King Field, Minneapolis Explained

Official Name:	King Field
Other Name:	Kingfield
Settlement Type:	Neighborhood
Mapsize:	200px
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Type1:	State
Subdivision Type2:	County
Subdivision Type3:	City
Subdivision Type4:	Community
Subdivision Name:	United States
Subdivision Name1:	Minnesota
Subdivision Name2:	Hennepin
Subdivision Name3:	Minneapolis
Subdivision Name4:	Southwest
Seat Type:	City Council Ward
Seat:	8
Leader Title:	Council Member
Leader Name:	Andrea Jenkins
Established Title:	Founded
Established Date:	1849
Named For:	William S. King
Unit Pref:	US
Area Total Sq Mi:	0.828
Area Footnotes:	^[1]
Population As Of:	2020
Population Total:	7,576
Population Density Sq Mi:	auto
Population Footnotes:	^[2]
Timezone:	CST
Utc Offset:	-6
Timezone Dst:	CDT
Utc Offset Dst:	-5
Postal Code Type:	ZIP code
Postal Code:	55409
Area Code:	612

King Field (alternately, Kingfield) is a neighborhood in the Southwest community in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are 36th Street to the north, Interstate 35W to the east, 46th Street to the south, and Lyndale Avenue to the west. King Field, within the King Field neighborhood is a park named after Martin Luther King Jr.

Kingfield is a part of Ward 8,^[3] currently represented by Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins.

History

King Field is named after Colonel William S. King. The neighborhood is located in Minneapolis’ Southwest community between Interstate 35W on the east and Lyndale Avenue on the west. The northern boundary is 36th Street, and the southern boundary is 46th Street.

In 1885, the southern border of the city of Minneapolis was 38th Street. By 1887 the city had expanded its borders to 54th street, and thus the area which is now King Field became part of Minneapolis. King Field is mainly a residential area with three-fourths of its single-family houses built before 1920. The King Field neighborhood has a number of amenities including churches, schools, a park named after Martin Luther King Jr., and three to four dozen small businesses.[1]

Early history

This was farm country in the second half of the 19th century. Transportation was by horse and buggy. Fewer than 20 farms had been established by 1874. C.C. Garvey owned a dairy farm near 44th Street and Grand Ave. George Bichnell farmed 18acres of land from Lyndale to Pleasant, 42nd to 43rd Streets. Hiram Van Nest farmed 28acres of land from 40th to 42nd, Pleasant to Lyndale. The Farmsworth farm occupied 57acres south of 47th Street and East of Nicollet.

The area between Lake Street and 40th Street was largely built between 1903 and 1914 with Colonial Revival houses and Craftsman bungalows. After World War I, the area south of 40th Street and north of Minnehaha Creek was developed. ^[4] The Church of the Incarnation opened in 1918 at the intersection of 38th Street and Pleasant Avenue. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 and is a city of Minneapolis historic district.^[5]

Street names

The following is a list of streets in King Field, and the origin of their names:

Blaisdell Ave. named in honor of Robert Blaisdell, Sr. and his three sons, who were early pioneers here and lumbermen on the upper Mississippi river (No Uncle Charlie, though).
Garfield Ave. named after James Garfield, the assassinated president of the US.
Grand Ave. from the French, meaning great, noble.
Harriet Ave. named after the wife of Col. Leavenworth, whose maiden name was Harriet Lovejoy. (She is also the source of the name Lake Harriet). Col. Leavenworth was the first commandant of a temporary fort known in 1819 as Fort St. Anthony.
Lyndale Avenue names after the 1400acres Lyndale farm owned by William S. King which bordered Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska. The name for the farm was in honor of Mr. King’s father, Rev. Lyndon King.
Pleasant Ave. as the name implies
Pillsbury Ave. named in honor of Gov. John Pillsbury, Governor in 1875, who served for three 2-year terms. In addition to his political achievements, he was also interested in building up the state university and donated the funds for the one of its main buildings.
Wentworth Ave.
Van Nest Ave. named after Hiram Van Nest, one of the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Saint Anthony Falls, the birthplace of Minneapolis. He invested in real estate almost as soon as Minneapolis was open to settlement.
Nicollet Avenue commemorates Joseph N. Nicollet, geographer and explorer whose maps of the area, now Minnesota and the eastern part of North and South Dakota, were published in 1843.
Stevens Ave. named after Col. John H. Stevens, an early pioneer in the city, who built the first permanent dwelling in Minneapolis in 1850.

Taken from “Early History of the Kingfield Neighborhood”, a new resident handout circa 1992 via Kingfield Neighborhood Association Web Site [2]

Schools

Barton Community School (K-5), 4237 Colfax Ave S, Minneapolis 55409
Lyndale Community School (K-5), 312 West 34th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408
Justice Page School (6-8), 1 West 49th Street Minneapolis, MN 55419
Washburn High School (9-12), 201 West 49th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Lake Country Montessori School ^[6] (K-8) 3755 Pleasant Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55409

References

Web site: King Field neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota (MN), 55409 detailed profile . 2011 . . 2013-11-19.
Web site: King Field neighborhood data . Minnesota Compass . 2023-02-19.
Web site: Find My Ward . City of Minneapolis . 19 April 2024.
Web site: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Church of the Incarnation and Rectory. Anderson. Lauren. Ludt. Tamara. June 2021. 2023-04-28 . 29-30.
Web site: Church of the Incarnation Historic District . www2.minneapolismn.gov . City of Minneapolis . 1 January 2024 . en . April 2018.
Web site: About . 2016-03-08 . 2016-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160301091700/http://www.lakecountryschool.org/about-lake-country . dead .