The Wedge Within the Bde Maka Ska-Isles Community

The neighborhood takes its nickname from its shape: a rough triangle bounded by Hennepin Avenue on the west, Lyndale Avenue on the east, and Lake Street on the south, where Hennepin and Lyndale converge to a point at the north. Those three corridors form the edges; the interior blocks stay residential. The Wedge developed in the 1880s along a horse-drawn streetcar line built by Thomas Lowry, the same developer whose name marks Lowry Hill across Hennepin Avenue.

The neighborhood's organizing body, the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association, traces its start to Aug. 4, 1970, when 15 residents met to talk over the neighborhood's direction. They formed a volunteer board and incorporated the association, known as LHENA, on Feb. 18, 1971. It remains one of about 70 neighborhood organizations recognized by the city and is run by a volunteer board of 11. Among its programs is the Wedge Neighborhood Food Share, a volunteer-run effort that distributes free groceries to more than 100 households a month.

The Wedge sits inside the city's Calhoun-Isles community, which also takes in Lowry Hill and the Chain of Lakes a short walk west. Residents of the dense triangle use Bde Maka Ska and Lake of the Isles as their park system, and decisions at the lakes over shoreline and water quality regularly pull the neighborhood into questions beyond its own three streets.

Hennepin Avenue, long the line between the Wedge and Lowry Hill, now carries a rebuilt street with dedicated transit and bike lanes connecting the neighborhood north to downtown and south toward Uptown and the lakes.

At City Hall, the Wedge falls in Ward 10, represented by Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who won re-election on Nov. 4, 2025, and serves as the council's majority leader.