We visited the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul. This building was finished in 1902 and originally had the US Post Office on the first floor and court rooms, law libraries and offices on the upper three floors.
It was here that Alvin "creepy" Karpis was put on trial for the kidnapping of the Hamm's beer President, an act which netted him $200,000 ransom money, and which has never been found. It really wasn't much of a trial, Karpis was handcuffed to a radiator in a room next to the courtroom, Minnesota was experiencing a severe drought, and temperatures were recorded to be 110 degrees. No air conditioning was present at that time. When Alvin was asked how he pled, he is reported to have said" I might as well plead guilty, rather than spend one more day in that god awful hot room."
We were not allowed entry to the "God Awful Hot Room", It is now a private office.
He was sentenced to Alcatraz until it closed then Leavenworth until his release. That trial effectively ended the Depression era Gangster period of the United States as he was the last of the Depression Era gangsters.
Detail of wood work in the courtrooms within the Landmark Center
An interesting side note: Just before his arrest in New Orleans, J. Edgar Hoover was lambasted in a Congressional hearing for never arresting anyone. Hoover left the hearing and told the agents in charge he wanted to be the one to arrest Karpis. Hoover was in New Orleans when Alvin was arrested, he told Karpis he was under arrest and turned to the agents and told them to cuff him. Trouble is, not one agent brought any handcuffs since all the other gangsters had died in shootouts, they all just figured that was how the Karpis arrest was going to go. They ended up using an agents necktie to tie his hands and place him in a car. Karpis, in his memoirs, stated that Hoover did not show up until the agents had already captured and detained him. In effect it was a publicity event.
The Landmark Center as it looks today.
The difference between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul is very apparent. Minneapolis is filled with modern buildings, old buildings are torn down and new ones built. St. Paul is filled with the older buildings preferring to renovate and keep the older buildings. It is very nice in botrh places, just a different way of developing.
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