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Surveys out of Fort Snelling during the first half of the 19th century
identified several significant geological features of the area now known
as the Loring Park neighborhood. One was "The Devil's
Backbone," a long ridge running east-west several miles between Fort
Snelling and a tamarack bog fed by Bassetts Creek. Allen Harmon
purchased land north of the bog, which he plotted and sold as smaller
lots. Joseph Johnson established a farm on the edge of the bog in
1855, and the pond became known as Johnson's Lake.
Twenty-five years later, the tamarack bog was literally carved up and
carted away during the winter, and architect Horace Cleveland was hired to
design a new park, which was dedicated on May 5, 1883. In 1890,
Central Park was renamed in honor of the first Superintendent of
Minneapolis' new park system, Charles Loring, and a small frame building
in the park served as his office.
Many fine brick homes, mansions, and row houses replaced the wood-frame
homes that first appeared in the neighborhood. Leslie Fawkes
established the first auto dealership in the Harmon area in 1901, which
later was the site of the largest concentration of auto dealerships in the
country. After World War I, several luxury apartments were built in
the neighborhood, and single-family homes were rapidly replaced by large
"apartment-hotels" to accommodate the salesmen and business
travelers who appreciated the neighborhood's convenient location.
The neighborhood's population steadily declined after World War II, and
renters were more likely to be single-person than families. The
Loring Nicollet Community Council organized community events and lobbied
the city council for better street lighting and improvements to Loring
Park. Neighborhood population peaked in the 1960's at around 14,000,
but declined rapidly when development projects such as the I-94 tunnel,
the Loring Redevelopment District and the Convention Center decreased the
number of residential housing units in the area. After completion of
these projects and others, neighborhood population has increased to
approximately 7,500.
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