Hennepin Avenue
Encyclopedia
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown area...
(at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown District
Uptown, Minneapolis
Uptown is a popular commercial district in southwestern Minneapolis, Minnesota, centered at the Uptown Theater at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lagoon Avenue. It has traditionally spanned the corners of four neighborhoods, Lowry Hill East, ECCO, CARAG and East Isles neighborhoods, within...
of Southwest Minneapolis, through the former "Bottleneck" area west of Loring Park
Loring Park
Loring Park is the largest park in the Central Community of Minneapolis, Minnesota on the southwest corner of downtown Minneapolis. It also lends its name to the surrounding neighborhood.- Park :...
, through the North Loop
North Loop, Minneapolis
The North Loop is a neighborhood of the Central community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The neighborhood is commonly known as the Warehouse District from the city's shipping hub years. It includes the Minneapolis Warehouse Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
in the city center, to Northeast Minneapolis and the city's eastern boundary, where it becomes Larpenteur Avenue
Larpenteur Avenue
Larpenteur Avenue is a main thoroughfare in Ramsey County, Minnesota. Originally named Minneapolis Avenue, it was renamed by the Saint Paul City Council in 1904 in honor of Auguste Louis Larpenteur, a fur trader and one of the original 12 citizens in the city of Saint Paul...
as it enters Lauderdale
Lauderdale, Minnesota
Lauderdale is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,379 at the 2010 census. Lauderdale is part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and is surrounded by Minneapolis, St...
in Ramsey County
Ramsey County, Minnesota
Ramsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1849. As of 2010, the population was 508,640. Its county seat is St. Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital. The county is named for Alexander Ramsey , the first governor of the Minnesota Territory...
.
In Downtown Minneapolis
Downtown West, Minneapolis
Downtown West is an official neighborhood in Minneapolis, part of the larger Central community. It is the heart of downtown Minneapolis , containing the bulk of high-rise office buildings in the city, and is what comes to mind when most Minneapolitans think of "downtown"...
, Hennepin Avenue serves as a major entertainment thoroughfare, dubbed the Hennepin Theatre District. It also serves as the dividing line between "North" and "South" street addresses. Across the river, it divides "Northeast" and "Southeast" street addresses. To the east of the Minneapolis city limits, it becomes Larpenteur Avenue at Highway 280
Minnesota State Highway 280
Minnesota State Highway 280 is a highway in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with Interstate 94 in Saint Paul and continues north to its interchange with Interstate 35W in Roseville...
which forms the northern border of Saint Paul.
The Theatre District contains four historic and architecturally significant theaters for live performances. The State Theatre
State Theatre
- Australia :* State Theatre , Australia* State Theatre , Australia- Romania :* State Jewish Theater , a theater specializing in Jewish-related plays in Bucharest, Romania- United States :...
, the Orpheum Theatre, the Pantages Theatre
Pantages Theatre
Pantages Theatre may refer to:*Pantages Theatre , now Warnors Theatre*Pantages Theatre , California*Pantages Theatre *Pantages Theatre , Washington*Pantages Theatre , Ontario, now Canon Theatre...
and the Shubert Theater. Also the Hennepin Center for the Arts
Hennepin Center for the Arts
The Hennepin Center for the Arts was built in 1888 as a Masonic Temple. The structure was built by Long and Kees in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. In 1978, it was purchased and underwent a renovation to become the HCA. It is located at 528 Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis,...
is located there.
For sections south of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, Hennepin Avenue follows stretches of an old Indian trail from Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony, located northeast of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. The natural falls was replaced by a concrete overflow spillway after it partially collapsed in 1869...
to Lake Calhoun
Lake Calhoun
Lake Calhoun is the biggest lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and part of the city's Chain of Lakes. Surrounded by city park land and circled by bike and walking trails, it is popular for many outdoor activities...
. It was named after Father Louis Hennepin
Louis Hennepin
Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, was a Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollect order and an explorer of the interior of North America....
, a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
priest and explorer of the interior of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It is one of the oldest streets in the city and was the first street to cross the Mississippi River, when the first Hennepin Avenue suspension bridge
Hennepin Avenue Bridge
The Hennepin Avenue Bridge is the structure that carries Hennepin County State Aid Highway 52, Hennepin Avenue, across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Nicollet Island. Officially, it is the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge, in honor of the 17th-century explorer Louis Hennepin, who...
was completed in 1855.
Many important institutions and structures have been built on Hennepin, including Calhoun Square
Calhoun Square
Calhoun Square is an indoor shopping mall located in the Uptown district of Minneapolis, Minnesota.-History:The mall was built at the southeast corner of Hennepin Avenue and West Lake Street in the early 1980s. Neighborhood activists opposed to the project started the "Dump Updale" campaign...
, the Suburban World Theater, the Uptown Theater, the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, the Basilica of St. Mary, St. Mark's Cathedral
St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Minneapolis
Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota is one of two cathedrals in the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. It was built as a parish church overlooking Loring Park in 1910...
, Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is a church across Lowry Hill from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its address is 511 Groveland Avenue.-History:...
, Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Minneapolis Community and Technical College is a community and technical college located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The college is located near Loring Park and serves over 14,000 students annually...
, the Hennepin Center for the Arts
Hennepin Center for the Arts
The Hennepin Center for the Arts was built in 1888 as a Masonic Temple. The structure was built by Long and Kees in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. In 1978, it was purchased and underwent a renovation to become the HCA. It is located at 528 Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis,...
, and the Lumber Exchange Building
Lumber Exchange Building
The Lumber Exchange Building was the first skyscraper built in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and dates to 1885. It was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Franklin B. Long and Frederick Kees and was billed as one of the first fireproof buildings in the country...
.
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
movie Purple Rain
Purple Rain (film)
Purple Rain is a 1984 film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Magnoli and William Blinn. Prince makes his film debut in this movie, which was developed to showcase his particular talents, hence, the film contains several extended concert sequences. The film grossed more than US$80 million at...
and memorialized in songs by Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
and Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
, among others. It is also a popular parade route, used by the annual Aquatennial celebration held in July, and since the 1990s has been the traditional route of the city's GLBT Pride parade.
Once a two-way avenue, the Theater District portion was changed in 1980 to a one-way going north with only a bus only lane going south. "The Environmental Protection Agency was concerned with the air quality in downtown Minneapolis. Turning the streets into one-way lowered the near dangerous high levels of pollution". However, on October 10, 2009, it was changed back to a two-way avenue, with its bike lanes being transferred one block west to First Avenue (which was also switched from one-way to two-way at the same time). This change was hoped by the city to create urban vibrancy, quicker travel times to destination, and to avoid confusing one-ways.
External links
See also
- Nicollet IslandNicollet IslandNicollet Island is an island in the Mississippi River just north of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, named for cartographer, Joseph Nicollet. DeLaSalle High School and the Nicollet Island Inn are located there, as well as three multi-family residential buildings and twenty-two restored...
- Block E (Minneapolis)Block E (Minneapolis)Block E is the name of a block in downtown Minneapolis bounded by Hennepin Avenue, 6th Street, 7th Street, and 1st Avenue North. It is part of the Downtown West neighborhood in Minneapolis. It is one block south of the Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue light rail station on the Hiawatha Line.-...
- The Shout House