The Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners was created by the state legislature in 1883. The new board hired Horace Cleveland to design a system of parks and parkways to connect and preserve our natural landscapes. The result was the Minneapolis “Grand Rounds” of parkways and paths centered on the Mississippi River. This vision was expanded to circle the chain of lakes, follow Minnehaha Creek to the falls. In 1958 Minnehaha Park expanded after the Minneapolis Park Board acquired 26 acres of old Fort Snelling from the federal government. The board continued to lobby Congress to donate most of Fort Snelling to the park in hopes of continuing West River Parkway all the way to the Minnesota River. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but nothing ever came of it. A couple years later, the highway department began planning for a new freeway between downtown Minneapolis and the airport. An elevated roadway was proposed between Minnehaha Park and Longfellow Gardens . The park board argued that the roadway should be diverted around the western edge of Longfellow Garden and challenged the highway plan all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Before the case was heard the court ruled in favor of a similar case in Nashville. A compromise never had to be reached because federal money for building the freeway dried up. When a new highway was eventually built in the 1990s, the decision was made to place a tunnel over Minnehaha Creek and create a “land bridge” between Minnehaha Park and Longfellow Gardens.
