1

I

The Wedge Neighborhood q/Minneapolis
Lowry Hill East Historic Context Study
Prepared for the
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association
(LHENA)
by
Carole Zellie
Landscape Research LLC
St. Paul, MN
2005
The Wedge Neighborhood of Minneapolis
Lowry Hill East Historic Context Study
Prepared for the
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(LHENA)
by
Carole Zellie
Landscape Research LLC
St. Paul, MN
2005
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Contents
Management Summary
Recommendations
Introduction
1
2
3
Chapter 1 4
The Golden Age of Minneapolis and the Wedge Neighborhood: ca. 1882-1910
Chapter 2
New Houses for the Minneapolis Middle Class, ca. 1882-1910 9
Chapter 3
Apartment Buildings 24
Chapter 4
Non-Residential Land Uses 29
Chapter 5 31
The 1920s and Beyond
Sources Consulted 33
Unless noted, historic photographs are from the Minnesota Historical Society. Confer Collection photos at
the Hennepin County History Museum are noted (HCH).
Cover: George H Cook House, 2219 Bryant Ave. S., in ca. 1896
I
City of Minneapolis
Neighborhoods and Communities
The Wedge (arrow). Map source: City of Minneapolis, 2005.
Management Summary
The Wedge neighborhood, or Lowry Hill East, occupies a 50-block near-triangle formed by Lake Street and
Franklin Avenue, and Hennepin and Lyndale avenues. Today' s neighborhood is the result of rapid growth
during a 30-year period; nearly all streets were platted by 1882 and, with the exception of apartment
buildings, most of the area's housing was completed by 1910.
This study focuses primarily on residential development of the Wedge. The history and significance of the Lake
Street and Lyndale and Hennepin avenue commercial corridors should be evaluated within the context of
their larger patterns of commercial development. Previously completed local historic context studies
applicable to the Wedge include "Street Railways, 1873-1954," " eighborhood Commercial Centers, 1885-
1963," and "South Minneapolis."
The Wedge remains a densely-built urban neighborhood that still embodies three of the primary themes of
Minneapolis real estate and architectural development at the tum of the 20th century. Within its eight-block
length from Lake Street to Franklin Avenue, it contains a dense middle-class quarter, with high-styled
Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses dating from ca. 1886-191 O; a section of vernacular worker's
houses of many descriptions dating from ca. 1882 to 1900; and a collection of masonry apartment
buildings of several popular types dating from ca. 1900-1930. Dense commercial zones at the southern
comers of the neighborhood-at Lake Street and at Hennepin and Lyndale avenues- include a number of
architecturally significant properties and have been evaluated in other recent studies.
Beginning in the mid- l 880s, the Wedge captured a good portion of the city' s residential real estate energy.
At the northern edge, the high-quality buildings in the Sunnyside and Lyndale Avenue additions was created
by a group of master builders and architects working for clients exemplary of the city' s growing middle
class. Builders included Theron P. Healy, Preston C. Richardson, and Henry Ingham; William Kenyon,
Warren B. Dunnell, and Harry W. Jones were among the neighborhood's architects. Worker's housing to the
south is representative of the variety of plan book designs popular in the 1880s and 1890s, and early owners
or tenants illustrate part of the city's pattern of employment and ethnicity. A number of the Wedge's early
apartment houses are representative of the styles and types popular with a tum-of-the-century "luxury
market." while later apartments housed an expanding workforce of that included many single office and
retail workers as well as small fami lies.
The Wedge is bordered by the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul (CM & St P) Railroad along W. 29th Street;
it is now a recreational corridor. This line was built in 1884 and attracted milling and manufacturing
industries along its length and shaped the character of nearby housing. The CM & St P became the focus of a
controversial grade separation project in 1912 that added nine bridges to the Wedge neighborhood.
Residential construction in the Wedge reflects many cycles of boom and bust, including the Panic of 1893
and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The collection of several dozen 1960s and 1970s apartment
buildings-some nearly a half-block long- are testament to a 1963 rezoning that encouraged the destruction
of more than 100 houses. The past thirty years of community interest in the revitalization of the many
remaining historic houses has resulted in reversals of past poor maintenance and exterior alterations.
Restoration of the feeling of the earlier streetscape of busy avenues lined with tree-shaded yards and open
porches is evident throughout the area.
Period of Significance: ca. 1882-1930
This study suggests that the neighborhood's period of significance is ca. 1882-1930, extending from the
earliest houses built in newly-platted parcels to apartment construction at the beginning of the Depression.
simil'.11" of high-styled and vernacular houses can be found throughout south Minneapolis,
certam areas w1thm this compact neighborhood are particularly distinctive because of their streetscapes of
high-styled houses dating from the mid- l 880s to ca. 1910. This community can be documented by federal
census and city directories to create a picture of early investment in the area that connects to the surge of
residential in Minneapolis, one encouraged by industrial and commercial growth, an expanding
workforce, mvestment m streetcar expansion, and public works. These sources also document the
subdivision of many large houses into smaller units during the early years of the Depression.
Historic Context Study Recommendations
Thi s historic context study was coordinated with an historic resources inventory conducted by consultants
Mead & Hunt. Further evaluation of the historic context study and the inventory findings can assist in
determining which properties and areas warrant further evaluation for potential historic designation.
The context study suggests that the Sunnyside and Lyndale Avenue additions north of W. 25th streets, and
the apartment zone along Franklin Avenue and at the Hennepin intersection are of particular interest for
further study for potential local historic designation. Apartment buildings, especially those on Franklin and
Hennepin, are of interest because of their relationship to the early-twentieth century apartment construction
that was focused in the zone between Loring Hill, Lowry Hill, Stevens Square, and the Wedge. In addition,
there are many individual properties representative of high-styled as well as vernacular architecture located
throughout the area. Those that retain a good level of historic integrity, and link to the themes noted above,
should also be the subject of further study and evaluation for potential local hi storic designation.
J. G. Gluek House, 244 7 81yant Ave. S. ( 1902); photo 2005.
listed on the National Register of Historic Places and
Local(v designated by the Minneapolis Heritage Presenation
Commission.
Lowiy Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Srudy
2
Introduction
The Wedge Neighborhood a/Minneapolis
Historic Context Study
Historic contexts provide a framework for evaluating hi storic resources relative to specific themes,
timeframes, and locations. They are useful for many types of preservation planning, including National
Register of Historic Places designation, and typically accompany or precede historic resources inventories
and evaluation and designation studies. In spring 2005 consultants Mead & Hunt conducted a concurrent
historic resources inventory of the Wedge. Building permit and other information collected for the inventory
was consulted in the context study, and the inventory results contributed to the historic context
recommendations in this report.
This historic context study describes the development of the 50-block area known variously as Lowry HilJ
East or the Wedge. Its boundaries correspond to those of the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association
(LHENA). Situated close to the southern edge of downtown Minneapolis and bounded by Franklin Avenue
on the north, Lyndale Avenue at the east, Hennepin Avenue at the west, and Lake Street at the south, most
residential development was completed between ca. 1882 and 1910, with apartment construction continuing
until ca. 1930.
The Wedge occupies part of the backslope of Lowry Hill, a feature called the " Devi ls Backbone" in late
19th-century accounts. The series of forested ridges that rose from the swampy area around Johnson's Lake
(later Loring Pond) provided post-Civi l War builders with good potential building sites, but extensive
building was discouraged by steep grades as well as distance from the downtown area near the Falls of St.
Anthony. By the 1880s, with planning for streetcar extension and real estate development underway, Thomas
Lowry and others began extensive grading that recontoured the hills for building lots. In 1969, much of the
topographical outline of the hill just north of the Wedge was bisected by I-94, thus severing the connection
with the Loring Park area.
Sources
Standard works on the early history of South Minneapolis include John H. Stevens' Personal Recollections
of Minnesota and its People and Early History of Minneapolis ( 1890); Issac Atwater and Col. John H.
Stevens, History of Minneapolis and Hennepin County (1895) and Marion D. Shutter, History of
Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest (1923). Sociologist Calvin F. Schmid's Social Saga of the Twin
Cities analyzed the city from sociological and economic perspectives. John G. Rice, "The Old-Stock
Americans," in June D. Holmquist, ed. , They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups
(1981) is useful for understanding the backgrounds of some of the early homebuilders of the Wedge.
Lanegran and Sandeen 's The Lake District of Minneapolis (1979); Trimble's Jn the Shadow of the City; and
Berlowe et. al., Reflections in Loring Pond ( 1986) provide excellent information. The Hennepin Hi story
Museum's Confer Collection and the Minnesota Historical Society Visual Archives also contain many
photographs of this and surrounding areas. Aerial views, ca. 1928- 1950, and a variety of planning studies
conducted by the Minneapolis Planning Department in the 1960s and 1970s were also consulted.
Real estate sections of the Minneapolis Journal, particularly articles and advertisements for lots, houses. and
apartments, provide much of the story of the housing and community development of the Wedge between ca.
1890 and 1930. Hennepin County and Minneapolis maps and atlases (ca. 1860-2000), City of Minneapolis
building permits, Minneapolis city directories, and the Dual City Bluebook were also consulted. The Lake
and W. 29th street area has been the subject of several historic studies including the "Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railroad Grade Separation National Register District" (2004).
Lowiy Hill East Neighborhood Associa1ion / Wedge Hisroric Context Srudy
3
Chapter 1
The Golden Age of Minneapolis and the Wedge Neighborhood: ca. 1882-1910
The street layout of the Wedge and much of its first generation of housing was created during the period that
some historians call the "Golden Age," and others have called the "fat years." A substantial number of the
Wedge's early homeowners were representatives of a newly-forming Minneapolis middle class. Their stylish
and comfortable houses reflect the employment opportunities afforded by the city's late 19th-century
industrial boom, one largely based on the waterpower of the Falls of St. Anthony and related industrial and
railroad expansion.
1
In 1890, Minneapolis ranked eighteenth among American cities in size; between 1880 and 1890 the city's
population rose from about 47, 000 to 165,000. In 1890 European immigrants comprised about 37 percent of
the total population; the percentage declined to about 17 percent in 1930.
2
Growth leveled off between 1890
and 1900, and the population reached 202,000 in 1900.
-
Mills at the Falls o/St. Anthony, 1890
Railroad construction bound Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul to an extensive national network, and
many investors profited from the development of the waterpower at the Falls of St. Anthony. Over the next
decades, Minneapoli s became the country's largest primary wheat market, and in the North Minneapolis
sawmilling district lumbermen were "slicing up white pine logs as if there were no tomorrow;" by 1899
Minneapolis became the world's leading lumber market.
3
Although both flour and lumber production would
decline sharply by the 1920s, they provided the base for a diverse economy that also relied on the wholesale
trade, banking, and insurance industries.
The southern edge of the compact city around the Falls was Franklin Avenue until 1867 and 1872, when
small revisions extended portions south to W. 24th Street. In 1883 the boundary was pushed to Lake Street
1
Lucile Kane and Alan Ominsky, Twin Cities: A Pictorial History of Saint Paul and Minneapolis (St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society, 1983), 81, 96.
2
Calvin F. Schmid, Social Saga of the Twin Cities: An Ecological and Statistical Study of Social Trends in Minneapolis
and St. Paul (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies, Bureau of Social Research, 1937), 130; John R.
Borchert, David Gebhard, David Lanegran, and Judith A. Martin, Legacy of Minneapolis: Preservation Amid Change
(Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 1983), 64.
3
Kane and Ominsky, 82.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association / Wedge Historic Context Study
4
and south of Harriet, and then south beyond Minnehaha in 1887 .
4
In 1884, the city's total area
encompassed 24 square miles, and by 1888, 53 square miles.' Streets, sewers, and water were among
improvements underwritten with city bond financing. Between 1880 and 1 about 50
Minneapolis streets were paved. By 1910, when there were 1,300 automobiles owned by city residents,
paved streets totaled about 150 miles.
6
Especially important for the direction and development of neighborhoods was the city park system. The
Minneapolis Park Board was created in 1883 with Charles Loring as its first president. The board
immediately promoted the ideas advanced by Massachusetts landscape designer H.W.S. for .a
citywide system linking many of its lakes and the Mississippi.
7
t?e next the Mmneapol.1s Park
Board designated Lyndale and Hennepin avenues as boulevards (prov1dmg for w1denmg and landscapmg)
and acquired extensive acreage around the lakes and along the river, thus creating a framework for
subsequent real estate development.
8
Powderhorn (1890) and small neighborhood parks also
established. No parks were proposed for the Wedge, although an unsuccessful proposal by city real estate
dealer C.N. Chadbourn--echoing H.W. S. Cleveland's earlier suggestion that Lake Street be a wide,
residence-lined boulevard-urged that the CM and St P Railroad along W. 29th Street be rerouted and turned
into a parkway. Chadbourn envisioned that such a parkway would attract costly homes.
9
Minneapolis also built an educational system to support its growing population. The number of public
schools rose from 14 in 1880 to 46 in 1890, and the size of the corresponding student body surged from
6
10
6,142 to 20,554. By 1900, schools numbered 60 and students 36,16 .
Civic and social life was fostered by the creation of a great variety of organizations as well as private clubs,
and many were concerned with the future development of the city. The Commercial Club of Minneapolis,
founded in 1892, organized its public affairs committee in 1901.
11
Minneapolis branches of a variety of
professional organizations were founded in the late 19th century, and newspapers extensively covered local
participation in the new phenomenon of the "national meeting." This was especially important for . . .
Minneapolis real estate dealers, whose board was organized in 1892 and who aligned themselves with c1v1c
and commercial interests and with the emerging field of city planning.
12
In this period, "city planning" was generally left up to business leaders who created a template for
development through actions such as acqui ring parklands and by creating a system of public works. Real
estate investors methodically opened up new residential tracts at the city's edges, and worked without much
interference from city leaders. The municipal building code adopted in 1884 was aimed primarily at fire
4
Calvin F. Schmid, Social Saga of the Twin Cities: An Ecological and Statistical Study of Social Trends in Minneapolis
and St Paul (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Counci 1 of Social Agencies, Bureau of Social Research, 193 7), chart 38
opposite p. 73.
5
E. Dudley Parsons, The Story of Minneapolis (Minneapolis: Colwell Press, 1913), 114.
6
Schmid, 65.
7
Marion D. Shuner. ed. Hist01y of Minneapolis: Gate>my to the Northwest (Chicago: SJ. Clark Publishing Co. , 1923).
232-234; David Lanegran and Ernest Sandeen, The Lake District of Minneapolis: a History of the Calhoun-Isles
Communitv (St. Paul: Living Historical Museum. 1978), 26-29.
8
Lanegran, and Sandeen. 28-29.
9
"Lots and Acres in Good Demand,"" Minneapolis Journal 15 March 1908, Real Estate Section. 6. Chadbourn resided
at 2110 Aldrich Avenue in the Sunnyside Addition by l 916.
10
Minneapolis Board of Education "School Construction" chart, in Carole Zellie, Landscape Research LLC,
"Minneapolis Public Schools Historic Context," Appendix. Prepared for the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation
Commission. 2005.
11
"Commercial and Civic Organizations Boost the City," Minneapolis Journal 13 April 1911 , Sup., 22.
12
"Real Estate Board One of Livest Organizations," Minneapolis Journal 13 April 1911, 91.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
5
protection,. a theme most cities after the disastrous Chicago Fire of 1879. The code required
stone or bnck construction m the downtown area, and established the building pennit process.
13
In this downtown Minneapolis was reshaped southward from its pioneer origins at Bridge Square into
a .dense of bulky masonry buildings that housed banks, offices, hotels, department stores, and
diverse retail and commercial offerings. Substantial, stylish buildings such as the Lumber Exchange ( 1885)
and the Flour Exchange (l 892) reflected the city's confidence in its economic footing.
Minneapolis Street Railway Company
The edges of most large American cities were expanded by rail transit, beginning with horse-drawn steam
and then electric service. Planning for a Minneapolis street railway system began in the 1860s but the first'
was installed by Thomas Lowry a decade later. In 1875, Lowry, an attorne; and real estate
mvestor, organized the Minneapolis Street Railway Company with Col. William S. King.
14
The first horse
car route ran from Bridge Square to the University of Minnesota, and despite a low profit margin, Lowry
worked to the system ahead of real estate development. Another route ran from Plymouth Avenue,
along Washmgton Avenue to Twelfth Avenue S. and Nicollet Avenue, and then south to Franklin Avenue.
notes despite the slow and uncomfortable service, the carline bound together the "east and west
d1v1S1ons of the city" and suggested "what might be towards furnishing the people with transportation."
15
... . m Li
ffi I m


Dupont Avenue car barn. photo ca. 1876-1884
By 876, the horsecar line was extended south of downtown along Lyndale Avenue, with a short spur
west at 27th Avenue to a car barn at the northwest comer of Dupont Ave. S.
16
Nearby, in 1879, a
short-hved, steam-powered " motor line' (the Lyndale Railway Co., later renamed the Minneapolis,
Lyndale, & Minnetonka Railway Co.), was run down Nicollet Avenue to 31st Street and to Lake Calhoun
to a colony of.summer

By 1893 electrification of the 115-mile Minneapolis streetcar system was
complete and mcluded service along Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street.
18
13
Tom Balcom, "Mills. Monuments, and Malls: A Century of Planning and Development in Downtown Minneapolis"
;;,ennepin County History (Spring 1988), 8-1 4. '
Lanegran and Sandeen, 20-22.
15
Parsons, 99.
16c . I .
No. 19, Publication o. 163. Calhoun isles Community Analysis and
Action Recommendations (Mmneapohs: City Planning Department, 1965), 10. Sources do not agree on the date of the
first Lyndale horsecar service.
,-
1Lanegran and Sandeen, 24-26.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Hi storic Context Study
6
New Neighborhoods
Streetcar service reshaped the residential character of central Minneapolis. Prior to the mid- l 870s, the
earliest neighborhoods near the Falls of St. Anthony on both sides of the river housed the mill and factory
owner and their employees in fairly close proximity. The confines of the "walking city" generally limited
social and economic segregation.
19
With the availability ofhorsecar and then electric streetcar service, new
residential districts for the city's wealthiest and socially prominent households grew around the edges of
downtownmas early residential areas were encroached by business and industry. Downtown churches and
institutions similarly followed the migration, particulary to the south. By the 1880s, much of the elite
residential area was concentrated in the vicinity of Tenth Street S. and along Loring Park near Hannon Place.
Very rapidly, however, "some of these older and better residential districts underwent a complete
metamorphosis."
20
Squeezed by downtown growth, the elegant houses were rapidly converted to multiple-
family units or replaced with commercial buildings. The area of elite housing next focused across Loring
Hill to Lake of the Isles, around the present-day Fair Oaks Park, near W. 24th Street and Nicollet Avenue,
and continued along Park Avenue.
21
Schmid's map of the "Gold Coasts of Minneapolis: 1887 and 1933"
shows the shift into a broad zone south of downtown, with Franklin Avenue as its east-west spine.
22
The growing league of the new middle class, however, could also seek residences in the same general
vicinities, often in sections platted with comfortable if scaled-down houses in mind. Electricity, telephone
service, and indoor plumbing became fairly standard in their homes by the end of the 19th century, and
streetcar service provided convenient access to both employment and shopping.
Real estate dealers pounced on the promise of the city's expansion and its embryonic streetcar network and
park system. A patchwork of real estate speculation followed the streetcar lines; "additions were platted far
beyond any hope of settling them," noted Parsons.
23
He recalled the highly speculative real estate market:
The newspapers in 1883 advertised lots at Lake Calhoun at from $650 to $1 ,000 each an
acre beyond the lake at $500 each. We know that twenty years later they could have been
purchased at half those prices, since they were as far from the real city as Minnetonka is
today and without anything like its railway service.
24
Parsons also observed that "streets were graded, walks and mains laid far out into the country, with the same
faith on the part of the general public, and by the same effrontery of exploiters, that inspired the building of
mills in the woods miles distant from switching accommodations. Money in this way passed from buyer to
buyer with such surprising swiftness that Minneapolis was credited with 38 millionaires- a number sadly
decreased in the time of trouble that followed this wild expansion as sure as the night of day. During this
over-expansion people were being told that there was " no boom" and there could be "no limit to the rise."
25
It was in this environment that by 1882 the entire 50 blocks of the Wedge were laid out by at least a dozen
individual real estate investors. The variety of lot sizes, proximity to the upscale Loring and Lowry Hills at
the north and west as well as the streetcar barn and the imminent CM & St P rail line at the south suggests
1
9Notable exceptions included "Villa Rosa."' the Italianate Style house of Dorilus Morrison (1858; razed). The building
site was the two blocks now occupied by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts near 24
1
h and Nicollet, about ten blocks east
of the Wedge.
20
Schmid, 73.
21
Atlas of Minneapolis (1885).
22
Schmid, Chart 44, opposite p. 86.
23
Parsons. I 0 I.
24
Parsons, 97.
25
Parsons, 98.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
7
that the various investors had some design about the future market for their lots. The northern tier of the
Wedge- including the Sunnyside Addition, the Lyndale Avenue Addition, and the 25th Street Addition-
was especially well suited to more spacious houses for the middle class. A greater number of smaller lots
intended for less costl y housing- including what were advertised as "workingmen's homes" by some
realtors-were concentrated in the southern section.
26
~
~
~ " ;::
~ J> '(j
V a rt ha
10 ,,
Per 1 r.r J) :ll
~ Churrh
' ' .. . Sa,,. .
~
I
26
"Low Cost Homes for Working Men," Minneapolis Journal 2 May 1902, 8.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Srudy
8
, ..
'' UJ
Chapter II
New Houses for the Minneapolis Middle Class, ca. 1882-1910
Group on porch of the Henry and Lillian Hahn house, 2421 Bryant Ave. S., 1905.
The term "middle class" has had varying usage among sociologists, economists, and historians. Most agree
that the late nineteenth-century American middle class included educated white-collar workers who typicall y
worked for wages. Unlike many in the working class, the middle class was employed in conditions that were
safe and relatively comfortable, and they typicall y enjoyed home ownership and long-term relationships with
community organizations and institutions. The late 19th-century industrial and commercial growth of
Minneapolis and St. Paul fostered the creation of such a middle class, one that persisted through national
economic declines including the Panic of 1893, World War I, and the Depression.
27
This Minneapolis middle class included physicians, attorneys, owners of small businesses, and the managers
and high-level employees of milling companies, railroads, and factories. They comprised the membership of
many of the dozens of social clubs and civic organizations that campaigned for city improvements, and many
were stalwart church members. They were not the very earliest acquirers of new technology such as the
automobile, but Schmid shows approximately 80 automobi le owners in the Wedge in 1908; a number
comparable to Lowry Hill west of Hennepin.
28
Middle-class women were typically at home with several
children and were assisted by one or two servants, and the children typically attended public schools. Pri vate
carriages were part of some early households, although the horses were often kept at a nearby li very instead
of a rear carriage barn. Many could seek an architect or builder-designer for a new home, which was
typicall y financed with a mortgage.
27
Historians have used the term "middle class" in various ways to describe tum-of-the-century Minneapolitans. See for
example, Schmid, p. 77; Stephen Trimble, "The First Hundred Years: Loring Legends and Landmarks," in Berlowe, et.
al., Reflections on Loring Pond (Minneapolis: CLPC, 1986), 12.
28
"Automobiles Minneapolis: c. 1908," in Schmid, Chart 33.
Lowry I l ill East Neighborhood Associat ion I Wedge Historic Context Srudy
9
Hemy Hahn House, 2421 Bryant Ave. S .. in ca. 1905; at left, in 2005. In 1900 Henry and Lillian Hahn and their 9-year old son
Louis, and 18-year old servant resided here. Henry (1858-?) was born in New York to German parents. and worked as a mill
foreman.
While some Germans, Swedes, Norwegians and other immigrants appear in neighborhood census schedules
between 1880 and 1910, the middle-class Wedge population was primarily native-born. Many were from
New England and New York and other points east, and arrived in Minnesota in their teens and twenties. The
household servants were predominantly Swedish women, typically 18 through 40 years of age. The 1900
federal census listed only one African-American residing in the Wedge; Ludie Frazier, age 18 and a native of
Louisiana, was a servant employed by the William James family at 2612 Dupont Ave. S.
29
By 1930 only
about 12 percent of the residents were not natives of the U.S., but the neighborhood became more ethnically
di verse after World War II.
30
R. P. Russell and the Wedge
Roswell P. Russell (1820-1896) had a pioneer role in shaping the development of the Wedge. A native of
Vermont, he arrived at Fort Snelling in 1839 at the age of 19. He opened St. Anthony's first store in 1847,
and became receiver of the land office in 1854. He also owned a flour mill and a
planing mill; served in the state legislature, held city offices, and invested in real
estate.
31
In 1851, Russell secured a claim along the government road just east of Lake of the
Isles. The claim extended from the lake to Lyndale Avenue, and from W. 26th to
Lake Street. Russell 's 1850s claim shanty, probably dating from ca. 1851, and his
elegant mansard-roofed brick house (ca. 1873) were located at Hennepin A venue and
W. 28th Street (later the site of West High School, 1908).
32
In 1872, Roswell platted
Russell's Outlots to the Town of Minneapolis between W. 26th and Lake streets.
33
His plat showed 16 outlots that awaited further division into building lots.
29
1900 Federal census schedule, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, page 11 , Enumeration District 92. The exact
selling of her name is not legible.
3
Schmid, Chart 72.
31
Warner, George, and Charles M. Foote, eds, Histo1y of Hennepin County and The City of Minneapolis (North Star
Publishing, 1881 ), 624; Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips, Uptown Minneapolis (Charleston, South
Carolina: Arcadia, 2004), 32-33; "Denis Peters' 160 Acres in 1856," Minneapolis Journal 13 March 1932.
32
David Wood, "Early Pioneers in the Lake Area," Lake Area (December 1982), 1; Bob Taylor, "Lowry Hill East
Claim Shanty,' ' Wedge (Dec. 1988-Jan. 1989), I, 21.
33
Plan of Russell 's Outlots to the Town of Minneapolis, Hennepin County Recorder' s Office.
Lowry Hi ll East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
10
G.M. Warner, Map of Hennepin County, Minnesota (1879) . Edmund Brewster owned
the northern tip of the Wedge, while R.P. Russell owned the outlots to the south and
William Windom 80-acre parcel along Lake Street.
To the east, across present-day Lyndale Avenue, John T. Blaisdell's farm included a swampy area known
locally as ' Blaisdell 's Lake," as well as the well-drai ned highlands of present-day Pillsbury and Blaisdell
avenues. Blaisdell, Russell, and the other farmers and speculators who claimed land within what is now the
Wedge only held their tracts for about 20 years before the next phase of development was underway. Many
of these farms were devoted to products needed by urban dwellers, such as fruit, vegetables and eggs.
34
Cwting down "Lowry 's Bluff' near Groveland and Hennepin, ca.
1886
In 1872, Thomas Lowry platted the Groveland Addition
atop Lowry Hill wi th a group that included "pillars of
society and industry" and built his mansard-roofed
mansion at the corner of Hennepin and Groveland
avenues.
35
To the east of present-day Lyndal e Avenue.
the John Blasidell property was subdi vided by 1882 into
28 blocks along Garfield, Harriet, Grand, Pleasant,
Pillsbury, Blaisdell, and icollet avenues. After some of
the heights of Lowry Hill and the ridges along Franklin
were cut down by Lowry and others, a "topographical
zoning" of lots took place. The higher elevations of the
Wedge, unlike some of the low-lying lots of the Blaisdell Farm to the east, provided primari ly well-drai ned

~ F o r early market gardening, sec Kendra Dillard, "Fanning in the Shadow of the Cities: the Not-so-Rural History of
~ o s e Township Farmers. 1850- 1900," in Ramsey County History (vol. 20, no. 3).
0
Lanegran and Sandeen, 31.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Conrext Study
II
building sites. The tier of additions and subdivisions north of W. 26
1
h Street-especially the Sunnyside
(1882), Lyndale Avenue (1882) and 26th Street Additions (1881)--attracted builders of high-styled houses.
The large lots of Franklin Avenue would eventually collect a cluster of mansions, and choice highland lots
on Pillsbury would be similarly developed in the early 20th century. Many of the low-lying lots on Garfield
and Harriet near the Lyndale streetcar route would be developed with duplexes and apartments.
Sunnyside and Lyndale Avenue Additions
- Edmund and Kate Brewster platted the Sunnyside Addition to
Minneapolis in 1882.
36
The Sunnyside name persisted for many

years and lent itself to an improvement association and an
apartment building, and was in general use as a place name. In
- addition to the Brewsters, the third owner on the plat was listed
as the Bishop Seabury Mission. The mission, along with the
Seabury Divinity School and Shattuck School, was part of the
Episcopal Church, Diocese of Minnesota. The relationship
., between the Brewsters and the diocese is unknown.
;
Brewster, a native of New York, was a partner in the
Minneapolis Paper Mill. In 1879, he owned 60 acres between
present-day Franklin Avenue and W. 24th Street; paper mill
partner Calvin N. Warner owned 45 acres south of W. 24th
Street.
37
Unlike Roswell P. Russell, these investors did not reside on their holdings; in 1880 Brewster lived
at 33 S. Seventh Street S. with Kate and their two sons, while Warner resided at 227 Seventh Street S.
38
Portions of the Brewster and Warner holdings were sold to other investors, including J.M. Williams who
platted the Lyndale Avenue Addition in 1882.
39
L.F. Menage's Addition occupied a single block between
Hennepin and Dupont avenues, including nine lots fronting Hennepin.
40
2122 Aldrich Ave. S. in Sunnyside, razed
(HCH)
Sunnyside's lots were slightly larger than those in many other
Wedge additions, and unlike the others did not provide alleys. (By
1885, Brown's Rearrangement of two half-blocks of Bryant and
Aldrich subsequently added a few lots near W. 22nd St.) Lot sales
in Sunnyside and the Lyndale Avenue Addition began within a
year but house construction proceeded very slowly. The 1885 atlas
shows a total of seven houses, most near the intersection of Bryant
Avenue and W. 24th Street; the number rose to only 27 by 1892. A
group of likely agricultural buildings still straddled blocks 2 and 7,
near Bryant Avenue and W. 22nd Street.
36
Sunnyside Addition to Minneapolis, 1882. Hennepin Co. Recorder' s Office. See, for example real estate
advertisements such as "For Quick Sale-Sunnyside Bargain,"' Minneapolis Journal, March 6, 1910, Real Estate
Section.
37
G.M. Warner, Map of Hennepin County, Minnesota, 1879.
38
1880 Federal Census Schedule, Minneapolis. Hennepin, Minnesota, page: 2, Enumeration District 243
39
Lyndale Avenue Addition, 1882. Hennepin Co. Recorder's Office.
40
0n L. F. Menage, see Richard Broderick, 'Erased from Memory," The Rake (June 2005).
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
12
South of W 25th Street in 1885
The area south of W. 25th Street was only slightly more developed by 1885. About 26 houses were erected
including six on the 2500 block of Aldrich. The somewhat narrower lots in additions such as Pitman's_an_d
Penny's along W. 28th Street were sold to the builders of a variety of "workers" houses. Although
on speculation was not confined to this southern half of the Wedge, two or more houses were often at
the same time for future sale or rent. The mixed pattern of building south of W. 25th Street resulted m blocks
that might contain a several large, stylish houses with broad porches, a short row of inexpensive houses, and
a brick apartment building or two. Many of the workers houses-which were owned and rented by teachers,
clerks, teamsters, railroad employees, carpenters, painters, and laborers had a gable or hip roof, a small front
porch with turned posts, and depending on the budget, decorative sawn trim at the gable end. Plans usually
came from lumberyards and builders and similar houses were seen in similar areas across the city. Many
examples of the late 19th-century "Wedge vernacular" are extant and a number retain good historic
integrity.
2632 Emerson Ave. S. (ca. 1884?), in ca. 1920 (HCH)
Typical of the 1880s vernacular houses of the Wedge; 2610 Emerson Are. S. ; at right. a pair of speculative(v-built houses
at 2621 and 2823 Colfax Ave. S. Photos ca. 1920 (HCH)
This area was also the recipient of a few early houses moved from other locations. Most notable is Roswell
P. Russell's claim shanty and farmhouse. Reportedly moved from their original location near Hennepin and
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Sntdy
13
W. 28th Street, these buildings were apparently placed on one of Russell 's outlots at W. 26th St. and Bryant
Ave. S.
41
The 1880s census lists a number of farmers and fruit raisers in the Wedge. Despite limited transportation,
some in the sparsely settled area had more urban employment. George Wells, living on the east side of
Hennepin opposite Russell's house at W. 28th Street, was a watchmaker. Nearby, George Tullock, a native
of Scotland, and his family resided at became 2639 Colfax Ave. S. Tullock owned several parcels of
Russell's Outlots. He listed his employment as a carpenter. His wife was a confectioner and his sons were
employed as teamsters and harness makers.
Sunnyside and North of W. 25th Street in 1903
The "Lake Harriet" line streetcar on Hennepin at Colfax Ave. S., ca. 1895; at right. a Sunnyside streetscape at
W. 22nd and Colfax Ave. S .. ca. 1910.
The late 1880s and early 1890s brought a surge of new construction in the Wedge, before the nationwide
Panic of 1893 resulted in mortgage foreclosures and bankruptcies. With recovery, however, construction
resumed and by 1903 the area acquired much of its current form. Not only were spacious brick or frame
houses erected in the Sunnyside Addition, which now totaled about 85 houses, but the new Franklin Heights
apartments were prominently sited at the Hennepin and Franklin Avenue intersection. Lots in Sunnyside
were advertised at premium prices: in 1902, for example, a corner lot on W. 25th Street sold for $1,500,
three times the price of a lot at Grand Ave. and 32nd St.
42
Turn-of-the-century construction was hampered by
materials shortages and a steep increase in the cost of building.
43
However, advertisements for Wedge houses
highlighted their fine construction and good location:
$6,500 for No. 2510 Bryant Av. S., built about two years ago; the outside elevation is strictly up to date; the
inside arrangement and finish could not be better. It contains 11 rooms besides a hall and bicycle room,
finished in cherry and quarter-sawed oak with all hardwood floors, fine hardwood panel work, a number of
built-in seats, sideboards, mantels and expensive mirrors; lavatory on first floor; very expensive decorations in
oil; built in icebox; water meter, gas fixtures and shades, finest of plumbing; combination heat, sewer
connections.
J.B. Tabour Co. advertisement, Minneapolis Journal, May 7, 1902, Real Estate Section
41
David Wood, "Early Pioneers in the Lake Area," Lake Area (December 1982), 1; Bob Taylor, "Lowry Hill East
Claim Shanty." Wedge (Dec. 1988-Jan. 1989), I, 21.
42
"Why Pay Rent Asks Badger," Minneapolis Journal 12 April 1908, Real Estate Section. 14; David C. Bell Investment
Co. ad., Minneapolis Journal, 14 May 1903, Real Estate Section, 9.
43
"How Prosperity Has Hit the Builders," Minneapolis Journal I July 1899, 1.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
14
About 58 houses were completed in the Lyndale Addition by 1903, including large houses along Colfax,
Bryant, and Dupont avenues, and similar density was achieved to the south in the 25th Street addition. In
contrast, the King's and Anderson Douglas & Co. additions along a low-lying port ion of Hennepin Avenue
at W. 26th Street were generally undeveloped. Hennepin Avenue attracted the builders of large, stylish
houses, but its boulevard status was abandoned by the Minneapolis Park Board in 1905; Lyndale's boulevard
status was also vacated but the avenue was macadamized over an 18-inch gravel base in 1899, which suited
its heavy use.
44
One early resident of Hennepin Avenue, whose father erected a house there in 1898,
remembered that Hennepin Avenue ... "from the Thomas Lowry home at the top of Lowry Hill to Lake
Street, was the main thoroughfare through a fine residential district."
45
To the south of W. 25th Street, Russell's Outlots were divided by at least a dozen investors. Most were small
subdivisions containing two to four blocks. The largest, south of W. 28th Street, was Windom's Addition
(1882). It provided 32 blocks, each with 12 small lots, which edged Lake Street and by 1884 was bisected by
the CM & St P rail track. There were a number of large, stylish houses erected in this area, but most were of
modest size and design. A national campaign to encourage home ownership among the working classes was
reflected in the real estate pages of Minneapolis newspapers, which promoted a variety of small houses like
those built between W. 26th and Lake streets. "Why Pay Rent?" asked the Badger Realty Company in 1908,
noting, "rent is an endless drain on one's income."
46
2925 Girard. in 1900 (HCJ/j
44
Lanegran and Sandeen. 28.
45
Lanegran and Sandeen. 34.
46
"Why Pay Rent Asks Badger," Minneapolis Journal 12 Apri l 1908, Real Estate Section, 14.
Lowry Hi ll East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
15
The construction of the CM & St P Railroad along W. 29
1
h Street introduced a series of hazardous grade
crossings at the southern edge of the Wedge. After years of debate, a 1912 project remedied the crossing
with grade separation and concrete bridges.
47
At that time, one real tor called for abandonment of the rails and
the construction of a parkway, but the grade separation project proceeded and industries continued to locate
along the rails.
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C. Vermeer and Will Stark (106 Group Ltd.). "Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Grade Separation
Historic District." ational Register of Historic Places Registration Fom1. 2005. On file, Minnesota State Historic
Preservation Office.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
16
Wedge Builders and Architects and their Clients
During the past ten years enterprising young architects, who had yearned for a field in which to
display their talents, have brought to Minneapolis the freshest and the best ideas and inventions of foreign as
well as domestic architecture, besides here and there, it must be confessed, notions rather wild and fanciful.
The general result, however, is a city of novel and often brilliant effects, so that the visitor is greeted by
surprises, whether he pushes along the crowded business streets, strolls amid the luxuriant parks, or is whirled
by the electric railway through the spreading suburbs.
Saturday Evening Spectator, May 16, 1891
What mainly strikes a pilgrim from the East is not so much the merit of the best of these houses as the
fact that there are no bad ones; none, at least so bad as to disturb the general impression of richness and
refinement, and none that make the crude display of new money that is to be seen in the fashionable quarters of
cities even richer and far older. The houses rise, to borrow one of Ruskin' s eloquent phrases, "in fair
fulfillment of domestic service and modesty of home seclusion."
Saturday Evening Spectator, Oct 10, 1891
Many of the substantial and often high-styled houses of the Wedge illustrate the convergence of middle-class
clients with a group of skilled builder-contractors as well as architects. Minneapolis newspapers, which
typically promoted the civic ideals of home ownership, offered prospective homebuilders regular advice
about planning a home and working with a builder or architect.
48
2301 Colfax Ave. S., ca. 1910 (MHS)
Builder-Contractors
Building permits for the spacious frame and brick houses concentrated north of W. 25th Street and dispersed
across the blocks to the south list builder-contractors such as T.P. Healy (1844-1906); Henry Ingham (1853-
?); Henry Parsons (1859-?); and Preston C. Richardson (1844-?) of Minneapolis, and Charles J. Buell (1853-
1924) of St. Paul. Parsons and Ingham were natives of England; both arrived in the United States in the mid-
48
See for example, "Points for Home Builders Suggestions as to the Purchase of Lots-Selecting an Architect-Plans
and Specification- Details of Buildings-Etc. , Etc.," Minneapolis Journal 1 May 1902, Building and Improvement
Edition, 1.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
17
1880s. They were among the leaders of the 1890s boom that produced the neighborhood's collection of
Queen Anne and Classical Revival dwellings, and their designs showed off the products of the city's
millwork and architectural specialties dealers. The builder-contractors often built on speculation, and at least
a few of the six houses in the 2100 block of Bryant Ave. S. completed by P. C. Richardson are probably
exemplary of this practice. ;
The clients for builder.-contractors such as Richardson included business owners such as E. C. Beardsley at
2648 Emerson Ave. S. (1892). Beardsley was the president of Phelps Well & Windmill Co. In 1892
Richardson also built a house at 2105 Ifryant Ave. S. (1892) that was purchased by Charles H. Hood
(1860-?), the owner of the Hood and Penney insurance agency.
49
Theron P. Healy, a native of Nova Scotia, built at least 30 houses in the Wedge and many in adjoining
Lowry Hill. He was regarded a master of the Queen Anne as well as the Classical Revival styles. Healy was
in the maritime shipping business in his native Halifax, but turned to contracting after arriving in
Minneapolis in 1884.
50
His exuberant middle-class Queen Anne houses were typical of plan book designs of
the period, but presumably were modified to suit his client's budgets well as the dimensions of the lot. Healy
also built higher-end houses for the city's leading architects. Healy is credited with about half of the houses
on the 2400 block of Bryant Ave. S., and Henry Ingham with the other.
51
J. L. Smith, president of the Minnesota Savings Fund and the J. L. Smith Land Co., was the owner of the
Healy-built house at 2323 Bryant Ave. S. (1894). 2424 Colfax Ave. S. (1894) is also an exemplary Healy
design.
52
Healy's name was highly regarded after his death, as evident in a Minneapolis Journal real estate
advertisement for a "Sunnyside bargain" in 1910, which noted that it was "Healy-built." In 1914, "a splendid
modem ten-room home built by Healy for over $20,000" was offered for $15,000 by realtor Issac N. Smith.
Purchase terms were $3,000 to $5,000 cash, balance $1,000 per year at 5 percent interest.
Wedge Architects
Aldrich Avenue resident Warren B. Dunnell is among the group of architects who designed houses for
Wedge clients. Other designers include William C. Whitney; Edward S. Stebbins; Harry W. Jones; the Orff
Brothers; Louis A. Lamoreaux, and William Kenyon.
Kenyon's work included the J.V. Gedney House at 2420 Colfax Ave. S. (1898), completed for a pickle
manufacturer. The Gedney and Kenyon's other houses such as 2320 Colfax Ave. S. contributed to the
pleasant Wedge streetscapes created by the interplay of finial-crowned towers, balustraded porches, and
bowed windows aligned down boulevard-lined avenues. Brewer John G. Gluek commissioned Kenyon for a
prominent comer house at 2447 Bryant Ave. S. The $10,000 Georgian Revival house was completed in
1902. Gluek's triple-lot site also featured a large, well-detailed carriage house by architects Boehme and
Cordella.
53
Most of the lots of the area were too narrow to accommodate such buildings, although a variety
of smaller barns and sheds were built throughout the area; most were converted to garages.
49
1900 Federal Census Schedule, Minneapolis Ward 5, Hennepin, Minnesota, page: 14B, Enumeration District 64.
5
Trilby Busch Christensen, "Legacy of a Master Builder: Theron Healy's Dream of Minneapolis Lingers in his Queen
Anne Architecture," Twin Cities (November 1972), 74-80.
51
Lanegran and Sandeen, 85.
5
2Trilby Busch Christensen, Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association Calendar (Minneapolis: LHENA, 1978).
53
Lanegran and Sandeen, 85.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
18
The Cook, Dunnell, and Dodge Houses
Historic photos show tum-of-the-century Wedge families resting on the front porches of handsome houses
surrounded by smooth grass terraces. Young trees shade the yards, and new concrete steps lead from the
sidewalk. The federal census provides a sketch of some of the families shown in the photos, and available
building permits provide information about construction and subsequent remodeling.
George H. Cook, 2219 Bryant Ave. S. and 2400 Bryant Ave. S.
George H. Cook House, 2219 Bryant Ave. S.; at right, the Cook parlor at 2400 Bryant Ave. S.
The photograph at left is labeled as that of the George H. Cook family on the front porch of their house in the
Sunnyside Addition. The photograph at right is reportedly the elaborate interior of their subsequent residence
(1901) at 2400 Bryant Ave. S. in the Lyndale Avenue Addition. Cook (1854-?) was born in New York and
was a lumber dealer. The household included George's wife Clara and three grown daughters.
54
Another Cook family, that of George ( 1861-?) and May Belle resided a block away at 2400 Colfax Ave. S.
Cook was a native of Canada who worked as a contractor and builder. In 1900 the Cook household also
included 16-year-old Robert, as well as Edith Anderson, a Swedish-born servant. By 1920 the household
included John Lefenberich, a retired singer, and Matilda Fuhlstrom, a Norwegian servant. George F. another
son, was a student at Dartmouth College. In 1930 George and May Belle still resided at 2400 Colfax; Cook
listed his occupation as a contractor. Anna Blomberg was their servant.
55
55
1920 Federal Census Schedule, Minneapolis Ward 8, Hennepin, Minnesota, page: 48, Enumeration District 155.
Lowry Hi ll East Neighborhood Associati on I Wedge Historic Context Study
19
Warren B. Dunnell, 2408 Aldrich Ave. S. and 2400 Aldrich Ave. S.
. ~ i
W.B. Dunnell House. 2408 Aldrich Ave. S. (1890). Note the vacant
comer lot at right. Photo: Northwest Builder and Decorator.
Warren B. Dunnell (1851- 193 l) was a native of Portland, Maine and spent part of his youth in Owatonna,
Minnesota. He was the son of attorney Mark Dunnell and Sarah Dunnell. He attended the University of
Minnesota, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
56
Warren designed
high-styled residences as well schools and hospitals for the State of Minnesota. His extant institutional
designs include the Administration Building at the State School for Dependent and Neglected Children, in
Owatonna (1887) the Fergus Falls State Hospital (1888), Minnesota State Training School in Red Wing
( 1889), and the Minnesota Soldier's Home in Minneapolis. Among his Minneapolis public school buildings
was the Douglas School (1894, razed) on Franklin Ave. S., near Hennepin Ave. He also designed Pendergast
Hall (1889, razed), a dormitory on the University of Minnesota' s St. Paul campus.
In 1890, Dunnell completed his family's Queen Anne style house in the Sunnyside Addition at 2408 Aldrich
Ave. S. The design featured a prominent rounded bay with a conical roof. Warren and Ida Dunnell had four
children, and in 1900 the household included his brother Mark, a lawyer; a maid, and a nurse for the
Dunnell ' s infant daughter. In 1905 Dunnell offered the family house for sale through the E.F. Lambert realty
company:
The magnificent residence of Mr. W.B. Dunnell, the architect, comer Aldrich Avenue S. and Twenty-
fourth Street, with fine barn, three large lots, facing east. Slate roof; 12 rooms, strictly modern and up
to date; hot water heat; hardwood. It is simply fine, built by day work and best materials. Cost the
owner $19,000, who is going to coast to live. Will be slaughtered. $1 l ,500 buys it. Same as finding at
least $5,000.
Minneapolis Journal, May 27. 1905. I 0.
In 1909 Dunnell erected a 6-unit apartment building next door on his vacant lot at 2400 Aldrich Ave. S. By
1910, having sold the 2408 house to William Bingham, a lawyer, the Dunnells resided in the apartment
building with their four children, ages I 0 through 17.
57
Their tenants included several salesmen. Although
prices mentioned in the ad seem high, Dunnell 's experience of building an expensive home, and finding 15
56
Landscape Research, University of Minnesota Preservation Plan. Prepared for the University of Minnesota ( 1997),
130.
57
A sidebar to this advertisement and the reference to the "coast" may have had something to do with the Dunnell' s son
Warren W. (ca. 1893-?). ln 1920 he was married and living in ew York City and listed his occupation as an engineer.
In 1930. however, the same person was apparently incarcerated in the Los Angeles County Jail.
Lowiy Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
20
years later that the value declined was probably one increasingly shared by some of hi s neighbors. Warren
apparently remained at 2400 Aldrich until his death in 1931.
Louis L. Dodge, 2000 Aldrich Ave. S.
Louis L. Dodge (1858-1932), a lawyer, was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Winston Bros. Co. railroad
contracting firm. Dodge was a native of Wisconsin; his wife Mattie was born in New York. In 1900 he was a
41-year-old bachelor residing with his father in rented quarters on 9th Ave. S; in 1901 ~ married the 25-year
old Mattie and acquired 2000 Aldrich Ave. S. in Sunnyside. Henry Ingham was the builder. The Dodges
lived at 2000 Aldrich Ave. S. until about 1931; they had one servant but no boarder. Most of the block had
become rental housing by this time, with few owner-occupants.
58
Jn 1900, the 2100 block of Bryant Avenue (and adjoining Aldrich Avenue) was home to business owners and
professionals. Many households employed servants and even a coachman. As noted in the fourth column from the right.
most heads of household were owners.
58
1900 Federal census schedule, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, Ward 5, page l 5A; Enumeration District 62; 1930
Federal census schedule, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, page l 2A, Enumeration Di strict 150; Trilby Christensen.
Lowt)' Hill East Neighborhood Association House Tour (Minneapolis: LHE A, 1978), Dodge House notes.
Lowiy Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
21
The Age of Improvement
In December 1894, the National Municipal League held its Second Annual Convention in Minneapolis.
Representatives of 50 American cities discussed the problems that faced city government. The Saturday
Evening Spectator noted that the population of Minneapolis had soared, along with St. Paul 's, and that "the
powerful political influences, the great floating element, the liquor and dive influences, the army of vice and
the army of discontent, have been moving into the city with the same rapid strides."
59
The call for good city government was reflected in municipal reform leagues, civic federations, law
enforcement organizations and other clubs. This era of public interest, what the Spectator called "the era of
municipal house cleaning, new patriotism and political purity," focused on Home Rule. At the neighborhood
level, this sentiment was expressed in improvement associations that sought to encourage the convenience
and beautification of their areas. Several neighborhood improvement associations or leagues were founded in
and around the Wedge by the tum of the century. In 190 l, a group of residents of the Sunnyside Addition
organized the Sunnyside Improvement Association to lobby for improved streetcar service on Lyndale and
Hennepin avenues;
60
the group later was involved in petitioning for streetcar service on Franklin Avenue,
although their efforts were unsuccessful. Across Lyndale to the east, Blaisdell Addition residents organized
in 1908 to make the district, "sightly, convenient, and healthful."
61
Meanwhile, as evident in the real estate
pages of the Minneapolis Journal, realtors were among those promoting the development and maintenance
of stable residential areas for all income levels, and the notion that homeowners made good citizens.
City planning advanced during this period, and the Civic Commission of Minneapolis was established in
1910. The Commission hired Chicago architect Edward Bennett to create a city plan. The thick volume of
the Plan of Minneapolis was published in 1917, but most of its grand principles were not adopted.
62
However, the Minnesota Residence District Act (1913), and the Minneapolis zoning ordinance of 1924
addressed building height and density.
63
59
Saturday Evening Spectator, 15 Dec 1894, 1.
6
City column, Minneapolis Journal 6 Nov 1901.
6 1
" ew Improvement Association is Ready for Business," Minneapolis Journal 12 April 1908, Real Estate Section, 13.
62
Edward Bennett and Andrew Crawford, Plan of Minneapolis (Minneapolis: The Civic Commission, 1917); Balcom,
I 0-1 1.
63
Matthew B. Seltzer, "Zoning by Eminent Domain in Minneapolis, 1912-1925." Presented at the 5th National
Conference on American Planning History, Chicago, Nov. 19, 1993; " Housing Meeting to Hear Greater Minneapolis
Plan, Minneapolis Journal 3 October 1915, 10.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Associati on I Wedge Histori c Context Study
22
: AHl.l, .
Build-out: the Wedge south of W. 2l Street in 1914. (Minneapolis Real Estate Board).
Lowiy Hill East eighborhood Association I Wedge Histori c Context Study
23
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Chapter 3
Apartment Buildings
Life in apartments is popular in a city where detached houses for rent are scarce and where so many people
like to live at the suburban lakes during the summer season. The flat offers many advantages in the way of
conveniences which some houses do not possess, has the merit of affording opportunities for neighborliness
and society, and more than all that gives people who want to be near the center of the city homes of reasonable
cost. For small number of adults who do not care for lawns, gardens, or trees, for businessmen who must be
much out of the city, for many people of many pursuits, the apartment is the ideal living place.
"Fine Apartment Buildings," Minneapolis Journal, May 2, 1902, p. 4
The Wedge has been a popular location for apartments and other multiple-family buildings, beginning with
an 8-unit brick and stone-trimmed rowhouse erected by William Barber at 2500-2514 Lyndale in 1886. The
buildings typically ranged in size from two-story four-plexes to four-story, forty-unit buildings; interiors
included utilitarian as well as elaborately finished units that featured fine millwork trim and built-in
cabinetry.
In 1903, when a 9-room house in a good Wedge location could be purchased for $3,500, monthly apartment
rent in the Wedge ranged from $20 to $100.
64
Proximity to the streetcar line was key in siting the buildings,
and many of the neighborhood's earliest were located along Franklin and Hennepin avenues. The duplex (or
"two-flat") was also popular with builders. Comfortable front and rear porches, hot water heat, modem
plumbing, tile and hardwood floors, and generous amounts ofmillwork made the duplex interior comparable
to single-family construction in the area.
Although the Wedge enjoyed a decade-long building boom after 1900, the general demand for middle-class
housing near downtown began to decline as many new areas south of Lake Street were opened to
development. Lynnhurst and Heatherdale, on the east side of Lake Harriet, for example, were among new
additions that probably drew households from the Wedge. Depending on location and appointments,
apartments appealed to a wide range of residents. Single workers-including salesmen, teachers, nurses, and
clerks- were very well represented. This employment rose steadily: by 1920 there were an estimated 13, 707
clerks and salespeople, and 11,000 clerical workers.
65
In 1923 the Minneapolis Journal reported that the
Wedge averaged rents of $45 to $70 per month; and incomes of $2,500 to $4,000 per year.
66
Sherbrook Apartments (1923). a 24-unit building at
2003 Aldrich A1'e. S.. in 1925 (HCH)
64
Minneapolis Journal rental classified section, 22 August 1903, 15-16.
65
Buying Power: A Study of the Automobile Market within the City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Journal,
1923, n.p.
6
6suying power, n.p.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Associati on I Wedge Historic Context Study
24
While Minneapolis would never approach the density of apartment construction enjoyed by cities such as
Chicago and New York, there were 1,377 apartment buildings in the city by 1912; an_o_ther 942
constructed by 1927 .
67
Apartment hotels, where meals, maid service, and _other w,ere provided,
were especially popular around Loring Park. 50 l Groveland (1927) remams one of the city s finest
1
68
examp es.
Apartment house construction in the Wedge was encourage_d by the Restricted Re_sidential
legislation, which after 1913 prohibited apartments in certam areas-such as portions of Lowry Hiii West-
while allowing it elsewhere.
69
....
------
.-----

The Vermont Apartments, 902 Franklin and 1927
Hennepin. Photo/acing north, ca. 1925. The Franklin
Heights apartments are in the background.
Virginia Apartments, 1775 Hennepin. ca. 1900 (ra:ed)
Flat, apartment, and duplex building is going on at a terrific rate.
Minneapolis Journal, August 2, 1914, Real Estate Section, p. 5
Between 1900 and 1925, a dense zone of impressive apartment buildings was constructed around the
Franklin-Hennepin intersection. Buildings such as the Hennepin Court ( 1915 Hennepin); Aldrich Court
(1914 Aldrich); the Vermont (902-04 Franklin; 1907); Aberdeen Court (1937 Bryant) and Franklin Heights
(909 Franklin; 1902) anchored the area. E.O. Mead' s 36-unit building at 902 Franklin cost $100,000 in ca.
1907. Designed by Lindstrom and Al mars, it reflected the tradition of well-furnished buildings that extended
from Loring Park across Lowry Hill and included the luxurious Belmont at 1000 W. Franklin. A row of
columned four-plexes included the Eldon Apartments at I 924-30 Aldrich Ave. S. The northern apex of this
apartment zone- at Douglas, Hennepin, and Lyndale avenues-terminated at Virginia Triangle Park and the
Virginia Apartments. This part of the Lowry Hill East landscape was completely removed with the
construction ofl-94 in 1969.
Many of the first large buildings edged Hennepin and Franklin: the Sunnyside Flats at 2431 Hennepin (1900)
and the Mount Royal (1906), at 2633 Hennepin, were wedged on triangular parcels. By 1910, however,
masonry apartment buildings also filled vacant lots on many blocks, and existing Wedge houses were razed
for apartment construction. The Wedge followed a citywide pattern: in 1907, there were 51 apartment and
67
See Michael Koop. "Living Downtown," Hennepin History (Summer 1994). 17; Carole Zellie, Landscape Research,
"Stevens Square," . ational Register of Historic Places Registration Form. 1993, 8-24.
68
Koop, 21.
69
Zellie, "Stevens Square," 8-24.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
25
flat buildings; in 1910, 76. In 1912 the number of apartments reached 127.
70
A 1911 Minneapolis Journal
feature that illustrated Wedge buildings such as the Vermont, Franklin Heights, and Aberdeen Court
proclaimed "apartment buildings are modern yet homelike."
71
The number of multi-family buildings
continued to rise: by 1914, 3,000 new apartment units were put on the Minneapolis market. Civic leaders
were concerned that the city would lose its prestige as a city of homes. The Civic and Commerce Association
conducted a study to find out why "the family hotel, the apartment building, and the flat are swallowing up
the people of Minneapolis."
72
Association members were puzzled as to why people with "sufficient means to
maintain fine homes prefer to live in family hotels? Why do people with money enough to buy suburban lots
prefer to pay rent for a downtown flat?" They surmised that factors might include problems with servants,
the ability to maintain social prestige in an apartment as well as in a detached home, and the aversion of the
"man of the family" to maintain the furnace and shovel the sidewalk.
73
The fireproof construction of some new apartments was a selling point, along with convenience to stores and
shops along Hennepin and Lyndale avenues. The building's exterior design reflected simplicity and, in some
cases, refinement. The Italian Renaissance city palace was the architectural inspiration for the earliest
designs, with the suggestion of a broad cornice, classical detail at the entry and windows, and a three-part
division of the fa9ade into a prominent base, a central masonry zone, and the upper cornice area. Some 1920s
buildings exhibit a variety of terracotta Arts and Crafts detail. Some of the larger buildings were arranged in
a U-shape around a landscaped entry court, as evident at the Franklin Heights (1902) and Lorraine Court at
2633 Girard Ave. S. (1922). Many of the buildings had names evocative of other places: the Algonquin; the
Carlisle; the Bay View, and Iverness Court.
2937 Fremont Ave. S: typical of thefour-plex unit: at right, rhe U-shaped 2617 Emerson Ave. S (1912). Photos ca. 1920 (HCH)
Certain contractors and architects, such as Perry Crosier and O.K. Westphal, and the Louis Fleischer
Company (usually with architect Casper Rank) specialized in apartments, and the units were widely
advertised for sale to investors. Lindstrom & Almars, authors of the plan book Duplex and Apartment
Houses ( 1923), were the architects for a number of buildings in the Wedge.
7
'' Flat Life Growth of 400 Percent Stirs Civic Body," Minneapolis Journal 18 March 1914, 5.
-
1
"Apartment Buildings Are Modern Yet Homelike, Minneapolis Journal 13 April 1911. 82.
-
2
"Flat Life Growth of 400 Percent Stirs Civic Body," I.
73
"Flat Life Growth of 400 Percent Stirs Civic Body," 5.
Lowry Hill Ease Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Comext Study
26
Through the period of apartment development, many houses in the Wedge were still advertised as dignified
single-family homes; in 1915 one example on Aldrich was called "one of the desirable, older homes close
in." In "good condition," the five-bedroom house with a garage and finished third floor was priced at
$11,000. Realtors seem to have stressed that properties were "above" W. 24th or 25th streets, emphasizing
the proximity to the Franklin-Hennepin intersection and the past status of the Sunnyside and Lyndale
Avenue additions.
Lowry II ill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
27
. " I ...
,_ .._..,
:"'. "J. l. I . . I 1"
Some single-famil y construction continued on some of the
remaining lots after ca. 1910, and included a variety of
Foursquare houses and Arts and Crafts bungalows. The
adoption of the first citywide zoning ordinance in 1923-4,
which designated the area as multiple family, did little to
change the dense pattern already in place. By 1934, more
than half of the residents in Lowry Hill East were tenants, a
pattern typical of much of the larger area north of W. 3 6th
Street and east of Lake of the Isles.
74
2752 Aldrich in ca. 1920 (HCH); the sign exclaims,
"the price of this splendid duplex will surprise you."
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In 1930, the 2100 block of Bryant was home to many apartment dwellers, as 1el/ as a few households who lived in
large single-family houses. As noted in the sixth column, hm1ever, all households were renters.
74
Schmid, Chart 15 1, "Dwelling Units Rented: 1934."
Lowry Hill East eighborhood Association / Wedge Historic Context Srudy
28
.

"

..
'
Chapter 4
Non-Residential Land Uses
The Wedge has been always been framed by the busy Lyndale, Franklin, and Hennepin commercial
corridors and the industrial zone surrounding the CM & St P rail tracks along W. 29th Street. By 1900, the
streetcar hubs at the Lake and Lyndale and Lake and Hennepin intersections included substantial shopping
districts with many types of services including grocery stores, laundries, liveries (and later gasoline stations
and garages), and theatres. Tum-of-the-century houses as well as many apartment buildings lined the length
of both avenues from Franklin Avenue to Lake Street, and conversion of former dwellings to commercial use
was common. Within the neighborhood boundaries, however, small groceries were the primary non-
residential land use.
Harry Franklin Baker Greenhouse Co., 2929 Emerson Ave. S. (razed); photo ca. 1930; Dupont Food
Market, 2401 Dupont Ave. S; photo 1958.
At least three small shop buildings were erected within the residential blocks of the Wedge, at 2401 and
2800 Dupont Ave. S., and 2657 Colfax Ave. S. Small groceries appear to have been their primary use, one
that continues today. Gasoline station locations included 2801 Dupont Ave. S. and 2601 Aldrich Ave. S .
St. Paul 's Episcopal Church
St. Paul ' s Episcopal Church was moved (reportedly in fi ve sections) from its original downtown location to
2001 Bryant Avenue S. in 1902, and then enlarged in 1908. St. Paul's was in use until ca. 1957 when the
congregation relocated to Logan Avenue S; the bui lding was razed in 1965.
75
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 2001 Bi)ant. in 1911 (ra::.ed)
75
Lawrence Clark, A Community in Christ: a Centurv at St. Paul's Parish 1880- 1980 ( Minneapolis: Boloer Printino
1980). ' ' "' ''"
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Srudy
29
Schools
Miss Wood's Kindergarten and Primary Training School was operated by Stella L. Wood (1865-1949) in a
house at 2017 Bryant Avenue S.
76
The house was owned by Margaret Sterrett, who operated a kindergarten
on the site. Wood's was a well-known teacher-training school and later affiliated with Macalester College.
The Wedge's other private school was the Blake Junior School (ca. 1912?) at 2201 Colfax Ave. S. , which
served as a grade school between 1915 and 1940. Jefferson Junior High, the only public school erected in the
Wedge, was built on the low-lying area at the intersection ofW. 26th Street and Hennepin Avenue in 1923.
The three-story building was designed by the Board of Education's Bureau of Buildings. The Calhoun
(1887) and Douglas (1894) elementary schools and West High School ( 1907), all outside the boundaries of
the Wedge, served the area.
77
Blake Junior School. 2201 Colfax Ave. S., (1915); razed Jefferson Jr. High (1923), photo ca. 1923
Other public buildings
The Walker Branch Library at 2901 Hennepin Avenue was opened in 1911. The prominent Beaux Arts
building by architect Jerome Paul Jackson was sited at the edge of the grade separation above the CM & St P
rail tracks. (The library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.) The Fifth Precinct
Police Station was completed at 2917 Bryant Avenue S. in 1921. The station was designed by Bertrand and
Chamberlin. The building also housed the Calhoun Post of the American Legion.
78
Fijih Precincr Minneapolis Police Station,
2917 Bryan/ Ave. S.. in 1921.
76
Marguerite . Bel l. With Banners, a Biography of Stella L. Wood (St. Paul: Macalester College, 1954).
77
Zellie, Minneapolis Public Schools Historic Context Study. Appendix.
78
Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips, 54.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
30
Chapter 5
The 1920s and Beyond
The number of owner-occupants in the Wedge began to shrink after World War I, as many boarders and
renters found apartments in the large, formerly single-family houses. While some potential Wedge
homeowners might have been attracted to the new crop of buil?ings, _the middle class of the
1920s could also find much newer houses with modem convemences m developmg neighborhoods to the
south and southwest, and especially near the parkways and lakes. Many professionals still resided in the
Wedge. A growing number were European immigrants, unlike the previous generation.
The trend toward the division of houses into rental apartments and rooms would continue for decades, as it
did in other central-city neighborhoods. In the 1920s, national campaigns that encouraged remodeling of
"obsolete" houses were part of"Better Homes Drives" Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce,
presided over the Homes in America Movement launched i? houses of the Wedge
were still illustrated m the real estate pages, they were often described as bargams.
Bryan/ Avenue S. looking north toward Franklin S. and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 1950; al right,
Hennepin and Colfax Avenue S. in 1955.
After World War II, aging Minneapolis neighborhoods including the Wedge were studied by the
Minneapolis Planning Commission. In the early 1960s, at about the same time as downtown Gateway, other
urban renewal projects, and 1-94 freeway planning were underway, Lowry Hill East was evaluated in the
Calhoun-ls/es Community Analysis and Action Recommendations (1965). The study noted that East Lowry
Hill had a "concentration of apartments, rooming houses, and generally higher densities" that differentiated it
from West Lowry HilI.
80
This study followed a 1963 rezoning that resulted in the demolition of an estimated
100 houses and the construction of apartment buildings; some were nearly a half-block in length. Another 16
houses were demolished in 1970 by the Minneapolis Park Board for the construction of Mueller Park, a new
development bounded by Bryant, Colfax, and W. 25th and W. 26th streets.
81
An estimated 600 children lived
in the Wedge neighborhood at that time.
79
"Hoover Stresses Better Homes Needed," Minneapolis Journal 10 May 1925.
80
Minneapolis City Planning Commission, Calhoun-isles Community Analysis and Action Recommendations
(Publication No. 163 Community Improvement Program Series No. 19, 1965), 6.
81
"Board Airs Plan to Raze Homes for E. Lowry Hill Mini-Park," Minneapolis Star, 7 July 1970.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
31
At left, 2631 Colfax Avenue in ca. 1900; at right, the apartment building that replaced it in 1964 (photo 2005).
2100 block of Aldrich: 1960s apartments frame a
turn-of-the-century house; photo 2005
By the early 1970s, many Wedge houses had gone through several cycles of conversion into multiple-family
units and suffered exterior changes to features such as porches, trim, and siding. In 1970, the Lowry Hill East
Neighborhood Association (LHENA) was founded, with the goal of "increasing the stability and quality of
life in Lowry Hill east through the betterment of single and multiple housing stock, by improving public
safety, and physical environment, by encouraging neighborliness and sociability, by retaining the best of the
past with contemporary consciousness."
82
By the 1970s the term "Wedge" was in common use and
corresponded to the beginning of reinvestment in the area's historic properties. A 1975 down zoning was
intended to halt multi-unit construction in certain portions of the area. Walking tours published by LHENA
were evidence of this trend, as was local heritage preservation designation and 1990 National Register listing
of the John and Minnie Gluek House at 2447 Bryant Ave. S. (1902).
A traditional Wedge streetscape, 2005
82
Trilby Christensen, Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association House Tour (Minneapolis: LHENA, 1978),
introduction.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association I Wedge Historic Context Study
32
Sources Consulted
Atwater, Issac, and John H. Stevens, eds. History of Minneapolis and Hennepin County. 3 vols. New York and
Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co., 1895.
Balcom, Tom. "Mills, Monuments, and Malls: A Century of Planning and Development in Downtown Minneapolis,"
Hennepin History (Spring 1988). 8-14.
Bell, Marguerite N. With Banners, A Biography of Stella L. Wood. St. Paul: Macalester College, 1954.
Bennett, Edward and Andrew Wright Crawford. Plan of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: The Civic Commission, 1917.
Borchert, John R., David Gebhard, David Lanegran, and Judith A. Martin. Legacy of Minneapolis: Preservation Amid
Change. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 1983.
Buying Power: Study of the Automobile Market Within the City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Journal,
1923.
Clark, Lawrence. A Community in Christ: a Century at St. Paul's Parish, 1880-1980. Minneapolis: Bolger Printing Co.,
1980.
Community Improvement Program Series No. 19, Publication No. 163, Calhoun Isles Community Analysis and Action
Recommendations. Minneapolis: City Planning Department, 1965.
Dillard, Kendra. "Farming in the Shadow of the Cities: the Not-so-Rural-History of Rose Township Farmers, 1850-
1900, in Ramsey County History (vol. 20, no. 3).
Hudson, Horace B., ed. A Half Century of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: Hudson Publishing Co. , 1908.
Imboden, Thatcher and Cedar Imboden Phillips. Uptown Minneapolis. Charleston South Carolina: Arcadia, 2004.
Kane, Lucile, and Alan Ominsky. Twin Ciries: A Pictorial History of St. Paul and Minneapolis. St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society, 1983.
Koop, Michael. " Living Downtown."' Hennepin History (Summer 1994).
Lanegran, David A., and Ernest R. Sandeen. The Lake District of Minneapolis: A Hisrory of the Calhoun Isles
Community. St. Paul: Living History Museum, 1979.
Lowry, Goodrich. Streetcar Man: Tom Lowry and rhe Twin City Rapid Trans it Company. Minneapolis: Lerner
Publications, 1979.
Mead & Hunt. Lowry Hill East Neighborhood of Minneapolis Historic Resources lnvenrory. Prepared for Lowry Hill
East eighborhood Association. 2005.
Nelson, Charles A. "Minneapolis Architecture for the Elite." Hennepin His tory 52 (Winter 1993), 4-1 7.
Parsons, E. Dudley. The Swry of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: Colwell Press, 1913.
Pearson, Marjorie. "South Minneapolis: An Historic Context ... Hess, Roise and Company, August 2000.
Schmid, Calvin F. Social Saga of the Twin Ciries: rln Ecological and Statistical Study of Trends in Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies, Bureau of Social Research, 193 7.
Shutter, Marion D., ed. History of Minneapolis: Gateway to the Northwest. Chicago: S.J. Clark Publishing Co., 1923.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association t Wedge Historic Context Study
33
Sources, continued
Stevens, John H. Personal Recollections of Minnesota and its People and Early History of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis, Minn.: Tribune Job Printing Co., 1890.
Trimble, Stephen C. 'The First Hundred Years: Loring Legends and Landmarks." In Berlowe, et. al. Rejlecrions on
Loring Pond. Minneapolis: Citizens for a Loring Park Community, 1986.
______ .Jn the Shadow of the City: A History of the Loring Park Neighborhood.
Minneapolis: Minneapolis Community College Foundation, ca. 1988.
Vermeer, Andrea and Will Stark ( 106 Group Ltd.). "Phase I and II Architectural History Investigation for Lake Street
Improvement Program." 2004. On file, Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office.
Vermeer, Andrea and Will Stark (106 Group Ltd.). "Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Grade Separation
Historic District." ational Register of Historic Places Registration form. 2005. On file, Minnesota State Historic
Preservation Office.
Warner, George, and Charles M. Foote, eds. History of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis:
North Star Publishing Co .. 1881.
Wirth, Theodore. Minneapolis Park System 1883-1944. Minneapolis: Board of Park Commissioner, 1945.
Zahn, Thomas R. and Associates. Preservation Plan for the City of Minneapolis, Phase 1 and JI. Minneapolis: Heritage
Preservation Commission, 1990.
Zellie, Carole. "Stevens Square Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 1993. On
file, Minnesota Historical Society.
_____ . "1 eighborhood Commercial Centers, 1885-1 963." Prepared for the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation
Commission, 1993.
_ _____ ."Harmon Place Historic District Study." Prepared for the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation
Commission, 2002.
______ ."Minneapolis Public Schools Historic Context Study. " Prepared for the Minneapolis Heritage
Preservation Commission, 2005 .
. Maps
Map of Hennepin County. Minnesota. St. Paul: Rice & Co., 1873.
Map of Hennepin County, Minnesota. Minneapolis: Warner & Foote, 1879.
Complete Set of Surveys and Plats of Properties in the City of Minneapolis, Minn. Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins, C.E.,
1885.
Map of Ramsey and Hennepin Counties: with adjacent portions of Anoka, Wright, Carver, Scott, Dakota & Washington
Counties, Minnesota. Minneapolis: C.M. Foote & Co. , 1890.
City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis: C.M. Foote Publishing Company, 1892.
Atlas of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Real Estate Board, 1903.
Minneapolis Fire Insurance Maps. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1912-51.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association Wedge Historic Context Study
34
Sources, continued
Atlas of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Real Estate Board, 1914.
Minnesota Work Projects Administration. Atlas of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesora. Minneapolis: 1940.
Map of Wedge Neighborhood. Prepared by Community Planning and Economic Development Department,
Minneapolis, 2004.
Directories
Dual City Blue Book. St. Paul: R.L. Polk & Co., 1885-1923.
Minneapolis City Directory. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Directory Company, 1931.
Photo Collections
Hennepin County History Museum
Minneapolis Board of Education
Minnesota Historical Society
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association ' Wedge Historic Context Study
35