News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025
Transit: The ghosts of transit past
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON
Since The Alley is starting off on a new foot, I thought this was a good time to discuss the past of our transit system. I was a child in the 1970s and a teenager in the early 1980s, when the Metropolitan Transit Commission buses were known as the “Big Red” for their color scheme.
MTC ads called it the “OughtaMobile” ”“ as in you “oughta” ride the bus instead of driving. Slogans like “Go to California for 30 cents” abounded. (Of course, they meant California Ave. in Saint Paul ”“ and nowadays that price would be $2!)
Before 1982, the adult fare was the same at all times of day, but discount fares for senior citizens, people with limited mobility, and students only applied during non-rush hours from the mid-1970s on. I remember finding it odd that children got a discount during school hours and at night, but not right after school, when it would have been most useful. Until 1979, the senior citizen fare during non-rush hours was zero.
There was no Metro Mobility back then, nor did regular buses have wheelchair lifts. Around 1979, MTC started a pilot project called Project Mobility which offered door-to-door service for people not able to use the regular buses.… Read the rest “Transit: The ghosts of transit past”
Community Briefs
Free health care clinic
The free Phillips Neighborhood Clinic is open Mondays and Thursdays from 6-9 p.m. at St. Paul”'s Lutheran Church, 2742 15th Ave. S. Closed on holidays. The free, walk-in clinic is operated by University of Minnesota health professional students.Â
All students are supervised by licensed doctors. No appointments or insurance is necessary. Spanish interpreters are available. For more information, call 612-724-1690 between 6-9 p.m.n on Mondays or Thursdays or visit www.phillipsneighborhoodclinic.com.
Upcoming speciality nights:Â
– Feb. 4 and March 11: Audiology students and a licensed audiologist will provide hearing testing, management of hearing loss, and education about hearing protection
– March 18: Eye checks and free glasses
– April 11:Â Mammograms, pelvic exams/cervical cancer screening, screenings for sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, and information about women”'s health.
”˜Grace”' at new museum
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery is located at 1256 Penn Ave. N. in THOR Companies”' new headquarters in Minneapolis, fourth floor. It operates Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 1 to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Admission is free and open to the public.
“Unbreakable: Celebrating the Resilience of African Americans in Minnesota” has been extended through Summer 2019 due to its popularity.… Read the rest “Community Briefs”
She waited 50 years ”“ and the city kept its promise
Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery
By Sue Hunter Weir
163rd in a Series
People often ask whether it is still possible to be buried in the cemetery. The answer is ”“ maybe. It is possible, but not likely.
On May 23, 1919, the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance that closed Layman”'s (now Pioneers and Soldiers) Cemetery to future burials. They did so in response to a petition circulated by business owners and neighbors from the surrounding area who complained that the cemetery had become an eyesore and a health hazard.Â
The burial ban went into effect on Aug. 1, 1919. The ordinance did not condemn the cemetery, which would have required disinterring the 27,000 people buried there, but simply said that no more could be added; there was enough misinformation and confusion about what the cemetery”'s future that family members arranged for the removal of more than 5,000 people. More that 22,000 remain.
The last person buried before the ban went into effect was 16-year-old Jessie Wethern who drowned on July 20, 1919, while swimming in Minnehaha Creek with three of her girlfriends. Jessie lived with her widowed mother at 4122 East Lake Street, not far from the cemetery, and that may have been why her mother chose to have Jessie buried at Layman”'s on July 22, 1919, nine days before the ban went into effect.… Read the rest “She waited 50 years ”“ and the city kept its promise”
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