Project Location

601 Morgan Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55405

Location Map

Project Manager

Tyler Pederson
Phone: 612-499-9084
Email: tpederson@minneapolisparks.org

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Key Documents

Status

Current Phase: Construction
Construction Timeframe: Late Summer/Fall 2022 through Summer 2023

Nearby Partnering Projects

Planned bike facilities coming to Bryn Mawr Meadows Park and Theodore Wirth Park

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has begun construction of new natural surface trails at two locations: Skills Park at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park Catering to beginners and more […]

Construction Project at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park Almost Complete

The contractors will be working through September to install the plantings, grow the ballfield grass, complete the install of the play area equipment, and create a new bike skills area. […]

Construction Continues at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park

Thank you all for your patience as the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, and City of Minneapolis continues its work at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park. […]

Construction has Restarted at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park

Construction workers have begun work again at Bryn Mawr Meadows Park. Work will continue as weather allows through June for most of the work. The play area equipment and bicycle […]

Construction has Begun on Improvements to Bryn Mawr Meadows Park

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB), City of Minneapolis (City), and the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission (BCWMC) have partnered on a $5 million improvement project at Bryn Mawr […]

Update on Bryn Mawr Meadows Park improvements: Construction begins next month!

At their September 28 meeting, commissioners for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) approved a construction contract for the project to make over several areas of Bryn Mawr Meadows […]

Project Update- Bryn Mawr Meadows Park Improvements and Water Quality Pond Construction

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, in coordination with the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission and the City of Minneapolis, has recently advertised to receive bids from contractors for park […]

Bryn Mawr Meadows Park improvements: Public hearing on November 3 at 6:30pm

A public hearing will be held on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, at 6:30pm in the Board Room of the Mary Merrill Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Headquarters, 2117 West River […]

Project update: Preferred Concept Plan for Bryn Mawr Meadows Park Improvements

Join us in person at the park on Tuesday, October 5 or Saturday, October 9. After gathering feedback from the community earlier this summer, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board […]

Take the Latest Survey!

Please take the latest survey and leave your comments on the two park improvement concepts. There are two ways to share your thoughts: a traditional online survey and a digital […]

See All Project Activity

Project Milestones

Q1 2021 – Pre-planning and Community Engagement and Consultant Selection
Q2 2021 – Community Engagement Begins
Q3 2021 – Concept Development
Q4 2021 – Design and Engineering
Q2/3 2022 – Bidding and Permitting
Q3/4 2022 – Construction Starts
Q1 2023 – Construction Substantially Complete
Q2/3 2023 – Field Turf Grow-in Complete

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History

Name: The neighborhood and the park named Bryn Mawr take their names from John Oswald’s farm that once occupied that region of the city. Bryn Mawr means “great hill” in Welsh. As early as the 1860s, Oswald grew tobacco on his farm and also produced fruit wines there, which led eventually to Oswald establishing the first wholesale wine and liquor business in Minneapolis. Oswald was a commissioner on the first park board created by the legislature in 1883. The name was officially adopted May 11, 1911.

Acquisition and Development: John Oswald’s son-in-law and business partner, Theophil Basting, offered to sell part of Oswald’s estate to the park board in 1910. Theodore Wirth’s assessment of the property at the time was that it did not offer any “special advantage” except as part of a parkway to connect The Parade and Loring Park to Glenwood (Wirth) Park through Bassett’s Creek Valley. Even then, Wirth reported in 1910 that compared with other needs in the park system it was of “little importance.” The 45 acres originally offered to the park board was appraised at $81,203 in late 1910, a sum the park board was not inclined to pay. For the 39 acres eventually acquired in early 1911, the park board paid only $32,000.

The land left out of the purchase was the far western end that would have connected Bryn Mawr to Glenwood Park, which meant the park board bought the land without a connection to Glenwood—and therefore no Valley Drive. Perhaps the park board was convinced to acquire the land when Bastil and other residents said they would not ask for any improvements on the land. The cost of the purchase was assessed on property in the neighborhood.

The first suggestions for improvement of the land, nonetheless, were made in 1915 when Wirth recommended converting the land into an equestrian center, complete with horse-riding park and polo grounds. The plan was never pursued despite being presented again by Wirth in 1924. At that time he recommended a neighborhood and city-wide assessment to pay for the development. The park board did approve a baseball field for Bryn Mawr, at a cost of $3,000, in 1922, but never approved the equestrian center.

Bryn Mawr was targeted for a neighborhood playground in a 1928 report produced by Wirth. A year later Wirth presented a plan to improve the 39 acres of “almost useless” land. The plan included the improvement of Bassett’s Creek from Glenwood to Bryn Mawr. Sixty acres of land along Bassett’s Creek from Bryn Mawr to Glenwood (Wirth) Park was acquired in 1934 for $14,000. Included in that acquisition were about 14 acres donated by the Glenwood-Inglewood Company and Arthur Fruen, a city council member and ex-officio park commissioner 1929-1933. (See Bassett’s Creek Park).

The first building constructed at Bryn Mawr was a combined toilet building and storage shed to serve the athletic fields in 1953. In addition, about 7,000 yards of clay were removed from the playing field areas and replaced with a good grade of back fill. A small part of Bryn Mawr was lost to freeway construction in 1966, but freeways ultimately resulted in the enlargement of the park. Seven athletic fields at The Parade were lost due to freeway expansion and the park board replaced some of that loss by expanding Bryn Mawr and building more playing fields there.

Important renovations were made to Bryn Mawr’s playing fields in 1992. Bryn Mawr was connected to the Luce Line bicycle trail in 2005, which connected paths from Wirth Park with the Cedar Lake Trail and links to downtown Minneapolis.

Park history compiled and written by David C. Smith.