Longfellow, Minneapolis Longfellow, Minneapolis Longfellow is a defined community in Minneapolis, Minnesota which includes five smaller neighborhoods inside of it: Cooper, Hiawatha, Howe, Seward, and Longfellow. Grouped with South Minneapolis between the city's eastern border with the Mississippi River and the Metro Blue Line , Longfellow takes its name from Longfellow neighborhood which in turn is named after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The renowned American poet incorporated elements into his poem "The Song of Hiawatha" from Henry Schoolcraft's accounts of native Dakota lore in Minnesota which included Minnehaha Falls in Longfellow's southern tip. The early reference of Highway 55 as Hiawatha Avenue, along
The Song of Hiawatha poem closes with the approach of a birch canoe to Hiawatha's village, containing "the Priest of Prayer, the Pale-face." Hiawatha welcomes him joyously; and the "Black-Robe chief" brings word of Jesus Christ. Hiawatha and the chiefs accept the Christian message. Hiawatha bids farewell to Nokomis, the warriors, and the young men, giving them this charge: "But my guests I leave behind me/ Listen to their words of wisdom,/ Listen to the truth they tell you." Having endorsed the Christian missionaries, he launches his canoe for the last time westward toward the sunset and departs forever. The story of Hiawatha was