It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for the significance of its river and rail connections, economic impact, architecture, and urban planning.

Many were designed by the city's most prestigious architects, including Cass Gilbert and Clarence H. Johnston Sr.[3] The Lowertown neighborhood declined after the Depression.

"[4] Enabled by an unprecedented $10 million grant by the McKnight Foundation, the LRC assumed the role and responsibility of driving the revitalization of Lowertown.

[5] Aided by these designations and the associated tax credits, Artspace, the LRC, the city and others partnered to renovate three buildings dedicated to the arts.

An institution since the late 1800s, the Farmers’ Market was an anomaly of sorts for Lowertown - it was a destination in the middle of a relatively quiet neighborhood.

[4] The St. Paul Art Crawl is held twice a year and exemplifies the cultural atmosphere that local residents have worked so hard to maintain.

[8] The "hipster" designation implies the neighborhood's high proportion of "people between 25 and 34 years old who use public transportation and rent their housing.

The site was originally the home of the First Baptist congregation, who built their church on top of a hill in the middle of a city block.

In 1849 the land was donated to the city by a man named Robert Smith after the church expanded to a new location a few blocks north.

After his death in 1974, the park was officially renamed after Norman Mears, a St. Paul inventor in the printing and etching field; his inventions were used to fight World War II and make color televisions.

[12][13] Modern-day Mears Park was opened in 1992 following a major reconstruction designed by landscape architect Don Ganje and artist Brad Goldberg.

It consolidated the firms of Rogers and Ordway of Saint Paul and Duluth with a branch of the Crane Company in Minneapolis,[16] uniting all the large interests in this line of business in the Northwest.

[17] It did an extensive business in well-drilling machinery, windmills, and large irrigating plant outfits of all descriptions, furnishing estimates and designs and complete plans for water works.