Ramsey County History – Winter 1990: “The Mystery of the Leaking Lake: Phalen Park and Its Almost-100 Years of History”

The Mystery of the Leaking Lake: Phalen Park and Its Almost-100 Years of History

Author: Tim Koran

Phalen Park opened in 1899. Its history since then has been constant re-engineering and rebuilding, most of it having to do with controlling all that water. There has been dredging and damming; beaches have been closed and new beaches created; docks have been built, destroyed and replaced. Bathhouses, walkways, diving platforms, golf courses (the city’s first) have been rebuilt, moved, renovated. And then there was the leak. This article tells the whole story of lake and park through the 1980s.

PDF of Koran article