Pike Island
BY DEBRA KEEFR RAMAGE
A brief history of Highland Park
If you have lived in Minnesota long enough, you have learned that we live on stolen land and from whom it was stolen. Maybe, though, you do not know by whom or some of the more terrible details. I looked into the history of Pike Island, a small island right in the spot where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers merge (which the Dakota people call Bdote and consider sacred land), and encountered, not for the first time, the island’s namesake Zebulon Pike.
Zebulon Pike negotiated the treaty which purchased Fort Snelling’s site from the Dakota people.
If you want a deep dive into Black and Indigenous history centered around this neighborhood, read this excellent short history piece by Katrina Phillips: tinyurl.com/DKRatSSP-Bdote. It explores Dakota legends, America’s cruelest concentration camp, the Dakota War, the Dred Scott decision, buffalo soldiers, and much more.
The history of Highland Park itself is pretty interesting, too. Wikipedia.com is a good place to start. Also of interest is this Sam Newberg piece from streets.mn that questioned the future of Highland Park back in 2015, due to the closure of a chain bookstore with a Starbucks inside. tinyurl.com/DKRatSSP-SoulofHP.
Upgrades and new development
The development called Highland Bridge has been largely realized over the last ten years. Another major step toward completion came last month when ground was broken for a new three acre development at the corner of Cretin Avenue and Ford Parkway in Highland Bridge. The Ryan Companies is developing a 97-unit apartment complex with 8,500-square-feet of ground-floor retail. There will also be three standalone retail buildings, a 13,000-square-foot daycare center, a two-level parking ramp and new pedestrian connections for the neighborhood.
The Bdote Singers play a welcome song at the official unveiling of a Native American mural in a Highland Bridge park. (Photo/John Autey/Pioneer Press)
A new mural was added in the Uŋčí Makhá Park in Highland Bridge last October. On Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, local artists Missy Whiteman and Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl worked with six St. Paul Right Track youth interns to create a mural, titled “As Above, So Below; Seeing Ourselves in the Creation Story,” which presents the Dakota Creation Story. See this in-depth article by Talia McWright in the Pioneer Press for lots more detail: tinyurl.com/DKRatSSP-CreationMural.
Another new development is a multi-million dollar upgrade for the popular branch of the fitness chain LifeTime on Ford Parkway. Completed and unveiled at the end of 2024, they added space by acquiring the site next door. The LifeTime facility is now over 70,000 square feet, with lots of new equipment and amenities.
The due focacceria menu includes house-baked breads.
Places for food and drink in Highland Park
A sign of a healthy local economy, in my view, is a neighborhood with a mix of fancy new places to eat and longtime survivor favorites in happy co-existence. Highland Park has that. Highland Grill, Cecil’s Deli and Sakana Sushi & Asian Bistro are among the popular survivors that still serve both new and loyal customers.
Meanwhile, one newcomer shot right to the top in the “Best New Restaurants” list of Twin Cities Eater. This is Altera, at 721 Cleveland Avenue, the latest offering from InnerBloom Hospitality, who also run Yumi, Josefina, and AgraCulture. The menu is a little of everything, a true “American” restaurant with some Italian classics, some Japanese classics, and some burgers and fries.
Another restaurant you might want to check out is due focacceria, opened in 2019.This is another Italian-named restaurant eschewing capitalization; the same couple founded ie Italian Eatery, but sold it last year to restaurant group Travail. Due focacceria has not been around long enough yet to qualify as an old favorite, but it is very popular. It is located at 475 Fairview Avenue, and open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. They serves casual fare like focaccia sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, and appetizers, but also rather high-end craft cocktails. The breads are baked in-house. There is also a great little Italian market in the space, and of course you can order online for pickup or delivery.
Bricks and Minifigs sells used lego products.
Retail shopping in Highland Park
Bricks and Minifigs is a new retail store that resells gently used Lego bricks, figures, and accessories. They just opened in January, and are located in the Highland Center strip mall. The owner is local resident Blake Lemcke, a licensed geologist and lifelong LEGO fan.
Highland Park does still have a main street bookstore, Half Price Books. I strongly recommend it for you and your friends who consume books.
Notable spots in Highland Park
An opinion piece on “Cityscapes” in MinnPost by urban geographer Bill Lindeke celebrates the “one of a kind” riverside high-rise called 740 River Drive. Built in 1960, at 23 stories it was the highest residential building between Chicago and the West Coast at the time. Strict zoning laws in St. Paul followed shortly after that, effectively preventing anything close to that height being built on the east side of the Mississippi, so now it stands unchallenged.
The 740 River Drive apartment hi-rise would likely not be approved today.
Lindeke quotes local historian Wolfie Browender, writing “Today, a high-rise like 740 River Drive in a neighborhood like Highland Park would draw such indignation from area residents that a developer would have to be delusional to even propose it.” The punch line of the story is in the name of the building. It is not an actual address. There is no street called River Drive; they made it up to sound posh.
Dayton’s Christmas windows and the elves and other characters displayed on the 8th floor of Dayton’s were precious Christmas memories for families and an important source of income for local artists. People have strong negative feelings about successor owner Macy’s discontinuing the practice. Last December MPR broadcast a documentary about them. And at the same time, John Pihaly, a Highland Park homeowner and animatronics superfan “rescued” a large number of animatronic elves and other figures from Christmases past. He even modified his home so that he could display the figures, and worked with Constance Crawford, who was the designer of many original 8th floor displays, on how to display them.
MPR arts journalists Max Sparber and Alex V. Cipolle covered the whole story in a December 23 piece in MPRNews online paper. Presumably, after all that work, the displays will continue this year and for the near future at least.
