October 11, 2014
Hamm Brewery Theodore Hamm residence 671 Cable Ave. St. Paul Taken from 7th St looking up Swede Hollow. Photo courtesy MNHS.
Dayton’s Bluff, located high above downtown St. Paul and the adjoining Swede Hollow, is among the capital city’s oldest neighborhoods. Aaron Rubenstein, our tour leader, provided an introductory presentation and then led participants on a walking tour of this fascinating neighborhood.
Dayton’s Bluff is a local historic district, richly varied both now and historically in terms of its social groups and housing stock. Below it, Swede Hollow, a small, now secluded valley, historically was the site of a tight-knot, immigrant settlement of small houses hugging Phalen Creek. The tour included homes featuring a variety of architectural styles ranging from small Italianate houses from the 1870s to Queen Anne, Eastlake, Craftsman and Colonial Revival. We also learned about the social and historical context of Dayton’s Bluff and the current dynamic of using historic preservation to stabilize and rejuvenate the neighborhood.
Stutzman Block. Photo by Robert Ferguson.
