East Side, St. Paul, Minnesota

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Outsiders tend to think of the East Side of Saint Paul, Minnesota as one big neighborhood, but the East Side comprises at least 26 neighborhoods east of Interstate 35E — more than a third of St. Paul's population and geographic land mass, and four of its 17 city districts.

This can be confusing to outsiders, as there is one very large and very populous city district, District 2, that is often generically referred to as "The Greater East Side." This area, while a city district, is not in fact a neighborhood but a collection of East Side neighborhoods in the northeast corner of the city, including Frost Lake, Hayden Heights, Beaver Lake, Hazel Park, Lincoln Park, Wheelock Park and Hillcrest.

St. Paul's earliest history begins within the 26 neighborhoods of the East Side, at places like Carver's Cave and Swede Hollow. And it is there that the city has worked doubly hard (as many cities have) to shake off dusty industrial roots that in St. Paul's case gave birth to world-famous sandpaper (3M), refrigerators (Seeger nee Whirlpool) and beer (Hamm's nee Stroh's).

It is in the East Side where one of Minnesota's only heron rookeries happily coexists side-by-side with one of the state's most-polluted (if defunct) city dumps. The heron rookery is on the south side of Pig's Eye Lake, while the old city dump is to the north of the lake and still referred to as Pig's Eye Dump.

One of the Minnesota's oldest surviving historic main streets, Payne Avenue, is on the East Side. It is being reborn for at least the third time as another thriving immigrant community takes root. Host at one time to Italians and Swedes, now it's home to Hmong and Latino immigrants.

The East Side fiercely lays claim to hometown heroes like Herb Brooks, Warren Burger and Wendell Anderson. The East Side is served by Johnson High School and Harding High School.

The neighborhoods of the East Side include:

   * Arlington Heights
   * Battle Creek
   * Beaver Lake
   * Conway
   * Duluth-Case
   * Frost Lake
   * East Consolidated
   * East Phalen
   * Eastview
   * Hayden Heights
   * Hazel Park
   * Highwood
   * Hillcrest
   * Lafayette Park
   * Lincoln Park
   * Mounds Park
   * Parkway
   * Payne-Arcade
   * Phalen Heights
   * Phalen Village
   * Pig's Eye
   * Prosperity
   * Railroad Island
   * Rivoli Bluff
   * Upper Swede Hollow
   * Wheelock Park
   * Williams Hill