Willard Park Improvements Revitalization of worn facilities within Willard Park including improvements to expanded park area.

Milestones (anticipated project schedule by month/season)

Project Design Consultant Selection – Summer 2025
Concept Design – Fall 2025/Winter 2025/2026
Design Development – Winter 2025/2026
Final Design and Construction Documents – Spring 2026
Construction – Fall 2026 thru Fall 2027

Background

A park plan for Willard Park was developed as part of the North Service Area Parks Plan adopted in 2019.  As identified in the park plan, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board seeks to revitalize worn facilities within Willard Park including improvements to expanded park area.

Prior to this work, MPRB will acquire on a fee title transfer Minneapolis Public Schools’ (MPS) 2.4 acres immediately adjacent to the existing 1.16 acres at Willard Park, expanding the park by over 200% to 3.56 acres. The deed transfer will protect the whole park into perpetuity. The proposed program will upgrade and/or replace existing facilities at the park, which are worn, past their useful life, and pose safety hazards.

The project will reconstruct most facilities in the park according to a community-driven long-range plan: play area, basketball courts, pathways, skate-spot elements, athletic field amenities, an outdoor community gathering area with seating and shade furnishings, trees and turf to pollinator habitat conversion, and a restroom/storage building to serve the park.

Funding

• NPP20 – $1,398,000
• Neighborhood Capital Levy – $100,000
• Federal Grant – $1,300,000

Park History

Willard Park is located just west of North Commons Park in the central area of the north side. The park board’s first involvement with the property was in 1968 when the board installed a playground for small children on school property. It was one of ten totlots installed that year in neighborhoods in near-north and south-central Minneapolis. In 1970 the park board successfully applied for matching grants from a “Parks in the Cities” program from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to acquire the half-block of land north of Willard School for development as a park. The land was acquired in 1973. Additional funding was obtained from a National Park Service program for urban parks. The cost of the improvements, including play equipment, a wading pool, and a toilet building, was split by a joint powers agreement between the park board and school board. The facilities were used as a recess playground for the school. Park construction began in 1975, and the final landscaping was completed in 1977.

The park was named for Willard School which was adjacent to the park. The school, built in 1910, was named for Frances Willard, an American author, educator and reformer. Willard was most famous for her fights to prohibit the sale of liquor, as the president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and to obtain for women the right to  vote.

In 2002 the entire park was renovated, the toilet building was remodeled, and a new wading pool was installed. Willard School closed in 2005.