Minnehaha Rails
Filed under: Minneapolis Parks: General, Minnehaha Falls | Tags: Bureau of Mines: Twin Cities Research Center, Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Limestone Quarry, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
Comments (5) Rene Rosengren recently sent some photos of metal rails she found south of the Minnehaha Off Leash Dog Park just off the Minnehaha Trail. Any ideas what they are?
I’ve written about the limestone quarry at Minnehaha Park that was operated for just one year by the park board in 1907, but was reopened by the WPA from 1938-1942. I think these tracks are too far south to have been part of that quarry, but the narrow gauge suggests that they were part of a quarry or similar extraction enterprise.
I suspect the tracks were once a part of the Bureau of Mines Research Center on federal land that is now owned by the National Park Service as part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
Rene and I would be happy to hear any thoughts on the narrow gauge tracks.
David Carpentier Smith
Big Island, Big Book
Filed under: Minneapolis Parks: General | Tags: Big Island, Lake Minnetonka, Minnehaha Creek
Leave a Comment Just in time for the history buff on your gift list comes a big book: The History of Big Island, Lake Minnetonka. While the book is richly illustrated with historical photos and drawings, it is much more than a coffee-table book. It appears to be a labor of love by author Paul Maravelas: exhaustively researched, carefully written, and extensively footnoted.
Maravelas covers the entire recorded history of the island–and the lake–drawing from archaeological records, oral histories, journals, letters, newspapers, and official records. He takes the reader through the many purposes the island has served from maple sugar production and wild rice harvesting to farming to amusement park and campsite.
I especially appreciated chapters on what we know of the Dakota use of the island and, years later, the creation of an amusement park on the island and the role played by the streetcar line from Minneapolis. Of course, many of the names that fill accounts of Minneapolis park history pop up in the history of settlement and development at Lake Minnetonka and Big Island, too. As the source of Minnehaha Creek, Lake Minnetonka will always be off interest to many Minneapolitans, although the watershed isn’t the book’s focus.
I would expect everyone who lives at or near the lake would want this book in their library along with all of us city dwellers who appreciate local history and enjoy a good story.
The book is available from Minnetonka Press. Free shipping via USPS media mail is offered on the publisher’s website this month, which is a significant value as the book runs 470 pages and weighs 4 1/2 pounds. As I said: Big Island, Big Book.
David C. Smith
After Careful Consideration: Horace W. S. Cleveland Overlook
Filed under: Minneapolis parks, Mississippi River | Tags: H.W.S. Cleveland, Horace Cleveland, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
Comments (7) The man who first suggested putting Horace William Shaler Cleveland’s name on something in the Minneapolis park system was William Folwell, the president of the Minneapolis Park Board in 1895. Folwell noted in the annual report of that year that due to Cleveland’s advanced age, then 81, he was no longer able to assist in the development of park plans. Folwell then recommended, “In some proper way his name should be perpetuated in connection with our park system.”
Last week the Minneapolis Park Board acted on Folwell’s advice and named a river overlook near East 44th Street on West River Parkway the “Horace W. S. Cleveland Overlook.”
Cleveland was already 58 years old when he was invited to come to Minneapolis from Chicago to give a public lecture at the Pence Opera House on Bridge Square in 1872. He spoke on how to improve the city through landscaping. He was a big hit and his advice was sought in St. Paul and Minneapolis on how to improve the cities. He wrote an influential book based on his lectures, Landscape Architecture as Applied to the Wants of the West. That began his association as an influential advisor to both cities. When the Minnesota legislature created the Minneapolis Park Board in 1883, one of its first acts was to hire Cleveland to give his advice on what needed to be done.
He produced a report complete with a map, which he called Suggestions for a System of Parks and Parkways for the City of Minneapolis. His map showed a continuous parkway connecting Lake Harriet with Loring Park, then north to Farview Park, directly east past Logan Park in northeast Minneapolis, then south back to the Mississippi River Gorge near the University. His parkway continued on both sides of the river from Riverside Park out to Lake Street and then all the way back west to what is now Bde Maka Ska. It was the brilliant original imagining of what would become the Grand Rounds. It helped instill the notion that parks are not isolated parcels of land but form a part of a “system” that is integral to the quality of life and well-being in a city.
Cleveland had seen the struggles of older Eastern cities such as Boston and New York to create parks in already crowded urban areas. He had worked in the park system in Chicago and saw the same struggles to create open spaces in built environments. He had long argued in Minneapolis and St. Paul to create parks while undeveloped land could still be acquired at reasonable cost and features of natural beauty could still be preserved for public enjoyment. That we have such wonderful open spaces and preserved nature in our cities today owes much to Cleveland’s vision.
It is especially appropriate that an overlook of the river gorge be connected with Cleveland’s legacy. He had an affection and admiration for the beauty of the unique river gorge above all other of “nature’s gifts” to Minneapolis and St. Paul. He argued eloquently for the preservation of the natural riverbanks, calling the heavily wooded, still-unscarred river gorge a setting “worthy of so priceless a jewel” as the mighty river. Both St. Paul and Minneapolis heeded his advice.
The setting is still worthy of the jewel. Even though most of the color is gone from the wooded river banks, you might want to visit the Mississippi River overlook. Or at least cross over one of the river bridges and marvel at the beauty that has been preserved in part due to the vision and persistence of Horace William Shaler Cleveland, which is finally properly acknowledged.
David C. Smith
Between Wirth Par 3 Golf Course and Twin Lake: What’s the Story?
Filed under: Wirth Park | Tags: Theodore Wirth Park, Twin Lake
Comments (8) I recently received a question from a reader that I can’t answer, so I thought maybe someone else could. I am not a golfer and I have never explored the area west of the Wirth Par Three golf course. Here’s the question:
“I am wondering if you know any of the history about a seemingly out-of-place beautiful meadow/clearing just west of the 3rd hole of the Theodore Wirth Par 3 golf course. You cannot see it from the golf course but it’s easily accessible by the trails in the area.
Nestled in the meadow is a grass trail with remnants of an old asphalt trail in a tiny section, which makes me wonder if the area has an interesting “lost” history. A bit further west within those woods are remnants of an old wooden staircase built into the hillside leading down to Twin Lake. I speculate that over 50 years ago that it might have been a popular swimming area for Minneapolis residents.
Any information you may have on that meadow, as well as the history of the staircases down to the lake would be very intriguing.”
Thanks, Derek. If anyone can shed light on the landscape there and its history, please jump in. Any memories of the place?
Did you know that at it’s largest Theodore Wirth Park, previously Glenwood Park, was bigger than Central Park in New York? Park acreage was reduced when Highway 12, now I-394, cut off the southern part of the park. Part of the land south of the highway was sold to The Prudential Company for an office building in the 1950s. That was the largest ever loss of Minneapolis park land in one chunk, although the Ford Dam flooded many acres of park land along the river in the 1910s and freeway construction sliced off pieces of parkland in all parts of the city since the 1960s.
David C. Smith
Derek sent the following photos to illustrate the meadow and path. Thanks!
Al Wittman and the Minneapolis Riverfront
Filed under: Minneapolis Parks: General | Tags: Al Wittman, Minneapolis Central Riverfront, Minneapolis parks
Comments (2) His name should be remembered.
Al Wittman died last month at age 91. He was the assistant superintendent for Minneapolis parks from 1969 to 1997 — when the city was just rediscovering the fact that a river ran through it. By many accounts, Al was the principal figure in converting the former industrial riverfront into parks — which led to the revitalization of both river banks and the island in the middle of the city. Al may not have been the front man, but he was the one who got things done, made things happen. People who know will tell you that without Al we wouldn’t have the riverfront amenities we have today. I only met Al once, but I could tell from a brief encounter that those who said he always carried himself with grace and dignity and respect for others were on the money. You can read more about his career and many more accomplishments in his obituary which appeared in the StarTribune July 30. (Thanks to MaryLynn Pulscher for bringing this to my attention while I was out of town.)
Here’s your challenge: What park land or park feature should be named for Al Wittman?
David Carpentier Smith
Charles Spears Interview: In Memoriam
Filed under: Minneapolis parks | Tags: Charles Spears, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, The Fringed Gentian, Theodore Wirth Park
Comments (1) I received an email today with news of Charles Spears’ death. Spears was superintendent of Minneapolis parks 1978-1980. Spears spent his life in park management. In addition to his time in Minneapolis, he worked for Nashville and New Orleans city parks, as well as state parks in Kentucky and West Virginia. Although his tenure in Minneapolis was short, I found a brief interview he gave to The Fringed Gentian, the newsletter of the Friends of the Wild Flower Garden. I found it interesting to note what has changed — and what hasn’t — in the last forty-four years of park management.
The interview below is reprinted with permission from the Friends of the Wild Flower Garden. I highly recommend a visit to their website and their newsletter using the links above. Their support of the Eloise Butler Wildlfower Garden in Theodore Wirth Park has been continuous since the “Friends” were established in 1952.
A CONVERSATION WITH CHARLES SPEARS — NEW MINNEAPOLIS PARKS
SUPERINTENDENT 7/13/79
Printed in The Fringed Gentian™ Vol. 27 No.3; Vol. 27 No.4 and Vol. 28 No.1. Interview with Lynn Deweese.
What do you see as the major strengths of the Minneapolis Park System?
The major strength is the legacy that has been left us by previous park boards and superintendents in providing both open spaces and recreational facilities for now and the future. Minneapolis has done an excellent job; in fact, I think it is the finest park system in the United States -because of the lakes, parkways, bikeways, and natural areas such as the Eloise Butler Wild Flower area at Theodore Wirth Park, the Robert’s Bird Sanctuary area at Lake Harriet, and the Diamond Lake area where plans of establishing nature trails around the lake by 1981 are under way.
What do you see as the major weaknesses of the Park System?
Well, I don’t see the weaknesses as being in the System as much as I see financial problems in the future. System-wise, we have property and buildings to do many things – but programing and peoples’ needs are changing fast. But it will change even more dramatically in the next few years due to the gasoline and energy shortages. It is already happening. People will be staying home more and taking shorter trips. They will be home more weekends, seeking more family recreation, more programming, more classes. They will be here to be served more -both city and suburban people. Regional parks will be used more than the state and national parks.
What moves are now being made to cooperate with suburban and county parks?
We are in process now of having meetings with the Hennepin County Park Reserve system, and are trying to plan together so that our cross country walking and biking trails from the city will tie into county and suburban extensions. For instance, the Shingle Creek system will tie in with one that is being built by Brooklyn Center and the Hennepin County Reserve system. This linking of the city with the suburbs by bicycle paths will be increasingly important as bicycles become a more important mode of transportation for
some people in the future. But there must be proper planning and co-ordination of these trails so they do not too often dead end at city boundaries. The regional park system idea is also being studied through the Metropolitan Planning Council which includes Ramsey and other metro counties as well aa Hennepin.
Knowing the special bias of the FRIENDS, what do you see as the place of the Eloise Butler Garden in the park system?
I see it as a very important function, Where else can city youngsters who possibly cannot afford to go to other places find the native plants. I think it is important that they have a place such as your Garden, or the Diamond Lake area, or the refuge at Lake Harriet, or getting back into some other areas that are not mowed so completely. In fact, we are looking at the possibility that we may be mowing too much. Maybe there are places we should not mow to encourage more wild life, for habitat and also maybe to save some money.
Do you see some changes that would be desirable at ELOISE?
I would be open to ideas from people such as the FRIENDS, who are active in that area, and would be guided by what they feel because they have been around it for some time. I think I would like to see a somewhat more active program for the inner-city youth, with perhaps a trained person, or persons, to help with guided walks and the development of wild life appreciation. Staffing and transportation costs have perhaps held back this development. We are starting that sort of programing in the Diamond Lake area, using our own staff -our horticulturist, Mary Maguire Lerman, and our new environmentalist, Mike Ryan.
What role do you see the FRIENDS having?
I see it as one of continuing protection of the area. Without it where would the Garden’s voice come from. There have been periods when lobbying was the only thing the FRIENDS represented. That is one of their strengths. Also, I would like them to work up special projects that might take certain amounts of money not available from the Park’s budget and be active in raising the money. The Garden is a wonderful place, it makes you feel far away from the city.
What sorts of projects do you see the FRIENDS being involved in?
I would see them helping to better interpret what is there – the educational end of the Garden. So people do know what they are seeing and the worth of it. They should come away from there with a better feeling of why it is there in the first place. There are possibilities for good self-guided touring – well signed, etc. I would like to see some evening programs in the Garden. A naturalist might give a night life program one night a week during the season. In some cases that could be on a volunteer basis with members of the group doing that. They’ve got expertise – but what they need to do is share it. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of the FRIENDS could relate experiences and knowledge to youth groups, and others! For instance, this year we’ve changed our day camp program considerably. Instead of taking them out to Hennepin County Park Reserve District and putting them through the programs there – we can’t afford the busing, we can’t afford the cost – so this year we decided to do it in Minneapolis. This year we’re taking them to the Diamond Lake Area on nature hikes, taking them down the Minnehaha Creek on canoe trips. We think they need to develop an appreciation of what we have in the city. I would like to see some of our recreation center staff go through some training that would be involved in some of these things. They would go out to places like the Wild Flower Garden (I’m talking about our staff people here) and be given some background about what it is and what it does. That is the sort of leadership training we are going into. We are starting that at Diamond Lake with guided tours — this has not made use of volunteers there – rather our own staff, our horticulturist – Mary Maguire Lerman and our environmentalist – Mike Ryan. This year we acquired a new environmentalist – Mike Ryan -. He is working on several projects. His main project will be on lake pollution control and the lake level study. Now he’s doing the Diamond Lake thing because of the considerable silting caused by the interstate into that area. A number of people want us to just go in there and dredge it out. That may or may not be the answer there. It depends what sort of wild life you want there. And so the people agreed that he should have an opportunity to look at that and explain to them their alternatives before we do anything.
You may go in there and destroy more habitat by taking something out than you want to destroy. It depends what sort of habitat you want and what you want a place to do. Those are the sort of things he is going to be doing.
Speaking of new programs, how is the development of the Riverfront Plan coming?
It’s coming great. It will probably be a developed park, though there will be areas that will always be protected because they are hard to maintain. Everything from the bluff down will be undeveloped. From the bluff up, it will be more developed. There will be a great river road, bicycle paths, walking paths. These will make the area accessible to more people. I believe the river is considerably cleaner than it was ten years ago. There are plans for boat launching facilities. There will be some zoning to allow for water skiing and
other similar activities – crewing. So that people with different interests will have a place that they can do something. The river is the most exciting thing that is going to be happening around here in the next ten years.
Has there been a recent change in deciding where park plantings are to be placed?
We’ve cut back on the flowers at Lake Harriet, for instance, in order to spread it over the city a little more. We are trying to spread it around more. We feel that all sections of the city have the right to have some. In some p]aces we are putting plantings around a park identification sign in the corner of a park. And people are appreciating this. Now we are going into a program which we will call Foster a Park; wherein we will hope to get some garden clubs and some groups that will adept a certain area, especially some triangles –
we have about 40 triangles in the city that we maintain – and have these neighborhood groups accepting the responsibility for cutting the grass, plant flowers and take care of the watering. These areas could then become oasis in the city. This of course, also gives this group some additional community exposure. And of course these pleasant breaks of green are what makes this city so special.
Has the budget gone down, or is it just that the city has more needs that the same money doesn’t go as far?
Its both. Well, not really; the money itself is not going down as fast as inflation is killing it. Because of inflation our actual spendable money after operating expenses has declined and so we have had to examine our priorities and in some cases make cuts. We don’t like to cut services, but we do have to cut something. This will be a continuing problem. Probably the greatest challenge is that we are going to have more demand because of energy and less money to do it with. And I don’t know how we will make those two meet. People are going to have to take on part of the burden if they want the level of services they have been used to.
We offer our condolences to the Spears family and our appreciation for his service to parks in Minneapolis and the nation. We owe so much to the dedicated and talented park professionals and citizen volunteers who have contributed so enormously to our quality of life.
David C. Smith
Open Door at the Superintendent’s House
Filed under: Minneapolis Parks: General | Tags: Lyndale Farmstead, Theodore Wirth
Leave a Comment Today and tomorrow, May 13 and 14, the Minneapolis Park Superintendent’s House in Lyndale Farmstead Park will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s a rare opportunity to see the interior of the home–and office–built for acclaimed Park Superintendent Theodore Wirth in 1910. The house is currently the home of Park Superintendent Al Bangoura and family. They have kindly agreed to open their historic residence to the public this weekend.
I will be at the house to talk about parks, Theodore Wirth, and the house. I hope you will drop by and say hello. We will even have copies of City of Parks for sale. I would be glad to autograph a copy for you–and maybe one for your Mother for a special Mother’s Day gift. No formal presentations are planned, but we’d be happy to try to answer your questions about the house and park. This will be a great chance for you to meet Al Bangoura and his wife, Kendra Lewis, too. We will also be joined part of the weekend by Dana Wirth Sparks, great granddaughter of Theodore Wirth, and by Mark Ruhe, who lived in the house when his father, Robert Ruhe, was park superintendent in the 1960s and ’70s.
I’ve written about the house and some of the controversy surrounding its construction here. You can read much more about the park and house by clicking on the “History” tab on the Lyndale Farmstead Park page at Minneapolisparks.org.
I hope to see you there. I’ll be on the lower level of the house in what was once a drafting room and Theodore Wirth’s office. A word of caution: the staircase to the lower level is steep and there is no elevator.
David C. Smith
Beehive Fireplace on Highway 100
Filed under: Landscape Architects, Minneapolis parks | Tags: Arthur Nichols, Highway 100, Lilac Way
Comments (3) I just received a note from Andrea Weber, former MPRB Landscape Architect, who now works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. She referred to a post from 2011 about the landscape architect Arthur Nichols and the beehive fireplaces he incorporated into his designs for picnic areas along Highway 100. I thought you might be interested.
Andrea wrote: I am writing this in 2023-the original posts are from 2012-so history lives on. I am the Historic Roadside Property Manager for MnDOT and a former MPRB Landscape Architect. I have been working on Graeser Park on TH 100-the site of the only existing beehive in its original location- since 2020. We completed a rehab of the beehive and picnic area last year and are doing one more phase of work this spring. The beehive “Triple Fireplace Type No 6” was designed by Carl Graeser. I have scans of the signed drawings at MnDOT! If you’re still out there, Richard, I would love to chat, as I work on an lot of sites designed by your grandfather.
David Carpentier Smith
The Park Board that Operated an Airport
Filed under: Minneapolis Airport, Minneapolis parks | Tags: MInneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Pearl Park, Snelling Racetrack
Comments (7) The Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport was once the site of the Snelling Racetrack, a two-mile concrete race track that was built to hold car races similar to the Indianapolis 500. It failed — and became an airport instead. The airport was developed and operated by the Minneapolis park board for nearly two decades. You can read the story of the Snelling Racetrack here, another of my earlier posts that I have restored to this site.
The Park Board eventually built the runways, hangars, terminal and control tower that were taken over in the 1940s when the Minnesota legislature created the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). The last major renovation of the airport runways by the park board — before ceding control to MAC — took place as a Works Progress Adminstration (WPA) project. The rubble from the old runways was used as fill in Pearl Lake, now Pearl Park — without a lake.
David C. Smith
Minnehaha Park Zoo
Filed under: Minneapolis parks | Tags: Minnehaha Park, Minnehaha Zoo, Robert "Fish" Jones
Comments (2) One of my favorite Minneapolis park stories is about the zoo in Minnehaha Park over 100 years ago. I’ve restored an old post about that zoo here.
David Carpentier Smith
H.W.S. Cleveland Trivia
Filed under: Landscape Architects, Minneapolis parks | Tags: H.W.S. Cleveland, Horace Cleveland, Landscape Gardening
Leave a Comment I’ve restored a couple more Cleveland-related pages written long ago.
One pertains to the famous men Horace William Shaler Cleveland knew as his older brother’s best friends, including two men who have Minneapolis parks named for them. It is likely that the views of these soon-to-be famous men influenced Cleveland’s thinking on many issues. But it is also entirely possible that Cleveland’s experiences and observations as a young man — especially from his travels to the “West” — could have influenced them as well.
Another post provides Cleveland’s recommendations for books to read on landscape gardening. The list is taken from a letter he wrote to the secretary of the Minneapolis park board nearly 140 years ago — so some of the views expressed may seem outdated. All of the books Cleveland recommends, once scarce in the United States, are now available free on Google Books.
For a man without much formal education, Cleveland was an intellectual force.
Davd Carpentier Smith
Cleveland’s Property and Olmsted’s Fame
Filed under: Landscape Architects, Minneapolis parks | Tags: Frederick Law Olmsted, H.W.S. Cleveland, Horace Cleveland
Leave a Comment I mentioned a couple weeks ago the friendly relationship between Horace William Shaler Cleveland and Frederick Law Olmsted. While there is so much of note in that relationship, and dozens of letters exchanged between the men attest to it, one of Cleveland’s letters to Frederick Law Olmsted caught my attention because it referred to property Cleveland owned. Later while studying an old plat map of Minneapolis I stumbled across an undivided, 4.7-acre plot of land in South Minneapolis labelled as owned by Cleveland. Like finding a needle in a haystack, I suppose. Another slice of my research into Cleveland’s life which I had previously posted.
Epilogue: Even though he owned some property and worked well into his 80s, Cleveland’s money did run out. His former partner, William Merchant Richardson French, when he was the director of the Chicago Art Institute, sent a letter to Cleveland’s colleagues and friends–including Olmsted–asking for donations to help Cleveland pay his bills as an elderly man.
More to come.
David C. Smith
Minneapolis Park History 