The Hamline-Midway Neighborhood of St Paul

By Ms. Tourtelotte

The Hamline-Midway Neighborhood: the Northwest area of St. Paul

Hamline-Midway Neighborhood Map

Hamline-Midway Street Map

Hamline-Midway Satellite Map

The State of My Neighborhood: Crime and Safety

The State of My Neighborhood: Services

The State of My Neighborhood: Nuisances and Dangers

The State of My Neighborhood: Transportation

The State of My Neighborhood: Recreation

There are several small parks and one recreation center in this neighborhood, but no large parks. The parks all have children’s playgrounds and open space. The rec center has indoor meeting and kitchen space and it has outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as softball and baseball fields.

There are no bike or walking trails. However, it is near several bike trails.

The neighborhood is just south of Como Park, which includes the Como Park Zoo, recreation fields, open green space, and walking trails.

There are also several lakes and pools in neaby neighborhoods, but neither in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood.

The State of My Neighborhood: The People

Hamline University

This is the Old Main building at the center of campus at Hamline University. It currently has offices and an auditorium. But, it was once the home of the entire University. It was moved to St. Paul from Red Wing in south-western Minnesota, where Hamline held it’s first classes. Old Main is a symbol of the Hamline Campus and the fact that it was the first college or University in Minnesota.

Ginkgo Coffeehouse

Ginkgo is the great coffee shop along Snelling Avenue. It is mostly known for good neighborhood coffee and live music. It is also a common place to see people studying, reading, and having quiet conversations. Now that there is a statewide smoking ban in public places, it isn’t full of lots of smoke, either. In my opinion, it also has the world’s best chocolate chip/M&M cookies. They are really huge and really delicious!

Map of my favorite Places

Hamline University

Ginkgo

College Rental Housing and Neighborhood Conflict

The growth of colleges and universities in this area has created more and more rental housing. 4-8 college students can rent old houses; sometimes for less money than living in dorms. But, the landlords often break housing codes and allow too many renters and allow the houses to become rundown. Many of these houses also become host to many loud parties that sometimes attract more than 100 people.

Local neighborhood homeowners become frustrated when houses on their street become run down and bring down property values. They also get frustrated when they feel like their street is attracting hundreds of drunk college students every weekend and they are trying to raise their kids in a calm neighborhood. Many of these neighbors are frustrated that the colleges and universities keep expanding, bringing more and more students to their neighborhood.

Dangerous Intersection

This is a really dangerous intersection along Snelling Avenue. With the majority of buildings at Hamline University on one side of Snelling and many students living in rental houses or driving to campus and parking on the other, a huge number of people cross this very busy intersection every day. People tend to completely ignore the Walk/Don’t Walk signs. This is also a problem at night, when students run across the street in the dark (often drunk) when it is difficult for drivers to see them.

SourcesCity of St Paul neighborhood map www.stpaul.gov/DocumentView.asp?DID=5055Google Maps http://maps.google.com/mapsHamline-Midway Coalition

http://www.hamlinemidwaycoalition.org/theNeighborhood.php?neighborhood=map

Ginkgo Coffeehouse www.ginkgocoffee.com/Hamline Unviersity www.hamline.edu/City of St Paul Parks and Recreation http://www.stpaul.gov/index.asp?NID=243