Collection on the Sumner Field Housing Project

Built in 1938, Sumner Field was the first public housing development in Minneapolis. It consisted of 44 two-story row houses and four three-story apartment buildings in a municipal park-like setting on the city’s north side. Sumner Field’s construction was part of a government effort to clear slums, address a housing shortage and create construction jobs during the Great Depression. Private landlords opposed it.

In 1998, Sumner Field was razed. It was the oldest, largest, and second of four housing complexes demolished after the Hollman settlement. The Hollman v. Cisneros lawsuit alleged that public agencies discriminated by concentrating minorities in inner-city public housing. Sumner Field was replaced by the Heritage Park Housing Development, built between 2002-2009. Heritage Park is roughly bounded by Lyndale, Emerson, 3rd and 10th avenues north.

The early residents of Sumner Field were predominately Jewish along with some African Americans. African Americans and Southeast Asians made up the majority of residents immediately before Sumner Field was razed. Sumner's most famous residents were the musician Prince Rodgers Nelson and Richard Green, who at one time led the Minneapolis and New York school systems.