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PiPress Archives
@pipressarchives.bsky.social
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Exploring St. Paul’s past through the pages of the Pioneer Press.
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Two kids explore a family fallout shelter on display at American National Bank in downtown St. Paul on Aug. 31, 1961.

Any idea what a backyard fallout shelter cost to build at that time? Find out in our #ThrowbackThursday photo gallery: twincities.com/throwback

📸: Former PiPresser Roy Derickson
Two children play a game on the bottom bunk of a set a bunk beds inside a cinder block structure.
August 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
pipressarchives.bsky.social
It was 18 years ago today that the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

Pioneer Press photographers took hundreds of images that day. You can see a few of them here: www.twincities.com/2025/07/23/t...
A collapsed bridge span lies in a river as emergency crews work nearby. First responders work to rescue people on a collapsed bridge deck. Onlookers view a collapsed bridge behind yellow police tape. Rescue workers use boats to search for people near a collapsed bridge lying in a river.
August 1, 2025 at 2:13 PM
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Pioneer Press reporter Bill Martin interviews a seemingly talkative hippopotamus named Miss Oklahoma in the basement of St. Paul Auditorium in March 1952.

To find out what she was doing there, visit our #ThrowbackThursday gallery at twincities.com/throwback.

📸: Pioneer Press file photo
A man with a notebook and a pen crouches down next to a hippopotamus, whose mouth is slightly open.
June 26, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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Barge-mounted cranes raise a 108-foot, 61-ton steel arch beam into place in the center span of the new St. Paul High Bridge above the Mississippi River in March 1987.

📸: Former PiPress photographer Rich Marshall

For more photos, visit our #ThrowbackThursday gallery at twincities.com/throwback.
Two barge-mounted cranes lift a section of a bridge span into place, completing its central arch. The downtown St. Paul skyline is in the background.
June 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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This early downtown St. Paul street scene was captured in 1906 at the corner of East 7th and Robert streets looking northeast.

The Emporium department store is under construction in the center. Now covered by a glass facade, the building still exists as Metro Square.

📸: Pioneer Press file photo
A pair of pedestrians walk down a sidewalk while two others cross a street in a busy downtown street scene from 1906. Behind them, a building under construction has a sign painted on its wall that reads, “Emporium: Fastest growing store in the Twin Cities.”
June 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM
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Most of St. Paul was asleep when news of the D-Day invasion reached the city via radio at 2:32 a.m. on June 6, 1944, about a half-hour into the battle for the beaches of Normandy.

The Pioneer Press published this extra a few hours later.

Read more about that day: www.twincities.com/2019/06/06/7...
The front page of an extra edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press from June 6, 1944, with a banner headline reading “Invasion” in large capital letters. A subheadline reads “Allied forces land in France.”
June 6, 2025 at 1:38 PM
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Members of the St. Paul Athletic Club, including former mayor Mark Gehan on the left, dutifully don gym shorts as they exercise on the club’s rooftop deck on July 16, 1941.

To view our previous #ThrowbackThursday images, visit twincities.com/throwback

📸: Former PiPress photographer Jack Loveland
Four men in gym shorts and sandals exercise with medicine balls on the roof of a building. A sign next to them reads, “To protect our sun deck privileges, we must not offend our neighbors in the surrounding tall buildings. Therefore all sun bathers must wear gym pants. No one is permitted on the sun deck in the nude.”
May 29, 2025 at 10:19 PM
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The paddleboat Capitol makes its way down the Mississippi River from St. Paul on July 1, 1932. The 280-foot excursion steamer was a frequent visitor to the city during the summer navigation season.

To view all of our #ThrowbackThursday photos, visit twincities.com/throwback.

📸: Pioneer Press files
A paddleboat steams down a river with the St. Paul skyline in the background.
April 3, 2025 at 5:21 PM
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Moving day at the Science Museum of Minnesota brought skeletons out of the closets in 1964.

The museum was moving from the John L. Merriam mansion in St. Paul to new digs at the Arts and Sciences Center.

See more #throwbackthursday images: twincities.com/throwback

📸: Former PiPresser Don Church
A woman carries a skeleton out of a building with a sign above the door that reads “The Science Museum,” while a man beside her carries taxidermy animals.
March 27, 2025 at 1:09 PM
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“That’s a no-no,” St. Paul cop Frank Langan tells this St. Patrick’s Day reveler as he tries to conceal his beer can outside Gallivan’s bar in downtown on March 17, 1976.

To see a gallery of all our #ThrowbackThursday photos, go to twincities.com/throwback

📸: Pioneer Press photographer Bill Davis
A police officer gives a stern look to a man dressed in St. Patrick’s Day regalia who is carrying a beer on the sidewalk.
March 13, 2025 at 2:35 PM
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Coming Sunday! A local history newsletter from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every week: twincities.com/newsletters
The words "From the Archives" in a gothic script against a background of newspaper front pages.
February 14, 2025 at 8:39 PM