Tangletown... Special Neighborhoods in Both Minneapolis and St. Paul

The Tangletown neighborhoods of Minneapolis and St. Paul are both named for their winding, tangled street patterns... unique from the standard grid pattern prevalent at the time they were developed. 

When people in the metro area hear Tangletown they are more likely to think of the Minneapolis neighborhood with confusing streets on the hill that slopes down to Minnehaha Creek from 50th Street between I-35W and Lyndale Avenue, although the official neighborhood extends between 46th Street on the north and 54th Street/Diamond Lake Rd on the south.

This neighborhood started in 1886, when a plot of 200 acres of farmland along the creek was purchased with the intent of creating a wealthly residential development. However, plans stalled due to tough economic times and the property was sold in the early 1900s with most of the homes in the area constructed 1910-1930.

This unique pocket is unusually cut off from through traffic as the land slopes down to the creek to Minnehaha Parkway, where it meanders underneath I-35W and Nicollet Avenue. If you don't know it is there you could miss it entirely unless you are traveling on the parkway.

The development of St. Paul's Tangletown happened about the same time, platted in the late 1880's and early 1890's... with most of the homes actually built in the early 20th century.

Tangletown St. Paul is a small pocket of the Mac-Groveland neighborhood just south of Grand and Summit Avenues west of Snelling... a very walkable neighborhood. It borders Macalaster College and is also close to St. Thomas and St. Catherine Universities, giving it a collegiate atmosphere more likely to be occupied by professors than students.

This neighborhood includes a number of historic houses, including an impressive Shingle style house designed by Cass Gilbert and James Knox Taylor.

Other historic neighborhoods with meandering street patterns include Prospect Park in Minneapolis and St. Anthony Park in St. Paul, also developed about the same time.

Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results