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Home My WebLink About1991-11-30 Star Tribune Article STAR TRIBUNE • NAC FILE:�� , Nov. 30, 1991 Client Project Job No a vv 'e .... r - 11' r ✓ M 1' y { g t n , w vwr. t T taf f Photo by John Croft he bridge from Stillwater to Houlton Wis. a , (seen from Stillwater) is soon to be replaced. Stillwater and other St. Croix River Valley towns are beginning to join forces to attract tourists . S t. Cro River Vall cities a re j oining f o rc St Dennis Cassano They ullll 1 t Staff Writer g gether from both sides James Murray, chairman of the Bay - Even as they compete for commer- town Township Board and manager p lucrative tourism of the materials division of the Uni- cial development, communities on of river to rea benefits of versify of Minnesota Hospital. both sides of the St. Croix River Valley are beginning to talk about Several parcels of Baytown land have Park es joining forces to strengthen and share Park Heights Mayor Barbara O'Neal. The Hudson Chamber of Commerce, County, and Hudson and er. St. Croix b een or commercial dev pme t, lead g w the cities are blending togeth- for example, had a booth at the Min- an already healthy tourism industry. "No County have been bedroom commu- Murray to predict that "The days of " An increased emphasis on tourism neapolis business expo recently ad- nities for years for people who work suburban townships may be over vertising that the business climate is in St. Paul. But that has changed as In fact, Baytown has revived 10 -year- together with commercial and indus- K marts and Wal -Marts are sprout- better in Wisconsin. But the Hudson the area has attracted new residents old discussions about consolidating trial development and population ing in Oak Park Heights, Minn., and chamber also is planning meetings who once lived in Minneapolis and with Bayport and Oak Park Heights growth are changing the communi- Hudson, Wis., and the Minnesota with the Stillwater and other valley the western and southern suburbs. into one city. ties. and Wisconsin cities are continuing chambers to find ways to increase to compete for more development tourism on both sides of the river. "Ten to 12 years ago, the valley was Not everyone in the township agrees "Valley communities used to be iso- even as they cooperate on tourism. lated" from each other, said Oak Stillwater and the rest of Washington ies. best-kept not se way anymo said St. Croix continued on page 2B St From h St. shops, valle . restaurants to houses Hwy.B Fags °rs St• Croix _ pp Falls eeds Hwy. 95 d CHISAGO CO. Hwy. 35 Con1hJued from page I rants are to open soon. - - - - - . WASH. CO. with the consolidation plan, Murray Jerry Wulf, president of Andersen, " MINN. said .Similarly, in a compact area said that of the 3,800 employees, where-decisions by one community about 2,000 live in Wisconsin, but he I POLK CO. reverberate through the others, there believes that the cities and people of ... . is = `tension over how much housing - the valley think and act in isolated I Marine sr. Croix sT . and commercial development should independence rather than having a � cro z River caolx .. b6"attracted and to what extent tour- sense of a valley community. Co. tsrr should be exploited. I May Twp. In Hudson, Alan Burchill, president The Stillwater Area Economic Devel- of Mid- America Bank, is one of a' grant l stinwater opr teOt Corp. was created in 1987 by group that hopes:. Wulf is wrong. Twp.' I Twp. somerset business people and government rep - They are trying to build a $3 million I resentatives to promote industrial- YMCA that would serve cities on Hwy and commercial 9e,. Houlto growth in Stillwater both sides of the river. Patricia n I Stillwater and the 'adjacent cities' and town- Lynch, a vice president of the Minne- H .361 oak Park Heights ships 'But this year it became more apolis YMCA, said a new YMCA in • Bayport k determined and hired a full -time di- , Hudson could increase the sense that 5'"'y Baytown ' . Willow River rectdr; Neal Casey, a retired adver= the valley is a single community. I TWp St. Pk. tising executive. Lake I west North Hudson ! �a Elmo. 1 t alceland Hudson The principal new+ attraction'in the T The development corporation is in valley this year is the St. Croix Mead- P 19 4 I '_h 1 its infancy, but development is pro .ows greyhound racetrack in Hudson eeeding nonetheless. which sparked local hotel and restau- Wood I Afton H s, rant development and may be 'a cats bury_ I ST. Stillwater's development director, " lyst,for the new move to consolidate eR Dix SSteve Russell, said the city is trying tourism efforts. H"y 95 Co. to- find a large commercial venture - — Anon " such -as - another • K mart or Target The track, which opened in June, has C °ttage St. Pk. PIE River ., complex. not done as well as was hoped. If it Grove Denmark CO. Falls • could draw in more tourists for a day N1%:6, Twp St Croix j k new housing development is going at the track, profits would increase. River . up- the scant land available in .. 29 35 - - Bayport. - Andersen Windows wants The chambers of commerce of river, 5 land -for expansion in the next 10 , cities already have met once and plan Prescott Hwy yehrs but Bayport would have to further joint sessions. Chris White, Mississippi annex the land, again from Baytown ' director of the Stillwater chamber, Hastings Township. Hwy. et said she and her colleagues are try ing to sort out how they can coordinate Oak Park Heights does not have to • their efforts. "We're meeting to see people who go to a dog track as going look' :for developers. "Development , what ideas there "are," she said. to the boutiques of Stillwater," he. has found us," said O'Neal. sai her city does not have tourist attrac -' They could range from joint advertis tions; it has the gas stations, stores ing to having each area promote the Bill Warner, executive director of the and other services they sometimes others or even to creating a single `Pierce County (Wis.), Economic De ;>> need; "We get the benefits of the ;touri sm association for the entire val- velopment. Corp., is going_ to; try to` tourism tra without the tourist at- ley, she said. disprove that theory. With the Kan -, h tractions," she said. sas City Chiefs using the fields of the The whole point is to get tourists to. .University of Wisconsin -River Falls The quaint stores, antique shops and f stay in the valley longer and leave , , fore a' summer training camp, he restaurants of Stillwater are the hub more of their money behind. : wants to get people from Kansas o£ tourism on the Minnesota side. to`: -watch their team scrimmage; and Othet's like them dot some of the old Kitty Rhoades, director of the Hud Believes that people will come if they river :towns from Taylors Falls, °son chamber, said attracting tourists, know about Crystal Cave in Spring --� Minn., to Prescott, Wis. 1 is more effective if it's done regional -.. ; Valley, the dog track and the liver-, ly. She wants some of the 300,000 ' town attractions of Hasttngs;;.Pres u Just downstream is Bayport, the An-;' , people who go to the nearby Willow Cott, Hudson, Stillwater, points di�rs�n .` company town where' J °River State Park, for example, to . north, and perhaps south to' Red: houses once were filled with Ander 'spend money in Hudson and Stillwa- Wing on the Mississippi River. sea workers, but cute restaurants and ,ter too , and the visitors in Stillwater $. , quaint antique shops were nonexis- to'go to Hudson. Ka Walsh , public y relations'spokes- , . tent. Now only about. a third of the ,v, woman for the dog track, said, "It's'a. residents work at Andersen, said Michael Munson, a principal planner feeling that all of a sudden the N o6d&` Mayor Bev Schultz. There are three. ° at the Metropolitan Council, is not so is smaller." m4rinas on the St. Croix River, and sure that would work. "Maybe I mis- arr antique store and two new restau- perceive them, but I don't see the