CEDAR LAKE ROAD

What we know about Cedar Lake Road is sketchy.  See also CLR buildings.  Please contact us if you have an additions or corrections.

Cedar Lake Road is apparently quite old, as evidenced by its irregular path through the City.  Before a realignment, it actually did go to Cedar Lake, which is east in Minneapolis.  It was a major thoroughfare but was used less when Highway 12 was built between Highway 100 and Louisiana.

North Side School, which became Eliot, was first built in 1885.  It burned down in 1926, and Eliot was built that same year.

The 1914 plat map shows Cedar Lake Road labeled "Cedar Lake Road or Minnetonka Blvd," which is odd since the actual Minnetonka Blvd. is also clearly on the map. On other stretches it is simply called Cedar Lake Road.

At one time the Coty perfune Co. had owned 9+ acres of land at Cedar Lake Road just west of Highway 100.

Ascension Church was built at 6719 Cedar Lake Road in 1947.


Wooden bridge over the Burlington Northern tracks on Cedar Lake Road by the Jewish Community Center.  Photo courtesy SLP Engineering Department, spring 1950.  Bridge has been replaced with a pedestrian bridge.


A June 26, 1952 article in the Dispatch outlined a plan to eliminate the at-grade intersection of Cedar Lake Road and Highway 100.  The plan was to loop CLR under the Great Northern railway bridge about 300 feet sough of the intersection, which had been the source of several deadly accidents.  CLR traffic would also use the loop to cross the highway.  In the meantime, a two-foot, raised concrete island was built to divide Highway 100 into two two-lane roadways to prevent left-hand turns. 

The first commercial property on Cedar Lake Road was Cities Service Oil Co., located at the northeast corner of CLR and Louisiana Ave. (7120 CLR), built in 1953.

Westwood Shopping Center opened on September 30, 1954.  The address was 7101-27 Cedar Lake Road.

Westwood Lutheran Church was built at 9001 Cedar Lake Road in 1955.

Cedar Manor Elementary School was built at 9400 Cedar Lake Road in 1957.

Peace Presbyterian Church was built at 7624 Cedar Lake Road in 1958.

For a time, the eastern portion was called County Road 16.  In 1960, Kaye Westerlund asked the City Council to change it to South Cedar Lake Road. 

Also in 1960, a most unusual building was built at 4903 Cedar Lake Road.

Westwood Shopping Center-West was built at 7239 Cedar Lake Road in 1964.

Traffic lights were installed at Cedar Lake Road and Louisiana in 1968.

In 1962, Bruce Construction Co. built a 61-unit apartment building at 7316 Cedar Lake Road for Sidal Realty.

In 1963 Bruce Construction Co. built the 68-unit Westwood Gardens apartment building at 7307/7321 Cedar Lake Road.  The site had formerly been a Landers-Norblom-Christenson gravel pit.

In 1963, Mrs. Ray Olson of 1632 Princeton opposed the closing of the Cedar Lake Road bridge over the Great Northern Tracks.

A Hennepin County Highway map from 1969 identifies the road as County Road 16 for the entire length of St. Louis Park.  We do not know if it was a county road from the beginning, or whether it is still a county road. 

In 1970, the county proposed making the stretch between Highway 100 and Louisiana a four-lane "collector road," with the remaining stretch to Highway 18 (now 169) to be widened later.  The proposal was met with vociferous opposition from almost everyone and was quickly dropped.  The city also sought to "assume full control of Cedar Lake Road," according to City Council minutes.

Hurd Park was named for Carroll Hurd, Rotarian and former Mayor of St. Louis Park. It is located north of Cedar Lake Road between Nevada and Pennsylvania Avenues. The dedication took place on September 27, 1976.
 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.