Oak Park Heights
Oak Park Heights was platted in 1938 and incorporated as a city in 1959, but its story began much earlier, when a proprietorship of four men and two women platted it as Oak Park in 1857. The first 10-block plat— entered by John Parker, William Dorr, Gold and Mary Curtis, Olive Anderson and William M. McCluer—was soon followed by four other plats. Located in Baytown Township, between Stillwater and South Stillwater (Bayport) the new townsite had high prospects for sale of residential lots and, because of its river frontage, for industrial development. Most of the community founders had an interest in the lumbering industry.
John Parker was first employed at the St. Croix Falls mill in 1848, relocating to the Oak Park area in 1850. Another early settler was David Cover, a river pilot who came to Oak Park in the 1840s and engaged in selling logs and lumber.
Early development centered around Mill Street, which led to the river and the milling townsites just to the south. In the 1880s a sawmill was constructed along Oak Park’s riverfront, along with a barrel making company. About 1890 Jewish settlers Moritz and Bertha Bergstein settled in Oak Park. They operated a waste materials yard. They soon built a warehouse and “shoddy” mill, where waste fabric was recycled into stuffing for mattresses. The rubble stone mill building and warehouse still stand but are in the path of the new bridge construction, so will have to be moved or torn down.
Oak Park’s proximity to Stillwater and the main road to St. Paul encouraged a number of well-to-do residents to build impressive homes on the bluff overlooking Lake St. Croix. Still, only a few hundred people called it home in 1910. By 1914 the new State Prison had been built next to Oak Park, bringing new economic activity to the area, but there was little new construction in the 1920s and 1930s.
Changes Come with the Automobile Age
Oak Park, today known as Oak Park Heights, has been considerably changed by recent development. Highway 36 was cut through in the 1930s, dividing the community. Improvements to Highways 36 and 95 and construction of the Allen S. King generating plant and its power lines in the 1970s had considerable impact on the residential community. Then, in the late 1990s, a portion of the original townsite including many of the mid-19th-century bluff homes was razed in preparation for a new river bridge.
When Highway 36 was extended to Stillwater in the 1930s, automobile tourists flocked to the river valley. One old vestige of this era is the Tara Hideaway. This log cabin style roadhouse, built in 1932, is typical of the establishments that sprang up to cater to motorists and is still in business today. Another artifact of the automobile culture is the limestone wayside overlook on Lookout Trail, which was constructed in the 1930s by the federal government. Both sites are on the original alignment of Highway 36, and both are in jeopardy from the proposed new bridge and highway construction.
Little commercial or residential growth occurred in Oak Park Heights until 1960. In the 1960s construction started on the St. Croix Mall at the intersection of Highway 36 and Osgood Avenue. Today Oak Park Heights has become highly commercialized, at least along the Highway 36 corridor. Considerable development has taken place on the south side of the highway, extending past Highway 5. Krueger’s Christmas Tree Farm has been replaced with several big box stores, restaurants, apartments, and two large malls. Stillwater Motors, the Post Office distribution center, the Stillwater Area High School and Boutwell’s Landing Senior Living center are also in Oak Park Heights, as are Joseph’s restaurant and several other businesses on the north side of the highway. The Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights opened in 1982 as maximum custody prison.
Many of the city’s amenities lie west of the bluffs. Visitors and residents can picnic or hike 70 acres of wooded hills in Valley View Park. The community has numerous other parks, including Brekke Park, which overlooks the large Bayport Wildlife Management Area. The St. Croix Mall has a large movie theater and the Highway 36 strip features dozens of eating places. And, the Historical Society operates a museum in Boutwell’s Landing. Although sometimes overshadowed by its neighbors, this growing community of more than 4,000 residents is still thriving.