Transcripts

[MUSIC PLAYING] LORNA BENSON: It's all things considered on Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Lorna Benson. Residents of Minneapolis and Saint Paul may keep up a friendly rivalry today. But in the late 19th century, there was nothing friendly about it.

The hostilities peaked during the 1890s census count. Each town vying for the right to claim the most people. One Minneapolis man recalled both towns depopulated the graveyards. Out of town relatives were recorded.

Hotel registers were copied. And passengers going through the depots were enumerated. In the end, the census figures for both cities were astronomical.

And the US Attorney General ordered a new count. 10 years later, as the Twin Cities stepped into a new century, tempers on both sides of the Hennepin Ramsey border had cooled a little. But then a different competition heated up as Minneapolis and Saint Paul each predicted what their city would look like 100 years into the future.

Today, as part of our Minnesota century project, our yearlong series about life in this state 100 years ago, we revisit that historic rivalry with two men familiar with the more muted rivalry of today. Former Saint Paul Mayor George Latimer reads the prediction printed in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, New Year's Day 1,900.

Former Minneapolis City Council member Walt Dziedzic reads the response in the Minneapolis journal on the same date.

WALT DZIEDZIC: What will Saint Paul be at the beginning of the year 2000? It's a very big subject because Saint Paul is so very big. And it will be even bigger.

It will have a million inhabitants then or more. A canal will connect the Mississippi River with Lake Superior in 2000. Buffalo will then have its deep waterway to the ocean. The isthmus of Panama will be cut through.

And Saint Paul will be a flourishing seaport, trading directly with Europe and the Orient. The mayor of Saint Paul has been indulging in some speculation about his city in the year 2000. Saint Paul will, of course, been absorbed by Minneapolis long before the year 2000 arrives.

Saint Paul will be the manufacturing center of the Northwest and probably of the entire country. Already its manufactured products are sold all the way to the Pacific and as far East as Michigan.

All the cross the side streets of Minneapolis will be roaring with traffic when the 21st century comes in. Loring Park will be surrounded by stores. And the old bookstalls there will do business on Vine place. The crash of machinery will be heard along the Mississippi River banks from Anoka to where Saint Paul is now.

We have every facility for successful manufacturing, except cheap fuel. And that or its equivalent cheap power is sure to come. We have water at Saint Anthony falls, where electricity may be cheaply generated for four factories.

The dams being built across the Mississippi between here and Minneapolis will give more power to our elbow. By the year 2000, the resident quarter of Minneapolis will be along the lakes at Minnetonka because ether will be used as a fuel. Traveling for 20 miles will amount to nothing.

Saint Paul's advantageous location and ideal climate have already attracted colleges, first class schools, and a population of exceptional intelligence. And that will build here an American Dresden. In the year 2000, Nicollet Avenue will be built with business blocks as far out as Lake Street.

And Hennepin Avenue will be built up solid with public institutions and great emporiums of trade as far out as Laurie Hill. Already, a great railroad center, Saint Paul, when Canada is annexed, will be another Chicago, 400 miles further West.

And politically, the city may well justify the prediction that I heard from William H. Seward made in 1860 from the steps of our very own State Capitol. And there he said that Saint Paul, the geographic center of the United States and Canada, will become the National Capital.

LORNA BENSON: Former Saint Paul Mayor George Latimer read Saint Paul's prediction. The Minneapolis prediction was read by former Minneapolis City Council member Walt Dziedzic. Our Minnesota century project can usually be heard the fourth Monday of the month on All Things Considered.

Check out our website at www.mpr.org for turn of the century, photos of the Twin Cities. The Minnesota century project on MPR is supported by Sarah Kinney, professional real estate services, matching people with property for 21 years. Coldwell Banker, Burnet, Crocus Hill office.

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