Crocus Hill Neighborhood

Summit Avenue (also know as Crocus Hill by its residents) is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Saint Paul with mansions starting to appear at the top of the hill in the first days of the city. By 1859, 6 houses were built, of which only 1 stands today. It began as fashionable residential neighborhood for wealthy St. Paul residents who wanted to move away from the busyness of the other neighborhoods that were close to the commercial development.

Construction and neighborhood development slowed during the Civil war, but began to improve in the 1880s with the addition of city water in 1884. Shortly thereafter, cable cars began to operate on Selby Avenue and then on Grand Avenue, giving residents easy access to downtown.  There were a substantial number of homes that were built in the 1880’s and 1890’s in the eastern portion of he neighborhood that still stand today. There is a high percentage of buildings in the Summit Hill neighborhood that are intact and often outstanding examples of architectural styles ranging from the Italianate to the Georgian Revival styles.

The last substantial development of the area completed in the 1920’s.  Since that time, very few new houses have been built on Summit Hill.  In the 1930s, many of the beautiful mansions where turned into apartments and rooming houses to deal with the booming population of Saint Paul. Most were left in disrepair, but many survive to this day. Beginning in the 1960s, Summit Avenue became fashionable again as home buyers could see the potential of these large properties. They began to refurbish and bring the neighborhood back to life.

Currently, Summit Avenue has more houses on the National Historic Registry than any other neighborhood in the Twin Cities. Summit Avenue was also named one of 10 “great streets” nationally by the American Planning Association in 2008.

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