Address
1000 James Ave. N
Minneapolis, MN 55411
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Contact
Phone: 612-230-6400
Email: info@minneapolisparks.org
Park Hours
6 am-midnight
Ordinance PB-2-33
Features & Amenities
- Community Garden
- Drinking Fountain
- Picnic Area
- Playground/Tot Lot
- Walking Path
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Park Projects
See what’s currently in the works for this park. Some projects may be under the name of the regional park or service area it lives within. View Current Projects
Your NPP20 money at work:
Maintenance is increasing at all neighborhood parks, thanks to additional annual funding from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20). This initiative also funds ongoing rehabilitation and major project to restore neighborhood parks and help address racial and economic equity.
Park Details
Rentals & Permits
Outdoor Use and Event Space: Learn how to reserve park space for corporate events, community celebrations, and more.
History
Name: The park was named for C. P. Lovell, who, along with Elwood Corser and William Barnes, donated the land for the park. The name Lovell Square was officially adopted in 1890.
Acquisition and Development
The land for Lovell Square was tendered to the park board by Corser, Barnes and Lovell in June 1887 and was designated as a park by the board in July of that year. Although the park is mentioned with other small parks in the 1888 annual report, it first shows up on its own in the park board inventory in 1889. The annual report of that year noted that Corser et al had deeded the park to the park board in April 1889. At that time the park was listed as 3.67 acres, but in the 1893 inventory the size of the park was reduced to 1.35 acres without any mention of the disposition of any land.
A request to dig a well in the park was approved in 1916 after earlier attempts to have a well placed there were denied.
Active recreation in the park was discouraged when the park board agreed with requests from neighbors who objected to “big, rough boys” playing football and baseball in the park and endangering small children. The board instructed the superintendent to post signs in 1917 prohibiting baseball and football games in the park.
A concrete tennis court was built at Lovell Square in 1938 by a federal work relief crew, one of 43 built around the city that year.
In 2020, park improvements funded by MPRB’s 20-Year Neighborhood Park Program included removal of the park’s north-side play area to create community gardens/urban agriculture space; new play areas for older and younger children with landscaping; and accessibility improvements to paths.
Park history through 2008 by David C. Smith, with updates from 2009 to present by MPRB staff.
