Which "ring" is each suburb? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: subdivision, live)

[MSMCGirl]

We were talking about the Minneapolis suburbs at work today, and my coworker said that Bloomington and Edina were first ring suburbs. I thought that to be first ring, a city had to neighbor (touch) Minneapolis (which Bloomington does not). I've lived here a while now and this still confuses me. Which suburbs are which rings? And does each ring have a different "reputation"? Also, does St Paul have rings too? Thanks!!

[golfgal]

I think most people in the Twin Cities define 1st ring suburbs as those inside the 494/694 loop as they were on the "first ring" of highways (5/62). Second ring would be those outside of the 494-694 loop. I don't think "touching" Minneapolis really as anything to do with it since many people would consider West St. Paul, South St. Paul , etc. 1st ring suburbs.

[atler8]

For what it's worth, my brother & I have always been map geeks &, decades ago ago when we would look at maps of theTwin Cities & discuss the area's layout, we talked about Richfield as being in the first ring & Bloomington on beyond it directly to the south as being in the 2nd ring, given that it hit it's big boom in development a bit later than Richfield & after Richfield had pretty much filled in it's footprint. Of course, now there are large ring suburbs on out beyond Bloomington such as Burnsville in the 3rd south ring.
On the west side of Minneapolis, we always referred to the first ring suburbs as being Crystal, Golden Valley & St. Louis Park with the next ring consisting of Minnetonka, Plymouth & Maple Grove.
Looking at St. Paul, it's suburban development was not as ring oriented as that of Minneapolis & the odd, narrow strip shape of Oakdale kind of mucked up the concept. Plus comparatively speaking, there was never a huge suburban population growth in outer Ramsey County like there was over in Hennepin.
As for Edina, which the op specifically asked about, it has a small border with Minneapolis & is directly south of St. Louis Park & west/northwest of Richfield & thus a first ring suburb, at least by our considerations of long ago.

[QuietBlue]

I've usually heard of the suburbs within or on the 494/694 loop as "first ring", like Golfgal said. It's what I use, though I don't think there's really an official definition. Anything touching those would then be mid-ring, and then anything beyond that would be an outer suburb.

I've also heard of the inner/outer ring distinction as being the suburbs adjacent to Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as any suburbs touching those (so for example, someplace like Eagan would be considered inner ring in this situation), with everything not included in those being outer.

[knke0204]

There's no "rule" as to what defines a 1st ring, 2nd ring or even 3rd ring or "exurb"

First ring suburbs are usually suburbs with streets that follow the street grid system, or even defined as "pre-WW2" developed suburbs (ramblers, etc).

That said, most of the times these unwritten criteria fall apply to suburbs that are immediately adjacent to the main core city.

Robbinsdale, Richfield, Bloomington, Columbia Heights, Edina, St. Louis Park, Crystal, New Hope, Roseville, Hopkins, Falcon Heights, Brooklyn Center, Fridley

Second Rings typically have had subdivision growth in the 70's throughout the 80's into the 90's.. More strip malls and wider boulevard streets, may include: Brooklyn Park, Eden Prarie, Plymouth, Minnetonka, Mounds View, Wayzata, Osseo, Shoreview, Maple Grove, Blaine

[moving123456]

I would agree more with what knke0204 said. About half of Minnetonka is inside the 494/694 loop between 169 and 494.

[MSMCGirl]

Interesting! So it is an confusing as I thought since there are no real "rules" about which ring starts where!

[Grizzly Addams]

Originally Posted by MSMCGirl

We were talking about the Minneapolis suburbs at work today, and my coworker said that Bloomington and Edina were first ring suburbs. I thought that to be first ring, a city had to neighbor (touch) Minneapolis (which Bloomington does not). I've lived here a while now and this still confuses me. Which suburbs are which rings? And does each ring have a different "reputation"? Also, does St Paul have rings too? Thanks!!

St. Paul and Minneapolis make up the core so the inner ring suburbs are the ones touching St. Paul and/or Minneapolis.

[Grizzly Addams]

Originally Posted by atler8

Looking at St. Paul, it's suburban development was not as ring oriented as that of Minneapolis & the odd, narrow strip shape of Oakdale kind of mucked up the concept. Plus comparatively speaking, there was never a huge suburban population growth in outer Ramsey County like there was over in Hennepin.

Ramsey County is the most densely populated county in the state. Now if you mean that the eastern suburbs haven't grown as fast or as large as the western suburbs, I agree.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

My mother grew up in Chicago and later relocated to Berkeley, an "inner ring" suburb of Chicago, even though it is actually 4 or 5 cities removed from the city.

"Inner ring" mainly means pre-war, IMO.