was on I-94". MinnPost. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  


• 
  Wedin, Carolyn; Glasrud, Bruce A. (2012). The Harlem Renaissance in the American West: The New Negro’s Western Experience. New York: Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group).
  


• 
  Nelson, Emma (January 19, 2018). "'St. Paul's Rondo community gets a glimpse of I-94 land bridge designs, the bridge would cover part of Interstate 94, creating space for housing, businesses and parkland'". StarTribune. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  


• 
  "Minnesota History Theater production: The Highwaymen". Minnesota History Theater. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  

External links

• Rondo Avenue Inc organization


• Reconnect Rondo


• Rondo Neighborhood, St. Paul- MNopedia entry


• 30 Second State Capitol: Rondo Neighborhood by PBS


• SaintPaulHistorical.com - Rondo Neighborhood


• KFAI Audio Story from Minneculture: Celebrating the Rondo Neighborhood