About 75 years ago, the area the Garden now occupies was called the Armory Gardens, which featured a large brick National Guard building and formal gardens. The building was torn down in 1933, but the elaborate garden remained under the management of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. In the late 1960s, Interstate Highway 94 severed the connection between Loring Park and the garden, and eventually the acreage in front of the Walker Art Center became a playing field. In 1988 the Walker and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board collaborated to turn that playing field into the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. In 1992 it was expanded from 7.5 to 11 acres, making it the largest urban sculpture garden in the country at the time. There are more than 40 works on permanent view. Additional temporary installations keep the Garden experience continually fresh. More Information

• Designing Spaces and Places
  Learn more about the history of the Garden in this program written for students in grades 5 through 8.


• History of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden  [QuickTime]
  Quote from Walker 'Round Sculpture video, Walker Art Center, 1998

The Kenwood Armory was dedicated on January 8, 1907. Constructed on park land donated by Thomas Lowry and W.H. Dunwoody known as “The Parade,” it was built for the National Guard's 13th Regiment Spanish War Volunteers. The Armory was razed December 1933 because it was sinking into the swampy lowlands on which it was built.

The Armory Gardens were originally planted by Theodore Wirth, Superintendent of Parks, on the occasion of the Society of American Florists and Ornamental Horticulturists convention of 1913. The Armory Gardens became the most enduring feature of the Parade until the mid-1960s when I-94 cut through the site.

Siah Armajani's Covered Foot Bridge (Bridge over a Nice Triangle Tree), 1970, was one of the first large-scale sculptures to be exhibited on the future site of the sculpture garden. In the 1960s, the Park Board and the Walker began discussing how best to use the land for cultural enrichment. In 1984, both the Park Board and the Walker approved a detailed plan for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden opened September 10, 1988, with a gala ribbon-cutting ceremony and 10,000 balloons launched into the sky. Designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and landscape architect Peter Rothschild, the 7.5-acre garden is divided into four large squares and a meadow area for the Spoonbridge and Cherry. The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge by Siah Armajani joins Loring Park and the Garden, finally reestablishing the physical link between these two public parks that had been severed since the acquisition of the Parade in 1904.

The new Garden expansion opened on September 12, 1992, with a daylong celebration that included parades, workshops, and performances. The 3.7-acre extension at the north end of the Garden was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. and features the Alene Grossman Memorial Arbor and Flower Garden.

Atelier van Lieshout’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was unveiled September 12, 1998, in conjunction with the celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Commissioned by the Walker during Joep van Lieshout's artist residency, the wooden house with detachable mobile unit is used for art labs and community programs.