Sign-In
Cart
The Capitol Approach: Public Dreams, Personal Ambitions, and the Unmaking of St. Paul
Paperback
Regional: MidwestUnited States Politics
Publisher Price: $39.95
PREORDER - Expected ship date March 16, 2027
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 1681343592
ISBN13: 9781681343594
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: Mar 16 2027
Pages: 656
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781681343594
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: Mar 16 2027
Pages: 656
Language: English
A legendary architect's vision for the grounds in front of the state capitol inspired a city planner to devote his career to making it happen. But bringing the dream to life exacted a heavy toll, displacing residents and destroying a reputation. This gripping tale reveals the human cost of grand ambitions.
In The Capitol Approach urbanist Ethan Osten examines civic planning in St. Paul, Minnesota, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Famed architect Cass Gilbert envisioned a beautiful park and parkway system in front of the Minnesota State Capitol building. For sixty years, city planner George H. Herrold idealistically sought to bring Gilbert's dream to life. Along the way a motley crew of entrenched political machines, labor organizers, civic and religious reformers, and an emerging guild of civil servants influenced the course of the city's history and set the stage for the dream's partial fulfillment. Herrold added ideas of his own to Gilbert's dream. He sacrificed his reputation for the cause. Finally, he achieved success by subordinating his own will to the Capitol Approach. In a tale rife with secrets and betrayals, compromise and qualification, altruism and idealism, Herrold ultimately discovered that achieving a worthwhile goal could require sacrificing everything else he held dear.The Capitol Approach is a case study of how civic plans and moral reform efforts, once embedded in institutions, can outlive and outgrow the reasoning that produced them, and how the planners, politicians, and citizens who pursue them can be undone by their own success.
Also in
Regional: Midwest
Scandinavians in the State House: How Nordic Immigrants Shaped Minnesota Politics
Bergman, Klas
Paperback
From $10.99
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Larson, Erik
Paperback
From $11.99
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
From $10.99
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
McCullough, David
Paperback
From $11.99
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
Hage, Dave
Marcotty, Josephine
Hardcover
$28.80
Spooky Michigan: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
$16.10
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
From $12.99
Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
Johnson, Hannibal B.
Paperback
$23.74
The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States
Johnson, Walter
Paperback
$20.89
Spooky Great Lakes: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
$18.95
The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
Miles, Tiya
Paperback
$18.04
Heart of American Darkness: A Story of Murder and Revolution on the Early Frontier
Parkinson, Robert G.
Paperback
$20.89
Girl Without a Country: The Untold Story of a Landmark Fight for U.S. Citizenship
Ramseyer, Rick
Paperback
$19.94
Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland
Cain, Áine
Greenlee, Kevin
Hardcover
$28.45
Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy
Nelson, Thomas M.
Podair, Jerald
Paperback
$29.95
Spooky Indiana: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore, First Edition
Schlosser, S. E.
Hoffman, Paul G.
Paperback
$12.30
White Pines and Stone: The Hunt for the Springfield Three
McDermott, Dylan
Whitcomb, Christopher
Hardcover
$30.40
Lake Michigan Gales & Tales: Vanishing Ships, Tragic Wrecks, and Historic Rescues
Passwater, Michael
Paperback
$23.74
What's the Deal with Dead Man's Curve?: And Other Really Good Questions about Cleveland
Sweeney, Jim
Paperback
$16.10
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America
Green, James
Paperback
From $10.99
Brooding Upon the Waters: A Memoir of Farming, Fishing, and Failure in America's Lost Landscape
Schaap, Howard
Paperback
$22.00
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
Ballard, Chris
Paperback
$21.99
Wilder Weather: What Laura Ingalls Wilder Teaches Us about the Weather, Climate, and Protecting What We Cherish
Boustead, Barbara
Paperback
$23.70
Spooky Wisconsin: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
$17.05
It Happened in Michigan: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Great Lakes State History
Burcar, Colleen
Paperback
$16.10
Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures: Great Lakes: Legends and Lore, Pirates and More!
Varhola, Michael
Paperback
$14.95
It Happened in Nebraska: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Cornhusker State History
Partsch, Tammy
Paperback
$16.95
The Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America That Nobody's Ever Heard of
Wensink, Patrick
Paperback
$18.99
Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
From $10.99
The Maid and the Socialite: The Brave Women Behind Green Bay's Scandalous Minahan Trials
Drews, Lynda
Paperback
$17.05
A Keg of Their Best: Brewing in the Beer State Capital--From the Beer Baron Era to Modern Microbrews
Shepard, Robin
Paperback
$29.66
Where the Moon Stands Still: Revealing the Cosmic Genius of Ohio's Indigenous Earthworks
Graham, James W.
Paperback
$21.80
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Hardcover
From $11.99
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Paperback
$20.70
Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan: Personal Histories of Two Icons of American Architecture
Thoreson, Trygve
Paperback
$28.45
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago
Perry, Douglas
Paperback
$27.00
Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul
Abbott, Karen
Paperback
$24.00
The Nastiest Saloon in Iowa: Murder, Prostitution, and Corruption in the Heartland
Donovan, David P.
Donovan, Rose M.
Paperback
$23.74
Chicago's Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City
Smith, Carl
Paperback
$18.05
Evanston Speaks: Oral Histories of Transformation and Triumph from a Progressive City
Hurtig, Elliott
Hardcover
$47.45
City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit
Weineck, Silke-Maria
Szymanski, Stefan
Hardcover
$29.99
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit - Updated Edition
Sugrue, Thomas J.
Paperback
$22.75
The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker
Cramer, Katherine J.
Paperback
$28.80
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992
Haala, Cory
Paperback
$26.96
Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency
Fisher, David
Abrams, Dan
Paperback
$17.99
Passing the Baton: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Music Directors Who Shaped Its Greatness
Huscher, Phillip
Hardcover
$33.25
Fishes of the Chicago Region: A Field Guide
Pescitelli, Stephen M.
Willink, Philip W.
Veraldi, Francis M.
Paperback
$33.25
Murder at Minnesota Point: Unraveling the Captivating Mystery of a Long-Forgotten True Crime
Sauve, Jeffrey M.
Paperback
$14.24
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy
Nesteroff, Kliph
Paperback
$18.04
Can I Get a Witness!: Faith, Family, and Chicago Gospel Music
Gay, Gregory Donald
Dolins, Steven B.
Paperback
$19.00
Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation Along the Des Moines River
Mason, Kevin T.
Paperback
$33.20
Crime & Corruption on the Michigan Railroad: Stories from the Victorian Era
Delaware, Michael
Paperback
$23.74
Glory Days in Tribe Town: The Cleveland Indians and Jacobs Field 1994-1997
Hamilton, Tom
Pluto, Terry
Paperback
$18.95
Land of the Burnt Thigh: A Lively Story of Women Homesteaders on the South Dakota Frontier
Kohl, Edith Eudora
Paperback
From $9.99