Elizabeth Ludwig Fuller, who grew up in the Brookside district of St. Louis Park, has provided this information about her father, Edward Roy Ludwig:
My Dad was the first secretary of the SLP Planning Commission, from 1932 to 1954. As secretary he was to look over the North and West part of SLP to measure land for both homes and industries. It was mostly farmland at the time and he was to measure so they knew how much area they had to build homes. Having no car, he walked and measured the land and wrote up his findings for the SLP Village Council. He measured with a rolled up metal measuring tape and his feet as he had no other means. He was an architect, and was quite skilled at measuring in this manner. I remember how he would walk holes into his shoes, and not having money, he would put gooey substance in the holes to fill them.
There were disagreements with my Dad and the Planning Commission. My Dad wanted the homes to be on 50 foot lots but the Council voted to have 40 foot lots so they could fit in more houses on each block and the Village would make more money. My Dad was very upset. There had to be 10 feet between the lot line and the next house, which meant there wasn’t room for a driveway, so they would have to have alleys instead. All his notes and measurements were taken to the SLP Council Meetings by the Police, and if the Council wanted my Dad there, the Police gave him a ride.
There are three big books holding all of of the meticulous reports my Dad made for St. Louis Park.