Located at 991 Dodd Road in West St Paul, Albert Park has been listed in Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the worlds "smallest dedicated park in the USA". The park was dedicated in 1967, but I'm unsure of when Ripley's included it into their book. There is even an Albert Park Facebook Page that you can like.
Found this strange....not sure what it is exactly, perhaps it's lawn art, lawn art, or even as a warning to keep people out. Whatever it was, I found it unique enough for today's photo.
I made a quick stop at the McDonalds in West St Paul, a place I used to visit when I was younger. Often my mom and dad would take me to the playland here. It was just a simple playground with McDonalds characters as parts of the rides. The best part of it was the tram that would take you from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill where the playground was located. Looking back at what they used to do for the kids was amazing. No one today would ever do anything like this at a fast food restaurant. All that remains in the path up the hill, which is located near the current drive through road, plus the artwork on the cement wall.
Those of you familiar with West St Paul, may recall the Signal Car Wash during it's prime just off of Robert Street, behind the old Signal Hills Shopping Center. I believe it is closed now as it was a Sunday around 2:00 at the time of this photo. It would have been open during it's business hours. I do recall visiting the car wash when I was much younger. It's the automated type of wash. Drive your car in and watch it travel down the track in various stages of wash and rinse. The customer would stand behind glass windows and watch as the vehicle progressed to the finish line.
If you've ever driven on Robert Street in West St Paul, you've most likely passed JT's Hamburgers. Now if you blinked when you passed, I can understand if you missed it. The place is very small, but they have been here ever since I can remember. I grew up fairly close to this area, but drove and biked on this road often. Just the other day I took a drive down Robert Street and couldn't believe my eyes. EVERYTHING has changed, except for JT's hamburgers. Now I'm sure there are a couple of places that were still in business from ten years ago, but I cannot remember them from my childhood. If the business is still in place from my childhood, it's been torn down and rebuilt with a brand new building. It's quite a turn over in businesses and buildings. Now this may sound odd, as long as JT's Hamburgers has been in business, I have never eaten there. Somebody is keeping this place in business and perhaps I should stop in there help the cause.
In West St Paul, there is this very small triangle patch of grass with a small monument as shown in the photo. There is a road surrounding the park, Dodd Road, Smith Avenue and Butler Avenue if I recall correctly. It's actually a park, Albert Park. Perhaps it is a grave stone and the guys first and last name is Albert Park. Perhaps this is the gravestone for Uncle Albert that the Beatles sing about in their Uncle Albert song?. I really do not know and it's something I've always wondered about. Is it really a park to play at, which you would end up playing in traffic at some point as there is traffic within reach, or is it the worlds smallest cemetery with only one tombstone?