In previous posts, I introduced you to the history of the Bundt Cake pan and Nordic Ware. The landmark grain silo on the Nordic Ware campus (The Peavey-Haglin Experimental Grain Elevator) led us to the Peavey family. I left you with the question: “Why does that name sound so familiar?

If you’ve gone to Orchestra Hall, you probably walked through the sunken plaza with all of the fountains and pools. Hosting Aquatennial events, Sommerfest performances, the Hot Summer Jazz Festival, the Christmas Holiday Village and more, Peavey Plaza has been a centerpiece of downtown Minneapolis since it was built in 1974.

In the 1960s, Minneapolis had already gone through a massive revitalization of the Gateway District and in 1968 had revealed the 8-block promenade on Nicollet Mall. Downtown projects were a major attempt to counteract the flight of businesses and city-dwellers to the rapidly spreading suburbs. The Mall’s creation was so important to the city that the First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, was brought in for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The mall was a huge success and became a template for other cities as they tried to modernize.

In the meantime, the new Orchestra Hall was being built at the southern end of the Mall. City planners proposed a plaza that would serve as both an entrance to the new performance hall as well as a gathering place for outdoor performances.

The project struggled to find funding until the Peavey Company donated $600,000 (about $2.8 million in today's dollars) toward the plaza's $3.2 million ($15.3 million in 2019 dollars) cost. The construction of the plaza coincided with the centennial anniversary of the company’s founding.

Designed by M. Paul Friedberg, the park took advantage of the 10-foot depression created during construction of the adjacent Orchestra Hall. The terraced amphitheater-like space surrounded a drainable reflecting pool that could be used as a stage in summer and a skating rink in winter. Waterfalls absorbed noise, garden “rooms” offered gathering spaces and greenery softened the concrete edges. In 1999 the American Society of Landscape Architects recognized the plaza as one of the nation’s most significant examples of landscape architecture.

Through the decades since it was built, Peavey Plaza has had its ups and downs. By 2012, maintaining the fountains had become too costly, especially considering the constant need for repairs. The concrete was crumbling, the reflecting pool had been drained and the park was not accessible to the handicapped. The city, which, by this time owned 75% of the park (the rest is owned by the Minnesota Orchestra), hired a firm to make plans to demolish and redesign the park. Preservationist groups immediately got involved to save the park and the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission denied their permits. As a part of the movement to preserve the park, they applied for and received protected status for the park when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

It took several more years to finalize the plans, secure the funding and complete the restorations, but Peavey Plaza was “reopened” in 2019. The biggest change was that the water depth of the reflecting/wading pool was reduced from 10 inches, to a much more easily maintained and approachable 0.5 inches. Now you can wade in the pool without getting your pants wet.

But Peavey Plaza isn’t the only park in Minneapolis named after Frank H. Peavey. Peavey Field Park (or just Peavey Park) is a nearly forgotten park not just named after the Peavey family, but deeply connected to its history. Like Elliot Park, Washburn Fair Oaks and Dorilus Morrison Park, (and many others) the park was once the site of its namesake’s home.

The year Frank H. Peavey died, a newspaper described Park Avenue in Minneapolis as “the original fine residence street of Minneapolis, the avenue of broad walks and extensive lawns.” At the height of its popularity, Park Avenue was lined by about 36 mansions from Franklin Avenue to 28th Street, once known as the "Golden Mile." Frank H. Peavey’s home at 2119 Park Avenue wasn’t the only home owned by his extended family. His daughter, Mary, and her husband, Frederick B. Wells took over the home after he passed. His son, George, lived at 2222 Park Avenue. His son-in-law, Frank T. Heffelfinger, built his home at 2205 Park Avenue. The rest of the homes along the avenue were owned by such recognizable names of the grain and mill industry as Crosby, McKnight, and Bell.

In 1895 the Park Avenue neighborhood banded together to make Park Avenue one of the first streets in Minneapolis ever to receive asphalt paving. Their efforts backfired. First, Park quickly became a hot spot for racing bicycles and parading automobiles. By the early 1900s, Park residents asked the city to convert the street into an official parkway to "exclude traffic wagons from this handsome avenue." By the 1920s residents of Park and Portland avenues were demanding that the city bar heavy trucks from rattling windows up and down the streets.

More and more of the families began moving out to the “Lake District” of Minnetonka and Wayzata as those areas became more fashionable. A proliferation of rooming houses in the downtown core allowed businessmen to stay close to their offices during the week, but they could travel to the “country” on the weekends to see their families. During this time, the Peavey home at 2119 Park Avenue largely stood vacant. Mary began exploring options to sell the home and its land to the city. Nearly twenty years later, after Mary’s death in 1927, her children donated the land and its buildings to the Park Board. Although happy to have the 3.44 acres of land, Park Board Commissioner Theodore Wirth wasn’t as happy about how much it would cost to maintain the large home and its outbuildings. Sadly, the large home was demolished.

Through the years, the land languished and could barely be called a park. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the park was graded, ball fields were built, tennis courts and a wading pool were installed, and a small shelter was built. Additional improvements have been made throughout the years, but struggles with drug use in the park, a homeless encampment, high crime rates, have left the park in limbo. Hopefully, the Master Plan of improvements approved in 2016 will help to bring investments in security and amenities that finally make its namesake proud.

There’s one other park feature that is named after Frank H. Peavey. It’s much smaller and much older than Peavey Plaza. Can you guess what it is?