Uppertown, Saint Paul, Minnesota

From Placeography

Uppertown was the early settlement of St. Paul which grew around the Upper Landing for the steamboats and other river traffic at the foot of Eagle/Chestnut Street. Businesses and homes sprung up along the Mississippi River and bluff. The eastern (downtown) boundary was the hill at today's Wabasha Street. The western area included many residential and commercial buildings along Fort Street (Fort Road/West Seventh), the trail leading to Fort Snelling. Aside from street patterns, very little remains of the pre-1880s Uppertown business buildings in today's St. Paul.

Even "Seven Corners" intersection at Kellogg and Fort Road has been greatly modified in modern times. However, the residential neighborhood, beginning with pre-Civil War homes is largely intact and cared for by a active community seeking designation as the Uppertown Historic District. Early arrivals to the area lived and worked near the Upper Landing that began with John Irvine's steamboat trade in the early 1850s. A comparable, but no longer existing community developed around the Lowertown river landing downstream at Jackson Street and Shepard Road. That area is now residential and commercial space in warehouse and office buildings.

The large older homes built around Irvine Park just above the original Upper Landing underwent restoration in the 1970s. A strong neighborhood association has protected the area through designation as a National Historic District.

Little Sisters of the Poor Home, on its site at Exchange and Wilkin since 1855, separates the mansions of the Irvine Park district from the rest of Uppertown that extends west. A mixture of large and small homes reflect the diversity of the early city.

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