Park History

Parks were fashionable in the 1870’s, and Horace WS Cleveland, a famous landscape architect, urged St Paul to set aside land for parks before it became scarce. Cleveland was hired to design Como Park and believed that parks were places for people to escape city life, to stroll or boat, ice skate or ride horses, to picnic, play and appreciate nature’s beauty.

Como Park became a public Park in 1873. The land around Sandy Lake was originally owned by potato farmer Charles Perry, a native of the Swiss-Italian Alps. Henry McKenty, the “king of real estate dealers” purchased the land from Perry and renamed Sandy Lake to Lake Como in 1856 in honor of Charles Perry and the famous Lake Como in the Italian Alps.

The Como Zoo began informally in 1897 with the donation of three deer. Similar donations increased the Zoo inhabitants to well over 100 in 1930, and included buffalo, deer, elk, bears, coyotes, red foxes, rabbits, goats, raccoons, porcupines, a badger, woodchucks, monkeys, guinea pigs, opossums, rats, alligators, pheasants, pigeons, crows, a chicken hawk and owls.

Como Lake was the main draw for park visitors at the turn of the century because of its recreational opportunities. The lake was filled with row boats in the summer and ice skaters in the winter. Along its shores were paths for strollers and drives for carriages.

In 1905 a new pavilion with a bandstand extending on piers into the lake replaced the one that was been built 10 years earlier. This Pavilion lasted 87 years until it was rebuilt according the original blueprints, though in no longer extends into the lake.

Frederick Nussbaumer, a gardener hired by the park in 1887, began his 30 year tenure in 1891 as Superintendent of Parks. Under Nussbaumer’s leadership the layout of the park was completed. Visitors could find paths and miles of drives, boating, a Japanese garden, fountains, lawns and flowerbeds. Nussbaumer believed there should be no “keep off the grass” signs and that parks should be available to both the “nature-loving enthusiast and frugal workman.

Construction of the Conservatory in 1915 has provided visitors with a tropical refuge from Minnesota winters for 85 years. Its design was influenced by the Palm House in London’s Kew Gardens and has been a highlight of the park since it opened.

Today Como Park receives more than 2.5 million visitors annually. Como Park’s historic landscapes and features are an important link to the past as are the memories of its many visitors.

Source List:
Andrew J. Schmidt, Planning St Paul’s Como Park: Pleasure and recreation for the People, Minnesota History 58/1, spring 2002, pp40-58

Sharon Shinomiya, Como Park: A brief Historical Tour of One of Saint Paul’s “Beauty Spots” 8-2008