Frost Avenue

At the intersection of Phalen Creek and the Frost Avenue Bridge, waterways linking Gervais Lake, Keller Lake, and Lake Phalen were dredged and bridges were built and rebuilt from as early as 1864 to move people and connect resources throughout the St. Paul region. Recreation also shaped the area, as automobile outings, canoeing on Keller Creek, and later recreational boating made Lake Phalen and its surroundings a popular destination. East Shore Drive was created as traffic grew, Frost Avenue was not fully surveyed from English Street to Keller Creek until 1906, and it became a major street in 1926 when it was first paved. The original Frost Avenue Bridge was built in 1930, giving direct access from U.S. Highway 61 to Gladstone. In the 1980s, Frost Avenue was widened to four lanes in anticipation of becoming Highway 5 from St. Paul to Stillwater, but that direct connection never occurred. In 2011, the road was narrowed to two lanes and the old limestone bridge was replaced, while salvaged limestone and the original bridge plate were preserved as tributes to the 1930 bridge. Nearby transportation history included a 1912 bridge over Keller Creek east of Roselawn Avenue and Highway 61, with Keller Creek passing through one archway and Keller Parkway through the other, and the road above it paved in 1921 before being renamed U.S. Highway 61 in 1926. Surveyed, platted, and built as a public highway in 1870, U.S. Highway 61 became vital to regional commerce, farming, tourism, and travel from Maplewood to Minnesota’s north shore. The nearby area also included the St. Paul Tourist Cabins, the Works Progress Administration’s construction of the Phalen Park dam across Keller Creek, the 1932 creation and 1980 removal of Honeymoon Falls, and civic landmarks such as the Washington Memorial Grove. Even as bridges and roads changed, the trail along Keller Creek continued to link Lake Phalen and Keller Lake for cyclists and pedestrians.

Maplewood, Minnesota · United States