David A. Lanegran

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Geography of the Twin Cities
DevelopmentPart 10 Deindustrialization
David A. Lanegran Geography Department Macalester
College
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While the new edge cities were mushrooming along
the western freeways, the rail corridors were
scenes of de-industrialization. In this scene at
the South St. Paul Stockyards, we see that the
viaduct on which livestock were driven from the
yards to the Armour slaughterhouse has been
disconnected in anticipation of the razing of
Armour's and eventual closing of the stockyards.
The giant railroad-oriented stockyards could not
compete with new, more mechanized packing plants
located further out in the country, closer to the
supply of animals. The old packing plants could
not be modernized enough to be competitive.
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The Commission building stood abandoned for about
two decades, awaiting some sore of creative
re-use. It was finally converted to a restaurant
and a small hotel. The first hotel failed.
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View of the vacant Armour plant from the main
gates. Real estate speculators bought the
derelict factory from Greyhound, the corporate
parent of Armour's. After a few years of renting
to small businessmen, the realtors sold it to the
South St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment
Authority (HRA). The HRA felt the building was a
potential safety hazard and also wished to try to
create some economic growth from the site.
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Once the site was purchased, a demolition firm
was hired to raze the various buildings on the
site and dispose of the millions of bricks and
miles of steal reinforcing rods. The materials
were all recycled.
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The de-industrialization of South St. Paul is
just an example of the restructuring of the urban
economy. Local governments or business
organizations have little power in the face of
major historic forces. The cities must quickly
find new economic activities or deal with
dramatic declines in population and economic
viability.
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This view of the Hiawatha corridor gives us the
opportunity to see the old railroad strip before
demolition began to make way for the light-rail
facility that will connect the Mall of America
and airport to inner neighborhoods and the
downtown of Minneapolis. Like the effort in St.
Paul to improve linkages to the freeway system,
the plans to build the new road and light-rail
system reflect the need to continually update the
connections between the CBD and the other centers
of activity in the city area.
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The 3M sandpaper manufacturing buildings still
occupy their original site along the railroad's
corridor on St. Paul's East Side. These enormous
factories produce almost no pollution and attract
workers from all over the east metro area. They
are among the last large industrial employers in
the city.
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This shopping center and parking lot is all that
remains of the Whirlpool, formerly Seager,
appliance company. This is another example of the
deindustrialization of the city center. The loss
of the well paying jobs in the industrial sector
could not be matched by the new low paying jobs
in the service sector. In addition, we see a
change from the basic manufacturing jobs that
brought money into the metro area by means of the
machines they made and sold elsewhere to
non-basic service jobs, thus re-circulating local
dollars.
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The Phalen Corridor on St. Paul's East Side. This
old industrial corridor along the rail right of
way leading to the northeast from downtown St.
Paul is currently receiving a great deal of
attention as the Port Authority and others seek
ways to re-use these abandoned sites and support
the surrounding neighborhoods.
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Potential redevelopment site in the Phalen
Corridor. If these sites are to be attractive,
the transportation system must be altered.
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Williams Hill and the western and downtown edge
of the Phalen Corridor is the site of several new
buildings, and it represents a possible future
for the rest of the Corridor.
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The new development is essentially a suburban
industrial park in the city center.
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The Main Gates of Armour's. The South St. Paul
HRA has followed a similar plan to redevelop the
stockyards office buildings and light
manufacturing have replaced the large-scale
railroad industrial activity.
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New use of the old Armour's site.
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The old Munitions Factory in Arden Hills presents
a major development opportunity as well as an
environmental problem. This square-mile site was
cleared of farms in 1941 and has been the scene
of industrial activities for decades. It is now
semi-abandoned and various plans have been put
forth for its redevelopment. However, cleaning up
the pollution on the site will be a major
problem.
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The munitions sites contain the Mounds, which are
major landmarks in the areas, yet the old
buildings do not have a great deal of value. The
site is owned by the Federal Government, so
redevelopment will be complicated.