History

Early Development
Two of the village's landowners and five businessmen from Minneapolis created the St. Louis Park Land and Improvement Company, the city's first developer. In 1886 and 1887, they platted three subdivisions.

In 1890, lumber baron Thomas Barlow Walker and a group of wealthy Minneapolis industrialists incorporated the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company to focus industrial development in Minneapolis. Walker's company also began developing St. Louis Park for industrial, commercial and residential use.

Generally, development progressed outward from the original village center at the intersection of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad (now CP Rail) with Wooddale Avenue. However, this concentric pattern wasn't strong and was overtaken by Minneapolis expansion. By 1883, the western boundary of Minneapolis was at France Avenue. The Minneapolis city boundary may have continued to expand westward had it not been for St. Louis Park's 1886 incorporation.

In August, 1886, 31 people signed a petition asking county commissioners to incorporate the Village of St. Louis Park. The petition was officially registered on November 19, 1886. By incorporating, these citizens hoped to turn this small community into a boom town.

Around 1890, the village had more than 600 industrial jobs, the majority associated with agriculture implement manufacturing.

By 1893, the downtown area of St. Louis Park had three hotels and many newly arrived companies surrounded the downtown. The financial panic of 1893 altered the developers plans and put a damper on the village's growth. Walker left St. Louis Park to pursue other business ventures.

In 1899, St. Louis Park became the home to the world's first concrete, tubular grain elevator and provided an alternative to combustible wooden elevators. Despite the nickname of "Peavey's Folly" and dire predictions that the elevator would burst like a balloon when the grain was drawn off, the experiment worked and concrete elevators have been used ever since. You can still see this former grain elevator (which is now on the Historic Landmark Register). It's the tall "chimney-like" structure near Highway 7 and 100. View Grain Elevator.

***Photo's courtesy of the Historical Society***

From Village to City
The postwar boom in industry and population overwhelmed the part-time village government. The village had an outmoded zoning ordinance, no comprehensive development plan and no staff to even begin making one. The form of government that was adequate to serve 7,000 people bogged down and broke as the population boomed.

In 1954, voters approved a home rule charter that gave St. Louis Park the status of a city. That action enabled St. Louis Park to hire a city manager to assume some of the duties handled by the part-time city council.

In those days, the primary concerns were the physical planning of St. Louis Park, updating zoning and construction codes, expanding sewer and water systems, paving streets, acquiring park land and building schools.

Today, most of St. Louis Park is developed, and much of the focus has shifted from building infrastructure to improving it. St. Louis Park actively encourages quality redevelopment and is a recognized leader in redevelopment aimed at creating livable communities, areas that are less reliant on cars and offer a mix of housing, shopping, entertainment and jobs within a short distance of one another.

For more information on the city's history and development, visit www.slphistory.org.

Historical Society & Depot
The St. Louis Park Historical Society collects, preserves and shares knowledge about St. Louis Park's history. Its collection of historical documents is housed in the Depot in Jorvig Park, 37th and Brunswick. The Depot, which was built by the Milwaukee Road railroad in 1887, is open to visitors from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays throughout the summer or by appointment.

Volunteers staff a desk at Lenox Community Center several days each week. Visitors can drop by during the hours listed below or call (952) 924-2550 and leave a message which will be returned by a Historical Society volunteer. Lenox is located at 6715 Minnetonka Boulevard.

Historical Society Desk Hours -

• Mondays 10 a.m. to noon
• Thursday 10 a.m. to noon
• Information
• Newsletter
• St. Louis Park Historical Society web site