Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul is throwing open the door to its North Tower one final time this year, inviting families and visitors to climb 198 steps for a 360-degree view of the city. The free, self-guided event runs Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., requires no reservations, and marks the third and final Climb to the Top gathering of 2026 after earlier sessions in July and August.
According to the Pioneer Press, climbers can ride an elevator as high as the sixth floor before switching to stairs only for the rest of the ascent — 61 more steps to the top of the tower. Those who complete the trek are rewarded with a free sticker featuring an illustration of Landmark Center, drawn by local artist Don Thomas. The outlet's report is the primary account of Sunday's event details, including its hours, cost, and step counts.
Thomas is no stranger to the building. He previously showed his work at Landmark Center's North Gallery in a solo exhibition titled Drawing From Life: Sketches of Everyday Moments, which ran from November 19, 2020, to January 31, 2021, according to Landmark Center. The show featured candid pencil sketches of everyday human scenes, a fitting pedigree for an artist now capturing the building itself on a keepsake sticker.
A Building That Almost Didn't Survive
The North Tower that climbers scale Sunday sits atop a structure with a dramatic survival story. Landmark Center is housed in an 1896 former courthouse, designed by U.S. Treasury Supervising Architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke in the Richardsonian Romanesque style to serve as a federal post office, custom house, and courthouse, per Lisa Stories. The building rose on a city block donated by St. Paul just before an 1890s national economic depression.
Federal courts relocated to a new facility in 1965. Local citizen leaders formed the nonprofit Minnesota Landmarks specifically to oversee the building's restoration and public programming.
Today, Landmark Center is owned by Ramsey County and managed by Minnesota Landmarks, which presents roughly 250 free or low-cost cultural programs and history tours each year, per Landmark Center's own account. The North Tower vantage point, standing approximately 403 feet above the sidewalk, is considered a defining element of the downtown St. Paul skyline, as reported by WCCO and CBS News Minnesota.
From Gangster Trials to Community Gatherings
The building's upper levels carry a far more solemn history than Sunday's family-friendly climb suggests. During its history as a courthouse, Landmark Center hosted high-profile gangster trials, including those of John Dillinger's companion Evelyn Frechette and Barker-Karpis gang leaders Arthur “Doc” Barker and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, according to Historic Twin Cities. The available accounts do not specify security arrangements for those proceedings.
That contrast — a federal courthouse that once hosted mob trials, now welcoming visitors for a stair-climbing outing — underscores just how far the building's public role has shifted. Inside, visitors pass through a five-story courtyard topped by a skylight, a design detailed by Historic Twin Cities. During the building's decades as a main post office, alterations were made to the building.
More Than Just the Climb
Landmark Center's role as a multi-museum venue extends well beyond Sunday's event. The building hosts resident cultural institutions including the Schubert Club Museum of musical instruments, the AAW Gallery of Wood Art, and the Ramsey County Historical Society Research Center, according to Expedia. Hoodline previously ranked it among St. Paul's top museums. Its cultural role extends beyond its resident institutions.
Landmark Center offers the public a historic climb. For those hoping to catch this year's last chance at the North Tower, Sunday's window runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with no sign-up required and no cost to attend.
