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Around the metro Sun Current Newspapers welcomes news releases and story ideas from the community. Send to [email protected]; mail to: Sun Current,10917 Valley View Rd., Eden Prairie MN 55344. current.mnsun.com Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 • Page 20 Recalling forgotten Highway 100 roadside parks By ALAINA ROOKER [email protected] An artifact from what the Minnesota Depart- ment of Transportation called “one of the largest federal relief projects in the state” remains blan- keted in snow and a hefty covering of dirt and over- growth at the intersection of Highway 100 and West Broadway in Robbins- dale. The restoration team, called the Graeser Park Angels, is asking for memories of the nearly- forgotten roadside parks to keep the spirit and mo- mentum of the cleanup project going. Graeser Park, née Rob- binsdale Rock Garden Roadside Parking Area, is the largest and most intact park of the seven “Lilac Way” parks con- structed as destination rest areas when Highway 100 was built. The brain- child of famed Minnesota roads engineer and Rob- binsdale resident Carl F. Graeser and landscape designer Arthur R. Nich- ols, the parks were created by the hands of workers in the Depression-era Works Progress Admin- istration. Today, little of the parks’ former glory is visible. Only two parks remain in their original location. The extinction is largely due to the chang- ing needs of the roads that the parks were built to complement. Graeser Park is the last in the country to house a beehive-shaped grill in its original location, accord- ing to the National Parks Service. There is a beehive in Lilac Park in St. Louis Park, but Lilac Park is actually a new park mod- eled after the old park. A 2009 restoration project moved the original bee- hive to the new location a few blocks south, as well as fi xed its disintegrating masonry. Making a new park cost the city of St. Louis Park $250,000. Restoring Graeser will likely cost more: the park is much larger and has more stonework to restore. “We’re all trying to raise awareness of Grae- ser Park in hopes that it does get restored,” Lilac Park restoration leader Karen Laukkonen told an audience gathered Feb. 19 in the Faith-Lilac Way church basement. “The good news is we’ve al- ready done it before.” A planned artery Minnesotans in the 1930s had been highly skeptical of the need for the 66-mile Belt Line highway system Stay Connected anytime, any place l with ith online li access encircling the Twin Cities. “When people were building the road, they thought it was farmland and no one would be going out there,” Lauk- konen said. Money had been se- cured by Graeser, who was deeply committed to the project as the state’s highway developer. The road system, which re- called the autobahns of Graeser’s roots, was cre- ated to push pass-through motorists away from al- ready bustling Twin Cit- ies roads out into more rural, open spaces. The parks along the way were “designed to both serve the traveling public and to soften the view of the new highway from sur- rounding suburban ar- eas,” said MnDOT’s fi le on the park. The Lilac Way parks got their name from the thousands of bushes of lilacs planted along the route. Flowered landscap- ing was typically avoided near roads, but this proj- ect was cleared to model itself after the annual cherry blossom bloom in Washington D.C. The idea to make the highway a must-see seasonal spec- tacle was initially suggest- ed by the Minneapolis Journal. Laukkonen said See Parks , PAGE 22 Call today to connect with a SENIOR LIVING ADVISOR INDEPENDENT LIVING • ASSISTED LIVING • MEMORY CARE A Place for Mom has helped over a million families find senior living solutions that meet their unique needs. There’s no cost to you! [phone] ! We’re paid by our partner communities • COMMUNITY NEWS • SPORTS • PUBLIC SAFETY • GOVERNMENT WWW.HOMETOWNSOURCE.COM