2075 Juno Avenue
Saint Paul, MN, USA

The Signpost

A signpost was erected in 2019. It depicts the top 17 city destinations visited by the current homeowner. Each picket points in the correct geographic direction as flown using the Great Circle Route. The distance to the destination is also noted. All seven continents are represented. It is illuminated at night. This "artwork" is the subject of marvel and conversation to those who pass by.

Summer 2017

Updates to the house exterior and major yard landscape upgrade by the current owner.

Boulevard Garden

A newly constructed Juno Avenue in 2000 led to numerous landscaping updates. Dutch elm trees along the street and in the yard succumbed to the disease or construction and sadly were removed. The original tree near the house was 111 years old. A new picket fence was added in 2001 and the boulevard was transformed into a garden. In 2011 the property was certified as a wildlife habitat, primarily for birds and pollinators. The boulevard garden was featured in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of "Northern Gardener" magazine.

Summer of 1996

The house during the summer of 1996 with the front door awning having been removed.

Third generation

The house, front and back, at the time of sale in 1995 to the third generation and oldest grandson of the original owners. Coincidentally, this house was also his childhood home for seven years.

Young family.

The young family welcomes its newest member in the summer of 1949, photographed in their living room.

2075 Juno Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, USA

Family photo from around 1940 showing the house and yard.

Beginnings

This house was built by Theodor W. "Ted" Thomas and "completed" in 1934. Mr. Thomas purchased the lot for $300; the building materials cost approximately $3000. During the construction period additional help was provided by Mr. Thomas' father-in-law, Frank Taylor. Frank was a jack-of-all-trades but skilled particularly in framing doors and windows. The house was set further back from Juno to take advantage of a large Dutch elm tree. A silver maple tree was moved prior to the foundation being built. According to family oral tradition, following their marriage in 1933, Mrs. Thomas asked her husband to build the house where she could look up the street and see her alma mater, the College of Saint Catherine. This is how the house came to be built at this location.

While the house was livable at the end of 1934, the upstairs remained unfinished. Two additional bedrooms and a half-bathroom would be added in subsequent years along with additional modifications and updates. A small detached garage on the alley behind the house was added around 1936.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas raised five sons and a daughter in this house. They were among the first member of the nearby Nativity of Our Lord Catholic church where the children also attended grade school. Later, the sons attended Cretin High School and the daughter attended Saint Joseph's Academy as had her mother.

Other houses in the neighborhood had already been built although an empty lot remained at 503 Cleveland Ave. S. Here the neighbors living adjacent each had a small vegetable garden during the growing season. The family living at 507 Cleveland sold the land and in 1953 a large apartment building was later constructed much to everyone's dismay! And the house at 507 Cleveland, built in 1910, was demolished by a real estate speculator in 2017. The vacant lot remains to the present time with its future unknown.

Following the passing of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, in 1982 and 1994 respectively, their eldest grandson purchased the property from the estate. He remains the current owner, thus, the home has remained in the same family from the very beginning.

Wedding Day

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas on their wedding day in 1933.