F Street

F

Fair Pl. September Fair  by Jess Lourey is a 2009 murder mystery which takes place at the Minnesota Fair.

Fairfield Ave. Priscilla Fairfield Bok (1896 – 1975) was an American astronomer and the wife of Dutch-born astronomer Bart Bok, Director of Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia. She and her husband authored The Milky Way, a popular book about our galaxy. Her husband’s famous first name merits a mention in this author’s endeavor.

Fairmount Ave. 26 Fairmount Avenue is a 1999 children's book by children’s author, Tomie dePaola (born 1934) that won a Newbery Honor. It is the beginning of a series of his memoirs.

Fairview Ave. The Other Mr. Darcy: Pride and Prejudice Continues...  is a 1999 book by Monica Fairview. As the reader can tell, it is not the original.

Falcon Ave. Giovanni Boccaccio 1313–1375) was an Italian writer and poet. He wrote a number of notable works, including The Decameron. One of the stories in The Decameron is titled "Federigo's Falcon."

Farrington St. Pat Farrington (born 1936) was the co-founder of  New Games in the late 1960s. The New Games Book and its companion, More New Games, were resources developed for the "New Games" movement which was started to encourage people to play non-competitive or friendlier games.

Fauquier Pl. 500 Acres and No Place To Hide: More Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl is a 2011 book by Susan McCorkindale. The action takes place in Fauquier County, Virginia.

Faye St. Louis Diène Faye (born 1936) is a Senegalese anthropologist, author and scholar of Serer religion, history and culture. Morgan le Faye, is a sorceress in the King Arthur legend.

Fellows Ln. John Muir: America's First Environmentalist  is a 2009 biography by Kathryn Lasky,  illustrated by Stan Fellows.

Ferdinand St. The Story of Ferdinand (1936) is the best known children’s book written by American author Munro Leaf  (1905–1976) and illustrated by Robert Lawson  (1892–1957). It tells the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. He sits in the middle of the bull ring failing to pay attention to any of the provocations of the matador and others to fight. Until ... !

Fernwood St. Beverly Cleary (born 1916) is an American author of more than 30 books for young adults and children. In June 2008, the Hollyrood-Fernwood Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, was officially renamed Beverly Cleary School. As a child, Cleary attended the former Fernwood Grammar School. This author lived near the school for several years.

Feronia Ave. The Feronia Literary Prize, is an Italian award given to distinguished poets and authors.

Field Ave. Eugene Field, Sr. (1850 –1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. Many of his books were illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Field's father, attorney Roswell Martin Field, was famous for his legal representation of Dred Scott, the slave who sued for his freedom in 1857. Dred Scott lived at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

Fifield St. William Henry Davies or W. H. Davies (1871 – 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or hobo, in the United Kingdom and United States, but became one of the most popular poets of his time. His autobiography, The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp  was published by Fifield Publishers in 1908.

Fifth St Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven is commonly referred to as Beethoven's Fifth.

Fillmore Ave. The Six Gallery reading was an important poetry event that took place on Friday, October 7, 1955, at 3119 Fillmore Street in San Francisco.  It was at this reading that Allen Ginsberg first presented his poem Howl.

Finn St. Huckleberry Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (set around 1845) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Black, White, & Huckleberry Finn: Re-imagining the American Dream by Elaine Mensh and Harry Mensh (published in 2000) provides an analysis of the history of the racial issues surrounding the book. Periodic attempts to republish the book without the “N” word continue to occur. This author would like to point out that censorship is censorship, however, if The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is going to continue to be published with the “N”  word then it should be published with the original illustrations. The book, Black, White, & Huckleberry Finn,  points out that Twain personally selected the illustrator knowing full well the illustrator’s history of what can only be characterized today as grotesque images of African Americans. This author thinks it is very possible that Twain wrote the book simply as one of his many jokes on the American public. If it had not been for T.S. Eliot, Lionel Fielding, and Ernest Hemingway's championship of the book in the 1920’s then Huckleberry Finn might have disappeared from the “canon.”. Those three literary “giants” had strongly patronizing views on African Americans and may have seen the book as simply a way to keep them in a subservient position. It is important to remember that Hemingway’s famous statement that “all American literature begins with Huckleberry Finn” is rarely quoted with the rest of the statement in which Hemingway said  “If you read it you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating.” Hemingway is referring to the last three chapters. If three chapters of a book aren’t worth reading then why is the book worth teaching? It is also worth noting that Hemingway desperately  wanted to be the great American novelist, which may explain why he chose to paraphrase the great Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who said that all Russian literature begins with Gogol’s Overcoat. Now that was a good story. And in sixty pages. All of the sixty pages.

Fir St. "The Fir-Tree" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). The tale is about a fir tree so anxious to grow up that he cannot appreciate living in the moment. It was first published  December, 1844.

Fish Hatchery Rd. There was a fish hatchery in Saint Paul until the 1990s. No longer, but you can visit one in Genoa, Wisconsin. Or read about it in  Discover! America's Great River Road. Vol. 1, St. Paul, Minnesota, to Dubuque, Iowa 2009 written by Pat Middleton.

Fisk St. "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (born 1943) is a writer, commentator, activist, and educator. She is a well-known African American poet. She graduated from Fisk University in 1967. Here is her poem, “Listen, Children.” listen children keep this in the place you have for keeping always keep it all ways we have never hated black listen we have been ashamed hopeless tired mad but always all ways we loved us we have always loved each other children all ways pass it on

Flandrau St. Flandrau State Park, Minnesota is on the Cottonwood River and adjacent to the city of New Ulm. The birth home of children’s author and illustrator, Wanda Gag  (1893–1946), is in New Ulm and is open for tours. Gag is famous for her books, Millions of Cats  and many others. She wanted to make sure that her last name is pronounced without making it sound like the English word for gagging. This author is not sure how to put that in print, but he should mention that one of his neighbors is second cousin to Wanda. The New Ulm Public Library is also worth a visit. Great children’s section.

Florida St. The Everglades: River of Grass was published in  1947 and is a  non-fiction book about the Florida Everglades. It was  written by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890 –1998). Douglas was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Folsom St. The Folsom  that most people think of is the prison in California. The song that most people associate with the prison is the one by Johnny Cash. Here is the book about the concert he gave there in 1968: Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison: The Making Of A Masterpiece published in 2004 and written by Michael Streissguth.

Forbes Ave. Esther Louise Forbes (1891–1967) was a novelist, historian and children's writer who received the Pulitzer Prize for her biography of Paul Revere, published in 1942 and the Newbery Medal for her children’s book, Johnny Tremain, published in 1943.

Ford Pkwy. Clarence Wesley "Cap" Wigington (1883-1967) was an African-American architect who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He became the city architect for the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1917. At the corner of Ford Parkway and Cretin Avenue in Saint Paul, there is a sculpture honoring Wigington’s work. David Taylor, dean of General College at the University of Minnesota and one of the leading historians of African Americans in Minnesota, published Cap Wigington: An Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone in 2002.

Forest St. John William De Forest (1826 – 1906) was a Union soldier in the Civil War and writer of realistic fiction, best known for his Civil War novel Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty. Writing for The Nation magazine in 1868 De Forest called for a more general movement in American literature toward realism. His essay was titled, "The Great American Novel," and is generally credited as being the first known use of the term.

Forster St. Edward Morgan Forster (1879 –1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is best known his 1910 novel Howards End and A Passage to India (1924).

Fort  Rd.   Fort Road is named for Fort Snelling which is named for Colonel Josiah Snelling (1782–1828). He was the first commander of Fort Snelling, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in Minnesota. He was responsible for the initial design and construction of the fort, and he commanded it from 1820 through 1827. He gets a mention in Minnesota 101: Everything You Wanted to Know About Minnesota and Were Going to Ask Anyway published in 2010 by Jan Matthews and Katie Dohman.

Fountain Place The Fountain  is a poem by James Russell Lowell (1819 –1891). He was an influential  poet and critic in the mid to late 1800s. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. The poem begins: Into the sunshine, Full of the light, Leaping and flashing From morn till night!

Fourteenth St. Prisoners of the Sun is the fourteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé (1907–1983) . The story was first serialized in Tintin Magazine from 26 September 1946 to 22 April 1948 before being published in book form the following year. Tintin is a good way to ease children into reading longer books. The series is very popular just judging by how many languages are listed in the front as having translations of the series.

Fourth St. Collection of June Fourth Poems: Commemorating the Tiananmen Square Protest is an anthology of poems commemorating the June Fourth protests in China (Tiananmen Square protests of 1989). The poems were written by victims, exiled activists and international supporters. It documents the history and cultural impact of the June Fourth movement. The Saint Paul Central Library is located on 90 W Fourth St.

Foxridge Rd. Flossie and the Fox is an illustrated children's book written by Patricia McKissack. Published in 1986.

Frank St. Anne Frank  (1929 – early March 1945) was a young Dutch girl who died in the Holocaust. While in hiding she kept a diary called The Diary of a Young Girl (commonly known as the Diary of Anne Frank).

Franklin Ave. Franklin the Turtle is a Canadian children's book franchise. All of the books in the original series were authored by Paulette Bourgeois (born 1951) and illustrated by her. The first book was published in 1986.

Frankson Ave. Named for Thomas Frankson who was the lieutenant governor for Minnesota from 1917-1921. He is the one who raised bison to the north of his house at Hamline and Midway Avenues. You can walk by the house and admire the lions.

Fred St. Fred Rogers (1928–2003) was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, author, and television host. Rogers was most famous for creating and hosting the children’s television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001). You can read his thoughts on life in The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember, published in  2003 and written by Fred Rogers.

Fremont St. The street honors the explorer, John C. Fremont (1813-1890). His story is included in The Picture History of Great Explorers published in 2009 by Gillian Clements. The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini (born 1965). It tells the story of a an Afghan family who relocates to Fremont, California, after the Taliban have taken over their country.

Front Ave. All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970), a German veteran of World War I. It was published in 1928 and is considered the classic war novel.

Frontenac Pl. Frontenac House is an independent publishing house located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 2000 by Rose and David Scollard. It began as primarily a publisher of poetry and has since branched out into other areas.

Fry St. Nan Fry is an American poet who lives in Washington, DC. Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and journals. She is the author of several books of poetry. Her poem, Yoga, follows: Deep in the woods, the old man lowers himself to springy moss beside a stream. Its rushing water washes the day’s noise out of him. Slowly he stretches his hands, seeing them as flowers that close and open. He flexes and lengthens each limb, then stands, arms raised, still as a tree. A soft snort – he turns and sees three deer staring at him wide-eyed. He expects that white flash of rump and tail as they startle and flee, but they lower their heads to graze and occasionally look up as he becomes Fish, Swan, Bridge.

Fulham St. Possibly named for the neighborhood in London. There are several versions of the source for the name. One version cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is that it is a name for a pair of loaded dice used for gambling. Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes' fame puts Holmes on Fulham Road in the 1902 Hound of the Baskervilles.

Fuller Ave. Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1810 – 1850), commonly known as Margaret Fuller, was an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. (from wikipedia)

Furness Pkwy. The street is named for Marion Furness (1853 - 1935), the daughter of Alexander Ramsey who was the first territorial governor of Minnesota. She gets a mention in Minnesota's Own: Preserving Our Grand Homes, published in  2014 by Larry Millett. She is also mentioned in the children’s book, Wishing for a Snow Day: Growing Up in Minnesota, published in 2010 by Peg Meier.