Midtown: A Place to Call Home

Midtown: A Place to Call Home. The Museum in the Streets: Minneapolis, Minnesota. , History of Lake Street , When the City of Minneapolis was established in 1856, Lake Street was a mile beyond the southern boundary of the city., Early Lake Street was home to dance halls, lumberyards, churches, horsesheds, blacksmiths, tin shops, drug stores, laundries, and boarding houses… providing a glimpse of the future commercial and industrial corridor that was to come., Two major forms of transportation spurred the area's growth: Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad (CM&StP) tracks laid one block north of Lake Street between 1879 and 1881, and streetcar lines, which reached Lake Street in the 1880s., Lake Street's future as an important corridor was secured when chosen for the cross-river bridge linking Minneapolis and St. Paul in 1888., Midtown: A Place to Call Home , Lake Street played an important role as home to the city's new immigrants, including the small businesses and cultural organizations they established in their pursuit of the American Dream., In 1870, just over 18,000 people lived in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Anthony combined, with much of the population coming from the eastern United States and Canada. By the late 1870s, Minneapolis started to see a full-scale migration of Scandinavians to Minneapolis that would determine the pattern of urban growth of South Minneapolis, City expansion, street car development, and an explosion in the population of Minneapolis occurred at the same time. When the street cars started to reach Lake Street from downtown, the area started to boom. The wide belt of flat land from downtown Minneapolis to Minnehaha Creek made the area attractive for residential development, and the streets began to fill up with single and two-family homes in the blocks near Lake Street, especially on streets with streetcars., By 1890, Minneapolis had replaced Chicago as the principle destination of Scandinavian immigrants to the United States. They began settling on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, later expanding to Cedar-Riverside, then moving to the growing neighborhoods in South Minneapolis. As the community continued its southward movement, South Minneapolis became the domain of Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish enclaves., Together with immigrants from other countries, including Greece, the growing population built solid middle class neighborhoods, anchored by their cultural institutions, including the Gustavus II Adolphus Society; the Sons of Norway; St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church and its parochial school; the Danish Young People's Home; strong public institutions, including Minneapolis South High School and Powderhorn Park, and numerous retail enterprises that were run by new immigrants, including Charles Inbebretsen; Anton Hanson, an immigrant from Norway who established a real estate and insurance business; and Peter Soteropolos, a Greek immigrant who owned the Lake Street Candy Store, Narum's Shoe Store, and Cedar Lake Florist., Lake Street remains a place of opportunity for newcomers.