Lorraine B. Smaller Park

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Name: The park was originally named Farwell Park, for Farwell Place, the origin of which is unknown. The park was named in the original 1889 plat and the name was never officially adopted or changed.

In 2024, the park was renamed Lorraine B. Smaller Park, after a neighborhood resident, educator and activist who served Northside youth for more than 50 years (details below).

Acquisition and Development

Park board records indicate that the land was platted as a park in the Oak Park Supplement on June 4, 1889. However the first mention of the park in park board proceedings is in a request from the David C. Bell Investment Company on February 7, 1910 asking the board to formally accept the land as a park and to make modest improvements. The board approved initial improvements, grading and seeding the lot, on March 21, 1910.

In the board’s annual report of 1910, superintendent Theodore Wirth included a plan for the improvement of Farwell Park in what he said “promises to become one of the finest residential districts of the northwest side,” a neighborhood he referred to as “Home Wood.”

The plan for improvements is unusual in that it was not prepared by Wirth, but by Morell and Nichols, the landscape architects hired by D. C. Bell Investment Company. Wirth recommended that the plan be adopted by the board. Initial grading and seeding commenced in 1911, but was not finished until the following year. The improvements were paid for by the D. C. Bell Company, but the company was later reimbursed.

Playground equipment was first installed in the park in 1968 as part of an effort to provide more facilities for children in north Minneapolis.

The playground and plaza in the park were improved in 2001; in 2023, a capital project was completed using equity-based funds from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan. It included a new and expanded playground with safety fencing and surfacing to meet current ADA standards, along with a picnic area and drinking fountain; paths and ADA pedestrian ramps; benches, bike racks and bike fix-it station; and pollinator-friendly restored turf areas and plantings.

During planning and construction of the park improvements, family of Lorraine Smaller requested MPRB initiate a process to change the park name to Lorraine B. Smaller Park. Smaller, who died in 2022, lived and worked in North Minneapolis for more than 50 years. She was an educator and activist who founded the We Care Performing Arts Program at Farwell Park. She advocated for increased investment and improved maintenance at Farwell Park and provided free summertime performing arts programs for Northside youth.

The daily curriculum included “Chat Time” along with lessons and instruction in voice, drumming martial arts, dance, and more, thanks to the partnerships that Smaller forged with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the Pohlad Foundation, neighbors who lived near the park and many others. Luminaries such as Debbie Duncan, Dennis Spears, Gwen Matthews, and Bruce Henry led classes right in the park.

Following two public hearings and other requirements necessary to consider changing a park’s name, MPRB Commissioners voted to approve the renaming in April 2024.

Park history through 2008 compiled and written by David C. Smith; updates to the present by MPRB staff.