District 16 - Summit Hill
Summit Hill is bounded by Summit Avenue and Ramsey St. on the north, Interstate 35E on the south and east, and Ayd Mill Road on the west. One of St. Paul’s oldest and most popular neighborhoods, Summit Hill is a regional and local treasure of history, architecture, distinctive pedestrian-oriented shopping and dining experiences, and strong community connections. In the 1880s and 1890s the Crocus Hill and Grand Hill neighborhoods, two residential sections of Summit Hill, became fashionable locations for wealthy families. At that time, many earlier Summit Avenue constructions were renovated or razed to make way for more fashionable, or what were thought to be architecturally significant, houses. Early railroad and lumber barons built on Summit Avenue and in the adjacent areas, with families such as the Burbanks and Weyerhaeusers leading local social life.
Summit Avenue was originally conceived as a broad, Gilded Age showcase street, and is lined with mansions named after notable Saint Paul figures, such as railroad tycoon James J. Hill. With its vistas of downtown and the Mississippi River, Summit Avenue is thought to be one of the longest stretches of preserved Victorian mansions in North America. It has been home to artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Sinclair Lewis, August Wilson, and Garrison Keillor. More notorious residents have included 1930s-era gangsters such as John Dillinger and members of the Barker-Karpis Gang.