Native Peoples -

Native Americans lived in this the area for many years before the first European peoples came.

Farming -

European settlers arrived in the 1850's. They cleared brush and trees to create farms to supply livestock and produce for Minneapolis. This collection of farms was informally known as Elmwood.

From Farms to Village -

In August 1886, 31 people signed a petition to make the small community the Village of St. Louis Park. The petition became official on November 19, 1886. These citizens hoped to turn this small village into a boom town. 

Naming the Village -

The name "Elmwood" was considered, but "St. Louis Park" was selected instead. The new name came from the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad which ran through the village. The word "Park" was added so the village would not be confused with the city of St. Louis, Missouri.

The Village Develops -

In 1890, lumber baron Thomas Walker's company began preparing St. Louis Park for businesses and houses. Up until then it was still mostly farmland.

Building began in the village center and moved outward. By 1893, the downtown area of St. Louis Park had three hotels and many newly arrived companies. The city had more than 600 people working in it. Most of them made farming tools.

Grain Elevator -

In the late 1800's a lot of the trains were transporting grain in and out of St. Louis Park. There were grain storage buildings called grain elevators that kept the grain fresh and dry.

In 1899, Frank Peavey built the first concrete grain elevator in the nation in St. Louis Park. The grain elevator was 120 feet high and the walls were made of concrete. Most grain elevators were made of wood. Many people predicted the elevator would burst like a balloon. They were wrong. This experiment was such a success other people began using concrete to build their elevators.

The grain elevator is still standing along Highway 7. It is called the Nordic Ware Tower.

The Bucket Brigade -

A 16 man "bucket brigade" was organized in 1893. It was St. Louis Park's first fire department. But St. Louis Park's official volunteer fire department wasn't established until 1901. That's when the fire department bought a horse drawn cart with two 80 gallon tanks. In 1917 they bought a motorized truck with four 40 gallon chemical tanks.

St. Louis Park Street Cars -

Yellow streetcars, made of wood, were an important part of life in St. Louis Park in the early 1900's. Streetcars helped people get around the area before there were cars and buses. People used street cars to run errands, do their shopping and visit friends. Workers and businesspeople rode the street cars from their quiet neighborhoods to busy downtown Minneapolis. On the weekends, many people would take a streetcar from St. Louis Park out to an amusement park by Lake Minnetonka.

In the late 1930's, buses and cars started to replace the streetcar. Later, the city of St. Louis Park decided to stop running streetcars.

Becoming a Suburb of Minneapolis -

Early plans were to make our city a major industrial area. But by the early 1900s, residents held jobs in Minneapolis and viewed St. Louis Park as a suburb they would rather live in, not work in. This was because streetcar lines made it easy to travel to Minneapolis to work, and return home afterwards. 

At the end of World War I, there were only seven stores in St. Louis Park. This was because the streetcars again provided easy access to shopping in Minneapolis.

Between 1920 and 1930, the population doubled from 2,281 to 4,710.  Many more homes were built in the late 1930's. During World War II, however, all development stopped.

The Housing Boom After World War II -

After World War II, St. Louis Park grew very fast. In 1940, 7,737 people lived in St. Louis Park. By 1955, 30,000 more residents had joined them. Most of St. Louis Park's homes were built from the late 1940's to the early 1950's. From 1940 to 1955, an average of 7 people moved into St. Louis Park every day!

This increase in population was due to people returning who had fought in the war and now needed a place to live. The cost of a typical home in those days was about $7,000. Today, an average home costs $150,000.

Good and Services -

Businesses wanted to bring goods and services to the new families living in St. Louis Park. In the late 1940's, Minnesota's first shopping center was built on Excelsior Boulevard. It was called "Lilac Way." It was torn down in the 1980's. Miracle Mile Shopping Center was built in 1950, and Knollwood Shopping Center in 1956.

From Village to City -

Because businesses and the population were growing quickly, after World War II St. Louis Park needed a full-time government.

In 1954, voters approved a law that made St. Louis Park a city. This allowed St. Louis Park to hire a city manager to do some of the duties handled by the part-time city council.

In those days, the city wanted to build sewer and water systems, pave streets, acquire park land and build schools.