Reclaiming Edmund Boulevard
Come Celebrate the unveiling of
"Lena Smith Blvd"
on Saturday, November 1 at 11 am!
Now that the name “Lena Smith Boulevard” has been official for a month, many have been wondering when the new signs are actually coming up. We are thrilled to announce that Public Works employees have prepared the new signs. They may come up sometime in the week of October 27. CM Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12) has secured a date and time for a public event for their installation at the end of that week. Now we can celebrate the work, the community conversations, and other elements of the new start that the community is making with Lena Smith Boulevard!
When: Saturday, November 1 at 11am, rain or shine
Where: Lena Smith Blvd & 36th Street As pictured above, this intersection is steps away from the West River Parkway sign, the Winchell Trail sign and the Minneapolis Parks parking lot at 36th Street.
Why: To celebrate Lena Olive Smith and our community values
Who: Everyone is welcome! Bring a neighbor, family member, friend or pet.
Look for the group standing within or near the grass strip on West River Parkway. Expect a handful of speakers and a relatively short, but meaningful, ceremony. Please be mindful of car, bike, foot and dog traffic. The ground is mostly even, but please bring your own seat if this would make you more comfortable.
We are preparing flyer announcements that will be dropped at every doorstep along Lena Smith Boulevard in the coming days. We hope to see you out on Lena Smith Blvd & 36th Street NEXT Saturday, November 1 at 11am!
Our Support to Current Residents
We will be hosting Drop-In Support Sessions for Address Changes at the office of the Longfellow Community Council.
We enjoyed speaking with neighbors and all other visitors about Lena Olive Smith's legacy at the Longfellow River Gorge Festival on September 6!
A few of us were at the Public Service Center when the City Council approved the name change on September 11. The Mayor's approval followed the next week.
We want to share updates on how we are supporting current residents in the address change process. We know that the address change can be a burden and we are with the community in this challenge with the same engagement and transparency that the campaign has pursued for over five years.
Drop-In Support Sessions
In partnership with the Longfellow Community Council, we are volunteering our time and energy to support residents as they work through address change tasks. Current residents are invited to bring task lists and contact information with them. Drop by the LCC office (3101 Minnehaha Avenue) at these times:
Thursday, October 16, 6-8pm
Tuesday, October 21, 6-8pm
Wednesday, October 29, 6-8pm (just added)
The Guide
For residents working on these changes on their own, we offer an online Guide to Address Changes which contains our best and most up-to-date advice, so we are no longer offering Guides on paper. A flyer describing this outreach was left at every doorstep along Lena Smith Boulevard announcing the Guide. We welcome feedback on what residents may need at this time.
As residents approach DVS/DMV with address changes, a few have had questions about fee waivers for changes to their IDs or licenses. We have learned that state-level policy on fee waivers for readdressing has changed since 2022. Unfortunately, they are no longer possible. This is the one application or address change process that incurs a direct cost to the owner/resident. While the particulars (proof of address, application form, and fee) vary depending on the sort of ID or license one is renewing. The link to begin all those processes is available in our Guide.
Thanks to our partners at LCC!
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The City’s Support on the Address Change
We are pleased to note that since September 20, City of Minneapolis staff have been working on behalf of street residents – across City offices, Hennepin County offices, and with other service providers – to ensure the continuation of essential services and billing. The City's notification letter should have arrived at all doors on Lena Smith Boulevard on October 3, describing the extent of their work. (If for some reason you are a resident and did not receive one of these, contact us and we can share a copy with you.) As with City policy for other street name changes, staff have advised the following service providers of the address change:
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USPS for an 18-month mail-forwarding program
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City Emergency services, such as police, fire and EMS
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City Utilities, such as water, sewage, garbage, recycling and organics
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CenterPoint Energy & Xcel Energy
Residents do not need to contact these providers, though you might contact the energy companies to share updates to account/billing information.
Of course, early voting has already begun in Minneapolis. The good news here is that whether residents of the street are voting early, voting by absentee ballot, voting on Election Day or even registering to vote at the polls on Election Day, proof of old or new street names will both be honored. The Department of Elections and Voter Services have already been made aware of the name change. ​
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Big Strides in September
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Following CM Aurin Chowdhury's Application in June and the unanimous approval of the name change to “Lena Smith Boulevard” by the City of Minneapolis Planning Commission on August 4 (with CM Chowdhury abstaining), we knew our campaign had achieved its main procedural victory. Here is how the rest of the steps in the name change process unfolded over the past few weeks:
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Approval by the Business, Housing & Zoning Committee of the City Council (9/2/25)
As part of its consent agenda, this committee of the City Council took up the approval of the Planning Commission. CM Chowdhury spoke eloquently about both the harms of racial discrimination that Edmund Walton embodied and about the civil rights contributions of Lena Olive Smith. With CM Chowdhury’s abstention and two members absent, support for the name change among the committee members was unanimous (3-0). You can view a video of the full meeting here.
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Approval by the City Council (9/11/25)
The City Council was in full attendance for this regular meeting and took up the issue as part of its consent agenda. With CM Chowdhury again abstaining, the Council unanimously approved the name change, voting 12-0. You can view a video of the full meeting here (timestamped for CM Chowdhury’s remarks). The vote garnered several mentions of this issue on Minnesota Public Radio, and a more in-depth MPR News article: “Minneapolis approves street renaming to Lena Smith Boulevard” (9/11/25).
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Mayor’s Approval, and Certification of the name change (9/17/25)
The name “Lena Smith Boulevard” was officially adopted a bit earlier than we expected, with the official publication date of September 20. You can view the Official Act here. For a deeper dive, check out the City’s slowly thickening Legislative File on this issue here.
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Official City Notification letters arrive to residents (10/3/25)
The City’s notification of the name change and guidance should have now arrived to all property owners/residents of the street. Among other goals, the letter outlined several projects that the City of Minneapolis staff are taking to support residents in the name change process.
Throughout these steps in the civic process, we have appreciated our ongoing partnership with Council Member Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12). She and her staff have helped us refine our work and approach these civic mechanisms. We also appreciate the efforts of City of Minneapolis staff, especially Andrew Frenz, for their responsiveness and consistency. ​​
During the week of Monday, October 20, all residents should be receiving an additional letter from the Ward 12 office outlining more details in the address change process.
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Lena Smith Boulevard:
A Name That Reflects Our Values​
It’s official — this spring's community survey has resulted in the choice of Lena Smith Boulevard. Lena Olive Smith was a determined African American woman civil rights attorney. She helped shape Minneapolis’s legal and community institutions while defending Black residents against housing discrimination, public exclusion, and racial violence.
Lena Olive Smith (1885-1966)
If you’ve supported or followed this process, you know our campaign began with a call to reject the legacy of Edmund G. Walton — a real estate developer who championed racial segregation in Minneapolis. But the heart of this movement has always been about more than just removal; it’s about restoration and reimagination. Over the past few years, we gathered more than 60 naming suggestions from neighbors at public events, through surveys, and one-on-one conversations. To ensure racial equity was at the center of this process, we formed a diverse Naming Committee in 2024 — nine community members representing a range of identities and perspectives — who developed criteria and identified ten names for deeper review. From there, three finalists emerged: Lena Olive Smith, Wakpa Tanka, and John Francis Wheaton. Then, in collaboration with Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12), a public survey went out across newsletters and community meetings. Nearly 600 residents responded — 87% supported a name change, and 57% of ranked-choice respondents selected Lena Smith on the first round.
We’re thrilled not only by this overwhelming support, but also by the clarity of purpose in this choice. Lena Olive Smith’s lifelong fight for justice — from housing equity to public accommodation and labor rights — is a direct challenge to the values Walton once imposed on this land. With this name change, we are not just correcting the record — we are making history. We are uplifting a legacy of courage, inclusion, and community power that will resonate for generations to come.
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Visit our page about Lena Olive Smith to learn more Lena Smith and her legacy.
What are racial covenants?
Racially restrictive covenants are clauses in property deeds specifying that a particular piece of land could only be held by white people. Beginning in 1910, Edmund G. Walton began using covenants to create and market exclusively white neighborhoods here. Governments generally allowed covenants to stand until the Civil Rights era, when they became unenforceable. Covenants shaped the legacies of racial segregation, discrimination, and the racial wealth gap. In 2021, a study found that Minneapolis has the worst-in-the-nation gap in home ownership. In 2018, Hennepin and Ramsey Counties featured a substantial home ownership gap between white-headed households (70.35%) and Black-headed households (21.35%).
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Edmund G. Walton (1864-1919) was a prominent land developer in Minneapolis. He introduced dozens of housing additions into the property market, including much of the emerging south side. In 1910, he became the first developer in Minnesota to apply racially-restrictive covenants to the properties he sold, which introduced a way of segregating the Twin Cities. Soon, other land developers began to follow his lead across new neighborhoods in the growing Twin Cities metro area, and other parts of Minnesota. Walton named Edmund Boulevard, a magnificent tree-lined street that traces the Mississippi River for about 1.5 miles.
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Who was Edmund Walton?
Why change this street name?
The names of our streets, parks, and schools tell a story about our history and values. We currently have twelve street signs -- Edmund Blvd -- with the name of a man who instituted racial exclusion in our neighborhood. Removing his name is one step toward acknowledging our racist history, repudiating the man and his practices, and imagining a more fair and inclusive future in our community.
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