Stillwater, Minnesota -- Birthplace of Minnesota

Picture: Dr. Mayo's boat, the first boat to cruise under the "new" lift bridge in Stillwater, when it opened in 1931. The bridge is still in service although traffic has outgrown it. Since the 1960's some have been trying to get a bigger river crossing built. They have talked about it the entire 24 years we have lived in this town. It gets close to being a deal and then something slows it down. The St. Croix is a National Scenic Riverway and permission was needed to build another bridge. The Sierra Club members sued to stop another bridge and finally a local city council in Oak Park Heights refused their permission on the access. The fight continues. Last news I heard was it will be built in the next 5 to 10 years but I am not holding my breath. Many of us don't care if they can move traffic faster; we want the old bridge to remain intact. It probably will be left as a pedestrian bridge if a giant bluff to bluff bridge rises downstream.

When we moved here from Minneapolis 24 years ago, we were amazed at the small town services. When it snowed the trucks were out plowing residential streets during the storm. They returned after the snowfall to plow again. We had lived in Minneapolis 17 years and your street got plowed within 3 to 4 days after it stopped if it was an 8 inch snowfall. I guess it wasn't necessary to plow less than 8 inches. They never plowed the alleys. We had a guy with a blade on his truck that lived on our block and plowed the alley. You needed the alley open to park your car. Couldn't get many cars on those snow clogged streets and you couldn't leave it there if they actually plowed. I was impressed with Stillwater Public Works. Today I am more impressed. When we were biking on neighborhood streets yesterday am, Jon noticed a lot of small pieces of broken glass on the street. A pattern emerged of a spot of it in front of almost every house by the driveway. He remarked, it looked like the recycling truck had been spilling broken glass. They had been through the day before. When I walked a few different streets in the afternoon I saw the same thing. I called Public Works and left a message asking someone to check it and perhaps sweep the streets. This morning at breakfast we heard the street sweeper doing his job. Can't beat that for service. I love this town.