News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 15th 2025
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church: 150th Anniversary and Still Proclaiming the Gospel
Credit: Photo provided by St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
By PASTOR TOM PARRISH, current pastor of St. Paul’s
On Sunday July 10, 2022 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at Portland Ave S and 19th Ave will be celebrating 150 years of Jesus’ faithfulness and mission. That timespan takes us back to 1872, a mere seventeen years after Minneapolis was established, and the same year St. Anthony Falls and Minneapolis merged into one city. The proximity of Fort Snelling, built in 1819, was one of the major catalysts for the establishment of the two towns and their uniting into Minneapolis.
1872 was a mere four years prior to Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Into this mix St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was established. Throughout those 150 years the church has had but one goal. That goal is to clearly present the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How did St. Paul’s go about this mission? The church did the typical things most churches do in providing worship, music, education, children’s Sunday School and member care.… Read the rest “St. Paul’s Lutheran Church: 150th Anniversary and Still Proclaiming the Gospel”
Raise Your Voice: Reporting Back In
By PETER MOLENAAR
June 14…
A co-activist with the Minneapolis Regional Retirees Council knew the bus route. We traveled a good length of Bloomington Avenue before ultimately arriving at 4th and Hennepin for a demonstration at Xcel energy headquarters. MN350 and Sierra Club had combined to produce a splendid multi-racial/multiple-nationality gathering. Xcel was denounced in English and Spanish for being a private utility, guilty of “extraction from nature and the public.”
Quiz question: When “power to the people” is truly realized, what industry is first on the list to be socialized?
In hand that day was an article printout from the PEOPLE’S WORLD with the caption: “Trumpite Postmaster DeJoy sued over huge gas guzzler buy.” The USPS desperately needs to refurbish one of the largest vehicle fleets in the world. However, if DeJoy is allowed to have his way, these will not be modern electric trucks produced in a union shop in Wisconsin. No, they will be gas and diesel vehicles produced in a nonunion shop in South Carolina. Several key activists are now familiar with this article. So, we shall see.
From the Clean Transportation website of MN350:
“Air pollution caused by vehicles is the United States’ biggest single contributor to global warming. It’s responsible for up to an estimated 4,000 annual deaths in the Twin Cities alone, and disproportionately affects the young, old, low-income, and communities of color.”… Read the rest “Raise Your Voice: Reporting Back In”
Tale of the Tales: Q&A with Sue Hunter Weir
Credit: Courtesy of Bob Clark
By LAURA HULSCHER and SUE HUNTER WEIR
This is your 200th column. How long have you been writing Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery? What inspired you to start?
I wrote my first story about the cemetery in September 2003. At the time I was concerned (irritated) about the Phillips Neighborhood being characterized as “crime-ridden” and wanted to remind people that Phillips is a community with a long and very rich history. Ours is a community shaped by migration, immigration, the need for public housing and for livable-wage jobs. Our boundaries were, and are, shaped by transportation routes. Much has changed but much remains the same. We have a great deal to be proud of.
What motivates you to continue the series after so many years?
I remember reading that no one is truly dead who is remembered. I believe that and these stories are my way of remembering people who I never knew but who deserve to be remembered. They are the people who built this City. I have written about 200 people so far and have many thousands left to go. Stay tuned.
If you could meet one cemetery resident you have written about, who would it be?… Read the rest “Tale of the Tales: Q&A with Sue Hunter Weir”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
