Landscape Information
One of the first parks created by the Board of Park Commissioners, established by public referendum in 1883, it was designed by H.W.S. Cleveland, who envisioned it as the hub of an extensive park system in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The park was renamed in 1890 to honor Charles Loring, the board鈥檚 first president.
The 30-acre park grew to 36 acres, but later lost two acres to freeway encroachment and street-widening. Curving paths flow to the park鈥檚 perimeter from a figure-eight shaped pond with an iron bridge built at the pond鈥檚 鈥渘eck鈥 (in 1885; replaced in 2006). Plantings include a variety of tree species, predominately pines, oaks, and maples. A late twentieth-century garden with concentric circles of paths, an illusion to Cleveland鈥檚 original, lies east of the pond at the park鈥檚 center. Understory trees shrubs and herbaceous plants are dotted throughout. A petite office for park superintendent William Berry was erected in the park in 1889, serving as a toolshed and other functions after Theodore Wirth replaced Berry. It was moved several times and restored in 1998. The Spanish Colonial Revival shelter (1906) received additions in the 1930s and 2003. A comfort station (1916) in the same style is now a maintenance building.
The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge (1988) links access to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and the Whitney Gazebo (1993), both designed by sculptor Siah Armajani. Other art includes Jacob Fjelde鈥檚 statue of Ole Bull (1897), a Norwegian composer/violinist, and Robert Woodward鈥檚 Berger 鈥淒andelion鈥 Fountain (1975). The Loring Greenway to the east leads to Nicollet Mall.
