Is Minnesota Home To The Shortest Skyway Segment In The World?

Technology is wonderful, right? Last night I stumbled across a picture from Google Maps and it shows a concise and very green skyway connection in St. Paul. This has to be the shortest piece of skyway in the world right?

I actually stumbled across more information in regards to the short green piece of skyway, that connects the 1st National Bank Building to its neighbor.

The wee green-hued skyway was built in 1931, when the Merchants Bank merged with the adjacent First National Bank. After the merger, the passage was built to connect the higher levels of the two buildings.

Due to differences in floor heights, the skyway connects the 17th floor of the First National Bank building with the 16th floor of the Merchants Bank Building. The skyway is only available to tenants who work in the building, but you can view it from the street. From a distance, it looks like a green block strangely wedged between two classic figures of the Saint Paul skyline.

Minneapolis' skyway system came about in the early 1960s and grew through the 1970s, St. Paul started getting its skyway system in the 1970s, and both operate on the lower levels of businesses and help Minnesotans get around those downtowns without being outside in the elements.

Minneapolis' Skyway system is much larger than St. Paul's and actually is considered the world's largest continuous system and spans 9.5 miles!

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If you are curious about the complete history of Skyways you can find more about them by heading here.