"American Great Street," in the press (2)

This is the text from the Pioneer Press article. (Link)

National planning group taps Summit Avenue as a 'great street'



Summit Avenue in St. Paul has been named one of 10 "Great Streets for 2008" by a national planning group.

The American Planning Association singled out Summit Avenue for its "breathtaking vistas, park-like qualities and decades-long history of planning measures, civic participation and private stewardship."

Those qualities have kept the avenue's "unique character" intact, the APA said.

America's great streets are defined by such criteria as architectural features, accessibility, functionality and community involvement.

Summit Avenue's first house was built in 1855 and was followed by a surge of house building in the 1880s.

In the early 1900s, construction of apartments prompted residents to petition the city to create a single- and double-family residential zoning district along Summit in 1916.

There are more than 370 mansions and other notable buildings on the street, the APA said. Several notable St. Paul citizens, including railroad magnate James J. Hill and F. Scott Fitzgerald, called Summit Avenue home.

The other 2008 Great Streets are: Mill Avenue, Tempe, Ariz.; Seventh Avenue, Tampa, Fla.; West Main Street, Louisville, Ky.; Commercial Street, Portland, Maine; Washington Street, Boston, Mass.; Main Street, Annapolis, Md.; South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa.; South El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas; and Clarendon & Wilson Boulevards, Arlington, Va.