St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-16
Official Facts and Figures on the Upbuild-
ing of St. Paul During the
Past Year.
Over Six Millions of Dollars Worth of New
Structures Begun in Eleven
Months.
The Marvellous Record of Last Year
Beaten by Some Hundreds of
Thousands.
Some Of the Principal Buildings That
Have Sprung Up--A Fine
Showing.

The GLOBE presents this morning a
brief and comprehensive resume of the
building operations of the year up to Dec. l.
1t is believed that the brief and compre-
hensive form in which it is given Will be
much more satisfactory to the public than
the labored and minutely-detailed reviews
which have been published heretofore at
the end of the year. The sum-
mary here given is the result
OF long and pains-taking investigation
and made up from figures obtained from the
building inspectors books and from build
ers and owners. 1t is gratifying testimony
to the established fact that the city's
recent remarkable growth is not Of the boom
order, but healthy. natural expansion. and
the result of permanent commercial and in
dustrial prosperity. The people Of the
Northwest are past being startled by any
exhibition of phenomenal enterprise
or remarkable development, yet
the figures in themselves are
Is wonderful as they are tiatterlng. A
careful computation shows the expenditure
OF $500, 900 during eleven months IN the
upbulding of this metropolis. Over $500
buildings have been erected during that
time, which, if located together, would
make CITY nearly or quite as lalge as any
in Minnesota outside of st. Paul and Min
neapolis, with residences, stores, public
buildings, school houses and churches
enough to supply the demands of the popu-
lation The year has been marked by the
completion OF many of the finest and
largest structures in the city, notably the
Hotel Ryan, the chamber of commerce, the
German-Amelican National bank, the
union depot, the Drake building on Fourth
sire T. the St. Paul 81 Northern Pacific rail-
road shops at Como and many Of the most
costly residences on st. Anthony hill and
elsewhere. The new Bank of Minnesota
building has been carried up and is ready
for the interior work; the court house foun-
dati0n has been completed and the walls
erected to the second story, representing an
expenditure of $3.50, 900: the substructure Of
the Robert street bridge has been practically
completed at cost OF S95, 600, the
Minnesota q Northwestern railroad bridge,
costing $3.50, 900, has been completed, the
Seventh street viaduct has been put In at
an expense of S34. 600, and many other
costly improvements have been begun or
completed during the year. The ice palace
largely belongs to the building operations
of the year, but has not been included.
Last years building review announced 2, 562
buildings as
THE STARTLING IOTAb
of structures erected during 1884. Yet re-
markabe as it was, it is exceeded over 40
per cent. by the total for 1885, showing
that the per cent. of increase is growing
each year. Each year the growth of the city's
material interests have exceeded the most
sanguine predictions of its prophets, and
with these precedents and with the increas-
ing prosperity of the commercial world.
with tho incoming railroads hppun and
projected, with the strong pulse of the real
estate maket with the increasing flow of
Eastern capital seeking stock in our phe
nomenal prosperity, with the notes of prep
aration for next years activity already be-
ing sounded by builders and coming indus
tries, and with the characteristic spirit
of enterprise, which is a part of
the city, who shall set the
bounds of probability and foretell the strides
ST. Paul will make during the suspicious
year of 1886?
ST. Paul has passed the day when it was
necessary or advantageous to initiate her
statistics, and the following statements
may be relied upon as trustworthy and con-
sentative, taken from reliable sources and
are as accurate as the difficulties attending
the gathering of such information will per-
nit.
The following table, taken from the
building inspectors record. shows the num-
Der of permits issued during the past eleven
months, and the estimated cost as given by
the owners before the buildings were
erected. The fact that the cost of permits
depends upon the cost of the proposed
building. and the fear that many entertain
that the figures will be used by the assessor,
as we'll as other sufficient reason, make the
estimated cost GREATLY nndpr the
true amount, and should be taken as not
over two-thirds of the actual cost, as the
building inspector AYERS: