Local family entrepreneurs have been mainstays of the Saint Paul Port Authority for more than three-quarters of a century. Take Michel Sales Agency, which was started by Kelly Michel’s grandfather in 1932 just as the Minnesota Legislature was forming the Port Authority.

Or Dan Esch’s grandfather who sold hand tools from the back of his station wagon.

Now these companies and many others operate in the Port’s Westminster Junction Business Center adjacent to the new Phalen Boulevard on Saint Paul’s East Side.

The center has 12 businesses along the new boulevard — including a Port Authority joint equity venture that provided outpatient space for Regions and Gillette Children’s Hospitals. Together the businesses employ nearly 950 people and pay more than $1.8 million a year in property taxes.