Waite Park was among the last areas of northeast Minneapolis to be developed into urban neighborhoods in the last part of the nineteenth century.

The Minneapolis St Paul and Sault Ste Marie Railway, which still runs through the neighborhood, was also completed in 1887.

Despite railroad access and proximity to a commercial center, Waite Park grew slowly in these years.

This would help to complete the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a belt of parks and parkways encircling the city, first envisioned in the 1880s.

This idea received a boost when the Armour company donated a mile-and-a-half-long strip of land in St. Anthony township, and offered to pay the costs of constructing a parkway along that route.

The stretch between the end of Ridgeway Road and the Mississippi river trails that start at the University of Minnesota East Bank remain the only gap in the Grand Rounds.

To build St Anthony Parkway the city had to purchase the land between Stinson and Columbia Park, which was mostly empty lots.

In September 1924 early settlers of the area celebrated the grand opening of the Boulevard with a parade, and speeches.

Also in 1924 the Johnson Streetcar line was extended from 29th to 33rd, which improved access and spurred house construction in Waite Park.

Contrast this with the Audubon Park Neighborhood, just south of St. Anthony Boulevard, where three-quarters of existing houses were built before 1939.

Saint Anthony Parkway runs along the southern border of the Waite Park neighborhood and is part of the Minneapolis Grand Rounds Scenic Byway.