January 13, 2011: Theodore Wirth Park (Minneapolis)
Join the group for a hike in Theodore Wirth Park and along Wirth Parkway. In 1901, William Folwell, president of the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners, proposed the idea of parks in the outlying areas of Hennepin County. Theodore Wirth championed this plan for an expanded park system during his tenure as Superintendent of Minneapolis Parks from 1906 to 1935. He became known as the "father" of the Minneapolis park system, an honorific that had previously been applied to Charles Loring. Born in Switzerland and educated in Europe, Wirth came to the United States in 1888, at the age of 25. After working in various positions in New Jersey and Connecticut, he moved west to Minnesota. He had a reputation of being a dynamic, progressive, energetic leader who loved flowers. Notwithstanding that reputation, Wirth 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, the Park Superintendent, 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.
If driving: Take I-394 to the Penn Avenue exit and then go south to the frontage road. Take the frontage road west about 1.5 miles to Wirth Parkway, then turn north on Wirth Parkway and proceed north, past Highway 55, to the SECOND parking lot on the west (left) just after you pass under a foot bridge. Meet at the combination Golf Course Club House/Ski Chalet parking lot in Theodore Wirth Park.
If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s):20.
The closest bus service point appears to be the corner of Plymouth Avenue and Wirth Parkway.
Applicable Metro Transit Map
Interested hikers are invited to reassemble for dessert or dinner after the hike at a nearby restaurant (Broadway Pizza, 2025 West River Rd., Minneapolis.)
Map to hike start point: Ski Chalet/Back Nine Golf Course Club House,
1339 Theodore Wirth Pkwy
Minneapolis, MN 55422-4253
Map of Theodore Wirth Park (hike starts by the Theodore Wirth Historic chalet)
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This webpage was last modified on December 28, 2010.
