# Saint Paul Housing Authority *Housing agency in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that acquired Rondo neighborhood parcels for Interstate 94 between 1954 and 1956.* The **Saint Paul Housing Authority** carried out property acquisition in the [[Rondo]] neighborhood of Saint Paul, [[Minnesota]], for the Interstate 94 freeway between 1954 and 1956.[^1] The figures recorded for that acquisition, attributed to [[ReConnect Rondo]], are 700 homes and 300 businesses.[^1] Records of the Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority, held by the Minnesota Historical Society, document the city's redevelopment work in the same decade. They cover the Western and Eastern Redevelopment programs, approved in 1952 on over 60 acres, and the Upper Levee Project, for which planning and appraisal began in 1958.[^2] The finding aid for those records reports that "by the end of 1957, all 1,064 families and 253 single individuals had been relocated."[^2] The sources cited here do not establish the agency's enabling statute, governing board, budget or staffing. They also do not establish whether the Housing Authority named in the Rondo record and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority named in the archive are the same body.[^1][^2] ## Who The Saint Paul Housing Authority is the body named as acquiring the Rondo parcels in 1954–56.[^1] The Minnesota Historical Society holds the records of the Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority as collection gr00386. These records cover redevelopment and relocation in the 1950s.[^2] The Metropolitan Council Housing and Redevelopment Authority is a regional housing administrator under the [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]].[^3] The sources cited here document no relationship between that regional body and the Saint Paul authority.[^3][^1] ## What The agency's documented output in the Rondo record is land assembly. It acquired the parcels on which Interstate 94 was built through the neighborhood.[^1] The archived Housing and Redevelopment Authority records describe two other programs. The Western and Eastern Redevelopment programs together covered over 60 acres. The Upper Levee Project began with planning and appraisal.[^2] ## When - **1952**: The Western and Eastern Redevelopment programs are approved on over 60 acres.[^2] - **1954–1956**: The Saint Paul Housing Authority acquires the Rondo parcels for Interstate 94.[^1] - **End of 1957**: The finding aid records that all 1,064 families and 253 single individuals had been relocated.[^2] - **1958**: Planning and appraisal begin for the Upper Levee Project.[^2] ## How many - **Rondo acquisition**: 700 homes and 300 businesses, figures attributed to ReConnect Rondo in the source cited for the acquisition.[^1] The project's Warren E. Burger dossier (finding RF-9) gives a different range of 600 to 700-plus homes and roughly 300 businesses destroyed.[^1] - **Redevelopment relocation**: 1,064 families and 253 single individuals relocated by the end of 1957, as stated in the archive's finding aid.[^2] - **Redevelopment area**: over 60 acres in the Western and Eastern programs approved in 1952.[^2] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry AI-Ramsey-051 is filed in the Ramsey County package under the heading *Rondo: The Apology and the Ledger*. It describes the 1954–56 acquisition as "a housing agency assembling the parcels for the highway that removed the housing."[^1] The entry sets the agency's name beside its documented output, the acquisition of the parcels.[^1] No statute stating the agency's purpose is among the sources cited here. The comparison therefore rests on the agency's name and the dated acquisition record. The same dossier finding, RF-9, sets the later record of remedies against the acquisition. It lists an apology on July 17, 2015, a plaza in 2018, and a street name restored on February 8, 2024. It also lists a land bridge funded at approximately $12.7 million against a project estimated to exceed $450 million. The finding states that every documented material remedy for Rondo remains unbuilt.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Rondo* (library guide, undated) — the source given in the project's Ramsey County history for the Saint Paul Housing Authority's acquisition of Rondo parcels, 1954–56, for the Interstate 94 freeway, and for ReConnect Rondo's figures of 700 homes and 300 businesses. https://libguides.mnhs.org/rondo [^2]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority records*, finding aid gr00386 (undated) — describes the Western and Eastern Redevelopment programs approved 1952 on over 60 acres and the Upper Levee Project (planning and appraisal began 1958), and states "by the end of 1957, all 1,064 families and 253 single individuals had been relocated." https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-finding-aids-public/library/findaids/gr00386.html [^3]: Metropolitan Council, *Housing* (undated) — identifies the Metropolitan Council Housing and Redevelopment Authority as a regional housing administrator. https://metrocouncil.org/Housing.aspx