Page

Page is a small residential neighborhood in the Nokomis area of south Minneapolis, bounded roughly by Minnehaha Creek to the north, Chicago Avenue to the east, Diamond Lake Road and East 55th Street to the south, and I-35W to the west. With approximately 1,700 residents, it is one of the smaller neighborhoods in the city, occupying a compact patch of residential blocks between the creek and Diamond Lake, with Pearl Park at its center.

The neighborhood is predominantly white and mostly owner-occupied, and more than a third of its households include children. Home prices sit well above the Minneapolis median. Page shares much of its identity with Hale and Diamond Lake: one neighborhood association and one neighborhood sign cover all three.

Page's history is tied to two lakes, one of which no longer exists. Before European settlement, this land was part of the Dakota homeland. Development came in the first half of the 20th century as Minneapolis grew south, and most of the houses standing today were built before 1940. Like Hale next door, Page takes its name from its old elementary school — the Page School, which was named for the editor and diplomat Walter Hines Page and closed in 1982.

Like much of south Minneapolis, Page was built in the era of racial covenants. From the 1910s until they were outlawed, covenants written into property deeds barred anyone who was not white from buying or living in homes across large parts of south and southwest Minneapolis. Mapping Prejudice, the University of Minnesota project that has catalogued them, has found more than 70 on lots in Page, most of them written into deeds in the Park Avenue Terrace addition in 1937 and 1938. The neighborhood remains predominantly white today.

The park at the center of the neighborhood has its own history. Pearl Park is named for Pearl Lake, which once occupied the site. In the 1930s, federal work-relief crews filled in the lake with dirt from the airport and built a skating rink, ball fields, and tennis courts on top of it. The park's current recreation center was dedicated in December 1968.

The institutions that hold Page together today are mostly shared ones: the Hale-Page-Diamond Lake Community Association, the Pearl Park recreation center, and the kind of neighborhood networks that build up when people stay for decades. That continuity is as much a part of Page's history as the covenants in its deeds.

Page is a neighborhood of houses on regular city lots, most built before 1940 — some fully updated, others showing their age. The streets are quiet, and the overall feel is of a settled residential neighborhood that has been home to families for the better part of a century.

The community here is tight-knit in the way that small, settled neighborhoods tend to be. People know each other — about a quarter of households have been here since before 1990, according to Census estimates. Pearl Park's recreation center staff work with the Hale-Page-Diamond Lake Community Association on events like Frost Fest, Earth Day, and Picnic in the Park.

Page is less diverse than the city as a whole. About four in five residents are white, according to recent Census estimates, and the neighborhood skews toward families — roughly a quarter of residents are under 18.

Neighboring Hale to the east and Diamond Lake to the south share Page's sign, its neighborhood association, and much of its character.

Page's commercial options are limited within the neighborhood itself — it is almost entirely residential.

Page is small, but it has a full-size park inside its boundaries and water on two sides — Minnehaha Creek to the north and Diamond Lake to the south.

Page has no school inside its boundaries, but several sit close by.

Hale Elementary, which teaches kindergarten through second grade, is a few blocks east in Hale, and Justice Page Middle School and Washburn High School are across I-35W in Tangletown. School assignment depends on exact address, so families should check with Minneapolis Public Schools.

The Minneapolis Public Schools open enrollment system allows families to access programs citywide.

Page is well above the Minneapolis median on price. The housing prices reflect the neighborhood's strengths — Pearl Park, the creek, quiet streets — and how rarely homes here come up for sale.

Page has moderate transit connectivity. The METRO D Line runs along Chicago Avenue, Page's eastern edge, with a station at 52nd Street, connecting to downtown Minneapolis and to the Blue Line light rail at the Mall of America. Route 5 also runs on Chicago, and the Route 156 express runs along Diamond Lake Road. The Transit Score of 51 reflects decent but not exceptional service.

Biking is practical, with relatively flat terrain and connections to the broader Minneapolis bike network. The Minnehaha Parkway Regional Trail runs along the creek at the northern edge of the neighborhood.

Driving is the primary transportation mode for most residents. Downtown Minneapolis is about five miles north. I-35W runs along the western edge, connecting to the broader metro. Street parking is generally available without difficulty.

Page faces fewer pressures than much of Minneapolis, but it isn't standing still. The questions here are mostly about price, and about who gets to buy into a neighborhood where so few homes come up for sale.