Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City

Saint Paul Historic Context Study Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1867 (Chicago: Chicago Lithographing Co., 1867). Ruger Map Collection, Library of Congress. Prepared for Historic Saint Paul, City of Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, and Ramsey County Historical Society Saint Paul, Minnesota By Mead & Hunt, Inc. 2011 Saint Paul Historic Context Study Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City Introduction This historic context examines Saint Paul’s neighborhoods located at the edge of the “walking city,” or the area in which residents could easily travel on foot to reach their destinations before mass transportation was readily available. In the mid-nineteenth century, the early years of Saint Paul’s development, the city’s residents settled around the Mississippi River steamboat landings known as the Upper and Lower Landings. While many of the houses were interspersed among the commercial and public buildings at each of the landings, several notable residential districts, including Irvine Park, Lafayette Park, and Dayton’s Bluff, developed near the original settlements early in Saint Paul’s history.1 As the city grew in the post-Civil War years beyond the original settlements, the limits of the walking city expanded and it became a city of several separate, distinct, and larger neighborhoods.2 These neighborhoods included, as typically identified today, Summit-University, Thomas-Dale, North End, Payne-Phalen, West 7th Street, and West Side. Figure 1. The central area of Saint Paul with neighborhoods identified in their general locations in order to provide a relative sense of their locations in the city. The neighborhood names and their boundaries have evolved from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The names used here are the names used in this context study. The locations on this map are intended to be approximate and may overlap both historic and modern neighborhood boundaries. Griffith Morgan Hopkins, Atlas of the City of St. Paul, Minnesota: from Official Records, Private Plans and Actual Surveys (Philadelphia: J.M. Hopkins, 1884), Index Map, excerpt. Note: the red boundary lines on this 1884 map were used for indexing the original atlas and were not intended to represent neighborhood boundaries. Located at the nominal head of navigation on the Mississippi River, Saint Paul’s growth is intimately tied to the development of transportation, ranging from the early Red River ox cart trails to the extensive railroad network developed in the late nineteenth century. Not only did the various transportation systems influence Saint Paul’s physical growth throughout its history, they supported the city’s commercial and industrial economies. As a result the city became an important transportation hub and regional distribution center for the Upper Midwest region of the United States by the turn of the twentieth century, and Saint Paul continues in that role today. Little functional distinction existed among various land uses in early Saint Paul. Houses were interspersed among the warehouses and other commercial enterprises. As the city developed into a railroad-related commercial and industrial hub, the distinctions became much more Historic Context: Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City 1 Mead & Hunt, Inc. / 2011 prominent. By the mid-1870s distinct residential neighborhoods began to emerge at the edges of the city’s central core, established around the two landings. Many of the neighborhoods discussed in this historic context study were home to the city’s working and middle classes who needed to live close to employment opportunities, particularly in an era before streetcars or, later, automobiles. Several of the neighborhoods were also home to the city’s prominent residents. The neighborhoods included in the historic context study were identified for further study in the 2001 historic context study “Residential Real Estate Development in St. Paul: 1880-1950” because they were “laid out and sold in a less coordinated effort to a less transportation-sensitive clientele,” and did not fit into the post-1880 context of the 2001 study.3 This historic context is organized to provide an examination of the city’s growth and development during two key periods of the nineteenth century: the founding years of 1849 to 1865, and the emergence as a gateway to the northwest from 1866 to 1900. As a result of rapid settlement in the late nineteenth century, these “walking city edge” neighborhoods were densely populated and essentially fully developed by the 1890s. Twentieth century changes to the neighborhoods are mentioned briefly in conclusion, but substantial development of this additional chronological period is beyond the scope of this study. Period of Significance The period of significance for neighborhoods addressed in this historic context study is from 1849, when Saint Paul was incorporated as a town, to 1900, when these neighborhoods were fully developed. This period includes the primary era of growth for these neighborhoods. What is a historic context? To avoid confusion, it is important to clarify that the term “historic context” is used informally to refer to both a document and an understanding of circumstances surrounding an event or property. For example, this document itself is informally termed a “historic context” because it contains a contextual study or understanding of particular circumstances in the history of Saint Paul. As defined by the National Park Service, historic contexts are “those patterns or trends in history by which a specific occurrence, property, or site is understood and its meaning (and ultimately its significance) within history or prehistory is made clear.”4 Contexts are based on a theme, geographic limits, and a chronological period to provide a framework for identifying, evaluating, registering, and treating the full range of properties that represent each historic context. This contextual study focuses primarily on the development of Saint Paul’s neighborhoods that were established between the city’s earliest period of settlement and the turn of the twentieth century, and which were located at the edge of the walking city. Previously completed local historic context studies that are also applicable to these neighborhoods include “Pioneer Houses: 1854- Historic Context: Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City 2 Mead & Hunt, Inc. / 2011 1880,” “Neighborhood Commercial Centers: 1874-1960,” “Downtown Saint Paul: 1849-1975,” “Churches, Synagogues, and Religion Buildings: 1849-1950,” and “Transportation Corridors: 1857-1950.” Locally designated properties The table below identifies properties located in each neighborhood area that have already been recognized and locally designated as Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Sites. Because neighborhood boundaries and names change over time, the association of properties with particular neighborhoods may vary, depending on historic or modern relationships. Locally Designated Properties and Districts, Arranged by General Neighborhood Area Date of local Neighborhood Area Name Address/boundary designation Central Park None Dayton’s Bluff Roughly bounded by Mounds Boulevard to Pine, E. 7th Street to Maple, North Street to Maria, Dayton’s Bluff Maury Street, Greenbrier, 1992 Historic District Beech Street, Hope and Arcade to Conway to Bates, Euclid, and Maple Lexington Park None Payne-Phalen Brunson, Benjamin, 485 Kenny Road 1979 House Church of St. 937 Jessamine Avenue 1985 Casimir Arlington Hills 1105 Greenbrier Street 1985 Branch Library North End Church of St. 197 W. Geranium Avenue 1985 Bernard--Catholic Oakland Cemetery 925-927 Jackson Street 1992 Roughly bounded by Irvine, Grand, Oakland, Summit, 1980, 1985, 1988, Summit-University Historic Hill District Lexington, Portland, Dale, 1991 Dayton to Grotto, and Marshall Historic Context: Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City 3 Mead & Hunt, Inc. / 2011 Locally Designated Properties and Districts, Arranged by General Neighborhood Area Date of local Neighborhood Area Name Address/boundary designation Roughly University Avenue University-Raymond from Hampden Avenue to 2005 Historic District Highway 280 Kellogg, Frank B., 633 Fairmount Avenue 1979 House Old Main, 1600 Grand Avenue (100 1978 Macalester College Macalester Street) Vienna and Earl 682-688 Holly Avenue 1985 Apartment Buildings Luckert, David, 480 Iglehart Street 1979 House St. Joseph's 355 Marshall Avenue 1979 Academy German Presbyterian 311 Ramsey Street 1980 Bethlehem Church Hill, James J., 240 Summit Avenue 1979 House Burbank-Livingston- 432 Summit Avenue 1985 Griggs House Fitzgerald, F. Scott, House (Summit 587-601 Summit Avenue 1979 Terrace) Irvine, Horace Hills, House (Governor’s 1006 Summit Avenue 1979 House) Thomas-Dale St. Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba Railway 23-27 Empire Drive (Jackson Company Shops Street and Pennsylvania 1985 Historic District Avenue) (Jackson Street Shops) Church of St. Agnes 548 Lafond Avenue 1985 West 7th Street Smith Building 225-229 W. 7th Street 1995 Ramsey, Justus, 252 W. 7th Street 1978 Stone House Historic Context: Neighborhoods at the Edge of the Walking City 4 Mead & Hunt, Inc. / 2011 Locally Designated Properties and Districts, Arranged by General Neighborhood Area Date of local Neighborhood Area Name Address/boundary designation Rochat-Louise- 261-277 West 7th Street 1979 Sauerwein Block Armstrong, John M., 225 Eagle Parkway (moved House (Armstrong- 1982 from 233-235 West 5th Street) Quinlan House) Ramsey, Alexander, 265 S. Exchange

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