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<br />City of Mounds View | 2040 Comprehensive Plan
<br />DRAFT April 17May 3, 2019
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<br />Chapter 1: Background | 1-6
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<br />CITY BACKGROUND
<br />Mounds View is located in the northwest corner of Ramsey County and is
<br />adjacent to Anoka County. It is neighbored by the cities of Blaine, Shoreview,
<br />Arden Hills, New Brighton, Fridley, and Spring Lake Park. Mounds View lies
<br />north and west of a large range of lakes and Rice Creek which drains into the
<br />Mississippi River, about 7.5½ miles to the west. The City is bordered by US
<br />Highway 10 to the north, and Interstate 35W to the east, supporting travel to
<br />Minneapolis and St. Paul, Duluth, and St. Cloud.
<br />Mounds View Boulevard (formerly the Anoka Cutoff, Trunk Highway 10, and
<br />then County Road 10) runs diagonally through the City and defines the
<br />character of the community. The Boulevard is a four-lane divided highway with
<br />a mix of uses, from single-family residential to office-warehouse and auto-
<br />oriented retail. The Boulevard has always been auto-dependent. After the
<br />Trunk THighway (TH) 610 bridge was completed across the Mississippi River
<br />in 1999, the average daily traffic (ADT) on the Boulevard declined from 43,000
<br />ADT to 21,000 ADT in 2015. With this decline, many auto-dependent
<br />businesses moved, leaving many commercial buildings and remain empty and
<br />properties blighted today. This challenge, addressing appearance and
<br />redevelopment of the Boulevard, is a reoccurring theme throughout this plan.
<br />HISTORY
<br />Mounds View Township consisted of the northwest quadrant of Ramsey
<br />County, including present-day Mounds View, Arden Hills, New Brighton,
<br />Shoreview, and portions of Blaine, North Oaks, Spring Lake Park, and St.
<br />Anthony Village. The center of commerce was Irondale (present-day New
<br />Brighton).The cities of Arden Hills, Shoreview, North Oaks, New Brighton,
<br />Mounds View, and portions of Spring Lake Park, St. Anthony Park, and Blaine
<br />were all part of the original Mounds View Township.
<br />The first elections of the Mounds View Township were held in May of 1858.
<br />The townshipIt was 23,040 acres in size. It’s name is in reference to the
<br />significant mounds on the present-day Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant
<br />(TCAAP) and Arden Hills Army Training Site (AHATS), and could be seen from
<br />much of Ramsey and Anoka counties. The largest of the mounds were mined
<br />for gravel to develop TCAAP, and expand roads.
<br /> and got its name because it was the site of large mounds of sand and gravel
<br />that were visible from almost anywhere in the township and from much of
<br />Anoka County. Many of the mounds have disappeared over time due to mining
<br />and development of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) in Arden
<br />Hills.
<br />In 1891, New Brighton became the first village in the township to incorporate,
<br />followed by Arden Hills (1951), North Oaks (1956), Spring Lake Park (1957),
<br />Blaine, St. Anthony Village and Shoreview (1957).. The rest of Mounds View
<br />Township remained intact until 1951 when Arden Hills incorporated, followed
<br />Figure 1-5: Ramsey County, 1874
<br />(Mounds View Township outlined in
<br />red)
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