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11 • Historic Resources The City of Falcon Heights was originally part of Rose Township, established in 1850 in Ramsey County and named after early settler Isaac Rose. Rose Township also included the Cities of Lauderdale, Roseville and parts of Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Anthony. Heman Gibbs settled just west of Cleveland Avenue in 1849 on lands situated north and south of Larpenteur Avenue. There he built a sod house that was replaced in 1854 by the present Gibbs Farm. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently owned by the Ramsey County Historical Society. Heman Gibbs also built the first schoolhouse in Rose Township. It operated until 1959 and still occupies the southwest corner of Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues. Owned by the University of Minnesota, the old school was extensively remodeled in 1930 by the WPA. The schoolhouse site is expected to become the home of the Bell Museum of Natural History in the next ten years. The fate of the schoolhouse building is undecided. The Minnesota State Fair has occupied the land west of Snelling and north of Como Avenue since 1885 and draws over two million people to Falcon Heights each year. The University of Minnesota School of Agriculture, established in 1888 southwest of Cleveland and Larpenteur, has conducted continuous agricultural experimentation and research for more than 100 years at this location. • Once dominated by farms and nurseries, Falcon Heights got its name in the 1930s from a subdivision that was platted by John Cable and named by and for his real estate agent, a man named Faulkner. Falcon Heights was incorporated as a village in 1949 and as a city in 1973 by mandate of the State Legislature. The community grew rapidly after 1940, reaching a population of nearly 6,000 in 1960. Commercial development began in the early 1940s at Snelling and Larpenteur Avenues and on Hamline between Hoyt and Iowa Avenues. In 2003 the aging shopping center at the southeast corner of Snelling and Larpenteur was razed to make way for the City's largest development project in many years. The new complex, Falcon Heights Town Square, provides a mix of commercial and residential space, including owner-occupied townhomes, senior apartments and affordable apartments for families. Worthy of note is the University Grove subdivision, developed by the University of Minnesota beginning in 1929. Each resident owns the structure but leases the lot from the University. All dwellings, structures additions must be individually architect-designed. The University reviews all plans and imposes an additional layer of restrictions which apply only to University Grove. The 45th parallel runs just north of Falcon Heights in Roseville. A marker at the northeast corner of Cleveland and Roselawn Avenues denotes its location. Sources: • Falcon Heights New Resident Handbook, author unknown. City of Falcon Heights Comprehensive Plan, October 1991, author unknown Background: Draft 2 FH Comp Plan 2007 Page 6 of 9