Chris Johnson writes: > Why they made the bend in the streets once the city grew outside of the > current downtown area, I don't know. Someone apparently thought true > north-south and east-west roadways were more important than a sensible > city-wide scheme, and got their way with it.
Actually the city was founded on a part of the river that runs northwest to southeast, so the streets were laid out parallel to the river and as they went north, they bent in order to follow the river. The avenues run perpendicular to the streets that follow the river. As the city expanded, it ran into existing roads (which are now streets) that were laid out in a checker board patterns. This pattern comes from a survey system that dates back to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prior to the constitution. The Northwest Ordinance governed the settlement of the Northwest Territory that included what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and that part of Minnesota that lies east of the Mississippi. The Ordinance dictated that the Territory should be divided into 3 to 5 new states (but it actually became about 5 1/3 states) but more to the point of this story, it also provided for a survey system that would give an easier way to identify parcels of land in a systematic way. The survey, which I believe was the brain child of Thomas Jefferson, dictated that all the land in the Territory would be laid out in squares of 36 square miles (6miles x 6miles). These squares are known as townships. Each township was then divided up into 36 square sections of 1 square mile each. Then a road was build along the boundaries of these sections. So the entire Territory's road system is a giant checker board with a road every mile. The system actually works pretty well where the land is fairly flat, but breaks down where there is a lot of rough terrain or a lot of large lakes. This same survey system then became the standard for all of the western states. So, when the City of Minneapolis expanded beyond its original downtown grid, (which was laid out parallel to the river and at a 45 degree angle from the cardinal points of the compass) it bumped up against an already existing rural road structure that was laid out in a pattern of roads running true to the cardinal directions every mile. That is why you find that many major streets are all exactly one mile apart. On the Southside these old "section lines" are Franklin, Lake, 38th, 46th, 54th and 62nd -- these are all exactly one mile apart. Also on the Southside, the section lines are 31st Ave, Cedar, Portland, Lyndale, Penn and France. In Northeast, Johnson, Stinson and Emerald are the old section lines. All of these streets existed as country roads before the City expanded to that area, so naturally the fill in streets ran parallel to them. The grid pattern breaks down where it encounters the river and lakes and of course where it has to be adjusted to make the streets attach to the older downtown grid. At first there was no real standard for how big blocks should be, so many of the oldest parts of town will have patterns of blocks that could be any length. This can be seen clearly in places like Ventura Village, Stevens Square, the West Bank and Near North. But by the time the city reached about to 24 street on the Southside, a standard for block length was established. So each block is now 1/8 mile long and 1/16th mile wide. This size of block holds true pretty well for the whole city, except where the grid runs into the lakes or the river. Actually, I think Minneapolis has a fairly sensible street pattern. Dean Zimmermann - East Phillips ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 11:05 AM Subject: Re: [Mpls] even and odd streets > Jim Bernstein wrote: > > >OKAY! OKAY! I surrender! Last time I write a post at 1:30 A.M.!! > > > >Sen. Higgins is, of course absolutely right and even Mrs. Bernstein's > >idiot son (that's me)should have remembered that because his maternal > >grandparents lived for many years at 4038 Humboldt Ave. North and their > >house was on the east side. > > > >The question then: does anyone know why do we have this system? It's > >not like north and south Minneapolis were two separate cities like Buda > >and Pest! > > > >Jim Bernstein > >Fulton > > > > > Ah, I should have realized that north Minneapolis numbers would be > reversed of south Minneapolis, since it has the avenues and streets > reversed as well. > > The system is really this: the city started downtown along the river. > In their infinite lack of wisdom, the city fathers layed out the streets > and avenues sensibly roughly parallel and perpendicular to the river. > So far, so good. But then they "turned" or "twisted" the streets when > they got outside of downtown to instead follow the cardinal compass > points. Problem was, the Street-named streets which run roughly > southeast-northwest downtown made a rougly 45 degree bend to the north, > and ran north-south on the north side of downtown, but made a 45 degree > bend to the east on the south and east sides of downtown, and ended up > running east-west. Invert all of that for the Avenue-named streets. > > Or get a big map of Minneapolis, and simply follow the street names out > of downtown. > > The even numbered houses are on the same side of the street no matter > where you are, if you imagine driving on that very same street through > downtown. 2nd Street is a good example, although you can't drive the > length of it completely. North of Plymouth Avenue, it runs > north-south. From Plymouth Ave to Cedar Ave, it runs parallel to the > river, northwest-southeast. East of Cedar, it runs east-west. The even > numbered homes or buildings are all on one side. > > The dividing line of confusion on the north side appears to be the > Basset Creek valley, on the east side, the Mississippi River, and on the > south side, an arbitrary line between 14th and 8th that goes through > Elliot Park. > > Why they made the bend in the streets once the city grew outside of the > current downtown area, I don't know. Someone apparently thought true > north-south and east-west roadways were more important than a sensible > city-wide scheme, and got their way with it. > > Ah well, at least it isn't St. Paul where there's no rhyme or reason. :-) > > Chris Johnson > Fulton > > > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
