Whittier, Minneapolis

Infobox settlement
name = Whittier
nickname = Eat Street, Nicollet Avenue Neighborhood
settlement_type = Neighborhood
motto = The International Neighborhood


imagesize =
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mapsize = 200px
map_caption = Location of Whittier within the U.S. city of Minneapolis
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= Powderhorn
seat_type = City Council Ward
seat = 6
leader_title = Councilmember
leader_name = Robert Lilligren
established_title= Founded
established_date= 1849
established_title2= Established
established_date2= 1977
founder = John Blaisdell
named_for = John Greenleaf Whittier
area_magnitude =
area_total =
TotalArea_sq_mi =
area_land =
LandArea_sq_mi =
area_water =
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area_water_percent =
area_urban =
UrbanArea_sq_mi =
area_metro =
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population_as_of = 2007
population_total = 15,455
population_density_sq_mi =
population_metro = 2,367,204
population_density_metro_km2 =
population_density_metro_sq_mi =
population_urban = 387,970
population_density_urban_km2 =
population_density_urban_sq_mi =
population_footnotes=cite web| title=Twin Cities Region Population and Household Estimates, 2006| url=http://www.metrocouncil.org/metroarea/2006PopulationEstimates.pdf | format=PDF | date=2006-04-01 | publisher=Metropolitan Council | accessdate= 2007-07-24] cite web |title=Table 2: Population Estimates for the 100 Most Populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas Based on July 1, 2006 Population Estimates: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |url=http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/cb07-51tbl2.pdf | format = PDF | date = 2007-04-05 |accessdate=2007-04-16]
timezone= CST
utc_offset= -6
timezone_DST= CDT
utc_offset_DST= -5
latd= 44
latm= 57
lats= 20
latNS= N
longd= 93
longm= 16
longs= 40
longEW= W
elevation_m= 264
elevation_ft= 866
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 55404, 55405, 55408
area_code = 612
website = http://www.whittieralliance.org/
footnotes =

Whittier is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, bounded by Franklin Avenue on the north, Interstate 35W on the east, Lake Street on the south, and Lyndale Avenue on the west. It is known for many diverse restaurants, coffee shops and Asian markets, especially along Nicollet Avenue ("Eat Street"). The neighborhood is also home to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Children's Theatre Company.

While the neighborhood is technically grouped with other neighborhoods within the greater Powderhorn community, it is separated from those areas by Interstate 35W. As a result, Whittier is more often associated with adjacent neighborhoods, such as Lowry Hill East in the Calhoun-Isles community to the west and Stevens Square neighborhood in the Central community to the north.

History

John Blaisdell settled on land just south of downtown Minneapolis in 1849. Considered a squatter, Blaisdell began selling off timber for the booming lumber industry and leased his land for the Morrison Farm. After the Civil War, Minneapolis began growing in population again and with his land cleared, Blaisdell opened land for development in soon to be South Minneapolis. Entrepreneurs and businessmen soon moved out of Downtown East and built their mansions in the modern-day Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District. Fair Oaks Park, at the center of this district, was formerly the site of William Washburn's late mansion. Meanwhile the southern end of Whittier grew as an agricultural and industrial job center with working-class wood housing due to the Milwaukee Road rail trench delivering grain from southern Minnesota (the modern day Midtown Greenway).

Whittier eventually filled along streetcar routes as the Lyndale and Nicollet Avenue lines extended south from downtown, aligned on a grid with true north instead of the Mississippi River. The neighborhood maintained a dense population and high rental occupancy up towards the city's population peak in the 1950s. The latter 20th century followed similarly with other inner core neighborhoods. The postwar boom of the 1960s depleted Whittier's population and it's upper-class elite to the suburbs while crime and prostitution increased. Neighbors who stayed formed a neighborhood association, the Whittier Alliance in 1977 to monitor the weakened community and rehabilitate housing. The City attempted several times to bring about a citizen participation model to bring up neighborhoods until with the Legislature's assistance created the Neighborhood Revitalization Program in 1987 to formally address urban issues with funding.

Whittier Elementary on Blaisdell Avenue closed in the 1960s and finally replaced with a new Whittier Elementary in 2001 with major assistance from Whittier Alliance NRP funding at 25th and Grand. In the 1990s, the first schools after half a century moved into Whittier, the "City of Lakes Waldorf School" and Watershed High School. Both schools renovated the American Hardware Mutual Insurance Company building (constructed 1922) at the corner of 24th Street and Nicollet Avenue. Behind this building, at the corner of 24th Street and Blaisdell Avenue, the "play yard" occupies the former site of a Dayton's family mansion.

The Whittier Alliance organized residents and the Whittier Business Association to revitalize Nicollet Avenue which by the mid-1980s had a distinct vibrant influx of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Mexican businesses joining one of the city's only authentic German restaurants. Building on the hard work of those immigrants, the Eat Street branding was complete in 1997 with a complete streetscape reconstruction. Today Whittier is marked with a combination of independent businesses, neighborhood volunteer activists, neighborhood organizations, neighborhood focused planning, and a healthy local economy and housing market in recent years, while still maintaining the 90% rental occupancy of the mid-20th century.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, 15,247 people live in Whittier. Census race groups consist of Caucasians (47%), Hispanics (Latinos) (21%), African Americans (20%), Native Americans (2%), Asian Americans (6%), and other (4%) (who are largely Somali in origin). 89% of residents rent. Whittier is the most populous neighborhood in Minneapolis, and second only in density to its neighbor Stevens Square. As reported single ancestry in the 2000 Census, the top five ancestries were German (1,780 people), Subsaharan African (1,070 people), Norwegian (870 people), Irish (830 people), and Somali (490 people).

Government

Whittier is in Ward 6 of Minneapolis under Councilmember Robert Lilligren (elected 2005). The neighborhood is currently officially represented by the Whittier Alliance, a community organization founded in 1977, which is recognized by the City of Minneapolis and its Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). These NRP funds allow the Whittier Alliance to work with individuals, families, and businesses to build the community in terms of safety, economic development, and livability. Another informal organization is the Whittier Neighbors, founded in 1996. The Fifth Police Precinct (Precinct Inspector Kris Arneson in 2007) serves the neighborhood under Sector One.

Whittier is in Minnesota Senate District 61 (Linda Berglin 1980) and Minnesota House district 61A (Karen Clark in 2004) while the southern end is in Minnesota House 61B (Neva Walker 2004). Minneapolis Public Schools Area 23.

References

Further reading

;Nicollet Urban Plans
*Minneapolis City Coordinator's Office 1972 Nicollet Lake Development District Plan. Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis City Coordinator's Office.
*Barton-Aschman Associates 1994 Nicollet Avenue Corridor Study. Minneapolis, MN: Barton-Aschman Associates.
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/nicollet/Nicollet_Avenue_Report.pdf CPED, Nicollet Avenue Task Force 2000 Nicollet Avenue: The Revitalization of Minneapolis’ Main Street. Minneapolis.]
*BKV Group 2001 Nicollet Avenue: … vision for the present and future. 2001 Development Plan. 10/15/01.
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cped/docs/great_streets_case_studies.pdf Corridor Revitalization, Minneapolis Case Studies 2005?]

;Whittier Urban Plans
*Minneapolis City Planning Commission. 1960. Comprehensive Planning for the Whittier Neighborhood. Minneapolis, MN: City of Minneapolis Planning Commission.
*Minneapolis Department of Planning and Development 1976 Whittier East Design Study. Minneapolis.
*Team 70 Architects 1977 Whittier urban design framework. Minneapolis.
*Whittier Alliance 1978 Whittier Urban Design Framework: program implementation guide. Minneapolis.
*McNamara, John 1979 Whittier Alliance Program Activities Year 2 Action Plan. Minneapolis.
*McNamera, John, Ranae Hanson, and Dayton-Hudson Foundation 1981 Partners. Minneapolis: Dayton-Hudson.
*Minneapolis Planning Department, NRP 1991 Whittier: planning information base. Minneapolis MN: Office of city coordinator.
* [http://www.nrp.org/R2/Neighborhoods/Plans/WhittierPhaseIPlan.pdf Whittier Alliance 1992 Whittier Neighborhood Phase I Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN: Neighborhood Revitalization Program.]
*Whittier Alliance, and Change Architects. 2001. A Decade of Change: The Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program & The Whittier Neighborhood. Minneapolis, MN: Whittier Alliance & Change Architects.
*Whittier Alliance 2002 Whittier Neighborhood NRP Phase II Action Plan.
*Whittier Alliance 2005 Whittier Neighborhood NRP Phase II Neighborhood Action Plan.
*Heritage Preservation Commission (Gail Bronner) 1976 Washburn-Fair Oaks: A study for preservation.

;Research Articles
*Allen, Jeffrey 2003 Affordable Housing in the Whittier Neighborhood. Minneapolis: Whittier Alliance.
*Arwade, Jennifer 2000 Citizen Participation in City Planning: how much is enough? The Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program and Trenton, New Jersey. A senior thesis submitted to the Department of Politics for B.A. Princeton NJ: Princeton University. (Whittier case study is p. 42-46).
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/MNIS-reports/mnis1007.pdf Dowdell, Richard, Amy Jeu, and Marcus Martin 2001 Whittier Analysis of Impacts on Residential Property Values. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs]
* [http://www.ids.ac.uk/logolink/resources/downloads/Recite_Confpapers/NRPFinal.pdf Fagotto, Elena and Archon Fung 2005 The Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program: an experiment in empowered participatory government]
* [http://www.ids.ac.uk/logolink/resources/downloads/Recite_Confpapers/NRPFinal.pdf Fagotto, Elena and Archon Fung 2005 Appendix to The Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program]
* [http://www.archonfung.net/docs/articles/2006/FungFagottoMinneapolisNRP.pdf Fagotto, Elena and Archon Fung 2006 Empowered Participation in Minneapolis: The Neighborhood Revitalization Program. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 30, No. 3: 638-55]
*Goetz, Edward and Mara Sidney 1994 Neighborhood Revitalization for Whom? CURA Reporter, June 94:11-15. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Goetz, Edward and Mara Sidney 1994 Impact of the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program on Neighborhood Organizations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Goetz, Edward and Mara Sidney 1994 Revenge of the property owners: community development and the politics of property. Journal of Urban Affairs 16(4):319-334.
*Goetz, Edward, Hin Kin Lam, and Anne Heitlinger 1996 There Goes the Neighborhood? Subsidized Housing in Urban Neighborhoods. CURA Reporter April 96:1-6. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
*Goetz, Edward, Hin Kin Lam, and Anne Heitlinger 1996 There Goes the Neighborhood? The Impact of Subsidized Multi-Family Housing on Urban Neighborhoods. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Goetz, Edward and Brian Schaffer 2004 An Evaluation of the Minneapolis Neighborhood Information System. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/HACER/Latino_Realities.pdf HACER 1998 Latino Realities: A Vibrant Community Emerges in South Minneapolis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs]
*Institute on Race and Poverty 1998 Neighborhood Atlas for the building better futures initiative: Whitter. 7/17/98. Minneapolis: Institute on Race and Poverty.
*Jacobson, Justin 2005 Eat Street. Geography Department Master’s Thesis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/NPCR-reports/npcr1005.pdf Malaby, Elizabeth and Tom Brady-Leighton 1994 Whittier Homeownership Center Targeting Project. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. (the focus group discussions provided insights into Whittier Alliance efforts to attract new homeowners and retain current ones)]
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/MNIS-reports/mnis1021.pdf Matson, Jeffrey Minneapolis Neighborhood Information System 2002 Whittier Supportive Housing Project. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. (simple maps and stats for supportive Housing in the Lydia area]
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/NPCR-reports/npcr1117.pdf Mielke, Andrew (for the Whittier Housing Corporation) 1998 Housing in the Whittier Neighborhood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.]
*Pike, Ronald 1989 Multi-Family Housing change in the Whittier Neighborhood: responses to a 1960s building boom of 2 ½ story walkups. Department of Geography, University of Minnesota.
* [http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/129/CDCfailures.html Rohe, W Learning from Adversity, Whittier housing corp]
* [http://www.cura.umn.edu/publications/NPCR-reports/npcr1099.pdf Sage-Martinson, Jonathon 1998 Whittier Works Business Survey. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs]
*Smith, Rebecca Lou 1980 Whittier: A Revitalization Effort in the Inner City. CURA Reporter 10(3):10-12. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Smith, Rebecca Lou 1982 Neighborhood Inside and Out: Comparative Perspectives on the Meaning of "Neighborhood." Dissertation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Smith, Rebecca Lou and Thomas Anding 1980 Community Involvement in the Whittier Neighborhood: An Analysis of Neighborhood Conditions and Neighborhood Change. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

;History
*Adams, John S., and Barbara VanDrasek 1993 Minneapolis-St. Paul: People, place and public life. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. (historical for Nicollet)
*Dipman, David, and Hila Dipman 1974 Whittier's Early Beginnings. Notes for the Whittier Day Celebration, September 8, 1974. Minneapolis, MN.
* [http://citypages.com/databank/18/849/article3320.asp Hart, Joseph 1997 How Little Asia Was Born. City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul. March 12.]
*Martin, Judith 1983 Minneapolis Survey: How the City Grew and What Should be Preserved. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
*Olson, Russell L. 1976. The Electric Railways of Minnesota. Hopkins, MN: Minnesota Transportation Museum. (includes Nicollet Ave line)
*Thornley, Stew. 1988. On To Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers. Minneapolis, MN: Nodin Press. (includes history of the old Nicollet line out to the ballpark)
*Whittier Alliance (John Share, Carol Anderson, Sally Grans, Lisa Kugler) 1985 History of 2-1/2 Story Walk-up Apartments in Whittier. Minneapolis, MN: Whittier Alliance.

;News Articles
*Hammond, Ruth 1977 There's an effort underway to improve Whittier neighborhood's poor self-image. Minneapolis Tribune. December 10.
*Hammond, Ruth 1982 When Dayton's became a pal to Whittier, the whole neighborhood brightened up. Minneapolis Tribune. April 3.
*Inskip, Leonard 1982 Whittier: a model partnership for improvement. Minneapolis Tribune. March 9.
*Inskip, Leonard 1984 Grant leaves Whittier neighbors a stronger, more effective group. Minneapolis Star and Tribune. April 25.
*Leydon, Peter 1992 Homeowners Take Over Board. Star Tribune 11/5/92. Minneapolis.
*Leydon, Peter 1992 Whittier’s Vision, city agenda in conflict. Star Tribune 2/25/92. Minneapolis.
*Buchta, Jim 1993 Spotlight on Whittier. Star Tribune Home Section 11/2/93.
*Iggers, Jeremy 1997 Eat Street. Minneapolis Star-Tribune. January 3.
*Jossi, Frank 2002 Neighbors plan Nicollet's facelift. The Business Journal, Minneapolis - St. Paul. May 17.
*Smith, Scott D. 2002 'Eat Street' plans more retail. The Business Journal, Minneapolis - St. Paul. May 15.

External links

;Community Organizations in Whittier
* [http://www.whittieralliance.org Whittier Alliance]
* [http://www.whittierneighbors.org Whittier Neighbors]
* [http://whittier.mpls.k12.mn.us Whittier International Elementary School]
* [http://www.whittierglobe.com Whittier Globe Periodical]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/whittier Whittier Yahoogroup]

;Information About Whitter
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/whittier_profile_home.asp City of Minneapolis Neighborhood Profile]
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/census2000/maps/Whittier.pdf 1990-2000 Census: General Demographic Characteristics]
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/Census2000/maps/economic/Whittier.pdf 1990-2000 Census: Economic Characteristics]
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/Census2000/maps/housing/Whittier.pdf 1990-2000: Census Housing Characteristics]
* [http://whittier.mpls.k12.mn.us/history.html History of Whittier School]
* [http://www.whittierbusiness.org Whittier Business Directory]
* [http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/planning/mplsplan.asp The Minneapolis Plan: the City of Minneapolis’ Comprehensive Plan]