Falcon Heights is the home of the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus and the Minnesota State Fair. It is also a small suburb with only about 2 1/4 square miles. That means that about 2/3 of the land is state owned… leaving not much left for residential housing! Its proximity to the University and its location between Minneapolis and St. Paul makes it a very desirable place to live. In fact, Niche.com ranks it the 3rd best suburb in Minnesota and gives it an A+ rating!
The wide open experimental fields from the UMN agricultural campus give it a rural feel in the heart of the metro, and Gibbs Farm museum contributes to this feel. The new Bell Museum of science, art and the environment is right across the street.
The last 10 days of summer leading into Labor Day bring about 2 million people to Falcon Heights for the Minnesota State Fair, the largest state fair in the United States when measured by daily attendance.
Falcon Heights’ population is only about 5,560, median household income is $75,167, median resident age is 33 years and education level is high… 73.6% of residents hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and 40.4% hold graduate or professional degrees. That makes it easy to understand that many of the residents are University faculty and staff. Falcon Heights is part of the Roseville school district.
Houses date back to the 1920s, when residential development began, and there are also many ramblers from the 1950s, shortly after neighboring Roseville was incorporated.
The most historically significant residential neighborhood, however, is University Grove. Only 8 blocks long and 1 1/2 blocks wide, this group of 103 homes built for UMN professors and administrators over a 60-year period on land owned by the University of Minnesota is an architectural time capsule. Because each home had to be designed by an architect with a maximum ceiling on costs, no two houses are alike but they create a cohesive mix. The early homes were mostly Tudor or colonial styles, but later houses showed the strong influence of the Bauhaus and international style… creating a unique enclave of mid-century modern homes.
Falcon Heights is a unique, highly educated community with easy access to both Minneapolis and St. Paul. It includes…
- Minnesota State Fair
- University of Minnesota
- UMN Golf Course
- Gibbs Farm Museum
- Bell Museum of Natural History
- University Grove Neighborhood
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
