Interstate 94

Cutting through St. Paul and Minneapolis (1964-Present)

Photo taken immediately after the demise of St. Paul's apartment district, 1965. I-94 is still under construction. Image Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

President Dwight Eisenhower inadvertently created Interstate 94 by signing the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Influenced by the Nazi-funded autobahn in Germany, the President and Congress initially designed the law to fund an interconnected system of roadways for military mobilization.(1) Interstates from this era are designed to speedily transport troops, tanks, and convoys in the event of national emergencies. The Cold War influenced the system’s construction, yet the hostility never came to a head—the military never used interstates in combat against the “reds.”(2)

Instead, the roadways barreled through the hearts of urban centers and drastically reduced automobile commute time to and from central cities. The urban renewal project effectively accelerated the suburbanization of heterosexual families and thus turned their policing eyes away from inner-city streets.(3) In this respect, the “freeway” helped to increase housing vacancies, diminish property values, and initiate queer homeownership in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Homeownership, in turn, produced a voter basis for participating in the formation of GLBT-friendly local politics.

Positive externalities aside, I-94 inflicted considerable damage to the area’s queer geography. St. Paul arguably suffered more—the capital city lost its downtown apartment district (see: Foxy's Bar) and the Rondo Neighborhood. Minneapolis lost important interconnections between three tracts of the old gay ghetto—the interstate marooned Loring Park from Uptown further south, and it worsened conditions in Sumner/Glenwood and other districts in North Minneapolis. Time healed only some of the geographic wounds that Interstate 94 produced.

I-94 shortly after completion, on the site of the old Rondo Neighborhood in St. Paul, 1967. Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Like early-20th-century railroads leading into St. Paul Union Depot in and mid-century buses arriving at the St. Paul Greyhound Bus Depot, Interstate 94 came to symbolize entrance into the Twin Cities’ queer world in the last 30 years of the 20th century.(4) The infrastructure is similar to its precursors in other respects as well—queer men continue to use remote rest areas for public sexual activity.(5)

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(1) From the Federal Highway Administration's website: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/thisday.htm

(2) Sicilia, David B. "Federal Highway Act of 1956" From The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 2 California: ABC-CLIO, 2003. Pages 110-111.

(3) Jane Jacobs infamously discussed this paradigm when she referred to the creation of Philadelphia's "Pervert Park" in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1961.

(4) Nienaber, William "Bill." Interview with the author and Jacob Gentz, 2/14/09.

(5) Chaneles, Sol. Gender Issues, Sex Offenses, and Criminal Justice: Current Trends. New York: Haworth Press, 1984. Page 72.

Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)