Originally published in the Park Bugle, October 2026.
Fifty years of life at Seal Hi-Rise cannot fit onto a plaque. But in September, the City of Saint Paul put an important part of that history on the public record.
The Saint Paul City Council approved a proclamation recognizing Seal Hi-Rise’s 50th anniversary at its September 2 meeting. Two days later, Ward 4 Councilmember Molly Coleman and Legislative Aide Jenne Nelson joined residents, neighbors and community partners at Seal’s September 4 anniversary celebration to present the recognition in person.
For residents of the building at 825 Seal Street, the recognition marked more than the anniversary of a familiar South St. Anthony Park landmark.
It recognized 50 years of people making a life there.
Seal Hi-Rise opened in 1976 and is owned and operated by the Saint Paul Public Housing Agency. Its 144 one-bedroom apartments have provided affordable and accessible homes for generations of Saint Paul residents.
The recognition also carried an intriguing connection to an earlier moment in Seal’s history.
As SAPCC and the Ward 4 office began working together on this year’s proclamation, a framed City proclamation from 1996 resurfaced.
That document offers a small time capsule from Seal’s 20th anniversary.
Then-Mayor Norm Coleman proclaimed September 18, 1996, “Seal Hi-Rise Day” in Saint Paul. The proclamation recognized the building’s 144 apartments, its residents and Saint Paul Public Housing Agency employees.
It also recorded some of the services that were part of daily life at Seal at the time: senior dining, a postal van, a beauty shop, a community room, a bookmobile, bingo, and transportation to K-Mart and the grocery store.
Thirty years later, some of the details have changed.
The reason for recognizing Seal has not.
The new proclamation looks across a full half-century. It recognizes generations of residents who have built friendships, shared meals and participated in neighborhood life. It acknowledges Seal’s longstanding connections with the surrounding community, including the SAP Community Garden, food-access efforts, neighborhood gatherings and other community activities.
Most importantly, it recognizes Seal as a place generations of Saint Paul residents have called home.
“Seal Hi-Rise has been part of South St. Anthony Park for 50 years, but this anniversary is really about the generations of residents who have made it a home and a community,” said Ward 4 Councilmember Molly Coleman. “It was an honor to recognize that history at City Council earlier this week, and it was especially meaningful to celebrate alongside Seal residents and their neighbors today.”
The effort to secure the recognition began with Seal resident and SAPCC co-president Melissa Pappas and developed through collaboration between SAPCC and the Ward 4 office.
The 1996 document provided a historical starting point, while the new proclamation reflects what another 30 years have added to Seal’s story.
A City proclamation is ceremonial by nature. But ceremonies can serve a purpose.
They interrupt the ordinary business of government long enough to say that a person, a place or a piece of community history deserves to be noticed.
Most of what makes up 50 years at Seal is captured in the little things.
It is neighbors meeting in hallways and elevators. Conversations around tables in the community room. New residents arriving and longtime residents welcoming them. Friends checking on one another. Meals, celebrations and ordinary afternoons.
It is generations of people watching South St. Anthony Park change outside their windows while building lives of their own inside.
A proclamation cannot record all of those moments. But it can say that they mattered.
In 1996, Saint Paul paused to recognize Seal at 20. In 2026, the City recognized it again at 50.
This time, half a century of residents, relationships and community became part of Saint Paul’s official record.