Longfellow House

Annual Patron Parking Permit: Enjoy parking privileges in specially designated spaces at some of our most popular regional parks. View parking permit details.

The Longfellow House, once the home of Robert Jones at his Longfellow Gardens attraction across Hiawatha Avenue from the park, was acquired by the park board along with the land of the former zoo in 1937. Jones had donated his land to the park board in an agreement in 1924 that enabled him or his heirs to remain on the property for ten years. Legal appeals by Jones’ heirs delayed park board control of the property until 1937. In 1938 the house was leased to the library board as a branch library, which operated until 1968. In 1994, with the construction of the “tuck and cover” tunnel for the Hiawatha Avenue highway, the house was moved a few hundred feet to its present location. It was renovated and now serves as an information center for the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, as offices for the Minneapolis Parks foundation, and it houses the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. The house was built in 1906 as a replica of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Park history compiled and written by David C. Smith.