Address

620 W 34th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Plan Your Route

Bus, bike, drive, or walk

Contact

Phone: 612-370-4911
Emailinfo@minneapolisparks.org

Park Hours

6 am-midnight
Ordinance PB-2-33

Painter Park

Recreation Center: Painter Recreation Center

View Photo Gallery
  • Basketball Court
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Little Free Library
  • Pickleball Court
  • Playground/Tot Lot
  • Restroom Facility
  • Soccer Field
  • Softball Field
  • Tennis Court

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Good to Know

Summer Meal Program

 

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:

Major investments at Painter Park in 2018-2019 include funding from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20). This long-term initiative:

  • helps address racial and economic equity
  • dedicates $11 million in additional annual funding to maintain, repair and replace facilities across 160 neighborhood parks

More About NPP20
Project page for Painter Recreation Center

Size: 2.95 acres

Neighborhood: Lyndale

Service AreaSouthwest

Commissioner District6

Athletic Rentals: Call the recreation center directly to reserve a field, court, or rink for a single practice or game. Visit Recreation Center Rentals for details.

Recurring Athletic Rentals: To reserve a field, court, or rink for two or more dates, visit our athletic permit page.

Outdoor Use and Event Space: Learn how to reserve park space for corporate events, community celebrations, and more.

Name: The park board officially named the park Jonathan E. Painter Park on February 2, 1977. The park was referred to before that as Lyndale Park, or the old Lyndale School site. Jonathan Painter was the first industrial arts teacher in the Minneapolis school system and created the industrial arts curriculum in city schools.

Acquisition and Development

The old Lyndale School site was acquired in 1976, one of three former school sites the park board acquired about that time in south Minneapolis. The others were Fuller School and Corcoran School. As with the other two sites, the park board paid for the land with money it had received from the state department of transportation for park land taken for freeways in the 1960s and 1970s. There was some debate over whether the park board needed another park only a few blocks away from Bryant Square, but the rare opportunity to acquire a block of open land in the heart of a residential neighborhood was too good to pass up.

The neighborhood had been targeted initially for a 7-10 acre site that combined a new school and new park at Grand Avenue South and West 34thStreet, two blocks east of Painter Park, according to the park board’s biennial report for 1966-1967. But ultimately the park board and school board developed their projects independently.

The site was redeveloped as a playground immediately after its acquisition, with playing fields, playgrounds, tennis courts and a recreation center built in 1976.

Playground and field improvements were completed in 2001, with final landscaping touches added in 2002.

The basketball court was resurfaced in 2015 and in 2016 outdoor pickleball striping was added to the tennis courts.

In 2018-2019, the recreation center closed for a six-month building-wide renovation project funded by the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan. It included changes to the lobby, meeting room and reception desk; new lighting, ceilings, floors and paint; added air conditioning and new furnaces; and remodeled restrooms and other accessibility improvements.

History through 2008 written by David C. Smith, with updates from 2009 to present written by MPRB staff.