Robbinsdale Historical Society (RHS) and Golden Valley Historical Society (GVHS) recently cosponsored walking tour of the restored Graeser Park, 4200 Lakeland Ave., Robbinsdale. The collaboration brought out about 35 people, many of whom were unaware of Graeser Park and its significance.
The tour was led by MnDOT Historic Roadside Properties and Waysides Program Manager Andrea Weber, who oversaw the park’s restoration.
“Graeser Roadside Park is a true hidden gem of the Twin Cities,” Weber noted. “It was believed to be lost after the Highway 100 reconstruction when it suffered heavy impacts due to construction and staging, but there it sat, covered in a layer of soil with parts stored offsite for another day.”
The walk-and-talk presentation showcased the work done during MnDOT’s three-year historic preservation project. Weber pointed out specific features that have been restored, as well as some of the challenges, such as stabilizing existing features, making accessibility improvements, and matching the original rock garden plantings.
A BRIEF HISTORY: CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAY 100 AND ITS ROADSIDE PARKS
Highway 100 was constructed between 1934 and 1941, during the Great Depression. Starting in Shakopee and ending in Robbinsdale, it was the first highway in Minnesota to have a cloverleaf interchange. Its innovative design by Carl F. Graeser, Highway Engineer. He planned the new highway for safety and to showcase the area’s beauty.
The 12-mile section from Highway 5 in Edina to Highway 52 in Robbinsdale, was known as “Lilac Way.” The Highway Department planted 7,000 bushes of twelve varieties of lilacs along the highway.
Seven roadside parks, including Robbinsdale’s Graeser Park, were built by laborers and skilled masons paid through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s federal relief program, the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The parks were designed by noted Landscape Architect Arthur Nichols in a rustic style, with distinctive fireplaces, rough-cut stone tables, and unique rock gardens.
NEARLY LOST TO HIGHWAY 100 RECONSTRUCTION
With the widening of Highway 100 starting in the late 1990s, most of the wayside parks were eliminated. Graeser Park– the largest, most elaborate, and last to be built–was spared, but tables had been removed, the rock garden was buried under weeds, and the iconic beehive-shaped fireplace was crumbling, damaged by years of excessive fires.
THE COMMUNITY STEPS UP
“The community had not forgotten the park and had already begun to unearth it,” said Weber. “When I first saw it in 2021, I was amazed with its potential. Since then, we have been working to restore it to its intended use and bring a spotlight on this important historic roadside park.”
Graeser Park has been a focus of the Robbinsdale Historical Society (RHS) since 2018.” The Robbinsdale Lions began working in 2013 to uncover the park’s rock garden, and once MnDOT committed to preservation, RHS came alongside to help raise awareness and support. Starting in 2022, RHS helped recruit volunteers to pull weeds left by years of overgrowth, and later to water and tend the perennials and bushes that MnDOT planted.
When Graeser Park became eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic places in February 2024, Robbinsdale City Manager Tim Sandvik stated, “The City of Robbinsdale remains grateful for the work of our volunteer community members and direction from assisting agencies including MnDOT. It’s a tremendous amount of work to reach this point, but we look forward to continued efforts to preserve such a wonderful amenity in our community.”
MnDOT plans to pass ownership of the park to the City of Robbinsdale in the near future.
Andrea Weber is a licensed Landscape Architect and has been the manager of the MnDOT Historic Roadside Property and Waysides Program since 2018. She has also held positions at Dakota County in Capital Project Management, as a Landscape Architect/Project Manager at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and as the City of Shakopee Park and Landscape Designer. She enjoys working in preservation, uncovering the unique history of each site, and finding creative ways to share it with the public through design, interpretation, and community events.
Photos: Graeser Park’s “Beehive” Fireplace, 2024 Courtesy of Restore Lilac Way; MnDOT’s Andrea Weber, MnDOT Historic Roadside Properties and Waysides Program