DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS PARK
Bob Reiss, from the Re-Echo, Winter 2002

With the building of the Park Commons development, St Louis Park will finally have a true downtown. Excelsior Boulevard will become the area they think about when they refer to St. Louis Park. The street has gone through many changes. Lilac Way has come and gone and Miracle Mile has provided convenient shopping. With the addition of this "recognized community focal point," with its offices, retail shops, restaurants, townhouses and condominiums. Park Commons will be an area where people can live, dine, work, shop and enjoy.

Excelsior Boulevard today is what T. B. Walker envisioned for St. Louis Park, but his "main" street was to be Walker Street, obviously named after him. It ran (and still does) from the Oak Hill neighborhood to the Center neighborhood (now renamed Elmwood) and includes the St. Louis Railroad park from which St. Louis Park got its name. Within walking distance of this street were all the necessities people needed. They could work at the Monitor Drill or other manufacturing plants. There was a bank, hardware and grocery store, hotels, churches, schools, a barber shop and best of all, transportation. The streetcar line ended at Walker Street and provided transportation through Uptown to downtown Minneapolis. The 1892 advertisement by the Minneapolis Land and Improvement Co- provides an insight into what was envisioned for St Louis Park. What was not envisioned for the Park was first the depression of 1893 and then the depression of 1930. The Monitor Drill burned down and production was moved to the Hopkins plant. Tornadoes wiped out homes and manufacturing plants. All of this limited much expansion.

During the time T. B. Walker was making his plans in St. Louis Park, Excelsior Boulevard was a farm service road that developed into a secondary route into Minneapolis. In 1945, the soldiers of WW II started returning, getting married and needed a place to live. Automobiles and the building of Highways 7 and 100 by the WPA, made living in the suburbs feasible. The farms of Brookside were ideal home locations. When St. Louis Park population exploded, Excelsior Boulevard started on its path toward being the Park's "main" street. Now only a few people even know where Walker Street is.
 

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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.