Address

3030 E 53rd St.
Minneapolis, MN 55417

Plan Your Route

Bus, bike, drive, or walk

Contact

Phone: 612-370-4956
Emailinfo@minneapolisparks.org

Park Hours

6 am–10 pm
Ordinance PB-2-33

Wading Pool Information

Go to the wading pools page for details on daily hours, dates for the current season, daily status and temporary closures, a full list of locations and more.

Keewaydin Park

Recreation Center: Keewaydin Recreation Center

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  • Baseball Field
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Picnic Area
  • Playground/Tot Lot
  • Restroom Facility
  • Soccer Field
  • Softball Field
  • Wading Pool
  • Walking Path

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Good to Know

Summer Meal Program

Master Plans

This park will be affected by a completed park or service area master plan. View Master Plans

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: 4.05 acres

Neighborhood: Keewaydin

Service Area: South

Commissioner District: 5

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

Keewaydin Park Master Plan [PDF]

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 name comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. Keewaydin was the “Northwest Wind, the Home Wind.” Before the name was formally adopted on May 2, 1928, the park was known as Alexander Ramsey Playground, because it was adjacent to what was then Alexander Ramsey School.

Acquisition and Development

Keewaydin Field Park came into being as the result of votes by the school board and park board in 1927 to cooperate on the purchase and use of a new school and playground, which would generate a “substantial saving” to the city. The school would provide a gym and shelter while the park board would develop outdoor playground and recreation facilities. A plan for the development of the property was included in the 1927 annual report of the park board. The 1928 annual report called this the first instance of close cooperation between the two boards, although earlier efforts to develop Audubon and Stewart parks also involved collaboration between the two boards.

The 1928 report announced that acquisition of land east of the recently built school was nearly completed. The land was purchased through condemnation procedures at a total cost of just under $2,400. After the acquisition, Nokomis Avenue between the park and school was vacated.

Improvements began in late 1928 and continued into 1929 when 38,600 cubic yards of fill were used to create a level playing field. The park board noted in its 1929 report that the park had the best-equipped shelter for skating and hockey rinks due to the “well-appointed” basement room provided by the new school. By the summer of 1930, the park board provided recreation instructors for the new park after playground equipment was installed and two tennis courts—with backstops— were built.

In 1930 and 1931 the park board continued to haul in fill in a fight to keep the land at a level grade. Because the park was built on a former swamp, fill kept settling. Finally in 1932, the fields were regraded and the tennis courts and a concrete wading pool were finished.

It wasn’t until 1959 that the park had year-round recreation programming.

The park board redeveloped the park and built a recreation center there in 1971-1972. At that time the park board and school board considered making the recreation center part of the school, but ultimately decided to build a free-standing facility.

A new playground for small children was developed at the park in 2000 and a computer lab opened in the recreation center in 2007. Funding from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan supported a major overhaul of the playground, which opened in 2023 and included the park system’s first structure for bouldering/climbing, as well as adventure play equipment, a zipline and nature play elements.

Park history through 2008 compiled and written by David C. Smith, with updates from 2009 to present by MPRB.