Union Park | |
---|---|
Nickname: Merriam Park | |
Country | United States |
State | Minnesota |
County | Ramsey |
City | Saint Paul |
Population (2010) [1] | |
• Total | 17,901 |
Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
Area code | 651 |
Website | http://unionparkdc.org/ |
Union Park is a neighborhood in Saint Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Created as a merger of several historic neighborhoods including Merriam Park, Snelling-Hamline, Parts of Midway, Densoyer Park, and Lexington-Hamline, it is bordered by University Avenue on the north, Lexington Parkway on the east, Summit Avenue on the south, and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area on the west. Despite the merger, many of the historic neighborhoods hold onto their original identity, especially in Lexington-Hamline (Locally known as Lexham) and Merriam Park.
The first area of Union Park to be settled is the area known as Merriam Park, named after John L. Merriam, a local real estate investor and entrepreneur. Merriam Park was one of the city's first streetcar suburbs, growing around a depot on what is now the Canadian Pacific Railway's Merriam Park Subdivision. Merriam envisioned the neighborhood, located approximately midway between downtown Saint Paul and downtown Minneapolis, as a natural home for the two cities' elite. Although the area was considered in the late nineteenth century for both the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Minnesota State Capitol, [2] these plans did not come to pass, and the area developed as a home for businessmen and professional workers and their families.
Streetcar lines along Marshall Avenue (which becomes Lake Street in Minneapolis), Selby Avenue, and Snelling Avenue helped propel development in the neighborhood, which grew a tightly knit and largely Catholic community around St. Mark's Church. The neighborhood remained stable into the middle part of the twentieth century, when plans to build a section of Interstate 94 through the neighborhood drew intense community activism. Although the freeway was ultimately built along the original alignment, the fight galvanized the formation of the area's strong neighborhood organizations, many of which continue to operate to this day.
Neighborhood activism against the freeway was focused against plans to construct an interchange for southbound Interstate 94 at Prior Avenue, a largely residential street at the center of the district which fronted parks, schools, and St. Mark's Church. Because of the area's upper-middle class character, the neighborhood was more successful in pushing its goals than the Rondo and Prospect Park neighborhoods to the east and west, respectively, both of which were largely inhabited by people of more mixed socioeconomic status. Local leaders enlisted to help fight the interchange included Archbishop William Brady and Senators Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
Until 2007, the area was divided into three neighborhood organizations which represented areas substantially smaller than those represented by most of the other 16 district councils. In order to provide more equitable funding citywide, the three neighborhoods were merged into one entity, which took the name Union Park. The nonprofit which represents Union Park today retains substantial representation from these previous groups, most of which remain active.
The original Union Park was a large recreational area located at the intersection of University and Lynnhurst Avenues in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [3] Also known as Lake Iris Park, [4] it opened in 1880 shortly after the completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad's "Short Line" route. The grounds of the park included a bowling alley, bandstand, dance hall, carousel, zoo and observation tower. By 1884 the amusement park had closed, and the property was divided into residential lots. The resulting neighborhood was also called Union Park. [5] All that remains of Lake Iris is the present-day Iris Park, a small public space with an artificial pond. [3]
The METRO Green Line light rail, which opened on June 14, 2014, serves the neighborhood with stops on University Avenue at Fairview Avenue, Snelling Avenue, Hamline Avenue, and Lexington Parkway. The A Line bus rapid transit system also runs along Snelling Avenue through the district.
Nicollet Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Richfield, Bloomington, and Burnsville in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It passes through a number of locally well-known neighborhoods and districts, notably Eat Street in south Minneapolis and the traffic-restricted Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.
The Metro Green Line is an 11-mile (18 km) light rail line that connects the central business districts of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota as well as the University of Minnesota. An extension is under construction that will extend the line to the southwest connecting St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. The line follows the path of former Metro Transit bus route 16 along University Avenue and Washington Avenue. It is the second light-rail line in the region, after the Blue Line, which opened in 2004 and connects Minneapolis with the southern suburb of Bloomington.
University Avenue is a street that runs through both Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. It begins near the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul and extends westward into neighboring Minneapolis, where it passes the University of Minnesota, and then turns north to pass through several suburbs before its main portion ends in Blaine, Minnesota, although there are stretches of road designated as University Avenue that are north of the Blaine terminus, the final stretch ending near Andree, Minnesota. For many years, the road carried U.S. Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 52, and University Avenue is still a significant thoroughfare in the area.
Lake Street is a major east-west thoroughfare between 29th and 31st streets in Minneapolis, Minnesota United States. From its western most end at the city's limits, Lake Street reaches the Chain of Lakes, passing over a small channel linking Bde Maka Ska and Lake of the Isles, and at its eastern most end it reaches the Mississippi River. In May 2020, the Lake Street corridor suffered extensive damage during local unrest over the murder of George Floyd. In August of the same year, city officials designated East Lake Street as one of seven cultural districts to promote racial equity, preserve cultural identity, and promote economic growth.
Interstate 35E (I-35E) is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Minnesota, passing through downtown Saint Paul. It is one of two through routes for I-35 through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the other being I-35W through Minneapolis. Thus, both ends of I-35E are shared with I-35W and I-35.
The Villager, formerly the Highland Villager, is a Saint Paul, Minnesota newspaper. It was founded by Barry Prichard and Arnold Hed in 1953 as the Highland Villager, after Saint Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, and is the oldest community newspaper in the Twin Cities. It was the first paper to be distributed in both of the Twin Cities; Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In 2007 it absorbed a sister paper, Avenues.
Minnesota State Highway 51 is a 11.274-mile-long (18.144 km) highway in Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 5 in Saint Paul and continues north to its northern terminus at its interchange with Interstate 694 / U.S. Highway 10 in Arden Hills.
Longfellow is a defined community in Minneapolis, Minnesota which includes five smaller neighborhoods inside of it: Seward, Cooper, Hiawatha, Howe and Longfellow. The community is a mix of agri-industrial properties along the old Northern Pacific Railway, expansive parkland surrounding the famous Minnehaha Falls, and smaller residential areas.
Minneapolis is the largest city by population in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The origin and growth of the city was spurred by the proximity of Fort Snelling, the first major United States military presence in the area, and by its location on Saint Anthony Falls, which provided power for sawmills and flour mills.
Ayd Mill Road is a road in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It runs diagonally through Saint Paul, connecting with Interstate 35E at its southeast terminus, and feeds into Selby Avenue at its northwest end. Indirect access to I-94 is possible via Selby and Snelling Avenues. Originally known as the Short Line Road, it was renamed in 1987 for John Ayd, a German settler who maintained a mill and residence in the area in the mid-to-late 19th century.
The Riverview Corridor is a transit corridor connecting Downtown Saint Paul and the Mall of America in Bloomington via the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. The corridor serves an area from the Saint Paul Union Depot to the Mall via parts of the Metro Green Line and the Metro Blue Line, and a route running parallel to West 7th Street, which runs southwest from Downtown Saint Paul. The corridor creates a triangle connecting opposite ends of the Blue Line and Green Line.
Waite Park is a neighborhood in the Northeast community in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are 37th Avenue NE to the north, NE Stinson Boulevard to the East, Saint Anthony Parkway to the south, and NE Central Avenue to the west. It is the furthest northeast neighborhood within Minneapolis. The neighborhood is within Minneapolis's first ward and falls under the jurisdiction of the second precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Saint Paul, Minnesota, consists of 17 officially defined city districts or neighborhoods.
Dayton's Bluff is a neighborhood located on the east side of the Mississippi River in the southeast part of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota which has a large residential district on the plateau extending backward from its top. The name of the bluff commemorates Lyman Dayton, for whom a city in Hennepin County was also named. On the edge of the southern and highest part of Dayton's Bluff, in Indian Mounds Park, is a series of seven large aboriginal mounds, 4 to 18 feet high, that overlook the river and the central part of the city.
Saint Paul is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the county seat of Ramsey County, and the state capital of Minnesota. The origin and growth of the city were spurred by the proximity of Fort Snelling, the first major United States military installation in the area, as well as by the city's location on the northernmost navigable port of the Upper Mississippi River.
Selby Avenue is a street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that runs east–west from Summit Avenue near downtown toward the Mississippi River. The street runs through the Summit-University and Union Park neighborhoods. The street, especially between Dale Street and Snelling Avenue, has been associated with Saint Paul's black community. The far eastern end of the street has historically been more densely developed and architecturally significant.
The Metro A Line is a bus rapid transit line in the Twin Cities, Minnesota operated by Metro Transit. The A Line operates primarily along the Snelling Avenue corridor and travels through the cities of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Falcon Heights, and Roseville. From the Blue Line in Minneapolis, the line travels past Minnehaha Park, through the Highland Village commercial area, past Macalester College, and connects to the Green Line near Allianz Field. The line continues through Saint Paul, past Hamline University, before traveling through Falcon Heights and Roseville, where the line passes the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, Har Mar Mall, and terminates at Rosedale Center.
The Metro B Line is an under construction bus rapid transit route in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The route will operate mostly on Lake Street in Minneapolis before crossing the Mississippi River into St. Paul and operating mostly on Selby Avenue and ending in downtown St. Paul. The route was identified in Metro Transit's 2014 Arterial Transitway Corridors Study as one of eleven local routes to be upgraded to bus rapid transit. The route will have "train-like" features to speed up service, such as signal priority, all-door boarding, further stop spacing, and specialized vehicles. Planning and design was completed in 2021, with construction beginning in May 2023. The line will join a number of Metro Transit's future Metro system lines, as well as the currently operating A Line, C Line, and D Line. Full funding for the line was secured in October 2020 with a final $35 million from the state of Minnesota.