The History of Summit-University
Neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Summit – university neighborhood is located in the 8th district in St. Paul in Minnesota. It
lays along the Mississippi river. There are four sub-neighborhoods in Summit-university
neighborhoods “Aurora/St. Anthony, Rondo, Ramsey hill/Cathedral hill, Selby-Dale”. The north
boundary extends until university Avenue. The south side of this neighborhood reaches the
summit Avenue which is the boundary between the summit hill neighborhood and summituniversity neighborhood. The west side of Summit–university neighborhood extends to the
Lexington parkway.
My visit of this neighborhood was one of my best experiences since I have been in Minnesota.
The neighborhood is so quiet, and piece full. It has beautiful view where you can see most of
down town St. Paul. The Mississippi river is also another site that contributes the beauty of the
neighborhood. As walk the streets of this neighborhood you will notice the diversity of this
neighborhood. When we interviewed some of the residents of the neighborhood, we were so
amazed how they were open and welcomed us. The neighborhood is mostly a residential place,
although it contains some business and some historical places.
The neighborhood seemed to be divided into two parts; the eastern par which t has some
mansions with different styles and the western north part which has small houses. In order to
know more about the neighborhood, I did some research and as the Ramsey County Historical
Society indicated, the why this small neighborhood was divided so greatly has is reflected the
history some of the neighborhood. (Minnesota Historical society).
The city became residential area around 1850.The people who settled initially in the Summit
area were farmers. One of farmers who settle initially in this neighborhood is a man called
George Luckert. His house was built around 1850. The Summit-university neighborhood
changed dramatically when wealthy people living in the St. Paul business area, moved into the
Summit neighborhood and built mansions that have different styles. In 1880, when the building
streetcar line started, the composition of the community in this neighborhood changed and a
lot of working class and middle classes moved in to the neighborhood.
The summit- university neighborhood contains many historical buildings. These historical
buildings are found the eastern part of the neighborhood and view of them are found in the
northern west due to demolition project that took place around 1960s. Some of these historical
buildings are churches.
One of the well-known historic church is cathedral church (the above picture), which was built
in 1914. Another historical build is Gorge sawyer’s house which was built in 1885.
Today the neighborhood contained well maintained historical buildings and beautiful
residential housings. These houses contained both big, fancy, more expensive and small
houses. Most of big house are found the earthmen side of the neighborhood. The summituniversity - neighborhood has small restaurant, bars, and markets. Some of the most famous
business at this neighborhood are: A piece of cake baker, and Nin’s coffee. Most of these
businesses populate along the Selby Avenue. There are no pig malls in the neighborhood but
there small markets such as Mississippi market where the local community usually shops.
Some of the houses of this neighborhood are still well maintained and many people vast each
year the historical places in this neighborhood. One historical place that I like to mention is the
governor’s house (the below picture).
This building was originally built as a family house in 1912, but now it is a place, where the
Minnesota governor resides. It is located in Sat 1006 Summit Avenue. This house is a great
historical building, which people visit each summer. This is a great place to visit. It is usually
open between the months of June and July through the summer for tours
(http://ramseyhill.org/
As almost every community in USA, the summit community was founded by immigrants, but
due to the change of the immigration flow, the community seems to be change ethically. It
seems to becoming heterogeneous, although there are some areas that are ethically populated.
The summit neighborhood is a community that meets and well-connected it has a bimonthly
newspaper that they discuss about a few issues of the neighborhood, such as crime protection
and volunteering (Summit hill News).
When I was doing the research I came across many historical photos, and the below photo is
the one I liked the most. It was taken around 1903. As the summit planning council indicated,
this photo shows the activates children used to do in past times “riding donkey instead of using
telephones” and playing video games. Summit- planning council. May be we need to know
about the children‘s history!!!!!!.
References:
1. Ramsey Hill Association. http://ramseyhill.org.
2. Summit University planning Council. http://.summit-u.com
3. Minnesota historical societywww.mnhs.org/wwww.mnhs.org/
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