St. Anthony East

St. Anthony East is a residential neighborhood in the historic core of Northeast Minneapolis, occupying part of what was originally the town of St. Anthony — the east-bank town at St. Anthony Falls, platted in 1849 and merged with Minneapolis in 1872. With roughly 2,200 residents, the neighborhood is defined by tree-lined streets that mix older houses with housing built since the 1970s, proximity to the Mississippi River, and a character that is distinctly Northeast without the commercial energy that defines the brewery and arts districts to the north and east.

The neighborhood is bounded roughly by Broadway Street NE to the north, Central Avenue NE to the east, the railroad tracks to the south, and Washington and 5th Streets NE to the west. This positioning gives it access to both the river — a short walk southwest, with its trails and scenic value — and Central Avenue, Northeast's primary commercial corridor. The interior of the neighborhood, however, is almost entirely residential, with a density and pace that feel more like a small town than a section of a major city.

St. Anthony East sits in the shadow of its more visible neighbors — St. Anthony West has the riverfront commercial access, Logan Park has the arts scene, and the blocks across Broadway have the breweries — but that shadow is precisely where many of its residents prefer to be. St. Anthony East offers the Northeast identity at a volume that the more fashionable neighborhoods no longer can.

Before European settlement, the land that is now St. Anthony East was part of the homeland of the Dakota people, for whom St. Anthony Falls (Owámniyomni) is a sacred site. People gathered at the falls for thousands of years — Dakota, Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe people all camped there — long before they became a center of American industry.

Franklin Steele claimed land on the east bank beside the falls in 1838, and the town of St. Anthony was platted there in 1849 and incorporated in 1855, ahead of Minneapolis, which grew on the west bank. The town was named for St. Anthony Falls, which in turn had been named by Father Louis Hennepin in 1680. St. Anthony grew as sawmills and then flour mills harnessed the power of the falls, drawing workers to the east bank — among them, from the late 1870s on, Ukrainian immigrants who found mill jobs in Northeast.

The blocks that are now St. Anthony East developed as a residential district for the workers who staffed the mills and the businesses that served them, and some of the housing from that era — modest frame houses, duplexes, and small apartment buildings — survives. St. Anthony merged with Minneapolis in 1872, and the east bank became part of the larger city.

Through the 20th century, St. Anthony East was a working-class neighborhood, with a community identity built around church parishes, neighborhood schools, and the immigrant heritage of its residents. It did not escape 1960s redevelopment: the land for St. Anthony Park and Webster School was set aside as part of a 1964 housing redevelopment project, and much of the neighborhood's housing dates from the 1970s or later.

Living in St. Anthony East is living in a neighborhood that has figured out what it is and is not interested in becoming something else. The streets are residential in the way that word meant before it became a euphemism for exclusionary — houses with porches, sidewalks where people walk, a density that supports community without crowding. The homes are mostly small by modern standards — two bedrooms, one bathroom, a detached garage that may or may not accommodate a modern SUV — but they sit on established lots with mature trees and the kind of landscaping that takes decades to accumulate.

The neighborhood's eastern edge, along Central Avenue NE, provides walkable access to Northeast's primary commercial corridor — restaurants, shops, groceries, bars, and the miscellaneous commerce of a functioning city street. The interior of the neighborhood, however, is quiet enough that you can hear birds in the morning, which is not something you can say about most neighborhoods in Minneapolis that are this close to downtown.

The river is the neighborhood's other defining feature, though it sits past St. Anthony West rather than at its edge. Walking from the middle of St. Anthony East to Boom Island Park is like stepping between two different landscapes — from the settled, human-scale grid to the wide, open scale of the river.

The community is a mix of long-term residents — families who have been here for generations, retirees who bought when prices were low and see no reason to leave — and newer arrivals, many of them renters, attracted by a quiet Northeast address near the river. The mix works because the neighborhood's character is strong enough to absorb new residents without losing its identity, a quality that not all Minneapolis neighborhoods can claim.

St. Anthony East is not a dining destination — the neighborhood's interior is residential, and the restaurants, bars, and cafes that serve the area are concentrated along its edges, particularly Central Avenue NE to the east, and along the University Avenue corridor a few blocks west. The broader Northeast Minneapolis dining scene, one of the strongest in the city, is accessible by a short walk, bike ride, or drive.

St. Anthony East's outdoor assets are defined by the Mississippi River and the trail system that connects the neighborhood to the broader Grand Rounds network. The river, just beyond St. Anthony West, provides both scenic value and recreational access.

Families in St. Anthony East use Minneapolis Public Schools options through the district's enrollment and assignment system. The neighborhood's location in the Northeast quadrant places it within the service area of several elementary, middle, and high school options.

Webster Elementary is inside the neighborhood, on 5th Street NE, and other elementary options sit across Northeast, including Waite Park, Pillsbury, and Las Estrellas Dual Language Elementary on University Avenue NE. Nearby options for older students include Northeast Middle School and Edison High School; the district's school finder shows which schools serve a specific address.

Several charter schools in Northeast Minneapolis also draw enrollment from St. Anthony East families. The neighborhood's proximity to multiple school options is a practical advantage for families, though the quality and fit of available schools is a topic that parents navigate carefully, as it is across the Minneapolis Public Schools district.

St. Anthony East's housing mixes older homes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with housing built from the 1970s on. The older stock is characteristic of working-class Northeast Minneapolis: bungalows, one-and-a-half story frame houses, some Craftsman-era homes, and a smattering of duplexes and small apartment buildings. The scale is modest — two to three bedrooms, one bathroom, detached garages — and the character is unpretentious.

St. Anthony East is very walkable, highly bikeable, and well-connected by transit for a residential neighborhood. The Walk Score of 80 reflects access to Central Avenue's commercial corridor on the eastern edge, with the residential interior requiring more effort for daily errands. The Bike Score of 98 is among the strongest in Northeast, reflecting the river trail connections, generally flat terrain, and good bike infrastructure along connecting streets.

Metro Transit provides bus service along Central Avenue, University Avenue, and connecting corridors, offering routes to downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, and other destinations. The Transit Score of 57 reflects decent but not exceptional service — headways are reasonable during peak hours and longer off-peak. The Green Line light rail is accessible via connecting bus routes or a short bike ride to stations along the university corridor.

Driving is straightforward, with Interstate 35W and Highway 65 accessible within minutes. Street parking is generally available and free in the residential areas, and congestion is minimal on local streets. The commute to downtown Minneapolis is approximately 10 minutes by car, depending on traffic and route.

St. Anthony East is experiencing the same gradual gentrification pressures that affect all of Northeast Minneapolis, though it has less of the commercial activity that defines the neighborhoods closer to the brewery and arts districts. Home values have risen, if unevenly — the median climbed from $307,500 in 2021 to $395,640 in 2025 — driven by the broader Northeast market and the neighborhood's solid fundamentals: location, river access, housing stock quality.

The primary tension is between preservation and renovation. As the housing stock ages and new buyers invest in updates, the neighborhood's architectural character is evolving. Most renovations respect the existing scale and style, but some additions and modernizations push against the neighborhood's traditional appearance. The balance between maintaining the working-class character that defines St. Anthony East and accommodating the investment that aging homes require is an ongoing conversation.

Central Avenue's commercial evolution also affects the neighborhood. The avenue's transformation from a working-class commercial strip to a more diverse dining and shopping destination has been generally positive for St. Anthony East residents, expanding their walkable options. But the risk of commercial displacement — longstanding businesses priced out by rising rents — is a concern that the broader Northeast community monitors closely.