Murray Junior High School gets ready for middle school

By |

Since Thanksgiving, fifth- and sixth-graders have been arriving en masse to the halls of Murray Junior High School, 2200 Buford Ave., to spend time checking out classrooms and shadowing older students. Those crowds of young faces are a harbinger of the big change happening at the school next fall when it moves from a seventh- and eighth-grade junior high school to a middle school that will include sixth grade.The 2013-14 school year marks the second year of St. Paul Public Schools’ new enrollment plan, Strong Schools, Strong Communities. Come fall, the district’s community elementary schools will transition to grades K-5, sixth-graders will move to middle schools and the new boundaries will take effect for elementary and middle schools, many of which will lose their magnet status and districtwide transportation.Schools in Como Park and St. Anthony Park are part of Area E, and that includes Chelsea Heights, Como Park, Galtier, Hancock-Hamline and St. Continue Reading

Hansen Tree Farm celebrates 60 years

By |

Once upon a time there was no such thing as a Christmas tree farm in the land of lakes—until University of Minnesota forestry professor Henry Hansen began planting spruces and pines on a tax-delinquent piece of land he’d purchased in Anoka County in 1952.Sixty years later, the Hansen Tree Farm is credited as being the first commercial Christmas tree farm in the state. Hansen, a founding member of the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association, started the venture as a means to finance his three sons’ college educations. Now, his two youngest—Mark and Dave, both residents of St. Anthony Park—are literally keeping the (camp)fires burning on that 40-acre plot that has become a holiday destination for many area families.For the first 10 years after buying the land, Henry and his wife, Charlotte, father-in-law Harry Lindquist (yes, the Harry Lindquist, creator of the famous Christmas Sausage sold at Speedy Market, but that’s another story . . Continue Reading

“Pianos on Parade” comes to St. Anthony Park thanks to the Schubert Club

By |

Let your inner Billy Joel run free this summer. Check out the painted piano in Milton Square that moved in on July 19. It will be open for passersby to play during business hours through mid-September.The piano, a part of Keys 4/4 Kids’ Pianos on Parade, is a gift from the Schubert Club, which sponsored the piano. The Schubert Club merged with the Music in the Park Series two years ago.Barry Kempton, the Schubert Club’s artistic and executive director, said the organization wanted to show its continued commitment to the community of St. Anthony Park, where Music in the Park began under the direction of St. Continue Reading