Howe

Howe is a residential neighborhood in south Minneapolis, part of the greater Longfellow community area. It's bounded roughly by East 34th Street to the north, the Mississippi River to the east, East 40th Street to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue (Highway 55) to the west, with Minnehaha Avenue cutting diagonally through the western blocks. It covers about a square mile and is home to approximately 6,800 residents, per the 2020 Census. West River Parkway runs along the river side of the neighborhood, providing a natural greenway that connects Howe to the broader river trail system.

Howe is one of five neighborhoods in the Longfellow community, along with Longfellow proper, Cooper, Hiawatha, and Seward. The Longfellow identity is strong here — many residents identify with the broader community as much as with Howe specifically. The neighborhood shares its name with Howe Elementary School, which still anchors the blocks along 43rd Avenue.

What defines Howe is its combination of accessibility and affordability. Lake Street — one of Minneapolis's most important commercial corridors — runs half a mile north of the neighborhood, providing restaurants, shops, transit, and the particular energy that Lake Street brings. The Midtown Greenway, a bike and pedestrian trail built on a former rail corridor, is about three-quarters of a mile north. And the housing stock — modest early-20th-century bungalows and Foursquares — remains priced close to the citywide median, making Howe one of the neighborhoods where homeownership is still within reach for people with ordinary incomes.

As far as we can tell, Howe doesn’t have a neighborhood welcome sign — at least, nobody has documented one that we can find. If you’ve seen one, tell us where it is — we’d love to be wrong about this.

Before European settlement, this land was Dakota homeland — part of the territory centered around the confluence at Bdote and the network of waterways, including the Mississippi and Minnehaha Creek, that defined the region's geography. The Dakota people used the river and creek corridors for travel, fishing, and gathering for centuries before treaties and forced removal in the 1800s reshaped the landscape.

The neighborhood developed as Minneapolis expanded south and east from downtown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The streetcar lines along Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue brought residential development to this area, and the blocks that would become Howe were built out primarily between the 1900s and the 1940s. The housing stock reflects this era: Craftsman bungalows, Foursquares, and modest workers' homes built for the tradespeople, factory workers, and young families of early-20th-century Minneapolis.

The neighborhood, like Howe Elementary School, is named for Julia Ward Howe, the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The greater Longfellow community — named for the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose “Song of Hiawatha” made Minnehaha Falls famous — developed as a working-class residential area with strong neighborhood identity and community institutions.

The Midtown Greenway, which opened in stages from 2000 to 2006 on a former Milwaukee Road rail corridor, brought new infrastructure to the area — a grade-separated bike and pedestrian trail that connects the Chain of Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Greenway has gradually reshaped the neighborhoods along its route, bringing new investment and new residents to the Longfellow area.

Living in Howe means living in the Longfellow community — a part of Minneapolis that has a strong identity distinct from the lake neighborhoods to the west and the downtown core to the northwest. The character here is working-class in origin and mixed in practice: longtime homeowners, young first-time buyers, and renters in duplexes and small apartment buildings. About 72 percent of residents are white, by Census estimates — a higher share than the city's 59 percent, though lower than in much of Southwest Minneapolis.

The blocks are quiet and residential. Houses sit on modest lots with alley garages and front porches. The tree canopy is good but not as thick as in the older, wealthier neighborhoods to the west. The feel is solidly middle-class — not affluent, not struggling, just steady. People mow their lawns, shovel their sidewalks, and know the names of the kids on their block.

Lake Street, about four blocks north of the neighborhood, provides most of the commercial energy; inside Howe it comes in smaller clusters along Minnehaha Avenue and at 42nd Avenue and 38th Street. The stretch of Lake Street through the Longfellow area has changed significantly in recent years — new restaurants, businesses, and cultural institutions have arrived alongside longtime establishments. The corridor is diverse and evolving, reflecting the changing demographics of the neighborhoods it serves.

The Mississippi, running along the eastern edge of the neighborhood, provides the natural counterpoint — a green, quiet corridor that offers a break from the urban rhythm. The river trails are well-used by Howe residents for walking, biking, and the kind of aimless outdoor wandering that makes a neighborhood feel livable in ways that commercial amenities alone can't replicate.

Howe's restaurants and shops come in a few small clusters rather than one main strip: along Minnehaha Avenue, which cuts diagonally through the neighborhood; around 42nd Avenue and East 38th Street, under the Riverview Theater's marquee; and at 42nd Avenue and East 34th Street on the northern edge. Lake Street, half a mile north, covers the rest.

Howe's outdoor assets center on the river and the trail system that runs along it.

Howe Elementary School, the grades 3–5 campus of Hiawatha Community School, is the neighborhood's primary community institution. The school is walkable from most addresses in the neighborhood and functions as a social anchor — the place where families connect and where the neighborhood's identity takes shape. The younger grades, K–2, are at the Hiawatha campus on 42nd Avenue, across 40th Street in the Hiawatha neighborhood.

Dowling Elementary, a K–5 school with an environmental focus, sits on 22 acres along the Mississippi River gorge at 3900 West River Parkway. Sanford Middle School is on 42nd Avenue South near 35th Street. The district's boundary maps put most of Howe in Roosevelt High School's attendance area; South High School is about a mile and a half west, in neighboring Corcoran. Minneapolis's magnet school system provides additional options for families seeking alternatives.

Assignments depend on the address — the blocks nearest the river fall in Dowling's attendance area rather than Hiawatha's — so check the district's school finder for a specific house.

Howe's median sale price was $365,000 in 2025, up from $300,000 in 2021, according to Minneapolis Area REALTORS — a little above the citywide median of $350,000, and well below the Southwest lake neighborhoods. That price point, combined with the river access, the Greenway, and the Lake Street commercial corridor, makes Howe a strong value proposition for first-time buyers and young families.

The housing stock is predominantly early-20th-century single-family homes — bungalows, Foursquares, and workers' cottages. Duplexes and small multi-family buildings add density, particularly near the commercial corridors. Lots are modest by Southwest Minneapolis standards but adequate for the housing style. Most homes have the alley garages, front porches, and hardwood floors that characterize south Minneapolis residential architecture.

Homes sell quickly — 26 days on market on average in 2025, against 55 citywide — reflecting strong demand at the price point. The market is competitive for well-maintained homes, and sellers received a little more than their original list price on average.

Howe earns a Walk Score of 65 — reasonably walkable, with small commercial clusters on Minnehaha Avenue and 42nd Avenue, and Lake Street within walking distance of the northern blocks. The Bike Score of 91 reflects the Midtown Greenway, the West River Parkway trails, and the broader south Minneapolis cycling network.

Route 7 runs along Minnehaha Avenue through the neighborhood, and Route 9 stops at 42nd Avenue and 38th Street; both go downtown. Half a mile north, bus service along Lake Street is among the most frequent in Minneapolis, connecting to Uptown, the Midtown Exchange, and points east and west. The Blue Line light rail runs along Hiawatha Avenue on the neighborhood's western edge, with 38th Street Station just across Hiawatha in Standish. By car, downtown is 12–15 minutes, and MSP airport is similarly accessible. The combination of bus, light rail, bike, and car options makes Howe more multi-modal than many south Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Howe is part of the broader Longfellow area, which has experienced significant change since 2020 — and the changes are worth naming honestly.