In praise of the community message board – MinnPost

Perhaps its nostalgia for life before the internet, but I love perusing public message boards. Im old enough to remember when you discovered useful information by glancing at lampposts, and somehow the city seemed more alive. I knewI was in the right place when I spotted a flyer that caught my eye in the doorway of a coffee shop, on a library wall or tacked to a telephone pole.

Photo by Bill Lindeke

Today on certain corners, old-school message boards are still somehow thriving. If you glimpse one, its a sign youre at an urban hotspot, part of a city alive with the footsteps of strangers.

Until a few years ago, the message board on the corner of Como and Carter was the best one in the city, its combination of design and vitality unbeaten in my Twin Cities wanderings. Its dynamic was a credit to the sense of community in St. Pauls St. Anthony Park neighborhood, itself a legacy of the areas 19th century origins as a distinct suburb along the Northern Pacific railroad. Beginning in the 1880s, you could get from St. Anthony Park to either downtown in about 25 minutes, still a pretty good commute compared to todays #3 bus.

Article continues after advertisement

The Como Avenue message board only dated back a few decades, the work of a local architect named Joe Michels. He worked with the surrounding business community to build and construct the kiosk and two distinct bus shelters that bracketed the street.

They were almost orientalist, said Pat Thompson, a long-time member of the St. Anthony Park Community Council, describing Michels designs. They were sort of a cross between Japanese and Prairie-style influence, both the bus shelter and kiosk.

Photo by Bill Lindeke

The Mississippi River News message board outside Birchwood Cafe.

For the last two years, downtown St. Anthony Park lacked a public message board and, to me, the absence was palpable. From the vantage of the sidewalk caf tables, something was missing, as if a cherished parlor painting had vanished.

It turned out that I wasnt the only one who felt this way.

Photo by Bill Lindeke

A message board outside a Kenwood neighborhood bookstore.

The campus focuses on agricultural work, and includes a bee lab. Thats where the idea for the beehive theme emerged.

The St. Anthony Park community is nothing if not diligent, and they quickly began communicating with the Public Works department. City street reconstructions have a public art budget, and resuscitating the message board seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Photo by Bill Lindeke

The Joe Michels-designed kiosk in St. Anthony Park.

(You might be familiar with the sidewalk poetry project, the 2009 brainchild of artist-in-residence, Marcus Young.)

Article continues after advertisement

In this case, the citys worked with a sculpture artist named Brad Kaspari. The result is the Langstroth kiosk, a playful, artistic structure that mimics a distinct kind of apiary (i.e. a housing complex for bees).

Photo by Pat Thompson

Artist Brad Kaspari shown behind the kiosk he created.

The end result is a relief for someone like me, a fan of dynamic public space. After it was installed in June, random community messages have returned to the corner of Como and Carter.

The St. Anthony Park Council is in charge of maintaining it, Thompson told me. We take turns once a week, stopping by, to make sure things are taken down that are past date, to look and if it looks neat enough. It has a door on it so things wont blow off. Its really well designed!

Indeed, visit the kiosk today and youll find: ads for a dog walkers, the holiday bazaar at a nearby church, a tea house, Christmas wreath sales, computer repair, a tribute show at the Cabooze bar; want ads for an experienced carpenter, a lawn raker, and a female roommate; and the news that local TV personality Ron Schara will be appearing at the bookstore across the street on December 4th to sign his latest work.

Photo by Bill Lindeke

The Lengstroth kiosk in use.

If you find a corporeal message board these days, its a good sign of thriving civic life, a barometer of the dynamic feedback loop that persists between a city and its people. At least along some well-trod sidewalks, where people still stroll with curious eyes, these little spots still have a purpose.

Article continues after advertisement

Thats why Im happy to report that the message board in St. Anthony Park will live to see another day, revealing another generation of dog walkers and free yoga classes to local passers-by. Keep it coming, St. Paul. As long as there are lost cats to be found, Ill be watching.

Original post:
In praise of the community message board - MinnPost