The history of Hunter's Park, Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Hunter's Park neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Hunter's Park exists because of the streetcar. Track reached Woodland and Hunter's Park in the mid-1880s, connecting ground that had been too far from downtown to be practical residential land, and the plats followed. The neighborhood was first platted in 1891 and established as a recognized neighborhood by 1897, named for John Hunter and Ronald Hunter (Wikipedia and Zenith City Press, both accessed 2026-08-13).
The appeal was explicitly an escape. Duluth in the 1890s was a working port at the head of the lakes, with rail yards, grain elevators, and industry concentrated along the water. Hunter's Park offered distance from all of it, reachable by a streetcar ride, and it was marketed on exactly that promise. The result was a residential district built for people who could afford a commute, which is why the housing stock is more ambitious than its distance from downtown would suggest.
Development came in plats rather than as a single scheme, and Hunter's Park gradually absorbed its neighbors: Waverly Park, Kenilworth Park, and Glen Avon. Each contributed street names and a slightly different street logic, which is why the neighborhood does not read as one design the way Congdon Park does.
Institutions arrived alongside the houses. Washburn School was built in 1905 at 201 West St. Andrews Street, with additions in 1926 and 1957. Glen Avon Presbyterian became the stone landmark on Woodland Avenue. The old Hunter's Field, now home to the Glen Avon rink, has carried neighborhood athletics for more than 125 years. And before the ski jumps went up in Chester Park, the local ski club built its first hill behind Washburn and held tournaments there, a detail that says a good deal about what this part of the city was for.
The streetcars stopped running in 1939, when Duluth's incline and rail transit era ended. By then the neighborhood was largely built out, and what followed was postwar infill on remaining lots rather than expansion. Washburn is no longer an operating district elementary; ISD 709 serves this area from Homecroft.
History next door
Directly north along the same corridor, sharing Homecroft, Hartley, and the streetcar-suburb origin.
Congdon ParkDownhill to the southeast, a similar era of architecture with lake proximity and a much higher price.
KenwoodWest across the hill, newer housing and the nearest full grocery.
LakesideFifteen minutes east on the shoreline, with a walkable business block Hunter's Park lacks.