Geography of the Twin Cities
Development
Part 6: Planning Response to the
Industrial City
David A. Lanegran
Geography Department
Macalester College
The World Fair grounds in Chicago in 1892 resulted in the development of a new attitude
toward industrial cities. This fair was visited by more people that any event in the history
of the world. The Chicago-based railroads brought people from all across the country to
visit the grounds with its pavilion and the exciting Midway entertainment district. It was an
opportunity to show off all sorts of new designs and styles.
The Fair Committee gave the task of designing the fair to Daniel
Burnham, a Chicago architect who was devoted to the City
Beautiful Movement and the Beaux Arts Style. He was essentially
a backward looking designer who used classical motives and
French Second Empire styles. It is interesting to note that the Fair
Committee did not select Louis Sullivan or one of the other
modern architects working in the city at the time.
The City Beautiful movement argued that cities did not have to
be ugly to make money. The fairgrounds were filled with huge,
white fanciful buildings, statues and public spaces that were
fundamentally different from the gritty industrial cities of the
time. The visitors were mesmerized.
However, most builders of cities largely
ignored the proponents of City Beautiful
planning and instead built structures like
the Federal Court Building in St. Paul
(now Landmark Center) which was built
out to the lot line in the Richardsonian
Romanesque style.
The leaders of Minneapolis were proponents of the City Beautiful
movement and hired Burnham's firm to create a plan for the city
which was released in 1917. This is the frontice piece. Burnham
viewed Minneapolis as if it were a great metropolis, although he did
not make detailed plans for the entire area until he clearly
understood the connections among the various parts. He designed
a metro area with Minneapolis as the core.
He believed a city needed a grand entrance. For him that was the
railroad depot. Therefore, he proposed that two new depots be
built in the gateway district of the city which would provide a grand
backdrop to a busy and attractive public space.
He also wished to redesign the north façade of the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Fair Oaks Park. The
chief design element is a grand boulevard coming from
the center via the Art Institute onto Lake Harriet's
northeast shore.
This grand boulevard was justified as a
solution to traffic problems encountered by
suburban commuters and a way to provide
housing for higher income people in the city.
The boulevard would be a way to clear low
quality housing in an early urban renewal
program. In addition, it would provide a fire
break in the event of a conflagration such
as the ones that devastated Chicago and
San Francisco.
This is the Watergate where the boulevard terminated on the shore of Lake
Harriet. It is the approximate location of the Rose Garden.
Great effort was devoted to a plan for
the redevelopment of the Mississippi.
The Mansard roofs tell us that
Burnham was using Paris as his
model. He also wanted all the
bridges over the river rebuilt to be
more attractive. His idea of a
riverfront park has been implemented
in recent years.
The plan also called for
new crosscutting high
traffic roads and a new
community in Northeast
Minneapolis.
The wall to wall development of mansard roofed apartments he
foresaw in the city contrasted sharply with the single family
homes in the existing neighborhoods. He dismissed these
structures as a great solution for small towns but not a good
solution to the needs of the regional capital.
Burnham's plan was never implemented, and
the real estate companies built a city that
would yield high profits, adopting the
skyscraper design and technology developed
in Chicago by Sullivan and others. Burnham
hated skyscrapers; for him they were bad
because they concentrated large numbers of
people at one base location, which created
traffic problems. Also, they cast shadows on
neighboring blocks and the upper floors
could not be reached by existing firefighting
equipment. Furthermore, Burnham believed
they were just monuments to man's vanity.
When the Foshay Tower opened, John Philip
Sousa lead a band around the block playing
the Foshay Tower March. He was not paid
for the music and so it was not published
until the 1990s. Foshay did not live to enjoy
his office tower, but it provides us with an
excellent example of the changing nature of
business in cities. The service sector
expanded greatly in the 1920s and cities
shifted away from a manufacturing base.
The City of St. Paul hired the Burnham firm to
do a plan in 1926. Burnham also tried to get
the contract for the city hall and county court
house. He designed this tremendous structure
that was intended for the area where the
Science Museum of Minnesota and the River
Centre now stands.
He was still interested in
the railroad depot as the
front door of cities, so he
redesigned a few blocks
near the St. Paul Union
Depot, finished in 1917.
The City rejected Burnham's design for the courthouse and instead built an
outstanding example of a Streamline Modern skyscraper. However, the
government's and court's function soon outgrew this building and have filled
numerous other structures in the city center. Burnham may have known more
about the future of the city and its employment structure that he is given credit for.