The Near North Community can be found on the north and west side of Minneapolis. It is bordered to the south by Bassett’s creek, to the west by Penn Avenue, to the north by Lowry Avenue North, and to the east by I-94, Lyndale Avenue North and the Mississippi River. Contained within it are six smaller neighborhoods.
Hawthorne - The Hawthorne neighborhood is in the northeast corner of the Near North community in Minneapolis. The neighborhood is bounded by the Mississippi River on the east and Emerson Avenue on the west; Broadway Avenue is the southern extent and Lowry Avenue is the neighborhood’s northern boundary. The Hawthorne neighborhood is named after the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, born in 1804.
The Hawthorne neighborhood is also the home of Farview Park, the oldest park of Minneapolis, the Nellie Stone Johnson School, and the Orvin Olson Park near...
Amtrak ridership in Minnesota is up. The Empire Builder, which runs from Chicago, northwest to
Saint Paul, and then west through North Dakota and Montana into Washington and Oregon, gained about 10% more riders in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended in September. At its largest stop in Minnesota,
St. Paul's Midway station, 147,791 people boarded or departed Amtrak trains in 2008, about 14,700 more than in 2007. At that record pace, a high-speed train service between Saint Paul and Chicago may be in the cards. In addition, a Northern Lights Express line between Duluth and Minneapolis is moving forward.Now on a sixth straight year of ridership growth, added services fill on the Empire Builder line fill up fast. It’s proof that people are using it. Proponents of the trains believe that if they can be faster and more efficient, even more people will choose to ride the rails as well.
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We love our arts here in the
Twin Cities. As it turns out, people and organizations outside of the metro do, too! Eight Twin Cities arts organizations will share $5.3 million in grants from the New York-based Wallace Foundation. The money is intended to build audiences and spur student participation. In addition, the foundation will give $1.6 million to Arts Midwest and the Minnesota Community Foundation over four years to create a learning network to available to all Twin Cities arts organizations. A grand total of $6.9 million, it is the largest single-year commitment Wallace has made to local arts organizations.
Six groups will receive grants of $750,000 over four years. They are MacPhail Center for Music, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Ordway Center and the MIA. Northern Clay Center will get $500,000, and Mixed Blood Theatre won $300,000.
In a separate announcement,...
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is encouraging residents to take precautions against the spread of Emerald Ash Borer. If you haven’t heard about this pest yet, the Emerald Ash Borer is an exotic beetle that attacks only ash trees. The insect has already killed over 40 million ash trees across the country. A considerable amount of damaged has occurred in southeast Michigan. If allowed to spread, its effects could be similar to that of the chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease that devastated trees during the 20th Century.
The Emerald Ash Borer was first discovered in Michigan in 2002 and probably arrived in the U.S. on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia. The Emerald Ash Borer was found in Ohio in 2003, northern Indiana in 2004, northern Illinois in 2006, and Wisconsin in 2008. It has also been found in parts of Canada, particularly, Windsor, Ontario.
Slowly, the Emerald Ash Borer...
Located in the northwestern area of the City of St. Paul, the neighborhood known as Como Park is bordered on the north by Hoyt Avenue and Larpenteur Avenue, on the east by Dale Street, on the south by the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks and Maryland Avenue, and on the west by Snelling Avenue. This beautiful neighborhood is a primarily residential and recreational area. With Como Lake at its heart, its wonderful parks, and of course, the Como Park Zoo and Marjorie McNeely Conservatory is known as Saint Paul's Garden District.
Como Park was originally settled as farmland in the middle of the 1800's. Como Lake was named in 1848 and was incorporated into the city of Saint Paul in 1854. Real estate developer Henry McKenty, thinking that the Como Park area would be the perfect place for a resort, began construction on Como Road beginning in 1868. Though his real estate dreams were never realized, Como Road is still part of today’s Como Avenue, a major...
South St. Paul opened its first off-leach dog park last month. The 6.3 acre site along the Mississippi River used to be a demolition landfill. The dog park is the first in northern Dakota County.
The park itself is part of
South St. Paul's long-term plan to transform the former 87-acre Port Crosby industrial landfill into a recreational area which has been named Kaposia Landing. The city purchased the former landfill for $1 million in 1999 and secured $4.5 million from the Legislature between 2004 and 2006 to prepare the area. Cleanup involved clearing trees and brush and then covering all 70 acres with 526,000 cubic yards of fill dirt.
As a result, the park is wide open and ideal for dogs that need to run. The park is enclosed by a 4-foot fence and has two shelters and two disposal stations for dog waste. Another $6 million would be needed to carry out South St. Paul's long-term vision for Kaposia Landing, which...
Looking for something to do this weekend? Head to one or both of the Twin Cities zoos!
Three fisher kits born at the Minnesota Zoo are now on exhibit. The species resembles weasels and is found in Alaska, Canada and the northern lower 48 states. At one time, it was nearly extinct because of trapping and logging practices, but now they are doing well in mixed wooded and heavily forested areas.
The zoo in Apple Valley is one of just four nationally accredited zoos in the country to exhibit fisher kits and the only one to rear a brood in the past three years.
Born March 23, the two male and one female kits had been kept in an off-exhibit holding area with their mother as a health precaution. They are doing well and have started exploring their exhibit.
Fishers are known for their tree-climbing, hunting and agility. Solitary creatures, they are constantly on the move. They are dark brown in color, good swimmers and like to travel close to the...
Lake pollution often is measured in levels of phosphorous, long used to fertilize lawns. Although ban on the chemical for lawns went into effect in 2004, it is still a legal fertilizer for other types of gardens.
When excess nutrients build up in Minnesota lakes, it leads to a harmful domino effect on aquatic ecology. Phosphorous leads to algae blooms. Algae blooms can block sunlight to native aquatic plants and lead to temperature changes in the water. When the algae blooms die, the resulting bacteria causes a depletion of oxygen, which in turn kills fish and insects.
Being the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” you can understand why this topic would be important. As Minnesotans, we are awful fond of all forms of water recreation. No one wants to swim, boat, or fish in a green, stinky lake. All the more reason why this blog entry and Star Tribune article could pertain and appeal to you! Even if you don’t think you live close enough to a lake or stream to...
Dayton's Bluff is a neighborhood located on the east side of the Mississippi in the southeast part of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The northern border of the neighborhood is Grove Street and the Burlington Northern Railroad. The southern border is Warner Road. To the west is Lafayette Road and Highway 3, and to the east is Highway 61.
Dayton’s Bluff contains one of the widest varieties of history of any Twin Cities’ neighborhood. The history of the area goes back over 1,000 years when the Hopewell Native Americans used the area as a sacred burial ground. On the edge of the southern and highest part of Dayton's Bluff today, a series of seven large aboriginal burial mounds remain in Indian Mounds Park, overlooking the Mississippi River and the central part of the city. The park features walking paths, playgrounds and a picnic area.
In 1857, Lyman Dayton, a well-known land and railroad speculator from Vermont, platted an "addition to St. Paul" on the...
Northeast community of Minneapolis is composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods. The Northeast community blends old architecture, classic housing, bustling commercial districts, and industrial work centers as well as new residential high-rises, suburban cul-de-sacs, and a popular art scene. The Northeast community is part bedroom neighborhood and part job center for the City of Minneapolis. The prominent features of Northeast include ornate churches and massive grain silos and mills, both of which help to create a unique skyline. Formerly known as the City of Saint Anthony before it was annexed into Minneapolis, Northeast is sometimes referred to as Nordeast, reflecting the history of northern and eastern European immigrants and their language influence.
Columbia Park - The Columbia Park neighborhood in northeast Minneapolis is bound on the north by 37th Avenue Northeast, on the east by Central Avenue Northeast, on the south by 27th Avenue Northeast and...