HILLTOP

A short history of Hilltop

The land where Hilltop sits was originally an unincorporated part of the former Fridley Township, a civil township next to the city of Fridley. The land had a dairy farm and was later the Oak Grove Riding Academy and Stables. The first trailer park, Trailer City, opened on the land in the 1940s; another park, Sunnyside, soon opened next door. Residents of two trailer parks became concerned that the township was planning to remove the mobile homes. In 1956, led by Trailer City Park owner Les Johnson, they approached Columbia Heights and requested to be annexed by the city. Columbia Heights turned down their request, so Johnson circulated a petition to have the residents vote on incorporation. The petition for incorporation passed, 137 to 34, and Hilltop was created. The city was named after a nearby drive-in cinema.

Columbia Heights soon annexed all the land surrounding Hilltop and began to make antagonistic moves toward the young town, at one point threatening to halt Hilltop's water and sewer service for punitive reasons. Another source of conflict was Hilltop's plan to issue liquor licenses, which would compete with Columbia Heights's municipal liquor store that accounted for a third of the city's operating budget. Instead of initially contracting with Columbia Heights, Hilltop contracted its fire protection from Fridley and established its own police department by hiring a retired highway patrolman as police chief and three part-time officers. By 1959, tensions rose to the point where the Metropolitan Municipalities Commission, a predecessor of the Twin Cities-wide Metropolitan Council, asked then State Attorney General Walter Mondale to contest the Hilltop charter to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Hilltop's first mayor was William Wychor, who instituted ordinances prohibiting activities such as "fortune tellers and other such like imposters"; "a person known to be a pickpocket, thief, burglar, yeggman, or confidence man and having no visible or lawful means of support"; and anyone "procuring or attempting to solicit money or any other thing of value by falsely pretending and representing himself to be blind, deaf, dumb, without arms or legs, or to be otherwise physically deficient".

By 1961, Hilltop was growing in population and tax revenue after attracting construction of a strip mall including a supermarket, drugstore, and liquor store, in addition to a bowling alley (with liquor license) and motel. Columbia Heights media began insinuating that Hilltop's liquor licenses were illegal, but gave no evidence. In the mid-1960s, Hilltop constructed a water tower that allowed it to tap the Minneapolis water supply and end its conflict with Columbia Heights. In 1967, the town's population had reached 1,039. Tension between the rival cities began to abate in 1968, when Hilltop mayor Vivian Caesar and Columbia Heights mayor Bruce Nawrocki met alongside their respective city councils. Hilltop's police department closed in 1972, when one of its officers drove the town's only squad car into a tree. Unable to afford a replacement, the department disbanded and the town instead paid the Columbia Heights Police Department for service; rescue services were also contracted to Columbia Heights on a per-incident fee.

Hilltop led the Twin Cities area in population loss during the 1970s, going from a high of 1,015 to 817 in 1980. Due to the town's small size and fascination with the trailer park stereotype, what were sometimes smaller incidents made major headlines in local media. In 1970, then-mayor George Reiter attempted to replace the female village clerk because he believed men were temperamentally better suited for the position, a view shared by many of his supporters. Murders were especially troubling for the residents. In 1976, Edwin Clay Hull and Ronald D. Gilbert perpetrated a triple homicide in Hilltop. Both received life sentences. In 1980, three prison escapees were captured hiding out in the trailer of one of their mothers. In 1987, there was a murder-suicide involving a brother and sister.

In 1991, city manager Karen Danz, who had held the position for 20 years, was arrested and convicted of embezzling over $200,000 from the city treasury. Her son’s band, Fortress, which had made a "best up-and-coming Minnesota bands" list in Rolling Stone magazine, never played another gig after the arrest. Hilltop's annual budget was $250,000 at the time, and the crisis nearly drove the city to bankruptcy and jeopardized its police protection agreement with Columbia Heights. The city was ultimately saved by insurance and a fidelity bond. In 1995, Hilltop received more unwanted attention when the Star Tribune ran the headline "Tiny Hilltop is Crime Capital" due to its 131 serious crimes in 1994, which worked out to one for every six residents.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Hilltop, Minnesota, revision 1373644798 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.