McKinley

McKinley is a small residential neighborhood in North Minneapolis, bounded roughly by Lowry Avenue to the south, Dowling Avenue to the north, the Mississippi River to the east, and Dupont Avenue North to the west, in the Camden community. Home to roughly 3,200 residents, it is one of the more quietly diverse neighborhoods in the city — a mix of Black, white, Asian, Latino, and Native American families sharing affordable blocks on either side of I-94.

McKinley sits north of the Hawthorne neighborhood, with Folwell to the west, Webber - Camden to the north, and Marshall Terrace across the river to the east. It is a primarily residential area without a significant commercial corridor, defined more by its gardens, its homes, and its proximity to the river than by any single landmark or institution.

As far as we can tell, McKinley 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.

McKinley developed in the early twentieth century as Minneapolis's residential neighborhoods spread north, with most of its houses going up between about 1900 and 1930 on the grid streets between Dupont Avenue and the river.

The neighborhood's population has changed a great deal since, as it has across much of North Minneapolis. Today, by Census estimates, about a third of residents are Black and about a quarter are white, with Asian, Latino, multiracial, and Native American residents making up most of the rest; about one in six was born outside the United States.

Two projects in the late 1960s reshaped the east side of the neighborhood. Starting in 1968, the riverbank was developed as the Upper Harbor Terminal, a barge shipping site that operated until the end of 2014, when barging stopped ahead of the 2015 closure of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock. And in 1969 the state highway department took 1.8 acres of Perkins Hill Park for the construction of I-94, which still splits McKinley north to south.

Disinvestment affected McKinley as it did all of North Minneapolis. The housing stock aged, some properties deteriorated, and vacant lots appeared. But the community gardens that emerged on some of those lots became, inadvertently, one of the neighborhood's defining features.

McKinley is a neighborhood where the daily texture of life is shaped by the extraordinary diversity of its residents. More than a quarter of residents speak a language other than English at home. The cultural differences are real — different families have different relationships to public space, to community institutions, to the idea of neighborhood itself — but the shared experience of living in an affordable neighborhood in a city that often overlooks them creates its own kind of bond.

The community gardens are perhaps McKinley's most distinctive feature. McKinley Community, the neighborhood organization, keeps a community garden at its building at 3300 Lyndale Avenue North, and residents have started other gardens in coordination with it. In 2026 it took on a formerly tax-forfeited lot at 3434 Washington Avenue North, east of I-94 in a residential pocket surrounded by industry, and began planting a food forest there. These gardens serve multiple functions: food production, community building, and the practical transformation of unused space into something productive.

The residential blocks are quiet and modest. Houses are small to mid-sized, built in the early twentieth century, and maintained to varying degrees. Some blocks are stable and well-kept; others show the effects of disinvestment. The neighborhood does not have a commercial center, and most shopping and dining requires leaving the immediate area. This creates a residential quietness that is both McKinley's strength (for families who want peaceful blocks) and its limitation (for people who want walkable amenities).

McKinley does not have a restaurant scene in any conventional sense. The neighborhood is primarily residential, and commercial options within its boundaries are limited to a few small stores and occasional services. The food that defines McKinley is grown in its gardens and cooked in its kitchens.

McKinley's frontage on the Mississippi River is its single most significant geographic advantage — though for decades, industry kept most of that riverbank closed to the public.

McKinley is served by Minneapolis Public Schools, and Cityview Elementary School sits inside the neighborhood at 3350 North 4th Street. Middle and high school assignments depend on the district's attendance areas. The schools reflect the challenges facing North Minneapolis education, including the achievement gap and resource constraints. The neighborhood's linguistic diversity — more than a quarter of residents speak a language other than English at home — creates both challenges and cultural richness in the classroom.

Many families use the district's open enrollment system to access magnet programs and specialty schools. Charter schools provide additional options. Community-based educational organizations and after-school programs supplement formal schooling, and cultural organizations provide educational support and cultural education.

McKinley's housing market is very affordable. The median sale price was $235,000 in 2025, up from $199,000 in 2024, according to Minneapolis Area REALTORS, against $350,000 citywide. The housing stock is primarily older frame houses and bungalows built between 1900 and 1940. Conditions vary — some homes have been updated and well-maintained, while others need work. Community development organizations have produced affordable housing in the area, adding quality homes to the existing stock.

McKinley is primarily a driving neighborhood, with a Walk Score of 58 and a Bike Score of 61. The neighborhood's residential character and limited commercial options mean that most errands require leaving the immediate area. Downtown Minneapolis is approximately twelve minutes by car.

Metro Transit buses run along Lowry and Lyndale avenues, and the METRO D Line runs on Fremont Avenue, two blocks west of Dupont, providing connections to downtown and the broader transit network. The flat terrain and the riverfront trails at Upper Harbor Park provide cycling options. Street parking is readily available on residential blocks.

McKinley is a neighborhood where change happens slowly and unevenly, shaped by the same forces that affect all of North Minneapolis but experienced at a smaller, more intimate scale.