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 The Eastview-Conway-Battle Creek-Highwood neighborhood profile featured here is taken from the Ramsey County Historic Site Survey Report.

 
District1: Eastview-Conway-Battle Creek-Highwood

District 1 is located in the southeast corner of Ramsey County and is the largest of St. Paul's planning districts. It is-bounded on the north by Minnehaha Avenue; on the west by Birmingham Street, Warner Road, and the Mississippi River; on the south by Washington County; and on the east by McKnight Road.

Steep, wooded bluffs in the Battle Creek and Highwood areas east of Highway 61 and immense stretches of marshy land surrounding Pig's Eye Lake along the Mississippi River were among the distinct natural characteristics which discouraged widespread settlement of the area during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first permanent inhabitants were the Kaposia band of Mdewakanton Dakota Indians who lived in a large village near Pig's Eye Lake from circa 1775 until the early nineteenth century. By the 1820's the village had been relocated to near Dayton's Bluff. Later, circa 1838, a small group of French Canadian fur traders established a village at the northwest corner of Pig's Eye Lake, a site now marked by the Pig's Eye Sewage Treatment Plant (established in the 1930's). Although both a sawmill and a school were built at the village of Pig's Eye, the tiny community disappeared during the 1860's as inhabitants moved north into St. Paul.

During much of the nineteenth century the area served simply as a gateway to St. Paul, and was crossed by early roads -- Pig's Eye and St. Paul, Point Douglas and Fort Ripley, Hudson and St. Paul, and the Afton and St. Paul roads. In the 1860's railroad service reached the area as the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railroad line was constructed along Point Douglas Road. In the late 1880's a second railroad, the Chicago, Burlington, and Northern, laid tracks through the area and linked it with St. Paul.

The construction of the Chicago, Burlington, and Northern railroad line occurred about the time the area was being annexed in three stages by the city of St. Paul (1872, 1885, and 1887). The new railroad line spurred a brief period of development in the area. In 1886 a syndicate of St. Paul and Boston businessmen formed the Union Land Company and purchased about 1200 acres of land in the Highwood area. They built two small railroad stations about one mile apart. A "commuter suburb" was planned with large rustic lots separated by curving roads which ran along the river bluffs. Although Burlington Heights, as the suburb was called, was linked to downtown St. Paul by rail lines and offered residents the advantages of country living, the development achieved limited success and only a handful of houses were built during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was not until well after World War II when roads were improved and automobiles popularized that District 1 was settled extensively. Compared to the rest of the city, the district is still sparsely settled and 56% of its land remains undeveloped.

The Historic Sites Survey of District 1 identified relatively few houses still standing in the district that date from the turn of the century or earlier. Very few recognizable farmhouses were identified. The Survey did discover a few houses along Point Douglas Road which may date from the 1870's or early 1880's and are probably linked to that road's importance as an early route leading south from St. Paul. The most significant discovery in District 1 was about one dozen large, wood frame houses built during the late 1880's which were clearly built soon after the Burlington Heights commuter suburb was platted. About half of these houses are basically intact and many were obviously architect-designed. Several of the most sophisticated Queen Anne and Shingle style houses were designed by St. Paul architect Charles E. Joy, whose own house stands at 882 S. Point Douglas Road (no. 1). Other intact Victorian houses which were constructed as part of the Burlington Heights development stand at 55 E. Howard Avenue, 738 Point Douglas Road, 482 S. Point Douglas Road (no. 2), and 770 S. Brookline Avenue (no. 3). The remainder of District 1 contains bungalows, 1940's and 1950's tract housing concentrated in the northern portions of the district, and 1970's and 1980's split level and ranch style houses concentrated in the southern half of the district. District 1 has a few interesting examples of modern architectural designs.

At present there are no sites in District I which have been designated as historic sites.