Central Park (Superior)
Superior's old-money grid: 1890s houses on wide lots, ten minutes from everything.
Central Park is where Superior put its good houses. The neighborhood occupies the original 1862 Superior City townsite, and the wide lots along East Second, Fifth, and Seventh Streets drew the city's substantial residences through the 1890s. It is quiet, flat, tree-lined, and the least industrial-feeling part of Superior, with a listing median near $249,900. For period architecture on a real lot, nothing in the Twin Ports is better value.
Everything about Central Park (Superior)
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Central Park runs roughly from Second to Thirteenth Avenues East between East Ninth Street and Superior Bay, on the ground that was platted in 1862 as the Superior City townsite. That plat is why the neighborhood feels different from the rest of the city: it was laid out early, laid out generously, and then sat ...
HistoryCentral Park is the oldest platted ground in Superior and, for its first thirty years, the emptiest. The Superior City townsite was laid out in 1862 across what is now Second to Thirteenth Avenues East between East Ninth Street and the bay, part of the enormous speculative plat that Superior's founders drew in the 1850s ...
CharacterCentral Park feels older and calmer than the rest of Superior, and it is the one neighborhood here that visitors from Duluth immediately recognize as familiar. Wide streets, mature boulevard trees, deep front setbacks, porches, and a legible grid.
Who lives hereCentral Park reads as a mixed-tenure residential neighborhood with a stronger ownership share than downtown or the North End, which follows directly from the housing type: this is the part of Superior with the most single-family houses on their own lots.
HousingCentral Park has the deepest and most varied conventional housing stock in Superior, which is the practical reason it is the first neighborhood most buyers here get shown.
SchoolsCentral Park is served by the School District of Superior, which enrolled 3,732 students as of its September 2025 count across five elementaries, a preschool, one middle school, and one high school (School District of Superior, accessed 2026-08-13). Elementary assignment depends on address across Northern Lights, Cooper, Great Lakes, Bryant, and Four Corners, all prekindergarten ...
Parks & recreationCentral Park's own green space is modest, and the neighborhood's recreation case rests on what is a few minutes away in every direction.
Restaurants & diningCentral Park has no restaurants of its own, and that is the clearest trade-off of living here. What it has is five minutes to all of Superior's.
Churches & worshipCentral Park is an easy place to get around by the standards of this region. Downtown is about five minutes, the Belknap Street retail corridor about a mile south, Barker's Island a few minutes north, downtown Duluth about fifteen over the Blatnik Bridge, the Miller Hill corridor about eighteen, and the Duluth International Airport about ...
Safety & feelCentral Park reads as a quiet, low-traffic residential neighborhood with sidewalks on most blocks, mature street trees, street lighting on the through routes, and good sightlines on the flat grid. Activity is domestic and daytime, concentrated around the schools, the university edge, and the streets themselves.
Daily lifeDaily life in Central Park runs on a short drive rather than a walk, but the drives are genuinely short and that changes the calculation.
Local loreThe neighborhood is older than the city. The Superior City townsite was platted here in 1862, twenty-seven years before Superior consolidated into a single city charter in 1889. It sat nearly empty for thirty years. The lots were drawn in 1862 and mostly not built on until after 1890, which is exactly why they are ...
Is it right for you?You will love Central Park if you want an architecturally interesting house on a real lot at a price that still leaves room to maintain it, on quiet flat streets five minutes from a downtown and fifteen from Duluth. It suits families who want space and quiet without a hillside, restorers who will actually enjoy ...
How Central Park (Superior) scores
Is Central Park (Superior) right for you?
You'll love it if
- The best concentration of period architecture in Superior: Queen Annes, Colonial Revivals, and four-squares on wide, flat, tree-lined lots.
- Buys far more house and lot than the same money on Duluth's east side. A Central Park listing median near $249,900 sits below Duluth's citywide median.
- Quiet. This is the residential neighborhood in Superior least affected by rail, port, and highway noise.
- Genuinely convenient: downtown is five minutes, Belknap Street grocery and pharmacy about a mile, UW-Superior at the southern edge, and downtown Duluth about fifteen.
- Flat and walkable, with mature street trees and sidewalks on most blocks.
- The steadiest conventional housing market in the city, so there is usually something to look at.
Look elsewhere if
- Old houses with old-house costs. Knob-and-tube, plaster, single-pane windows, and on the larger homes slate or tile roofs that cost real money to maintain.
- There is no walkable commercial block inside the neighborhood. Every errand is a short drive or a mile walk to Belknap.
- Values have appreciated more slowly than comparable Duluth neighborhoods, so treat this as a lifestyle and value purchase rather than an appreciation play.
- The larger historic houses can carry assessments and heating bills well out of proportion to the purchase price.
- No lake view in the Duluth sense. You are on flat ground beside a working harbor, not above open water.
- Nothing is new, and infill is rare.
If you like Central Park (Superior), also look at
A mile west, the Tower Avenue commercial core with the breweries, the Anchor Bar, and the civic buildings.
North End (Superior)Northwest toward the port, older working-class stock and the brewery district at a lower price.
Allouez-Itasca (Superior)East along the bay toward the ore docks and Wisconsin Point.
South End (South Superior)South along Tower Avenue, more postwar housing and a lower entry price.
Billings Park (Superior)The west end of the city on the St. Louis River, the other quiet residential neighborhood with a signature park.
Superior, WisconsinThe city overview page, with the full market, schools, and MN versus WI tax picture.
Recent coverage of Central Park (Superior)
City councilors laid out spending priorities for next year, including streets, recreation and transit.
Related: Downtown Superior North End (Superior) South End (South Superior) Billings Park (Superior) East End Allouez-Itasca (Superior)
The utility began building a bill-assistance program for qualifying households as lead service line work continues.
Related: Downtown Superior North End (Superior) South End (South Superior) Billings Park (Superior) East End Allouez-Itasca (Superior)
The city moved to add public wireless internet at park sites.
Related: Billings Park (Superior) Billings Park (park) Superior Municipal Forest (park)
Free outdoor concerts ran across several Superior neighborhoods through the summer.
A locally known white squirrel remains a regular draw for park visitors.
Picture coverage of the neighborhood's unusually colored squirrels.
Everyday scenes from the park that anchors the neighborhood.
Headlines link to the original publisher. We summarise and attribute, we do not republish. Last checked 14 Aug 2026.
Common questions about Central Park (Superior)
How much do homes cost in Central Park, Superior?
The Central Superior listing median ran about $249,900 in July 2026, with 9 homes sold in the prior month (Redfin, accessed 2026-08-13). That sits above the citywide Superior median sale price of roughly $214,000, which is what you would expect from the city's historic residential district. It is still well below Duluth's citywide median, and the lots here are considerably larger than the same money buys on a Duluth hillside.
Why is it called Central Park?
The neighborhood occupies the original Superior City townsite, laid out in 1862 from what is now Second to Thirteenth Avenues East between East Ninth Street and Superior Bay. Development stayed limited until about 1890, when the large lots along East Second, Fifth, and Seventh Streets became the addresses of choice for the city's affluent residents. Redfin and some listing services file the same ground as 'Central Superior,' so you will see both names.
Is Central Park a good neighborhood for families?
It is one of the better ones in Superior. The streets are quiet and flat, the lots are large, sidewalks and mature trees are common, and the neighborhood sits away from the rail and port noise that affects the North End and Allouez-Itasca. The main caveats are that there is no elementary school or commercial block inside the neighborhood, so daily errands and school runs mean a short drive, and the housing is old enough that maintenance is a real budget line.
What kind of houses are in Central Park?
Mostly 1890 through 1950. Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses on the large-lot streets, American four-squares and Craftsman bungalows filling in, then Cape Cods and postwar ranches on the later blocks. The 1890s and early 1900s produced the substantial residences; the twentieth century brought more moderately scaled homes to the same grid. New construction is limited to occasional infill.
How does Central Park compare to Duluth's east side?
It is the closest thing Superior has to Duluth's East End or Congdon Park, with the same era of architecture and similar ambition, at a substantially lower price and on flat ground. What you give up is the hillside, the lake views, and the appreciation record; Duluth's historic east side has outperformed Superior for decades. What you gain is lot size, a level driveway in February, and a payment that leaves room for the maintenance an old house actually needs.
Is Fairlawn Mansion in this neighborhood?
Fairlawn sits on the harbor side near the western edge of the Central Park area, and it is the single best illustration of what this district was built to be. Martin Pattison, a lumber and mining baron and Superior's mayor, built the 42-room Queen Anne between 1889 and 1891 for about $150,000. After his death in 1918 his widow Grace donated it as an orphanage; it is now a museum.
Where these facts come from
- Redfin, Superior WI housing market and Central Superior neighborhood accessed 2026-08-13
- Duluth News Tribune, Our Neighborhoods: Neighborhoods shape Superior (1862 Superior City townsite, East Second/Fifth/Seventh Street development) accessed 2026-08-13
- City of Superior, History of Superior accessed 2026-08-13
- City of Superior, Fairlawn Museum accessed 2026-08-13
- School District of Superior, District Profile accessed 2026-08-13
- NCES Common Core of Data, school list for Superior School District accessed 2026-08-13
- Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Lottery and Gaming Credit program accessed 2026-08-13
- Minnesota Department of Revenue, Homestead Market Value Exclusion accessed 2026-08-13
- Nemadji Golf Course accessed 2026-08-13
- Duluth Transit Authority, routes and schedules accessed 2026-08-13
Last reviewed 2026-08-13 by Guide editorial.