The Glendale area - HISTORY

Glendale is best known for the public housing development, Glendale Townhomes, built in 1952, the last full year of the President Truman administration. It's also the site of a dozen single-family homes, the green space of Luxton Park, and the Luxton Community Center. Glendale Townhomes is an exceptional example of mid-century American public housing. Glendale is unique in its topography for its hilly land. The site originally was used as a gravel pit during construction and previously known as "Sand Hill" or "Morse Hill".

In the early 1950s, Minneapolis Aldermen Glen Wallace and Dale Stanchfield, with the support of the Prospect Park neighborhood, pushed for the creation of moderately-priced rental homes for military veterans and low-income residents studying at the University, and their families. Its opening was celebrated by Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, Minneapolis Mayor Eric Hoyer, and the President of the University of Minnesota.

When Glendale Townhomes were built in 1952, the children attended Pratt School along with other Prospect Park children. When Pratt School closed (in 1982) children from Prospect Park/Glendale were bussed to over 40 different schools. Glendale was the deciding factor in reopening Pratt School in 2000. NRP funds were allocated by the Prospect Park neighborhood association to make needed improvements and to make the school building accessible to people with disabilities.

Thanks to Glendale, local schools featured integrated classrooms well before government-mandated busing was instituted, and parents from Glendale and other communities collaborated on neighborhood improvement projects. A daycare was started to serve Glendale children, and it grew to become one of the city's most highly regarded childcare programs. Additionally, a community center was constructed in Prospect Field, later renamed Luxton Park, which borders Glendale, intended to serve the whole community. Leaders from the Glendale Residents Action Council, activists in Prospect Park, and East Side Neighborhood Services tirelessly advocated for these services and others. Within a few short years, Glendale was firmly rooted within the community.

Just four years after the construction of Glendale, the route proposed for Interstate 94 threatened to destroy half of the community. The Minnesota transportation department's map still had the property designated by its former identity as a gravel pit and industrial area. The Pratt School PTA and Prospect Park residents intensely lobbied for the route to be changed. Their efforts, along with pressure from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, the University of Minnesota, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, helped reroute the project along the railroad right-of-way slightly to the south and west.

Since 2015, Glendale Townhomes face a serious and on-going threat to its existence when MPHA proposed replacing Glendale Townhomes with a privately owned mixed-use high-rise development (see Glendale redevelopment Project Plan by MPHA). Residents of Glendale created "Defend Glendale" to save their homes and prevent the private sale of public housing and the "Prospect Park Association Glendale Committee" was formed.

In 2018, Prospect Park Association supported the historic designation of Glendale Townhomes. In 2020, the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Committee voted to approve Glendale’s historic designation nomination. Nevertheless, during the pandemic of 2020, the future of Glendale Townhomes was still under threat, from the politics and policies of MPHA and the Minneapolis City Council.

In 2021, the Prospect Park Association Board of Directors approved a four-point document "Unified Project Design Standards" that specifically named Glendale Townhomes in its first point as a neighborhood asset: Preserve Glendale Townhomes as Public Housing for Residents.

At present (2024), the MPHA continues to resist the inevitable: that Glendale Townhomes will persist as was amply evident during the May 13, 2023 community celebration "We're Still Here: An Exhibit of Glendale Townhomes 70th Anniversary 1952-2022".

• Glendale Area of Prospect Park Neighborhood
• Glendale at 70 - "We're Still Here" 2023 celebration

Glendale LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Glendale Townhomes: An Assessment of National Register Eligibility, Hess, Roise & Company, 2015
• Glendale Neighborhood History
• "Glendale Townhomes in Prospect Park: Proposed 13-acre Sale of Public Housing to Private Developers" - report by Prospect Park Association Glendale Committee
• Glendale Townhomes historic designation nomination application.
• MPHA Glendale Information
• Prospect Park Association "Unified Project Design Standards"

Luxton Park, part of the Minneapolis Parks System, is a 4.5-acre recreation area with a basketball court, community gardens, picnic areas, a soccer and softball field, wading pool and walking path. Luxton Community Center lies at the center of the park.