Northeast, Minneapolis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Northeast | |
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| Nickname: Nordeast, Old St. Anthony | |
| Motto: Making History Again | |
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| County | Hennepin |
| City | Minneapolis |
| Elevation | 866 ft (264 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Total | 36,913 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 55413, 55414, 55418, 55421 |
| Area code(s) | 612 |
| Website: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/ | |
Northeast is a defined community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods, the local community generally extends the official boundary to include neighborhoods bordering the Mississippi River south of East Hennepin Avenue which is officially grouped with the University community. Northeast may also commonly refer to its origins at Old Saint Anthony (officially the Nicollet Island/East Bank neighborhood) which is the oldest settlement in the city and a commercial retail area on the river's east bank, across from Downtown Minneapolis.
The modern Northeast extends to commercial districts stretching along major north-east corridors including University Avenue, Central Avenue, East Hennepin Avenue, Broadway Avenue, and Stinson and New Brighton Boulevards towards the city limits. Blending a heritage of old architecture, classic housing, bustling commercial streets, and industrial work centers, along with new residential high-rises, suburban cul-de-sacs, big-box retail, and a popular art scene, Northeast offers diverse amenities as part bedroom neighborhood and job center for the City of Minneapolis. The prominent features of Northeast include ornate Eastern European influenced churches and massive grain silos and mills, both of which are visible in the landscape. Mostly built around the late 18th to early 19th century, these structures shadow the landscape of modest Victorians and four story apartments.
Formerly known as the City of Saint Anthony before it was annexed into Minneapolis, Northeast is sometimes referred to as Nordeast, reflecting the history of northern and eastern European immigrants and their language influence.
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[edit] History
In 1848, Franklin Steele purchased the land that would become St. Anthony and with the help of Ard Godfrey built the first commercial mill at Saint Anthony Falls on the east bank. This place marked the original northernmost navigable point of the Mississippi River. The falls provided a dependable power source and soon many mills had been constructed there and the nickname "Mill City" was born. The land west of the Mississippi was opened for settlement in 1852, and when people started settling it, St. Anthony found it had a competitor across the river. St Anthony was incorporated in 1855, 12 years before its neighbor Minneapolis. St Anthony and Minneapolis existed as separate cities until 1872 when they agreed to merge under the name of Minneapolis. The former St. Anthony became Northeast Minneapolis and a township north of the city incorporated the name St. Anthony.
Northeast has undergone several reinvestment periods of infrastructure. In the 1970s, as the area approached nearly a hundred years of settlement earlier than the rest of the city, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program assisted residents and businesses to utilize grants and loans to complete construction, alteration or improvement projects and the city invested in new streets and urban landscaping. The next few decades carried massive condo development which echoed the rising architecture in downtown Minneapolis.
The area also has a history of historic preservation. In the 1960s, a proposal to build a freeway through the area was fought. The proposed freeway, Interstate 335, would I-94 in north Minneapolis to I-35W north of the University of Minnesota. Land was bought and cleared with residents relocating before the project was finally defeated by local residents and activists. Ultimately new housing and industrial buildings were built on the cleared land. Soon after, a historic preservation district was enacted on the site of the Pillsbury A Mill, stretching east to nearby Marcy Holmes.
[edit] Geography
Northeast Minneapolis is defined a number of different ways. The official defined Community of Northeast, made up of 13 official neighborhoods, is the basis for statistical analysis and City Council Ward boundaries, and is used as part of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, by which money is funneled directly by the city and state to neighborhood groups for neighborhood projects. The Northeast Community is bounded by the city limits of Minneapolis on the north and east, by the Mississippi River on the west, and irregularly by a combination of streets and rail lines on the south (in the southeast, it is bounded by the Northeast Industrial Park, which is not a part of any community). It does not include the Old St Anthony business district, which is entirely located within the University community.
The name "Northeast" originally came from the city’s street-naming system. Streets suffixed “North,” “South,” “East,” and “West” are all located west of the Mississippi River, while streets east of the river are suffixed “Northeast” and “Southeast.” The dividing line between these two suffixes is East Hennepin Avenue. Again, Northeast under this scheme does not include all of the Old St Anthony business district, as much of that (including landmarks such as Nye’s Polonaise Room) are on the “Southeast” side of that street. This is, however, the definition used by the Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce[1]
The Northeaster, the longest-established community newspaper in the area, serves not only Northeast Minneapolis, but neighboring suburbs of Columbia Heights, Hilltop, and St Anthony.
Finally, many people refer to the business district of Old St Anthony neighborhood as Northeast. The business association changed its name from the Old St Anthony Association to the NorthEast Business Association in 2007[2], which confusingly is also the former name of the Northeast Chamber of Commerce [3]
[edit] Heritage
Northeast Minneapolis has been a traditionally working class area populated by immigrants of Polish, Italian, Finnish, German, and Russian descent that were drawn into the area first by employment opportunities that the grain mills and sawmills along the river offered, and later by rail and factory jobs across the city. By 1930, immigrants made up nearly 60% of Northeast's total population. European immigrants had a profound influence on the cultural life of Minneapolis. The names of local businesses still bear the mark of the area's large Eastern European population; for example, Surdyk's Liquors and Kramarczuk's Sausages are still doing business and thriving after half a century of existence. Northeast Minneapolis also became known for its large number of churches, including Minneapolis's first church, Our Lady of Lourdes Church built on land donated by Pierre Bottineau and founded in 1849 as the First Universalist Society. As numerous as the churches were the neighborhood bars, which are still a prominent feature of the community.
[edit] Demographics
In recent years, the demographics of Northeast have changed, the population becoming younger and more diverse, while retaining a stable base of old "Nordeast" families, often in their third or fourth generation. Students attending the nearby University of Minnesota frequently rent and many have settled. African Americans have migrated from the north side to Northeast's more stable neighborhoods and affordable housing opportunities. New immigrant groups (Somalis and Latin Americans) of a variety of nationalities have continued the tradition of Northeast as a haven for immigrants. Seventy-nine percent of housing in the area is owner occupied which has continued to contribute to the stability of neighborhoods.
[edit] Economy
Northeast has long been a blue-collar part of the Twin Cities. Its industrial base has shrunk, but it remains a major part of the area's economy. Major industrial facilities in Northeast include Canadian Pacific Railway's Shoreham Yards, Burlington Northern's rail yards, fluid handling systems manufacturer Graco's world headquarters, Xcel Energy's Riverside power plant, and a Honeywell Aerospace plant. Some of the industrial infrastructure is now being converted to residential or commercial use; for instance, Uppercut Boxing Gym, which occupies several thousand square feet of previously vacant warehouse space on Quincy Avenue.
Starting in the late 1990s, restaurants and shops catering to an audience outside the long-established local population have re-energized many business districts in Northeast Minneapolis. These newer businesses often operate side by side with older establishments from the earlier era (for example long-time Northeast institutions Nye's Polonaise Room and Kramarczuk's Sausage Company in the Old St Anthony district sit near more recent arrivals Punch Pizza, Chipotle, and the Times bar).
Other shopping districts in Northeast with significant new energy from newer restaurants, boutiques, and galleries are 13th Avenue between 2nd Street and 4th Street (the commercial heart of the Arts District) and the 29th Avenue and Johnson Street area.
The new orientation of Northeast Minneapolis to welcome "outsiders" is perhaps best seen in the 1991 Hennepin Avenue Bridge. The new suspension bridge is Styled after the first permanent bridge across the Mississippi River (at the same site), also a suspension bridge.
In the mid-2000s, a new housing pattern emerged as several loft and condominium projects sprouted, most of them within the Arts District.
The stretch of Central Avenue between 18th Avenue and 27th Avenue is more mixed in its redevelopment. Since 2000, several major new mixed-use developments have been made (and more are in development), and many new restaurants, mostly featuring foreign cuisines, have joined an already eclectic mix. Specialty food markets are also a major feature of the area, including major Latin American, South Asian, and Middle Eastern markets and the Eastside Food Co-op. However, many retail spaces continue to alternate between vacancy and short-lived retail, and much of the older physical infrastructure has become run down. The revitalization has also spread into neighboring Columbia Heights. Much of which can be attributed to the Heights Theater. Some new coffee shops and eateries have popped up on the Minneapolis side of 37th Avenue NE.
The Johnson Street Quarry, an abandoned brownfield site bounded by Johnson Street on the west, 18th Avenue on the north, New Brighton Boulevard on the east, and I-35W on the south, was remediated in 1996 and the Quarry Shopping Center opened a year later with big box stores such as Rainbow Foods, Target and Home Depot.[4][5][6]
[edit] Arts
In the past decades, Northeast has developed an artist community. Galleries and studios now occupy many historic industrial buildings including the The Northrup King Building. The structure started in 1917 for the Northrup-King & Co. seed company and finally comprised 10 interconnected buildings that shipped seeds across the United States. Now, it is the home of over 135 tenants, including 100 artists and including small business and nonprofit organizations. Other buildings with large numbers of art and design related tenants include the Grain Belt Brewery complex, the California Building, Thorp Building, the 2010 Artblok, and the Casket Arts Building.
The recent arts influence is expressed by "Art-A-Whirl", an art crawl the third week of May that has existed for 10 years, encompassing 400 art studios.[7] The Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (or NEMAA), which runs Art-A-Whirl, was instrumental in establishing the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, bounded by Central Avenue, Broadway, the Mississippi River and Lowry Ave.
[edit] Media
- Northeast Beat online only
- The Northeaster bimonthly newspaper covering Hilltop, Columbia Heights, St. Anthony and Northeast
[edit] Sources and external links
- Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce
- NorthEast
- NorthEast Minneapolis Arts Association
- Northrup King Arts
- Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association
- Minneapolis Library
- Minneapolis Library: Minneapolis history
- ^ community profile sponsored by the Northeast Chamber
- ^ Stratton, Jeremy. "What’s in a name? Old St. Anthony or East Bank", Twin Cities Daily Planet, 2007-06-29. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
- ^ Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce | About Us
- ^ brownfields reclamation and land recycling. Sprawl Watch (1998).
- ^ Dirk Deyoung Staff Reporter (Friday, November 28, 1997). Small retail centers are flourishing, Big-box boom is waning. Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.
- ^ [http://northeastbeat.com/2007/10/15/windom-park-to-discuss-quarry-agreements/ Windom Park to review Quarry agreements at meeting Posted on October 15th, 2007]
- ^ Art-A-Whirl website
[edit] Official neighborhoods of Northeast community
- Audubon Park
- Beltrami
- Bottineau
- Columbia Park
- Holland
- Logan Park
- Marshall Terrace
- Northeast Park
- St. Anthony East
- St. Anthony West
- Sheridan
- Waite Park
- Windom Park
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