Elsewhere on this site I cover a history of Minnesota’s Trunk Highway System. At it’s inception in 1920 the system contained what still is the core of the system. But the new governor, Floyd. B. Olson, championed a massive increase in size and scope of the state government, including a proposal to vastly increase the mileage of the system. Minnesota Highway Department commissioner and father of our trunk highway system Charles Babcock refused to agree, citing questions of their statewide importance and availability of resources to maintain them. As a result he was unceremoniously fired by Olson and replaced with N. Elsberg and what I call the “1933 Great Expansion and Renumbering” proceeded.
Along with this came a special highway with a special number, Highway 100. Conceived as a bypass of the Twin Cities, it happened at the time where two separate movements were occurring. First was a move towards building expressways for speed, The second was a move to beautify our highways and parks as a sink for New Deal labor, primarily the Works Project Administration (WPA). Driving just for the fun of it has of course existed since the dawn of the automobile with taking the Model T out into the country for a picnic, and the beginnings of the now nationally recognized Grand Rounds Scenic Byway in Minneapolis. With a combination of these movements, Highway 100 became something unique that has not been seen before or since. To the extent a specific time is required in these articles, I’ve generally used the 1950s. Pleasure motoring had returned after taking a hiatus during the war and Highway 100 had not yet had any original elements destroyed or been eclipsed by the interstates.
The Beginning of the Highway
At it’s inception, Highway 100 was laid out on existing surface streets and country roads, and parts of it were eve gravel. But soon the western leg would become Minnesota’s first expressway. The man behind it was Carl Graeser (pronounced Grazer), a German immigrant who was inspired by the Autobahns of his homeland. He became a project engineer in 1922, and successful lobbied Governor Floyd Olson for WPA labor. And Olson was the reason Highway 100 was created in the first place, having fired the early advocate for and first director of the Department of Highways Charles Babcock, for refusing to accept the 1933 Great Expansion, of which Highway 100 was part. Although most of the southern and western legs of the highway eventually became an expressway, the earliest and most intensive development was along a section that became known as Lilac Way.
Since the object was to employ men rather than use money efficiently, in many cases modern construction equipment was dispensed with in favor of manual labor. Primary construction proceeded south to north, with the primary development between 50th an what is now Bottineau Blvd. 50th was the main route out of town to the southwest, and Bottineau Blvd was the main route out of town to the northwest.
Graeser was apparently quite a character, and there are rumors that lack of development south of 50th St was due to a petty spat between him and the city of Edina. More likely lack of development was just due to traffic volumes being a lot lower. The main road from the southwest to Minneapolis, US 169 and 212, joined Highway 100 from 50th to Excelsior Blvd. From there to what is now Bottineau Blvd, although not a freeway, there were four lanes of traffic, and multiple overpasses and interchanges.
Construction Continues
Construction paused with the war and the end of the New Deal project. After the war upgrades continued on MN 100 in a piecemeal fashion for the next 50 years. An interchange here, an widening there. Riding along it with my father in the 1980s, he had lived in the Twin Cities for close to 20 years at the time, and remarked that the road was “always under construction”. A major improvement came in 1968 when the Excelsior Blvd interchange opened, replacing a notorious bottleneck, but the last stoplight south of I-394, at 36th, wasn’t removed until the late 1980s. Part of the delay in this area was uncertainty about the proposed Southwest Diagonal, a freeway that would have led from downtown directly to the new town of Jonathan.
Two new interchanges came in Brooklyn Center in the 1970s. In Edina, Highway 100 was essentially a surface street in 1970, but by 1980 was a divided freeway with two interchanges and an overpass. Then two major projects came about. In the early 2000s came a reconstruction from I-394 to Brooklyn Blvd, removing the last of the stoplights. Then in the mid 2010s the section from Excelsior Blvd to Cedar Lake Road was reconstructed. These removed the last historic, original elements. and original parks and landscaping. Over time it became obvious that a modern, safe, high volume roadway fitting the needs of people today was incompatible with a roadway for leisure driving or preserving history.
The Rest of the Beltway
In it’s original form the beltway was actually “U” shaped it ended at what is now Bottineau Blvd, before the interstate era the main route out of town to St. Coud and points northwest. But it appears plans for completing it were in place at least by the late 1930s. The expressway started to curve to the east at Bottineau Blvd, and it was completed to serve several war-related factories in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the expressway section was extended north to Brooklyn Blvd and south to the turn at the junction of Highway 5. In the southeast a new expressway section was built from the Mendota Bridge across a new river crossing, the Wakota Bridge.
By this time the nation had the political will to build the interstates, and planning shifted instead towards them. See: The History of Minnesota’s Interstates. The Wakota Bridge was actually opened as part of I-494. And soon I-494, and I-694, originally called the “Super Beltway”, began to eclipse Highway 100 both physically and in prominence. Then in 1965 with the interstate beltway nearing completion, the 100 number was removed when segments that directly overlapped the interstates and the existing MN 96. What was left is MN 110 on what remained of the south segment, and MN 120 on the east segment. Even these artifacts are now disappearing as MN 110 has been renumbered as part of MN 62, and MN 120 is being turned back to Washington County.
The Cloverleafs
One notable element of the early highway was the cloverleaf interchanges, with three built and one more planned but not built (at what is now Bottinoau Blvd). Cloverleafs were patented in 1916 and the first one opened on the Lincoln Highway in Amboy, NJ in 1929, and Highway 100 was their introduction in Minnesota. These were so novel that the newspaper printed instructions on how to use them, but there were still issues with confused people heading the wrong way down ramps. City people would taken their visiting country relatives to go see them.
There were originally three cloverleafs- at MN 7, US 12 and MN 55. None are left, the one at US 12 was scraped to the ground and completely rebuilt when I-394 was built over it in the late 1980s. Highway 100 now goes over the crossroad instead of under like it used to. The ones at MN 7 and MN 55 were rebuilt into different interchange types. It seems the extension into a complete loop was planned even in the 1930s, there were plans for a fourth cloverleaf at what is now Bottineau Blvd that was never implemented. Another early cloverleaf in Minnesota, at what was then MN 55 and Robert Street, was removed in the 1980s leaving all the cloverleafs in Minnesota as post-war, interstate era construction.
The Parks of Lilac Way
ut the original Highway 100 wasn’t just concrete and bridges, it was landscaping and parks. Working with Graeser, the overall landscape design and the roadside parks were done by of Arthur Nichols, who also worked on the Capital Mall, The Congdon Estate, and the University of Minnesota. The name “Lilac Way” and idea for the lilac came from the Minneapolis Journal (since absorbed by the StarTribune). They were inspired by the Washington, DC cherry trees, but selected lilacs instead as being longer lasting. The Golden Valley Garden Club raised money by selling lilac bushes, and over 8,000 lilacs were planted along the road.
For a long time there was an abrupt change in landscaping when you crossed what is now Bottineau Blvd, from the WPA era landscaping with lilac bushes to the more traditional highway landscaping that tended to feature large trees. This is no longer the case as many original lilacs have been moved north of the original demarcation line, and most of the WPA landscaping has been obliterated by construction. Today Lilac Way, to the extent it exists at all, seems to be the entire length of Highway 100.
You see different numbers cited for the total of roadside parks; there were 6, 7, 9, or 10 units depending on if you count the later additions or only the original WPA parks, and if you count count Graeser Park South as a distinct unit or part of the larger Graeser Park. Also the names vary and depending on the time period, agency, and size of the unit, they’ve been variously referred to as “Waysides”, “Parks”, “Roadside Parks”, “Roadside Parking Areas”, and “Picnic Areas”. Originally there were two units that were some variation of the name “St Louis Park”, and the name “Lilac Park” was recently moved to a different unit. Hereafter I’ll count all the parks that existed at the height, lets say 1955, use the names at the time, and refer to the smaller of the original units as “Roadside Parking Areas” and the rest as “Parks”.
Rather than typical waysides of today, the original parks all had hand-crafted stone features- picnic tables, council rings, flagpoles, concourses, etc. The more elaborate of these had ponds, fountains, and rock gardens. The rest of the article will cover the parks from north to south. Here’s a map from say 1955. Vintage photographs are by the Minnesota Highway Department unless otherwise noted.
Lions Park
Located in the northeast corner of what is now Bottineau Blvd, this wasn’t part of the original Lilac Way landscaping. It was very large (10.75 acres) but never really developed since the beginning plans were to put in an interchange with Bottineau Blvd. When it was finally constructed in the 2000s reconstruction project all that was left were a boat launch and parking lot (which also serves a bicycle trail that threads it’s way along MN 100 and the lake.
Graeser Park
Graeser Park, originally the Robbinsdale Roadside Parking Area and sometimes corrupted to “Glacier Park” by locals, is a large (4.9 acre) original WPA park completed in 1939. The unusual shape was to leave room for a never-built cloverleaf at what is now Bottineau Blvd. Besides the usual picnic tables, council ring, and retaining walls there was an extensive rock garden with two ponds, one with a fountain and one with a waterfall. Most of the picnic tables are gone, but the rock garden and retaining wall are still here in decayed form.
Spring is the best time to visit these parks, before the grass and weeds grow up and obstruct the stonework
Graeser Park South
Graeser Park South, a medium sized original 2.2 acre WPA park, was completed a bit later in 1941 or 1942 and sometimes considered an annex to Graeser Park rather a distinct unit. Originally a small footpath along Highway 100 under the overpasses connected them. It had picnic tables, an oven, a sign, and a council ring but none of the elaborate rock gardens. It was completely obliterated in the 2000s reconstruction and is now the site of a stormwater pond so any attempt at photographing a modern view would be pointless
Bassett’s Creek Park
This was a larger at 2.03 acres, but relatively undeveloped park on east side where MN 100 crossed over Bassett Creek and was built later than the original 7 WPA era parks and contained little more than a parking area and trails. The original parking area has long been disconnected from Highway 100 and a and replaced with a frontage road and stormwater pond. But the rest of the area is still there as Briarwood Nature Area. There’s no official parking area but there’s on-street parking on neighboring streets.
Blazer Park
Also known as Golden Valley Roadside Parking Area, this was a medium sized, 2.04 acre original WPA park just south of MN 55 and west of the highway. It had stone picnic tables, trash bin holder, monument sign, council ring, flagpole, and retaining walls.
In the timeline of aerial photos below you can see it as initially laid out. In the 1960s the full intersection at Woodstock Ave was removed and a frontage road routed underneath the railroad bridge, obliterating the southern part of the park. A new entrance was built from the frontage road to the south. For the time being northbound Woodstock Ave. maintained right-in right out access, but this was soon removed and the park became difficult to get to from Highway 100.
Almost from the beginning this particular park seemed to invite misuse. A 1946 Minnespolis Star article remarked that some features would be removed and their would be extra patrols as a result of complaints that it was “fostering delinquency”. And supposedly Blazer park was a popular spot for… blazing. Although it was not needed for highway construction, the city of Golden Valley had enough and wanted it razed. Compounding the problem it was by now neglected and overgrown and had few legitimate users. There was already a local park for the neighborhood nearby and with the 2010s construction what was left of the stone features was dismantled and put in storage as a possible source of stone to restore elements of other parks.
Glenwood Ave Roadside Parking Area
This was an original WPA park with just a gravel parking lot, a couple of picnic tables, and two simple fireplaces. It was the first to be razed, around 1960 to build the Glenwood Ave interchange. Like some of the other minor units that have been obliterated there’s nothing left that would be recognizable in a photograph today, just the inside of a highway interchange.
St. Louis Park Roadside Parking Area (I)
At 0.2 acres with no historic elements, this small park never amounted to much. It likely existed until the late 1980s when I-394 was constructed and a new ramp and frontage road were built. The houses in the background were razed too. This photo, along with several others is from a 1964 inventory of waysides for the predecessor to the MnDOT Metro District, Minnesota Highway Department District 5. It’s actually located incorrectly on the Minnesota Highway Department index map. But I was able to find a likely location based on the correct location description and old aerial photographs, the northeast corner of the E Frontage Road and Douglas Ave.
Lilac Park (Original)
The original WPA Lilac Park was a large (4.96 acres) area in the northeast corner of Highway 100 and Minnetonka Blvd. The ramp from Minnetonka Blvd to northbound came off the frontage road a block north of Minnetonka and the park was enclosed within it and the frontage road. There were the usual picnic tables and a beehive fireplace on the south end of it. In the center was the circular parking drive, and at the north end was an area informally called “Rock Island” or “Monkey Island” (after a similar feature at the Como Zoo) with a rock pond with a waterfall and island with a bench and tree on it.
In 1968 a new loop ramp was built, obliterating the parking area, severing the picnic area from the Rock Island Area, and basically annexing the park to the freeway right of way and ending public use. The oven and the tables stayed, but were unusable and abandoned for the next 50 years. For many years the oven was visible as a landmark traveling on Highway 100
Then even bigger changes came with the 2010s reconstruction. A new ramp directly to Minnetonka Blvd and a new storm water pond completely obliterated what was left of the south half of the park. The Rock Island section remained, and was now physically separated from the highway a noise wall. As it is now outside the highway ramp it’s able to be visited by the public, but it’s still in a state of decay and is in no way marked. It’s not even visible from the frontage road sunken down and generally behind high grass, so you have to know where it is. To avoid confusion with the “New” Lilac Park that will be discussed later, the surviving section is generally referred to as Rock Island.
Here’s a “Then and Now” photo. The distinctive looking house at upper right is still there, but it’s impossible to get the same perspective today, I was with my back to a noise wall and couldn’t back up further to compress the distance with a long zoom.
Right now there’s efforts by advocacy groups to restore it. The city of St. Louis Park seems ambivalent, realizing what they have but at the same time realizing the amount of work involved in restoration, that it’s in an out of the way locations, and that it would be a small part of what used to be.
St Louis Park Roadside Parking Area (II) / Lilac Park (New)
This was originally a typical medium sized, 2.72 acre original unit, but today is unique in that it’s been beautifully restored. Although it can be reached by driving through an industrial park it seems it mostly functions as a rest area on the Cedar Lake Trail and as an employee break area for Nordic Ware. . Along with the original elements, a stone picnic table (to replace one that disappeared over the years), and the beehive oven was moved from the original Lilac Park to here. Right now it’s just decoration; plexiglas blocks the openings, (replaced by plywood when I took this photo.) There’s also interpretive signage, and to make up for a puzzling omission from the early parks, a seasonal portable toilet.
Currently is seems the main users are Nordic Ware employees on coffee breaks, a few old people driving up to walk around, and bicyclists from the adjacent Cedar Lake Trail taking a rest stop.
Excelsior Blvd Roadside Parking Area
This small, 1.1 acre original WPA park was at the northeast corner at Excelsior Blvd. The intersection with Excelsior Blvd was one of the most congested problematic for years. But due to funding and questions about when or if the “Southwest Diagonal” (A proposed freeway from downtown to the new town of Jonathan) was going to be built, an interchange didn’t finally get built here until 1969. As you can see the park was completely obliterated by the new mainline. But note how the two houses on the formerly curved frontage road are still at a skewed.
Today all traces of the historic highway have been replaced in the names of progress. But small portions of the parks remains. If you have a spare Saturday they’re well worth a visit, especially in the spring with the smell of lilacs in the air.