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Loring Park
Neighborhood
A residential street in Loring Park.
Location of the Loring Park neighborhood within the U.S. city of Minneapolis
Coordinates: 44°58′12″N 93°17′02″W
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Hennepin
City	Minneapolis
Community	Central
Area
• Total	0.452 sq mi (1.17 km2)
Population  (2010)
• Total	7,873
• Density	17,000/sq mi (6,700/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	55403, 55404
Area code	612

Loring Park is a densely-populated residential district in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Adjacent to downtown, it is dominated by its eponymous Loring Park, originally named Central Park but renamed after Charles M. Loring, the father of the Minneapolis park system, in 1890. Historically the center of Minneapolis' gay and lesbian community, the neighborhood has seen increasing gentrification in recent years as new residential developments have transformed the skyline.

Geography

Loring Park is located directly to the southwest of the city's central business district, with most of the neighborhood's residential towers situated near the downtown boundary. Although close to the average size for Minneapolis neighborhoods, the area is relatively small (only .452 square miles), much smaller than traditional neighborhoods in most cities.

The neighborhood is bound by Lyndale Avenue to the west, Interstate 94 to the south, Highway 65 to the east, 12th Street to the northeast, and Interstate 394 to the north. Highway construction leveled a significant part of the neighborhood and severed many connections to neighboring areas, especially Stevens Square and Elliot Park, which share the neighborhood's built form, and Lowry Hill, with which Loring Park once shared a busy intersection. A mile to the neighborhood's southwest is the popular district of Uptown, an active nightlife and entertainment district.

Loring Park's main commercial streets are Nicollet Avenue and Hennepin Avenue, which feature a variety of local restaurants and businesses. Coffee shops, restaurants, and other small businesses are scattered throughout the various side streets of the neighborhood, especially in areas with views of the park.

The eponymous park dominates the neighborhood, totaling more than 10% of its acreage. Several bicycle routes follow major streets, and the Loring Greenway provides a separated pedestrian and bicycle route between the Park and Nicollet Mall downtown.

File:Loring Park panorama from Oak Grove.jpg

Loring Park looking toward downtown, taken in 2012 before several new developments.

History

Although one of Minneapolis' most urban neighborhoods today, Loring Park was first developed as a suburb of the emerging city of Minneapolis. The area's relative distance from the business core near the riverfront, combined with the bucolic setting, encouraged the construction of a number of large residences. One of the few structures that remains from this era is the 1887 H. Alden Smith House, built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style which also produced several other local landmarks, including Minneapolis City Hall.

The H. Alden Smith house

Many of the neighborhood's most prominent landmarks were built in this period, including the Basilica of St. Mary. Some, such as St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, were built on land donated from the estates of wealthy parishioners or philanthropists.

In the early twentieth century, however, the city's near-exponential growth, the gradual migration of the downtown core southwest, and the development of new transportation lines created increasing development pressure in the neighborhood. The city's first commuter railroad, to Lake Calhoun and the resort towns of Lake Minnetonka, had long traveled on Nicollet Avenue through the neighborhood, but with the introduction of the electric streetcar the pace increased rapidly. Most of the three and a half-story brick apartment buildings that characterize the neighborhood were built in the period 1910-20, contemporaneous to the boom seen throughout the southern fringes of downtown.

A well-known alley off Harmon Place.

The Great Depression ended Minneapolis' building boom, and little new construction occurred in Loring Park until the 1970s. In the meantime, the neighborhood gradually declined in wealth and physical condition, as white flight and urban decay combined to make inner-city areas less attractive. Although the cheap rents gave the area a somewhat seedy reputation, they also helped establish the area's reputation as the center of Minneapolis' LGBT subculture. In addition, many artists flocked to the neighborhood and especially its northern tier, near Harmon Place, where many had their studios in the area's dilapidated warehouses.

Because of the neighborhood's proximity to the downtown core, the neighborhood has been subjected to a number of urban renewal plans, with varying results. The construction of Interstate 94 and interstate 394 hemmed in the neighborhood from the south, west, and north, destroying dozens of structures and contributing to significant noise pollution within the Park. In addition, the construction of the Minneapolis Convention Center led to the destruction of several contiguous blocks of apartment buildings and other structures, effectively obliterating the eastern portion of the neighborhood. The urban renewal plan near Nicollet Mall, while resulting in the destruction of several more blocks, also created the Loring Greenway and paved the way for the tall residential towers that now characterize that area.

In the twentieth century, numerous condominium and luxury apartment projects have filled in parking lots throughout the neighborhood, many on land which had been vacant for decades. These developments have brought an influx of wealthier residents and higher-end businesses, gradually changing the neighborhood's character.

Culture

The Twin Cities Pride Festival takes place annually in Loring Park.

Although most of the apartment buildings in Loring Park were built for white-collar workers in the nearby central business district, by the mid-twentieth century most buildings came to be inhabited by lower-income residents, especially those affiliated with Minneapolis' counterculture and LGBT subculture. The neighborhood's central location, combined with the tall formal gardens which obscured the pond in Loring Park from view, made the area a popular cruising destination for gay men in the city. Sustained police activity and a redesign of the Park in the 1970s reduced the area's suitability for the practice by improving sight lines from the street, though it remains (to a much reduced extent) in the summer months.

Park

It embraces Johnson's Lake, fed by unfailing springs of pure water, a surrounding area of level land, and on its north and east side an undulating declivity covered with a fine growth of native deciduous trees, and carpeted with an emerald turf, which have long designated it in the public estimation for a park.

– Charles M. Loring, Annual Report of 1883