A tale of two cities

Jamie Schumacher
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN — April 2008

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

In 2003 I moved to the Twin Cities from Los Angeles, California. I lived in Minneapolis, then I lived in St. Paul, then I lived in Minneapolis again. For all intents and purposes, they are both pretty close in terms of proximity and features. Both cities have great attributes. They are both connected to this wonderful river.

Then I realized little by little that these cool cities had… a pretty big rivalry. A lot of my Minnesota-born friends had some biases when it came to their city of choice. And lo and behold, there was an amazing art community in Lowertown, St. Paul, akin to the arts district of Northeast Minneapolis. Twin Cities indeed!

My question as the naive outsider was: why didn’t they do more together?

Naive indeed. From competing cathedrals to census counting, I learned that the rivalry between the Twin Cities is as old as the cities themselves. They had been competing practically since both of their founding, and Minneapolis spent most of its formative years trying to catch up to its older twin. According to local legend, in the 1890 census each city literally arrested the other’s census takers in a heated effort to keep the rival city from outnumbering them.

Altered Esthetics decided to play with this concept in one of our 2008 exhibits, teasing out this little rivalry. We opened the MPLS vs. STPL exhibit in April 2008 and partnered with the Black Dog coffee shop and restaurant in Lowertown, St Paul. Altered Esthetics hosted all artwork about St. Paul. The Black Dog hosted all works about Minneapolis. The exhibits featured a variety of photographic and painted tributes to iconic Minneapolis and St. Paul landmarks.

The activities were split as well — we held the opening reception at Altered Esthetics and the closing reception at the Black Dog. In the middle, we planned a variety of events getting people to go from space to space. We held an artists’ talk and we hosted a group ride, taking a 10-mile bicycle tour from Minneapolis all the way to St. Paul.

Did we shift any gallery-going habits? Maybe, maybe not. Did we get a few folks going to the Black Dog for the first time, heading from Minneapolis, and vice versa? Yes! And more importantly, we had some great conversations on the dynamic between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the nature of the relationship between the Twin Cities.

On the Green Line — marketing materials from the 2014 Light Rail opening

Ten years later and now the Green Line Light rail is open, a significant investment in the connection between the two cities. Has the dynamic shifted? I’ll be interested to read future studies to see if this pulsing artery that connects us truly changes the nature of the relationship between Minneapolis and St. Paul. So far, things look promising.


This article is adapted from It’s Never Going To Work: A Tale of Art and Nonprofits in the Minneapolis Community -illustrations and graphics by Athena Currier, Kevin Cannon. ©2018 Jamie Schumacher.

It’s Never Going To Work is a light-hearted, illustrated novel that offers real-life insights on founding a collaborative nonprofit art space. It provides tools, tips, resources, and camaraderie to those engaged in, and struggling with, grassroots development.

Jamie Schumacher

Written by

Author, artist, and community activist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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