University Avenue: A street of dreams for many

By JANE MCCLURE

For countless people, University Avenue has been their street of dreams. It was a place where small shops owned by immigrants thrived. It was a place where people found jobs and supported their families, at any one of a number of factories turning out everything from tractors to paper projects to groceries. It was where people bought their horses and later, their cars and clothes and everything else they needed.

University Avenue was a place where people could do everything  from attend a baseball game at the old Lexington Ball Park to dance at the original Prom Center. The street was home to one of the Twin Cities busiest streetcar lines and a large streetcar yard and barn. In the pre-freeway days, it was a major connection to Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul.

University was also home to notorious X-rated theaters and bookstores, as well as vacant and boarded-up buildings.  But as University Avenue is once against transformed by the Central Corridor light rail line, new businesses and houses keep the latest set of dreams alive.

Lifelong St. Paul resident and documentary maker Peter B. Myers brought those dreams to life in a new documentary, “University Avenue: One Street, A Thousand Dreams.” The documentary tells the story of the many interesting people and places in University Avenue’s history.

The documentary was shown Oct. 25 during the Midway Chamber of Commerce annual meeting at Hamline University. It will have free screenings later this month. Gordon Parks High School, 1212 W. University Ave., will host a screening at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8. The school is on a former industrial site and is near the former “circus hill” where circuses set up tents years ago.

The Wilder Foundation, 451 N. Lexington Parkway, will host the film at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 and 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19. Wilder’s building stands where Lexington Ball Park stood.

Admission is free but reservations are required. Call 651-744-1204.

The documentary will be broadcast on Twin Cities Public Broadcasting in December, on the channel TPT2. The showings will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, December 18 and Friday, December 28.

The creator of the documentary is a former Twin Cities Public Television executive. Myers produces documentaries as part of his communications business, which is based in Landmark Center. He works in public relations for clients ranging from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts to the  International District Energy Association.

His video production work has been used by many Twin Cities nonprofit groups. One of Myers’ documentaries, Never Stop Singing, is about Minnesota’s choral music legacy. This video won a Midwest Regional Emmy Award, in the arts and entertainment program category.

Myers has served on boards ranging from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to Westminster Town Hall Forum. He has also served on the Minnesota Zoo Board.

Myers got the idea to make the film while driving down University Avenue with his wife, in 2009. They admired old cars parked near Porky’s Drive-In and got to talking about the history of University Avenue. The project included interviews and extensive photo research.

Myers grew up in St. Paul and remembers going to University Avenue businesses with his father.

“My dad and I would go to Montgomery Ward, which was a great treat,” he said. “And we always enjoyed going to the car dealerships and looking at cars. Those were things we loved to do.”

The documentary, which is about an hour long, shows how University Avenue has changed over the decades. Myers said he got the idea to make the documentary while driving along University and observing its activity and history. Once he delved into the street’s past, Myers found a history he thought others would enjoy learning about.

While he was able to draw on some of his own memories, Myers enjoyed learning about earlier history. He was especially interested to learn more about University’s manufacturing history. “That was something I didn’t know as much about. I found it fascinating, all of the things that were manufactured here.”

The history may be a revelation to those who don’t know much about University Avenue and its past. Once-famous items were manufactured here, ranging from Model T Ford autos to International Harvester farm equipment. The street had many movie theaters, dance halls and a wide array of restaurants.

University was also a major shopping district, led by the large Montgomery Ward store and Ward’s Upper Midwestern warehouse. Midway Marketplace stands on that site today. Many smaller shops also were part of the neighborhood. In the 1950s Midway Center became one of the city’s first “modern” shopping centers.

The documentary does depict the light rail construction of today, but doesn’t speculate as to how that will transform University in the future. Myers said he’d like to document that in the future, possibly a few years after light rail is up and running.