Seven Corners Then and Now
1945
The early growth of the Minneapolis was directed by the river and most of the city’s old streets ran parallel to it to take advantage of the amount of land that could be used. Later the growing city turned to using north-south/east-west streets, so all sorts of bizarre intersections were formed to translate between the two layouts. The most famous of these is probably Seven Corners. The historic intersection located at the intersection of Washington, Cedar and 15th avenues served as a crossroads for Scandinavian immigrants who flooded Minneapolis in the late 19th century. In the twentieth century it became one of two Minneapolis neighborhoods to which Jewish and African-American citizens were restricted through the use of land covenants. In the middle of the 1900′s the neighborhood became a beehive of beatniks, hippies, intellectuals, communists, actors, artists and musicians. These days Seven Corners is home to immigrants from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea and is the heart of the West Bank Theater District.
2012
