St. Anthony Park was formed by the merger of two neighborhoods. North St. Anthony Park, centered around Como Avenue, was originally an independent city established in the late 19th century as a streetcar suburb, consisting of estates for the wealthy of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. South St. Anthony Park is centered around Raymond Avenue near University Avenue, and was built mostly as workers' housing for people employed on the many nearby railroads. Although the two areas have very different histories and housing stock, they have grown more similar over the 20th and 21st centuries due to their proximity and convenience for commuters to both downtowns and to the University of Minnesota. Both are now middle-class neighborhoods with diverse populations and large numbers of professors and academics. Saint Anthony Park was home to three Minnesota governors, all members of the Republican Party. In the middle of the 20th century, St. Anthony Park was one of Saint Paul's most conservative neighborhoods. Today, it is one of the city's strongest neighborhoods for the Minnesota DFL. The St. Anthony Park Community Council, which represents the neighborhood in an official capacity before the city, is among Saint Paul's oldest neighborhood organizations. It was formed in the early 1960s in response to pressure from the St. Paul Port Authority and others to expand industrial development into residential areas of South St. Anthony Park, as well as a perceived decline in the standard of housing in the tonier areas of North St. Anthony Park. The organization allowed women to join as voting members in 1972, and a few years later became recognized by the City of Saint Paul as part of its District Council system. The neighborhood's largest park, Langford Park, is named for former Saint Anthony Park resident Nathaniel P. Langford, who helped create the world's first national park, Yellowstone National Park. Other well-known former Saint Anthony Park residents include author, humorist and radio show host Garrison Keillor; Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist Norman Borlaug; Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow; children's authorCarol Ryrie Brink; John F. Kennedy Chairman of Council of Economic AdvisorsWalter Heller; physician, poet, etymologist, and essayist Lewis Thomas; psychologist B.F. Skinner; presidential advisor Eugene Z. Young; and architect Sarah Susanka. Saint Anthony Park hosts its own Independence Day parade, which is followed by an all-day, all-neighborhood party in Langford Park. The park includes a recreation center offering hockey, baseball, basketball, indoor and outdoor soccer and tennis, and contains a playground, two tennis courts, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, and two baseball fields that are flooded in the winter to make two hockey rinks and one general skating rink.
