Victory Memorial Drive... designed in the earliest days of the automobile | HomesMSP

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I took a picture of the historic photo above in a home I listed on Victory Memorial Drive a number of years ago. The photo was taken in 1921, the year Victory Memorial Drive was dedicated as a memorial to local servicemen and nurses who died in World War I. I love seeing the old cars in the photo, which remind us of what life was like at that time. The Drive was conceived and built in the earliest days of the automobile, and the broad scale with amazing sight lines is perfectly experienced by car. Today, their foresight provides a lush parkway like none other in the metro area.

Five hundred and sixty-eight trees line Victory Memorial Drive, one for each Hennepin County resident killed in World War I… and each tree has a plaque on the ground beside it commemorating a specific individual.

The scale is so big it’s hard to imagine without experiencing it… a city street on each side of the parkway lined with charming homes, one of the first major public bicycle paths dating to the mid-1970s that is now part of the Grand Rounds 50-mile Scenic Byways trail system… and the actual Victory Memorial Drive down the middle which these days feels more like a bike path than the actual street relative to the immense park surrounding it.

The original trees were elms, which were intended to become giants of strength and beauty. Unfortunately, they fell victim to Dutch Elm disease just like the elms filled with robins that gave Robbinsdale its name. The elms were replaced with hackberry trees which aren’t as stately as elms but nevertheless have an impressive impact as they continue to grow.

Victory Memorial Drive was designated a state historic district in 2003, and was rededicated in 2011 after restoration.

The Victory Memorial Drive Parkway is part of the Minneapolis park system. If you are lucky enough to be a small-town Robbinsdale resident living on York this gorgeous parkway and trail system is right out your front door. You get the best of both worlds! Check out Robbinsdale homes for sale in this pocket between the parkway and Crystal Lake if you think you might like to live in this neighborhood then contact us… we can help!