Waite Park: A City in Transition
The city of Waite Park is located on the western edge of St. Cloud, approximately 70 miles northwest of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. “The City with the Smile,” Waite Park retains its small town ambiance while serving as a hub of industry. With a median age of 29.9 years and average household size of 2.19 people, Waite Park is a growing city with increasing focus on single family housing, improving transportation, and attracting commercial and industrial development.
History
Waite Park was named after Henry Chester Waite of St. Cloud, a local landowner, statesman, attorney, and entrepreneur. Mr. Waite moved from New York to Minnesota in 1855 and became St. Cloud's first attorney. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1857, a representative in the legislature in 1863, and a state senator from 1870 to 1871, and again from 1883 to 1885.
Waite Park incorporated as a village on March 20, 1893. The actual development of Waite Park began in the 1840s as travelers crossed the Sauk River between St. Paul and Breckenridge. The area became known as "Waite's Crossing." As the population of the area increased, ox-cart trails were upgraded to wagon trails, which eventually became stagecoach lines. In 1890 James J. Hill, railway tycoon, purchased 300 acres of land that became home to the Great Northern Railway Shops, built between 1890 and 1891. The railway shops were a major area employer at the time, and operated from 1891 to 1986. By the time the shops closed, the economy of Waite Park was able to absorb the loss. Burlington Northern turned over 123 acres of land to the city along 10th Avenue for commercial and industrial development. Today this land is home to ball fields, parks, manufacturers, and businesses worth more than $3 million.
Waite Park has experienced steady growth for the last seven decades. Early employment in Waite Park included jobs with the Great Northern Railroad, granite quarries, and various public and commercial opportunities. The most significant change was the annexation of portions of St. Cloud Township in December 1995. This merger more than doubled the size of the city and allowed for the extension of sewer and water services. In addition, Minnesota Highway 23 was relocated to offer Waite Park convenient access to Interstate 94.
Describing Waite Park in this fashion, however, glosses over the unique challenges this city of 6,600 has experienced while making the leap from small town to bustling commercial hot spot. Culling leadership from natives and newcomers, Waite Park has managed a growing demand for infrastructure while developing systems for administration and planning it’s never had.
Economy
The nature and speed of Waite Park's growth has created a business climate and tax structure unique to the region. The fastest growing industries in Waite Park are lodging and food service, health care and social assistance, information, construction, finance, and insurance.
The highest paying industries in Waite Park are finance and insurance, construction, manufacturing, public administration, information, transportation and warehousing, wholesale trade, educational services, administrative and waste service and retail trade. Today, major employers in Waite Park include Liberty Savings, Cash Wise Foods, Bernick's Pepsi, Scheels, and Mill's Fleet Farm.
Shifting Economy
Rich in granite outcrops, the town had a bustling mining operation. Abandoned quarries became the swimming holes of future generations who attended the old McKinley School (burned in 1964). The town center extended from the school to Second Avenue. Few original buildings remain to mark the old downtown. H.R. Pesty’s and Great Northern Building Inspections occupy two of them. Print shops, optical labs, and beverage distributing are among the industries that operate in Waite Park today.
Responsible Growth
Current city administration says that the city government is working to "balance growth with being fiscally responsible.” Second Street South is the epicenter of this development, lined with retail, restaurants, multi-level office buildings, and strip mall centers. Major development along this corridor has occurred in the last 20 years, leading to additional city improvements like road expansions and sidewalks without having to assess residents.
Other projects include the expansion of Crossroads Shopping Center and improvements to Waite Avenue, extension of 28th Avenue South to County Road 137, and the connection of Waite Avenue to 44th Avenue North in neighboring St. Cloud.
Along with improving transportation and attracting industry, Waite Park has set increasing single-family housing as a major goal of the city. New developments like Sunwood Park, Aspen Springs, Willow Creek, and Willow Pond are closing the gap between the number of apartments and homes. Other new construction includes condominiums, patio and other single-family houses.
Community
Waite Park residents show their pride by being a very active community. Organizations include the Waite Park Jaycees, Waite Park Lions, Moose Lodge, and Spass Tag Committee. Spass Tag, the annual city festival, is a week of family orientated events that echo the title's meaning, "Fun Days." In May 2002 the city finished construction on the Community Park Pavillion, a picnic shelter and meeting facility that can seat 80 people in the air conditioned/heated interior and up to 200 under the outdoor awning. With a full kitchen and serving access to both the interior and exterior, the building is a popular location for family reunions, graduation parties and even weddings. Booked two years at a time, the citizens of Waite Park and neighboring cities take full advantage of the facility.
Children of Waite Park are part of St. Cloud School District 742 and have many options in pursuing their education. Waite Park offers two elementary schools: Discovery School and St. Joseph's Catholic school. High School is completed in the neighboring city of St. Cloud. Many options for post-secondary education are also available in the area: Minnesota School of Business in Waite Park, Rasmussen College, St. Cloud Technical College and St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, and the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and St. John's University in nearby Collegeville.
Even the restaurants in Waite Park show a diversity of new, old, locally owned, and franchised options. With choices such as Olive Garden, Space Aliens, and Outback Steakhouse, residents of the area still find time to visit their local favorites, such as Anton's Supper Club, Bear Creek Tavern and Grill, and Sammy's Pizza.
Quarry Park and Nature Preserve
One of the most popular pastimes in the area has been the availability of parks to the public. A favorite in Waite Park is Quarry Park. According to the Department of Natural Resources the park's unique features, including rare birds and orchids, make its granite bedrock outcrop the most significant park of this type in Central Minnesota.
The 643-acre regional, county owned park is located along County Road 137 and Seventh Street South. The park features oak woodland, oak forest, wet meadow, wet prairie, bluff lands, rock outcroppings, and granite quarries. A scientific nature program acquired a conservation easement from Stearns County to permanently protect the site. Red Shouldered Hawk, which are listed as a special concern in Minnesota, nest within Quarry Park. Plant life includes everything from Oaks and aspens to yellow lady slippers, Indian paintbrush, prickly pear cactus, and the tubercled rein orchid.
Though private ownership of the land by local quarry companies continued until 1992, quarrying operations in the present park area ceased in the mid-1950s. Companies operating quarries on the site during this period were Holes Bros., Delano Granite, Melrose Granite Co., Empire Quarry Co., and C. L. Atwood. Over the years, the land gradually reverted back to a more natural state.
In 1992, Stearns County purchased the site from Cold Spring Granite Company and added the land to its county park system. The park opened on January 1, 1998. Man-made features include sizable hills composed of quarried rock remnants (grout piles) and 30 granite quarries, most of which are now filled with water and form picturesque rock-fringed ponds. The State of Minnesota has been a major partner in the establishment and improvement of the park. The park is open between 8 a.m. and one-half hour before sunset. A county parking permit is required to park within Quarry Park.
Waite Park is an older city with a younger heart. Rather than resurrecting the old downtown area, the city is following a new approach to urban planning: clustering. The goal is to serve goods and services to residents where they live. Benefits of this type of development include a reduced reliance on automobiles and less traffic, both of which serve to improve the quality of life of Waite Park's residents. These residents help to make up Waite Park's friendly neighborhoods, caring communities, and small town feel, even as manufacturing and industry continue to prosper within the city.
By Christine Hierlmaier, owner of Expressive Ink, a writing services firm in Foreston.
Reprinted with permission from January 2004 Business Central Magazine