The area is known affectionately by many of its long-time residents as “Nordeast” which encompasses the largest area of Minneapolis. Covering a total of 5,411 acres it is bounded on the west by the Mississippi River; on the north and east by the city limits, and on the south by East Hennepin Avenue west to its merger with what were the Great Northern tracks and then west along the tracks to the River. Northeast is divided into six well-defined neighborhoods: Waite Park; Audubon Park; Window Park; Sheridan; Holland; Old St. Anthony; and Beltrami Park. (Northeast Community Analysis and Action Recommendations, p. 7, and map) Only the neighborhoods of early occupation and nearest to the river will be included in this section, including Old St. Anthony, Sheridan, Holland, and Beltrami Park.
Two features distinguish Northeast Minneapolis: its number of ethnic and national churches, and the way industry and railroads intrude into its residential areas in effect making them into what have been described as “separate islands.” (Martin and Lanegran, Where we Live, p.25) As a result contact among residential areas is often difficult due to the lack of bridges over and tunnels under railroad tracks. (ibid) It was the Northeast’s expanding industries, especially along the Mississippi River, and the arrival of the railroads that made the area attractive to immigrants. Among the first to arrive in the 1860s were Scandinavians and Germans. The latter found work and housing along Broadway, near the Grain Belt Brewery. Others lived near Scandinavians in the area east of Fifth Street NE. These two groups established some of the Northeast’s first churches.
By the time the second group of immigrants began to arrive in the 1880s, the street railway system had been extended along with Monroe and Main Streets to the city limits, which by 1884 reached 27th Avenue NE. People arriving at this time following the street railway established neighborhoods further to the north. Most of the new arrivals came from Eastern Europe, the largest number were Poles followed by Ukrainians, Slavs, both Roman and Greek Catholics, and Russian Orthodox. They were followed by Italians, and later Lebanese. Like the Scandinavians and Germans who preceded them, each group chose to erect its own church where its particular liturgy, language, customs, and traditions could be maintained. Although a great deal has been written about the churches in Northeast Minneapolis, each has been discussed individually, for example in “Northeast Minneapolis: A Church on Every Corner” by Genny Zak Kieley and Nancy Doerfler in Hennepin History, Fall 1998. It is our intention to explore in greater detail the interactions and intersections among all these varied ethnic/religious groups in the project’s final products