Address

2324 11th Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Plan Your Route

Bus, bike, drive, or walk

Contact

Phone: 612-230-6400
Email: info@minneapolisparks.org

Park Hours

6 am-midnight
Ordinance PB-2-33

Phillips Park

Recreation Center: Phillips Community Center

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Good to Know

Unlike any other recreation center in the Minneapolis park system, the Phillips Community Center (PCC) also houses tenants that each provide their own services to the community. PCC tenants include Ventura Village, Waite House, Minneapolis Swims, and Somali-American Communities.

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

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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.

Find Out More

Size: 2.79 acres

Neighborhood: Ventura Village

Service AreaSouth

Commissioner District3

Master Plan: After two years of extensive community engagement, the Phillips Park Master Plan was approved in 2016 as part of the South Service Area Master Plan. The Phillips Park Master Plan will guide outdoor park improvements at Phillips Park for the next 20-30 years. Click the link below to view the master plan.

Phillips Park Master Plan [PDF]

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

Name: The facility was once part of Phillips Junior High School. The school, and subsequently the neighborhood, was named for Wendell Phillips, an abolitionist orator. Following the Civil War, Phillips turned his attention to fighting for Native American rights and women’s suffrage.

Acquisition and Development

The park board acquired the pool and gym of Phillips Junior High School in 1987. The facility had been slated to be demolished with the rest of the school in 1982, but instead a deal was reached with the park board to take over the facility. The original school was constructed in 1926 at 12th Avenue South and East 23rd Street. The pool and gym had been built as an addition to the school in 1973.

The ownership of the facility was transferred from the school board to the park board at no cost, but $1.5 million was spent to renovate the facility making it the most expensive recreation facility in the park system. It was also the only indoor swimming pool owned by the park board. The renovation was groundbreaking in that for the first time, private, non-profit foundations contributed most of the money for a park project. The McKnight, Bush and Minneapolis foundations all contributed toward the renovation. Their contributions were augmented by city and federal grants.

The operation of the center followed a model developed at Bethune Park with the Phyllis Wheatley Center in 1968 where the building was leased to a social service agency. The primary tenant at the Phillips Pool and Gym was the Jack Cornelius Boys and Girls Club. In addition, the YMCA operated a daycare center in the building and Pillsbury United Communities conducted programs as well. (Pillsbury United Communities was also an original tenant in the recreation center built at Mathews Park in 1965. In the 1990s, Pillsbury United Communities constructed the Brian Coyle Community Center adjacent to Currie Park in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and transferred title of the property to the park board, but retained operational control of the center.)

The last remaining tenant of the Phillips Pool and Gym, the Boys and Girls Club, withdrew from the facility in 2008. The pool, which had fallen into disrepair, was also closed that year. At that time the park board took control of the building and began an extensive, three-year renovation. When the building reopened in 2012 it contained a new gym, computer lab, teen club and meeting rooms – as well as five new community tenants. It also received major upgrades to heating and air conditioning systems, a new roof, new lighting, new finishes and was brought up to code.

In 2015 the park board partnered with a number of public and private organizations to raise enough money to renovate and expand the pool. Construction began in 2017 and included a full renovation of the six-lane pool and spectator area; a building addition housing a new four-lane pool with zero-depth accessibility, geared to swim instruction; and new and remodeled locker rooms.

The Phillips Aquatics Center, a first for the Minneapolis park system, opened in 2018 as part of the Phillips Community Center, which also received updates as part of the project: a new meeting room, part of the building addition, and remodeled teen and fitness centers. Some funding for the project was allocated from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan.

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