St. Anthony Main, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Photograph: Jay Blumenfeld © InnoVisions*

The Main Street area of Minneapolis was originally part of the town of St. Anthony before it merged with Minneapolis. Redevelopment of this area has preserved a number of the historic buildings.

Shown here is a 5" x 7" postcard from the heydays (1980s) of the St. Anthony Main shopping complex on Main Street in Minneapolis. On the back is the description "The Salisbury Mattress factory used in 1879 on the Mississippi, now houses a fabulous collection of shops and restaurants called St. Anthony Main."

The buildings at St. Anthony Main now house restaurants and offices, and the shops are gone. Since Main Street is right on the Mississippi Riverfront, there is still a fair amount of activity there in the summer.

I used to live near St. Anthony Main and enjoyed going there on weekends. My favorite place there was the shop selling postcards.

More information:

Building on the Past: Architecture and the Minneapolis Riverfront (pdf brochure)
St. Anthony Main History
Early St. Anthony and Minneapolis
Riverfront Revival
Jay Blumenfeld & InnoVisions

*Jay Blumenfeld was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. After receiving an associate’s degree in photography, he engaged in freelance photography and took hundreds of photographs of female impersonators. When he failed to find a publisher for a proposed book of his photos, he started InnoVisions in 1980 to incorporate his photos into a line of alternative greeting cards. In 1997, the company name was changed to "Smart Alex" to communicate a new fresher image.

This post was written for
A Canadian Family
A Festival of Postcards Blog Carnival
2nd Edition, June 2009: Main Street