Welcome to the Kingfield Neighborhood of Minneapolis. We are a friendly neighborhood located in south Minneapolis between Stevens Avenue on the east and Lyndale Avenue on the west, with 36th Street as our northern boundary and 46th Street as our southern boundary. (map)
Kingfield is largely a residential area of single-family houses with some multiple unit residences and apartment buildings. There are some commercial corners with businesses to serve the residents of Kingfield with a variety of goods and services. The Kingfield neighborhood has a reputation as a place where the people are willing to volunteer to create and maintain a vital, caring and safe place for those who live and work here.
This site is provided through the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA). KFNA works to support and promote the common good and welfare of the neighborhood. Membership is open to all residents and business owners in Kingfield.
We hope you find the information on this site useful to learn more about our neighborhood. Again, on behalf of the KFNA, welcome to Kingfield.
The KFNA Board demonstrates and encourages neighborhood leadership, provides a
forum for community participation, and a structure to promote the vision and
aspiration of the neighborhood.
Kingfield Neighborhood Association
Guiding Principles
• Responsible Stewardship of all monies entrusted to the neighborhood.
• Systematic and periodic identification of neighborhood priorities.
• Providing forum for communication and dissemination of community issues,
concerns and information.
• Encouragement of increased participation reflecting the diversity of the
neighborhood, especially by under-represented groups.
• Building capacity and infrastructure of neighborhood by cultivating and
facilitating leaders at all levels of the neighborhood.
• Advocate for the neighborhood’s interest in dealing with other entities (i.e.
city Hall, other neighbors, the State, CCP/Safe, etc.).
• Actively promote a positive sense of community in the neighborhood.
This was farm country in the 2nd 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 18 acres of land from Lyndale to Pleasant, 42nd to 43rd Streets. Hiram Van Nest farmed 28 acres of land from 40th to 42nd, Pleasant to Lyndale. The Farmsworth farm occupied 57 acres south of 47th Street and East of Nicollet.
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 Kingfield became part of Minneapolis.
How has Kingfield changed? 2000 Census info (requires free Adobe Acrobat reader)
Streets in Kingfield, and the origin of their names...
Lyndale Ave. names after the 1,400-acre Lyndale
farm owned by William S. King which bordered Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun.
The name for the farm was in honor of Mr. King's father, Rev. Lyndon King.
Garfield Ave. named after James Garfield, the assassinated
president of the US.
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.
Grand Ave. from the French, meaning great,
noble.
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.
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).
Van Nest Ave. named after Hiram Van Nest, on of
the earliest settlers in the vicinity of St. Anthony Falls, the birthplace
of Minneapolis. He invested in real estate almost as soon as Minneapolis was
open to settlement.
Nicollet Ave. 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 build the first permanent dwelling in Minneapolis in 1850.
Taken from "Early History of the Kingfield Neighborhood", a new resident handout circa 1992