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Vince Mpls

@vincempls.bsky.social

4.7K followers 1.2K following 3.6K posts

Minneapolis urbanist, St Paul enthusiast, transit nerd, fan of the #localangle, called "an amateur historian" by Fox News. 🏳️‍🌈📍Twin Cities, Mni Sóta

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Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1h

#OnThisDay Oct 11, 2011: The Minnesota Lynx win their first WNBA Championship, beating the Atlanta Dream in 3 games. It's also the first championship won by a professional sports team in Minnesota since 1991.

Maya Moore and Taj McWilliams-Franklin riding in an convertable being showed with confetti in the Minnesota Lynx 2011 WNBA championship parade in Minneapolis Oct 11 2011
Wikimedia commons, author Bradley P Johnson

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 13h

“Leadership appreciates your service” 🙄

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 13h

#OnThisDay Oct 10, 1887: President Grover Cleveland arrives at St Paul Union Depot by special train on his "Goodwill Tour" of the Midwest and South, travelling farther west than he had ever traveled before. The next day the President and First Lady dined at the mayor's mansion at 315 Summit Avenue.

the engraved cover of Harper's Weekly Magazine, "the journal of civilization", detailing the president's trip which began on Oct 8, 1887. Pictured is the Cleveland with his wife reading in their private pullman railroad car.

St. Paul Mayor Robert A. Smith and his wife, Mary, hosted a luncheon for the President First Lady at their the mansion located at 312 Summit Avenue during their visit to St. Paul. Their home was built by Henry Neill Paul and David Stuart in 1857 and was one of the first six houses built on Summit Avenue and the only remaining of those six.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 14h

I'd never ask a nonwhite person where they're from in that MN way that seems curious, and may be, but just comes off racist to the recipient. And I have definitely answered the question with "poor peasant trash expelled from Norway" before.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 14h

I'm sorta ok with this because there needs to be an interesting developed core that multi family can be built around, tho yes it doesn't need to be bougey. Chicken-egg problem I guess.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 14h

By about 500 years.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 14h

And not just John. The former president of planned parenthood was a loud part of that scheme, along with others.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 15h

I've been to the museum in Alexandria where the runestone is on display, along with a confusing array of taxidermy and a mildly racist Native American diorama

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

#OnThisDay Oct 10, 2017: The Lasher-Newel House, a castle-like stone mansion on Cathedral Hill and one of the oldest homes in St Paul, is left in ruins after a massive fire. Restoration work began in 2018 and is not yet complete.

Undated black and white photo of the mansion with its prominent castle like tower at 251 Dayton Avenue, across from ST Paul Cathedral.

3 firefighters stand in front of the stone facade. 3 more are in an aerial ladder pouring water on the burning roof. Trevor Squire, St Paul Pioneer Press

Scaffolding on the stone tower, with St Paul Cathedral in the background. Langer Construction facebook page.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

I see we're going to need a bigger plinth in St Paul.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

True! Maybe it would be funnier if calculations showed he was looking towards a giant fiberglass lutefisk out that way, or something.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

I think he's looking to the West North West, which means his gaze may be more fixed on the Twine Ball.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

We Scandinavians are fine with anyone discovering it except that hack Columbus

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

I dimly remember this!

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

Yes he’s definitely in that box 😀. Whether he has to move a few feet after that 🤷‍♂️

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

I haven’t seen the schematic but pretty sure it’ll be in the same spot, since it’s sorta at the entrance to the LRT station which isn’t moving

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

🙏

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

#OnThisDay Oct 9, 1949: The Leif Erikson statue is dedicated on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capitol on "Leif Erikson Day." The monument was part of a Scandinavian American campaign to credit their ancestors - and definitely not Christopher Columbus - with the “discovery” of North America.

A 13' high bronze statue of a viking holding a sword stands atop a tall marble plinth. The white dome of the Minnesota State Capitol is in the background.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

Incredible sky over Minneapolis this evening.

Huge storm cloud towers in the distance over the skyline in orange, blue, and purple

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

I voted! I also didn't cheat, mostly due to being tired.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 1d

1890s: Engine crew posing with yard switcher No. 108 of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad in front of the Washburn-Crosby Mills. At the time, Minneapolis was the world capital of flour and lumber production.

small 0-4-0 steam engine with 3 men standing in front and the engineer and fireman standing on the footplate. The many old stone mills are in teh background. Hennepin County Library.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 3d

Two words: "Signal Pre-emption". Not a panacea, but a good starting point. This should apply to the Green Line in St Paul also.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 3d

There was a proposal to build a 36-story apartment building attached to the mall, shot down by the Edina city council. The new hotel and other lo-rise housing is far across the parking lots, and the new terminus for the E-Line terminus isn't attached to the mall at all. Just not great.

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 3d

It's marginally better, but will never live up to his idea of a civic square. And without serious transit, it will always be a car-centric dystopia. D+

Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 3d

Oh I think we all know the answer to that. Definitely the latter.