April’s History Friday: 740 River Drive
By Matt Goff, Kraus-Anderson Historian/Archivist
740 River Drive is something of an anomaly to the Twin Cities skyline. At twenty-three stories, it might not meet the 21st-century definition of a skyscraper, but it certainly stands out as the only tall building on the Mississippi river between the two downtowns of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Its name is also something of an anomaly. Seeming to merely describe its address, a bit of local knowledge will reveal that there is no River Drive in St. Paul, nor is there a River Drive in Minneapolis. The closest River Drive this author can find is named for its proximity to the Kinnickinnic River that passes through River Falls Wisconsin, about forty miles east of the Twin Cities. The name of the actual address – 740 River Road – apparently lacked the necessary panache.
When the developers of 740 River Drive went looking for a contractor to make their vision a reality, they found in Lloyd Engelsma not only a builder but a partner.
When Lloyd bought Kraus-Anderson for 10,000 dollars at the end of the Great Depression, it was not clear whether the buyer or the seller had made the better deal. By 1959, during the planning of 740 River Drive, Engelsma had not only returned Kraus-Anderson to its historic role as one of the top contracting firms in the region, but he had also become an experienced real estate developer. By the time ground broke on this project, Engelsma was vice president of 740 River Drive Inc.
The pomp and circumstance displayed at the groundbreaking ceremony reflected the ambition of the project.
At the time of its construction, it was the tallest residential structure between Chicago and the West Coast. A contemporary newspaper account said that 740 River Drive was modeled after Manhattan’s United Nations (UN) building. Although 740 River Drive, being an apartment building, lacks some of the stateliness and austerity that made the UN building famous, they are both reinforced concrete frames covered by a curtain wall.
What truly makes this structure a landmark is the fact that there is nothing like it on the river between the two downtowns. In the years since 740 River Drive was completed, municipal and state authorities have grown more protective of the riverfront. Despite the fact that one of the most aggressive land development projects in St. Paul’s history is unfolding across Ford Parkway — the redevelopment of the Ford factory — 740 River Drive will likely live out its days as a lonely tower with unobstructed views.
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