When Minneapolis stole Richfield and Lake Nokomis

David C. Smith, in his Minneapolis Park History, says, “The Cedar Avenue Bridge at the bottom of the aerial photo was the subject of great debate at the park board, Minneapolis City Council, the Hennepin County Board and Village Council of Richfield in the 1910s.

Park superintendent Theodore Wirth’s plan for the improvement of Lake Nokomis in the 1912 annual report included rerouting Cedar Avenue around the southwest corner of the lake to eliminate a “very unsightly” wooden bridge over the edge of the lake at the time. Even though the park board owned all the shores of the lake and the lake bed, the south end of the lake was then in Richfield, which is why the county and Richfield were involved in decisions on the bridge.

Despite the park board position that building a bridge would be more expensive and less attractive, it was built — and paid for with Minneapolis bond funds — partly due to opposition by Richfield landowners to plans to reroute Cedar.” Smith concludes, “By 1926 that line of opposition would have been partially removed when Minneapolis annexed about a mile-wide strip of Richfield that placed all of Lake Nokomis inside Minneapolis city limits.” But, of course the homeowners’ objections wouldn’t have changed whether they were in Richfield or Minneapolis. In fact, if they had been in Minneapolis in 1910 they probably would have screamed even louder in protest. But, to avoid further trouble with a neighboring municipality, Minneapolis had the State Legislature move the city boundaries from 52nd Street to 62nd Street in 1926, and they took complete possession of Lake Nokomis.