About - Street Renaming Process - West Side Community Organization

From Highway 51 to Wabasha – A Brief History of This Street’s Name

During the early development of Saint Paul in the nineteenth century, this stretch of roadway was designated "Concord Street." The name commemorated the Concord Coach, a horse-drawn vehicle in widespread use throughout the period, and denoted the principal thoroughfare running south from Saint Paul toward what is today South St. Paul. The original route followed the bluffs above the Mississippi River, tracing the path traveled daily by thousands of laborers and livestock drivers en route to the stockyards, slaughterhouses, and packing plants of South St. Paul.

In 1999, the Robert and Cesar Chavez Revitalization Program established the identity of the commercial district now known as "District del Sol," a name honoring the area's enduring Hispanic and Latino heritage and its long-standing community of residents and business owners. As part of this initiative, a portion of Concord Street was proposed for renaming in honor of Cesar Chavez. The Saint Paul City Council formally adopted the change by resolution in late 2003, and the first "Cesar Chavez Street" sign was unveiled during the city's Cinco de Mayo festivities in 2004.

West Side Street Renaming – A Community-Involved Process

In March 2026, a journalistic investigation brought forward serious allegations against César Chávez. Our community took immediate notice. As the neighborhood's district council, WSCO received a clear and consistent message from West Side residents and stakeholders: any decision regarding the future of the César Chávez St. namesake must be made by and with the people of the West Side neighborhood.

WSCO believes survivors, and we hold that accountability demands more than words; it demands action that repairs harm.

With the support of state and city representatives and community stakeholders, we established a steering committee comprising representatives from West Side anchor institutions to guide a community-centered street renaming process. From the beginning, the Cesar Chavez Street Renaming (CCSR) committee set clear guidelines for choosing the new name.

Given the harm at the center of this moment, the committee determined that no namesakes would be considered for the new street name. A second guiding value shaped the process: the new name should honor the original intent behind renaming Concord St. to Cesar Chavez St., reflecting and preserving the Mexican-American heritage and history of the West Side.

The West Side's history, however, extends well beyond any single cultural community. The West Side Flats were home to generations of immigrants and residents from Jewish, Mexican, white, African-American, Lebanese, Syrian, and many other communities. Mexican immigrants began establishing deep roots in the neighborhood in the early twentieth century, building homes, businesses, places of worship, and community institutions. The CCSR Committee held firm that the new name must honor the cultural identity this corridor has carried—and will continue to carry—for generations to come.

Neutrality was also a central consideration throughout this process. To that end, the CCSR Committee engaged New Publica as a neutral third party to facilitate community conversations and analyze all input and data received.

Community Input Sessions

Three in-person listening sessions were hosted in July, facilitated by New Publica. These public forums asked community members to share what this street means to them, what values should shape its new name, and their ideas for a new name. An online input survey was also available from July 16–Aug 4, 2026. Input was welcomed from anyone who cares about this community and this process.

Final Name Selections and Community Vote

New Publica compiled data received from the in-person sessions and online survey and presented their findings to the CCSR-committee.

After reviewing these results—and following the established naming criteria and guidelines from the City of Saint Paul—the CCSR-committee selected 5 final names recommended by the community to move forward for a community vote.

The following descriptions provide context for what each name can represent in our community.

1. Del Sol Street

Meaning: “Of the Sun” / A connection to District del Sol

Del Sol Street honors one of the most recognizable cultural identities of the West Side: District del Sol.

After Mexican and Mexican American families established deeper roots on the West Side, the commercial corridor became a center for Latino-owned businesses, gathering places, celebrations, public art, food, and culture. Over generations, District del Sol has become closely connected to the West Side’s identity.

The sun also symbolizes warmth, life, resilience, hope, and the energy that continues from one generation to the next.

For the West Side, Del Sol represents a community that continues to shine while carrying its culture and history forward.

2. West Side Street

Meaning: Our neighborhood, our identity, our home.

West Side Street directly honors the place generations of residents have called home.

The West Side is more than a geographic location. It is an identity shaped by generations of immigrant families, working families, working-class communities, small businesses, faith communities, organizers, artists, elders, youth, and the many neighbors who have built community together.

Through displacement, redevelopment, demographic changes, and generations of organizing, the name WEST SIDE has remained a source of belonging and neighborhood pride.

Naming the street West Side Street puts the identity of the entire neighborhood directly on one of its central corridors.

3. El Rio Vista Street

Meaning: “The River View”/ Honoring our river, history and community gathering place.

El Rio Vista Street connects the West Side’s Latino heritage with one of the neighborhood's defining geographic and historical features: the Mississippi River, while also honoring the name of The Rio Vista Recreation Center, a familiar and important community gathering place on the West Side.

The Mississippi River has shaped the West Side for generations. C-Diverse communities settled on the West Side Flats near the river, including Mexican and Mexican American families who established homes, businesses, churches, and community networks there.

The river is also connected to a complicated history of flooding, displacement and redevelopment. When families were displaced from the Flats, many continued building their lives on the West Side, carrying their relationships, culture, and community with them.

The name El Rio Vista also has an existing place in the neighborhood through El Rio Vista Recreation Center. For generations of the West Side, the recreation center and surrounding park have served as a place for youth, families, recreation, community programs, celebrations and neighborhood connection. The name is therefore not only a reference to a landscape, it is already part of the language and identity of the West Side.

El Rio Vista, meaning “the river view”, brings these histories togethers: our relationship with the Mississippi River, the story of the West Side Flats, the resilience of families who continued building community after displacement, and a neighborhood gathering place that continues connecting generations of the West Side.

4. La Raza Street

Meaning: “The People”/ Shared cultural identity, struggle, and community power.

In Chicano and Latine history, La Raza has been used as an expression of shared cultural identity, peoplehood, pride, and solidarity.

This meaning has a particular connection to the West Side because the neighborhood has a long history of Mexican American and Chicano community organizing. West Side residents organized to protect their community and advocate for better housing, education, employment opportunities, civil rights, and political representation.

For the West Side, La Raza Street will recognize the generations of people who preserved their culture, organized for justice, built institutions, raised families, and created community power.

It honors not one individual, but the people and the collective strength of the community.

5. El Barrio Street

Meaning: “The Neighborhood”/ the community we built together.

In Spanish, el barrio means “the neighborhood” But culturally, the phrase can carry a deeper meaning: the relationships, families, businesses, traditions, gathering places, and shared experiences that turn a geographic area into a community .

For generations, the West Side has been a place where immigrant and working-class families have created homes, maintained cultural traditions, supported local businesses, organized together, and cared for their neighbors.

El Barrio Street celebrates the idea that the West Side belongs to the people who live, work, gather, organize, celebrate, and build community here.

It is a name rooted in place, belonging, culture and collective identity.

Each name represents a different way of honoring the West Side—not by looking back at what the street was called before, but by asking who we are as a community today, what history we want to carry forward, and what story we want this street to tell future generations.

West Side Community Organization