District 8 - Summit-University
Summit-U is an ethnically and economically diverse community west of Downtown Saint Paul. It includes the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood, as well as what remains of “old Rondo”, a former neighborhood of the city. Among the many groups living in Summit-University are the Hmong community as well as the city’s other Asian communities, including large numbers of Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians.
In the 1880s, the southern portion closest to Summit Avenue was the preeminent neighborhood to live in. Housing further north and closer to University Avenue was less grand. Parts of the neighborhood experienced significant urban renewal after the 1960s which resulted in the destruction of the Rondo neighborhood to make way for Interstate 94. Sections of the neighborhood north of Interstate 94 were torn down and replaced with developments that more closely resembled the suburbs, leaving a striking contrast with the late 19th- and early 20th-century homes south near Ramsey Hill.