Prospect Park is a historic

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

within the University community of the U.S. city of

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. The area is bounded by the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

to the south, the City of

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

to the east, the

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

yard to the north, and the

Stadium Village Stadium Village is an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota near the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. While not an official neighborhood of Minneapolis, the area is an important commercial district that serves university students with man ...

commercial district of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

to the west. The neighborhood is composed of several districts which include the East River Road area. The 1913

Prospect Park Water Tower The Prospect Park Water Tower, sometimes referred to as the Witch's Hat Water Tower, is a historic water tower in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1913 on Tower Hill Park, a hilltop park e ...

is a landmark and neighborhood icon. An urban village once served by streetcar, Prospect Park is now a combination of multiple districts and uses. People live in single-family homes on

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher grou ...

, as well as apartment housing in the western districts. Estate homes of the early to mid 20th century line East River Road. The ''SouthEast Industrial Area'' (SEMI) in the north contains light manufacturing, rail yards and remnant grain silos.

University Avenue A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

houses a mix of retail and restaurant businesses from the Stadium Village area. The entire core of the neighborhood was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2015 as the Prospect Park Residential Historic District for its significance in the theme of social history. It was nominated for its cohesive community spirit, developed—despite the neighborhood's hilly terrain and diverse housing stock—through such innovations as Minneapolis's first

community association A community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participation m ...

History

In 1874 real estate tycoon

Louis F. Menage Louis Francois Menage (August 3, 1850 – March 18, 1924) was a real estate Speculation, speculator and prominent figure in early Minneapolis, Minnesota history. Born in Rhode Island, he settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Characterized as a "tycoon ...

began plotting new subdivisions along Minneapolis's southern boundaries. Menage petitioned the City Council to accept his Prospect Park plats in 1884. Construction lasted into the 1910s as topography and geographic isolation made building difficult. Houses were designed in the popular architectural styles of the period, especially the Queen Anne and the

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

styles. The Minneapolis Board of Education constructed the Sidney Pratt Elementary School in 1898.

Thomas Lowry Thomas Lowry (February 27, 1843 – February 4, 1909) was an American lawyer, real-estate magnate, and businessman who oversaw much of the early growth of the streetcar lines in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding com ...

's interurban commuter train served the neighborhood with its stop at Malcolm Avenue until eventually the intercity line between Saint Paul and Minneapolis along University Avenue was opened. The

Franklin Avenue Bridge The Franklin Avenue Bridge, officially the F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge, carries Franklin Avenue over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was designed by Frederick William Cappelen, assisted by Kristoffer Olsen Oustad, both ...

also eventually carried a line.

Tower Hill

(established 1906), which is the site of the

, is often cited as the city's highest point and a placard denotes the highest elevation at , but a spot at in or near Deming Heights Park in

Northeast Minneapolis Northeast is a defined community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis that is composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods whose street addresses end in "NE". Unofficially it also includes the neighborhoods of the University community which have "NE" addre ...

is corroborated by Google Earth as the highest ground. The Tower, designed by Frederick William Cappelen, is listed on the

Demographics

The neighborhood is demographically diverse.

extending south to the river contains families and retired empty-nesters. The Glendale Housing project southeast of 27th Avenue SE and University Avenue SE contains 700 families with the average household income slightly above $9,000 and 32% of residents living at or below the poverty level. On the former industrial areas of the west and north are newer student housing apartment buildings for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Race

* White 52.4% * Black 11.0% * American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3% * Asian 27.0% * Other 0.4% * Two or more 4.6%

Ethnicity

* Not hispanic or Latino 96.6% * Hispanic or Latino 4.4%

Government

Prospect Park is entirely within Minneapolis's Ward 2, currently represented by

Cam Gordon Cameron A. Gordon (born 1955) is an American politician who was a Green Party of the United States, Green Party member of the Minneapolis City Council from 2006 to 2022. He was a co-founder of the Green Party of Minnesota and was called "the mos ...

on the

Minneapolis City Council The Minneapolis City Council is the lawmaking body of Minneapolis. It consists of 13 members, elected from separate wards to four-year terms, via a ranked-choice method. The council structure has been in place since the 1950s. In recent elections ...

. The neighborhood association
PPERRIA
founded in 1901, is the oldest neighborhood association in the city of Minneapolis.

Arts and culture

The neighborhood has an annual "Ice Cream Social," a get-together for the neighborhood with food, music and other entertainment. It is the one time of year when the interior of the

is opened to the public, allowing for a panoramic view of Minneapolis from the top. Near the south end of the neighborhood on Bedford Street is the

Malcolm Willey House The Malcolm Willey House is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built in 1934. Wright named the house "Gardenwall". Malcolm Willey was an administrator at the Univ ...

, designed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

and named after a University administrator. The historic significance of the house played a large part in preventing its destruction when

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

was built in the 1950s. The current goal of the neighborhood is to establish an "urban-village" feel — that is, a somewhat self-contained feel in the context of a larger city. Prospect Park also has a few surviving houses from the 19th century. The neighborhood is home to two community centers, Pratt Elementary School and Luxton Park.

Gallery

Image:KSTP Studio.jpg, Entrance to the KSTP- AM- FM- TV studios on University Avenue. The sidewalk leading to the building lies precisely on the city line, as does the central leg of the tower.

References

External links

Prospect Park East River Road neighborhood of Minneapolis''The Bridge'' newspaper
{{Geographic Location , Center = Prospect Park , North =

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

, Northeast = , East =

, Southeast = , South =

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

, Southwest = Seward , West =

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, Northwest = Neighborhoods in Minneapolis Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis