Cities and Towns | Page 3

Cherokee Park, St. Paul

Cherokee Park, located in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, is a regional park comprising 100 acres of forested bluff and blufftop parklands along the Mississippi River. The St. Paul Park Board first established a ten-acre section of the park in 1905 near the High Bridge, with subsequent expansions in 1906, the 1910s, and the 1970s. The park is well known for its spectacular view of the Mississippi River Valley, and of both downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.

View of downtown St. Paul from Cherokee Regional Park

View of downtown St. Paul from Cherokee Regional Park, October 21, 2023. Photograph by Emily Shepard. CC BY-SA 4.0

West Seventh Street neighborhood

View of the West Seventh Street neighborhood looking toward the High Bridge, St. Paul, 1891.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, Bemidji

Originally conceived as a gimmick to promote tourism during the city’s 1937 Winter Carnival, the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues in Bemidji became the second-most-photographed sculptures in the country in the 1940s. The prototypical “roadside colossus” inspired dozens of other Minnesota and Midwest cities to create similar works in the decades that followed.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox postcard, ca. 1940

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox postcard, ca. 1940. Published By NMN, Inc., Crosslake, Minnesota.

Paul Bunyan statue postcard, ca. 1938

Paul Bunyan statue postcard, ca. 1938. Photograph by St. Marie's Gopher News Company.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, ca. 1950

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues (Bemidji) with a horse and rider underneath Babe, ca. 1950.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues with Lake Bemidji in the background, 2019

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues with Lake Bemidji in the background, at left. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Nejones1987, June 14, 2019.

Rear view of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, 2007

Rear view of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, Bemidji. Photo by Flickr user Krista Kennedy, May 16, 2007.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, ca. 1950s

Kodachrome slide of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, Bemidji, undated but ca. 1950s. Found by Flickr user Thomas Hawk and uploaded April 10, 2022.

Gale Family Library