May 21, 2015: Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden (Minneapolis)

Join the group for a hike among the butterflies and wildflowers of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. Theodore Wirth championed an expanded park system during his tenure as Superintendent of Minneapolis Parks from 1906 to 1935. He had a reputation of being a dynamic, progressive, energetic leader who loved flowers, but frequently clashed with Eloise Butler. Wirth Park includes the "Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden," developed by the school teacher and amateur botanist in 1907, after the Park Board initially turned down her request and she successfully led a citizens’ campaign for the preservation of wild flower areas. After the garden outgrew its original three acre fenced site, and plants were vandalized or stolen, Butler begged for fencing, but Theodore Wirth was busy developing golf links, ski facilities, and a bathhouse in the Park and he brushed her pleas aside. Finally, in 1923, Butler became so determined not to see her life's work so badly treated, she spent $700 dollars of her own money to have the fence constructed. Butler was dumbfounded when Wirth offered to reimburse her for the cost of the fence.

Directions: Take I-394 West and exit at Penn Avenue, then go south to the Frontage Road. Proceed west and turn north (right) on Theodore Wirth Parkway. Proceed north to Glenwood Ave. Turn right onto Glenwood, then turn left into the Wirth Beach parking lot. We will meet at the Wirth Beach pavilion and walk the path to the wildflower garden's back gate.

History of the Minneapolis Park System and Butler Garden

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This webpage was last updated on May 3, 2015.