More St Cloud Postcards

 OK, this isn't St Cloud, but if you're from St Cloud, you know it's St Johns Abbey in Collegeville, about 10 miles west of town.  At the time this photo was taken, "Collegeville" meant the railroad station probably 3 miles from ◄ this building.  It was where you alighted from the train that brought you from St Cloud to school. And if you know St Johns, then you realize this view is no longer possible, since where the photographer stood is now part of the cloister, and the "new" abbey church is just to the right.  Those towers lead you to the Great Hall now, the reception center for the campus.


This view of St Germain in downtown St Cloud is pretty much how it looked in the 1960s...the building on the left is the no-longer Grand Central Hotel.  By the 60s, it was in bad repair, and renting a room was cheap and by the day, week or month, I think.  On the other side of the street (to the right here), was the Greyhound station, with the bus exit door just off the picture's edge.  A little more to the right was the infamous Hayes Theater.  Funny how most St Germain street views began at the red brick German American Bank (mid-right).
And, here's the post office of our youth--it's still there, still this imposing--a block north of St Mary's Cathedral and across the street.  It's now the Federal Building.  Oh, and here's the City of St Cloud website and a walking tour you can follow online if you're curious.

 Now THIS postcard is my favorite from the collection available on Ancestry.com because it needs figuring out...lol  We're looking east from right above Lake George, and it seems to be about the same era as the Myron Hall photo below.  It has to be after 1931, because St Mary's is finished....and it has to be before 1957, since the south building at CHS isn't there yet.  One indicator might be the trees along the perimeter of the park around Lake George--the color pic has tiny dots for trees, and in the B&W one, they're, well, bigger.  I'm guessing this photo was taken about 1945-46?

(Below: air view looking west from the river, 1955)

To most viewers, these pics are just a bunch of buildings.  But, it's how things were--it's the vital 'original' canvas before all the re-painting they've done in the last 50 years.  St Cloud then was a booming small town, and this was pretty much it.  A birds eye view of St Cloud now would need to be much larger, but this part wouldn't be as interesting, since many of these buildings are no longer there.  It makes me wonder again about the nature of  "progress", you know?