St. Paul, Minnesota - Who Knew...

(St. Paul is really a study in contrasts; old and new side by side.)

While we were at the FMCA Rally at the state fairgrounds, we took the opportunity to be tourists in our home state and went on a "gangster tour" of St. Paul. We visited the Wabasha Caves and found out about the booming mushroom business that existed before prohibition turned the caves into a speakeasy. If you ever get a chance to visit these caves, I highly recommend it - $5 is what they charge. Oh, and did you know that the representative who sponsored the prohibition law was from Minnesota - that is something I don't remember learning in history class... Nor did I know that prohibition created gangsters...

You can just imagine what it used to be like during the Speakeasy days.
Some parts of the cave looks the same as it did "in the day". If this safe could only talk...
We drove by many apartment houses where various "Bad Guys" had lived and found out about the city of St. Paul being one of just a few "safe cities" for gangsters. Seems all they had to do was register, pay a small protection fee and promise not to raise cain and they were then protected by the police. A very interesting shotout took place in the caves and within an hour of the police arriving, the bodies disappeared and witnesses were assured they had "seen nothing".

Another infamous tale is of a "Madam" who did a roaring good business by one of the first Ford dealers in St. Paul - seems you could get an oil change and ... well, you know... The rumor has it that she donated much of the money to buy the stained glass windows in the St. Paul Cathedral - trust me, these are beautiful windows no matter who paid for them!

We also toured the Landmark Center and saw the court room where Dillinger's girlfriend was tried and found guilty of "associating with criminals". This was a federal building years back and it is so good that the city decided to purchase the building for $1 and reuse it rather than destroy it.

What attention to detail in this building.

Overall, the tour was one of the highlights of the week. Oh yea, and would you belief that Mike knew the driver of the tourbus from racing days - small world!