94 Stories: a Saint Paul Oral History Project

How has the highway and urban landscape impacted the humans and other creatures in St. Paul?

Community history can impact decision makers now and build power for the future. In the fall of 2025, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) continues to engage communities about the Re-Thinking I-94″ project and consider design alternatives for the corridor from the Marion Street exit in St. Paul to Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis. Still, many voices have not been heard.

94 Stories is a creative oral history project that seeks to empower communities by gathering stories and sharing community archive resources and techniques. The project will add more community voices to Twin Cities archives for current and future research and advocacy use.

Who are we interviewing?

We are interviewing anyone who has memories and experiences in the neighborhoods around the I-94 corridor in St. Paul. The time period we’re focusing on extends from 1957 (the first property acquisitions for I-94) to the present.

Which Saint Paul Neighborhoods?

Focus neighborhoods for the project include those directly adjacent to the interstate and impacted by its construction in the 1950s-60s and related displacement, including people who have been displaced from the corridor but who no longer live near I-94 in Saint Paul. For example, the project includes former residents of Rondo who were displaced resettled in Frogtown and Selby-Dale, where “urban renewal” further changed the landscape. If you have lived in, worked in, or frequented the Frogtown, Rondo, Cathedral Hill, Hamline-Midway, Union Park, St. Anthony Park, Summit-University, or Downtown neighborhoods in the past century, we are interested in your experiences and observations about the urban landscape and how the built environment has affected you and your fellow creatures.

What happens to the stories?

Oral histories (one-on-one and group conversations) will be gathered and archived with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Digital Library and will be available for community use. Project interviewees will sign permission forms outlining their creative commons license agreement; their words will be used for educational purposes only. Transcript copies are available for all interviewees.

The culminating event of the project will be the “94 Stories Time Machine” in mid-late November 2025. Storytellers from events this fall and others who wish to participate will share visuals, music, and stories in the lobby and on stage at a local theater. Recordings and transcripts from this event will be available to community members and preserved in the archives. At the event, interested participants can also learn resources for community archiving and for sharing their perspectives with I-94 Coalition members and Re-Thinking I-94 project partners.

Meet the project artist-organizers

94 Stories is coordinated by Our Streets through the “Reconnecting the Twin Cities” Minnesota Historical Society Legacy Grant. This project was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.