Yeah, that's me in the bottom right. It's perfect because I'm not too visible, but you know that one, I exist, and two, I'm in Saint Paul!

Thanks for coming to my page at www.twincitiespage.com. This site was just a thought back as recently as 1999, when I first started a plain corner on the web to express my interests. Later on, the Twin Cities became the center of my site, and soon everything else was plowed away so it could concentrate on the cities I love. Over time, after scanners, film, research, and now digital cameras, this site is still going strong. Just buying the domain name recently, I was able to really give this site a proper place on the web. There's much to see here at the Twin Cities Page. I got one of the most expansive personal photo archives on the internet. I'm one of the only sites on the web that give Saint Paul the attention it deserves. If you wanted to see more of the capital city, look no further!

At first, the page was just an experiment in web pages. I was simplistic and not very organized. For a long time, I had an interest in the Twin Cities, and I wanted to let people know how I felt about them. The first time the Twin Cities appeared on my personal page was in the form of a few pictures and just some general commentary. My real passion lays in Saint Paul, which is my home for my entire life. Not only is the city drastically overlooked, but the on-line community barely has an idea of what it looks like, other than the capitol or a star on a map. My concentration on the cities continued to grow, and I got into postcards. Over time, I learned more about the cities then I ever knew before, and began to take my website in a new direction. Called "A Minnesotan Homepage", the place stayed personal, but also provided information and pictures on the Twin Cities. I invested in a scanner, and began scanning postcards to give people a collection of the cities they had never seen before. When I ran out of things to scan, a made another big investment in film, and finally took to the streets myself, taking many pictures and learning even more about downtown. This is when I began to memorize buildings and the layout of downtown Saint Paul, which now is like a second home to me. Recently, because of the cost and time involved with film processing, I made the third and largest investment for this site, a digital camera. My photos are increasing everyday and is now one of the largest collections on the internet. Now, with my own domain name, I'm still keeping my humble beginnings here at Angelfire, but I'm still taking the site to bigger and better things. I don't aim to be the best or to be the biggest, but I want to be a place that people enjoy and can get a good idea of what the cities look like from the camera of a simple citizen (I'm not a professional and won't claim to be). That's why the page is here; a love for home and a desire to let others know about it.

My name is Charles (Chuck) Roberts, and I'm a 19-year old student at the University of Minnesota. I am taking Architecture as a major, and Urban Studies as a minor. At the same time, I also work in a computer lab as a consultant, allowing me to have plenty of computer time to get pictures up and such. I participate on a couple forums around the net (namely www.skyscraperpage.com) regularly and I use the alias "Mr. Minnesota" or "MrMN" for short. As I said before (and will probally say again), I live in Saint Paul, in the North End neighborhood. I've learned quite a bit about the city, and have really gotten to know downtown quite well. I'll admit that I have much to learn about Minneapolis, and this site has given me just the reason to do it.

For starters, I made every graphic on this site myself, from the navigation bar to the headers on top of each page. With very few exceptions, every graphic on the site were made from photos that I personally took. I take my favorite photos, trim out a part for use in a graphic, and make it into a sign (or background) in a program called Imagefolio.

I proudly admit I make mistakes, and never have I claimed myself to be some all-knowing source on the Twin Cities. If I make a mistake, let me know so I don't embarass myself any longer. My E-mail is robe0418@tc.umn.edu , so don't hesititate to contact me. I'm very receptive to people, even if they point out a mistake. I never forgot my first flop, not knowing the difference between "capital" and "capitol"!

If you want to contribute something, let me know. I do except pictures and input on buildings or issues. I'll give you full credit for anything you want to add to the site, but I can't pay you. Hey, I'm doing this for free!

Absolutely not! All the ads you see are because my site is still located on Angelfire, a free internet provider. I pay (out of my wallet, no contributions) to keep my photos on fotki.com so others can see them. Maintaining this site is a hobby...and a costful one at that. I've spent well over $1,000 on this site alone!

No, and I wouldn't take them if offered (which I never have been). I maintain this site as long as I find it enjoyable and keep the photos up because I want to share them with other people. Taking photos is not fun if you have no one to show them too!

Well, you should know that in case my domain name somehow stops working (it shouldn't, I paid for it!), then my site is obtainable through so many other forwarding addresses I got up to now:

• http://www.angelfire.com/mn/dragonfire (where my site is actually located)
• http://www.saintpaul.somewhere.net (It was my previous official address.)

The Twin Cities I'm referring to the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, both in the state of Minnesota, in the United States. Minnesota is a plains state in the northcentral area of the country. We border Canada to the north, Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the south, and North and South Dakota to the west. The Twin Cities are located in southeast Minnesota where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers connect.

The Twin Cities compromise a 7-county metro area of about 2,650,000 people in 2000. However, the United States Government considers its influence to spread beyond the original 7 counties and therefore places the metro population at 3,000,000. The center of the metro area is unique, because it is a di-pole. Minneapolis is the larger of the two, a city of slightly over 380,000 people, and is nicknamed the "City of Lakes" because of its 22 lakes. Saint Paul, my hometown, borders Minneapolis on the east, and is the second central city of the metro. It is the state capital, with a population of approximentally 290,000 people. The Twin Cities are also surrounded by many suburbs of varying sizes, of which most of the larger ones are in the west metro, surrounding Minneapolis. The third largest city (technically a suburb) is Bloomington, located just south of Minneapolis, with a population of slightly over 85,000 people. It holds Mall of America (the state's biggest attraction) and is adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

At stated before, the metro area is chiefly composed of 7 counties. Saint Paul is the county seat of Ramsey County, the smallest and most dense county in Minnesota, with a population of nearly 520,000. Minneapolis is the county seat of the state's most populated county, Hennepin, containing a majority of the largest suburbs and holding a population exceeding 1,100,000. The other five counties in the metro area include Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott, and Washington. These five counties are all among the fastest growing in Minnesota, increasing over 25% in the last 10 years. Scott County is currently the fastest growing county in the midwest.

The Twin Cities' major connection is I-94, the interstate highway that passes through both downtown cores, and northwest into North Dakota. 35W (through Minneapolis) and 35E (through Saint Paul) are the major north-south highways that connect the Twin Cities and various suburbs. 494 loops around the cities, while a variety of smaller highways curve paths throughout the metro. The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport is among the largest 20 in the country (and among the top 20 in congestion) and is a popular stop for various people, because of the direct bus service to Mall of America. The Metropolitian Council of the Twin Cities operates a very large bus system, that is currently 9th largest in the country.

The tallest building in Minneapolis is actually a tie between the IDS Center (1973) and the more recent U.S. Bank Place (1992). Both are 775 feet tall, though unconfirmed rumors state that U.S. Bank may be taller by a foot or two. Wells Fargo Center is third tallest at 774 feet. In Saint Paul, the Minnesota World Trade Center is the tallest building, at a height of 470 feet. Galtier Plaza is second at 440 feet. First National Bank, the building with the 1st sign everyone knows so well, stands at 417 feet, but the 50 feet sign on top stands on rigging that supposedly reaches 517 feet off the ground. Downtown Saint Paul sits at a low elevation, so it actually exaggerates its lack of height in comparison to Minneapolis, which sits on a flatter, higher plain.

• The photo is scanned material. However, every postcard or book scan on my site was scanned by myself.
• The photo is mine and is used with or without permission. If you see a photo that you know belongs to this site and is used without permission, please contact me via E-mail at robe0418@tc.umn.edu .

If you see a photo on my site that may possibly be one of your originals, let me know. I emphasize that I DO NOT take photos from other sites, so you'd have to believe me shock if this was the situation. I would immediately remove the photo with the sincerest apologies.

On a Windows compatable machine, right click on the photo and pick the option "Save Picture As..." and put down the name you wish to give the photo. Windows machines also have the option "Use as Wallpaper", so you can use a photo for a background. Go to my Photos page for the Terms of Use. You are allowed to save photos and use them as wallpaper for individual or educational uses, provided you list this site as the source.

Special circumstances aside, I want to only use my own photos. I'm not interested in featuring photography of other people.

For most of the pictures on my site, I used an Olympus C-860L Digital Camera. I have memory cards equaling 240MB of storage. Photos were placed on my computer via an Olympus USB port and are shrunk down to a uniform 800x600 pixel size (along with other minor fixing up if necessary) in Imagefolio. This is to ensure they are sharper and of better quality than their original size of 1280x960 pixels.

Recently, in November 2001, I bought an Olympus C-3020ZOOM camera, and slowly these new pictures are finding their way into the albums. Pictures taken from this camera go through the same process as the pictures from the C-860L, but since they are of a higher resolution, they are shrunk to a size of 1200x900 pixels, 50% larger then older pictures. This camera is not expected to replace the former, but for distant shots and shots where a higher level of detail is needed, this newer camera will be used.

I don't call myself a photographer. I'm just a person who wants to provide pictures of the Twin Cities for people to enjoy. I like to take pictures, but I am not, nor do I claim to be a professional. These pictures remain amateur, and provided to people without any expected profit to myself.