In 1940, Fred B. Snyder worked with Thorpe Brothers Real Estate and Mortgage Company to open a new Robbinsdale addition known as Snyder’s Victory Memorial Drive. These 75 foot lots between 36th and 38th Avenues North were designed to provide roomy sites for medium and modest-priced homes. Thorpe Brothers Sales Manager, Harold Schyler told the Minneapolis Tribune;
“Not only does the picturesque gently rolling ground on which the addition is laid out lend itself perfectly to modern architecture and landscaping, but the homesites themselves are large, a quality which is becoming more highly valued by home-builders. There are no tiny, crowded lots in the addition. Each homesite has a full 75 feet of frontage with depths ranging from 107 feet to 186 feet. The sites, both by their generous size and rolling terrain are thus designed to contribute to home-building. rather than to complicate it. The location of the addition just south of Crystal Lake in Robbinsdale. is convenient to transportation. schools. churches and shopping districts- The Minneapolis loop is just ten minutes distant by automobile, and the country but five minutes. Water connections and graded roads have been completed and paid for. The building restrictions follow those usual for the best type home-site development.”
Schyler predicted that the results of what he termed a ‘long-felt public demand for such an addition’ soon would be strongly evidenced. Most of the lots were sold before 1950. Snyder’s Victory Memorial Addition was advertised as having plenty of room for the children to play in adjoining park grounds and be close to home. Situated in the midst of good schools and various churches. The new neighborhood was thought to be an ideal location for the growing family, but if you look through covenants inserted into the deeds of Snyder’s Victory Memorial Addition properties on the University of Minnesota’s Mapping Prejudice website, you’ll notice when the seller is listed as Fred Snyder, almost every one says;
No lot shall be sold, conveyed, leased or rented to any person other than of the white or Caucasian race, nor shall any lot be used or occupied by any person other than one of the white or Caucasian race
Racial covenants like this can be found in the deeds of properties throughout the city of Robbinsdale. These discriminatory clauses were inserted to prevent people who were not white from buying or renting homes. These covenants were legally-enforceable and anyone who challenged them risked forfeiting their claim to the property. They were designed to keep neighborhoods segregated. Developers often worked with park commissioners to make land adjacent to racially-restricted neighborhoods into public green space. The use of racial covenants was legal in Minnesota until 1953
The Robbinsdale Historical Society and Robbinsdale Human Rights Commission are committed to researching and sharing the history of racial covenants and their impact on our community. Resources are available to promote a greater understanding and build networks of people who wish to get involved and address how racial covenants impact our cities today.
Just Deeds is acting now to help homeowners and cities by providing free legal and title services, along with access to online tools and volunteer opportunities.
Mapping Prejudice is a team of historians, geographers, librarians, digital
humanists, and community activists seeking to expose structural racism. You can see the 26,000 racial covenants Mapping Prejudice volunteers have found so far, and download shapefiles, spreadsheets, and static cartography on their website.