Presentation at 10 a.m.
We’re excited to welcome local historian Joe Landsberger for a presentation on the immigrant roots of Saint Paul’s West Seventh corridor. While many histories of our capital city bypass these stories, Germanic immigrants from the 1840s played a major role in building some of its oldest neighborhoods and commercial areas. As the inner city declined, West End volunteers—led by the Federation—helped restore and preserve this historic community. Joe’s Origin Story of Fort Road/West Seventh Street captures this legacy in a 416-page volume with over 1,000 vintage images.
Bio
Half Joe Landsberger’s family’s rural origins stretch back to New Trier in Dakota County where his Bavarian and Luxembourgish great grands settled in the 1860s. For his 80 years he’s resided on the banks of the river at the High Bridge, 30 West Side, 50 West Seventh with a three-year break in West Africa. In the West End he rebuilt an 1880 Victorian Stick Style and a 2022 Asian-style home and gardens, the latter with artifacts from local history.
His (advanced) degrees in history, education and international business yielded a profession in academic support in higher education and online: his free Website of study guides (1995-2012) averaged one million visitors in 39 languages. “Locally” under the mentorship of many in the West End, he served on the board of the Federation, developed the North High Bridge Park and Sculpture Garden and the West End Neighbors Garden and History Tours. He served as president of Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota (2006 – 10) and the West Seventh Business Association (2010-2014). In 2023 he researched and published the Origin Story of Fort Road/West Seventh Street, the Township/City of Saint Paul, the Territory/State of Minnesota: Glacial Age Forward.
