The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is an independent

park district A park district is a form of local special-purpose district for providing public parks and recreation in or near its geographic boundaries. Some park districts also own or maintain related cultural facilities such as monuments, zoos, sports venu ...

that owns, maintains, and programs activities in public parks in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, United States. It has 500 full-time and 1,300 part-time employees and an $111 million operating and capital budget. The Minneapolis park system has been called the best-designed, best-financed, and best-maintained in America. Minneapolis was rated the #1 park system in the country for the sixth year in a row by

The Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

in 2018 and again in 2020.

History

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board was created by an act of the

Minnesota State Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decen ...

and a vote of Minneapolis residents in 1883. Charles M. Loring was elected the first president of the board. Loring convinced landowners to donate property around Bde Maka Ska, Lake Harriet and Lake of the Isles, as well as on Minnehaha Creek. Loring hired

Horace Cleveland Horace William Shaler Cleveland (December 16, 1814 – December 5, 1900) was an American landscape architect. His approach to natural landscape design can be seen in projects such as the Grand Rounds in Minneapolis; Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Conco ...

to create the original plan for Minneapolis parks in 1883, Cleveland's finest

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

, preserving geographical landmarks and linking them with

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

s and

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

s. Loring and Cleveland were instrumental in creating

Minnehaha Park Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board syst ...

, with its falls as a centerpiece.

Theodore Wirth Theodore Wirth (1863–1949) was instrumental in designing the Minneapolis system of parks. Swiss-born, he was widely regarded as the dean of the local parks movement in America. The various titles he was given included administrator of pa ...

was superintendent from 1906 to 1936 and oversaw the expansion of Minneapolis parks from . Wirth was an advocate of active recreation in all city parks and put up signs saying "Please Walk on the Grass." Wirth also promoted neighborhood parks for the whole city, his plans called for a playground within of every child and a recreation center within of all residents. In 2017, 97% of all residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. In July 2020, the park board voted to allow encampments for people experiencing homelessness at up to 20 city parks with 25 tents each. The change in policy came after several hundred people took up residence in Powderhorn Park in the aftermath of the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

by a Minneapolis police officer. However, the Powderhorn situation became untenable after numerous sexual assaults, fights, and drug use reported at the encampment generated alarm for nearby residents, leading to the eviction of many people in tents. Four people died in encampments in city parks in 2020, including a 38-year-old man who was stabbed to death on January 3, 2021, at an encampment in Minnehaha Park. On November 18, 2020, the board legalized female

topfreedom Topfreedom is a cultural and political movement seeking changes in laws to allow women to be topless in public places where men are permitted to be barechested, as a form of gender equality. Specifically, the movement seeks the repeal or overtu ...

in the parks.

Description

The park system's make up 15% of the total area of Minneapolis, one of the highest ratios in the country. The city's Chain of Lakes, consisting of seven lakes and Minnehaha Creek, is connected by bike, running, and walking paths and used for swimming, fishing, picnics, boating, and ice skating. A

for cars, a bikeway for riders, and a walkway for pedestrians runs parallel along the route of the

Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway The Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway is a linked series of park areas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, that takes a roughly circular path through the city. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board developed the system over many years. ...

. Parks are also connected through the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area regional parks and visitor centers. The country's oldest public wildflower garden, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary, is located within

Theodore Wirth Park Theodore Wirth Park is the regional park managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The park land is shared by Minneapolis and the neighboring suburb of Golden Valley. Formally named Theodore Wirth Regional Park, it includes two golf ...

. Wirth Park extends into Golden Valley and is almost 90% the size of

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

in New York City. Site of the Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Park is one of the city's oldest and most popular parks, receiving over 850,000 visitors each year.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely trans ...

named Hiawatha's wife Minnehaha for the Minneapolis waterfall in ''

The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of hi ...

'', a bestselling and often-parodied 19th century poem. The first natural swimming pool in the United States opened in Webber Park in 2015. The outdoor pool does not use any chemicals, rather it uses natural filters and plants in several container ponds to keep the water clean.

Facilities

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board facilities include of land and water, 179 properties, of biking and walking paths, 49 recreation centers, 22 lakes, 12 formal gardens, and seven golf courses. * Bohanon Park * Bohemian Flats * Cedar Lake *

Gold Medal Park Gold Medal Park is a park in the Downtown East neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in May 2007, the park was designed by landscape architect Tom Oslund and is owned by the city of Minneapolis. It takes its inspiration ...

* Kenilworth Trail * Bde Maka Ska * Lake Harriet * Lake Hiawatha * Lake of the Isles *

Lake Nokomis Lake Nokomis is one of several lakes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and part of the city's Chain of Lakes. The lake was previously named Lake Amelia in honor of Captain George Gooding's daughter, Amelia, in 1819. Its current name was adopted in 19 ...

Lyndale Park Lyndale Park is a Minneapolis city park on the northeast side of Lake Harriet. It is next to Lakewood Cemetery, southeast of Bde Maka Ska. It is part of an enormous greenspace circling through Minneapolis called the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, and ...

* Midtown Greenway *

Mill Ruins Park Mill Ruins Park is a park in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, standing on the west side of Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River and running from 3rd Ave. S. to about 9th Ave. S. The park interprets the history of flour mill ...

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is an park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is located near the Walker Art Center, which operates it in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. It reopened June 10, 2017 a ...

* Mississippi Gorge Regional Park *

North Mississippi Regional Park North Mississippi Regional Park is a joint effort of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Three Rivers Park District and lies within the larger Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The park, located near the northern border ...

* Parade Stadium *

* Tower Hill Park *

Victory Memorial Parkway Victory Memorial Parkway, or Victory Memorial Drive, is a section of the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway that lies between Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States and Robbinsdale, Minnesota, United States. The parkway runs along the northwestern and northe ...

Winchell Trail Winchell Trail is a round trip, pedestrian-only trail in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, that runs along the west side of the Mississippi River between Franklin Avenue South and East 44th Street. Popular with bird watchers and naturalist ...

Governance

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is an independently elected, semi-autonomous

responsible for governing, maintaining, and developing the Minneapolis park system. The jurisdiction of the park board is contiguous with the City of Minneapolis borders, although it owns and operates four golf courses outside the city limits. Minneapolis voters elect nine commissioners every four years: one from each of the six park districts, and three that serve at-large. The district and at-large members are elected using ranked choice voting. The Board of Commissioners appoints the superintendent and sets policy for the park board.

Police

The Superintendent of the Parks has oversight of the Minneapolis Park Police Department—the law enforcement authority of the park board. Led by a park police chief, the force consists of 30 sworn officers and 20 part-time park patrol agents. The park police is a separate entity than the

Minneapolis Police Department The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867, it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesot ...

, but the two forces had shared training, support services, and authority to police in both parks and throughout the city. The park board voted unanimously on June 3, 2020, to end its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department following the

by a city police officer. The decision prohibited Minneapolis police officers from staffing park events and prohibited park police form assisting the Minneapolis Police Department. Nearly two years later, on May 4, 2022, the park board restored its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department to allow the return of large events in parks that had been disrupted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Government of Minneapolis Park districts in the United States 1883 establishments in Minnesota Mississippi Gorge