The North End is a neighborhood in

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The neighborhood was built around Rice Street and is often referred to by that name. It is bounded by Larpenteur Avenue on the north, the

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

tracks to the south, Dale Street to the west, and Interstate 35E to the east.

History

European settlement of the neighborhood began in the 1840s. In 1849, Edmund Rice purchased a large tract of land in the vicinity of modern Cayuga Street and Interstate 35E for an estate he called Trout Brook. Beginning in 1857, Edmund Rice helped to establish and build the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad through his property, which forms the southern border of the North End. Other railroads began to encircle the neighborhood in the 1880s, including the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by 38th United States Congress, Congress in 1864 and given ...

tracks running north of Maryland Avenue and the Soo Line, today the path of the Trout Brook Regional Trail. These railroads drove settlement in the southern part of the neighborhood. Large employers located along the railroad corridor, including the

Jackson Street Roundhouse The Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM, reporting mark MNTX) is a transportation museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. MTM operates several heritage transportation sites in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin. The museum is actively involv ...

and the former Saint Paul Foundry, now the Empire Builder Business Park. Rice Street, which had its origins in rough trails used by the fur trade, gradually became a major commercial and transportation corridor, with

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

and later electric

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

service as far north as Ivy Avenue. These brought development further north into the neighborhood, although areas north of Maryland Avenue remained substantially undeveloped until the mid-to-late 20th century. The neighborhood became a traditional entry point for successive waves of immigrants to Saint Paul, including Romanians, Bohemians, Hungarians, Irish, and especially southern Germans. The area south of Maryland Avenue around the St. Bernard's Church became known as "Little Bavaria" for its many German residents and businesses. Like many urban neighborhoods, the North End experienced decline in the second half of the twentieth century due to

White Flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

and concentrated poverty. New waves of immigrants replaced the descendants of previous generations, including substantial numbers of

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ton ...

, Somali, and

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

refugees. Today the North End is one of Saint Paul's poorest and most diverse neighborhoods. Substantial efforts by local government aimed at revitalizing the area are ongoing.

References

{{Saint Paul neighborhoods Asian-American culture in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Hmong-American culture in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Neighborhoods in Saint Paul, Minnesota Populated places established in the 19th century