Ultimately, the St. Anthony Route was chosen and approved by government officials citing its efficiency."
In 1983, he co-founded the Rondo Days Festival.
More than 35 years later, he was an important figure in the development of theRondo Commemorative Plaza.
AARP:Tell us about living in Rondo.
Marvin Anderson:I knew from an early age that my Rondo community was a special place.
Rondo as a community was about 40 years old when I arrived on the scene in 1940.
The Great Depression was over, and Rondo was about 10 years into a productive period.
By then, the vast majority of the Negro population of Saint Paul lived in Rondo.
It was a thriving center of activity.
Rondo was the heartbeat, the absolute center of collective attention.
The residents of Rondo were well-organized, diverse and dynamic.
Community centers such as Hallie Q.
Brown and Ober Boys were gathering places offering a variety of events and activities for the young and old.
There was a Black press that provided another point of view from the white newspapers.
Undoubtedly, there will be those who disagree with my recollections and descriptions.
Certainly not all was upbeat.
Many families suffered the ills confronting Rondo before the freeway construction began in the 1950s.
The freeway had an overwhelming physical, cultural and emotional impact on life in Rondo.
Remembering Rondo
“80% of Saint Pauls African American population once lived in Rondo.
They enjoyed friendship, culture and pride in this mixed-income community with a flourishing middle class.
Rondo was a bustling place where businesses prospered.
They fell in love.
The effects of the fateful decisions made decades ago are still being felt today.”
ReConnectRondo.com
I include my family among those that suffered great lost.
It was a successful project and over the course of it existing the court never had a vacancy.
“The freeway had an overwhelming physical, cultural and emotional impact on life in Rondo.
