The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has unveiled new design options for the historic Hiawatha Golf Course, announcing plans to scale it back from 18 to nine holes in an effort to address chronic flooding and groundwater issues.
At a Thursday news conference, park board superintendent Al Bangoura outlined three redesign concepts intended to make the century-old course more resilient.
“We’re going to try to work with Mother Nature and really improve this course,” Bangoura said. “The course will be more resilient to floods, the park will be more welcoming to more people, and the area’s ecology will drastically improve.”
Hiawatha Golf Course, which has deep ties to the Twin Cities Black community, was originally built on marshland more than a century ago. Over the years, the park board has fought persistent flooding with berms, fill, and pumps that remove more than 200 million gallons of water annually. Bangoura admitted those efforts were no match for nature: “We fought back Mother Nature, and Mother Nature had won.”
The three new proposals would all expand wetlands and marshes, turning the area’s natural flooding into an asset rather than a liability.
Debate over the course’s future has stretched on for years. In 2018, the park board first recommended reducing the number of holes, a move supported by environmental groups but opposed by many in the golfing community. In 2022, the board voted in favor of a nine-hole plan, though community pushback continued.
Last year, the National Park Service added Hiawatha to the National Register of Historic Places after a campaign led by the Bronze Foundation, a Minneapolis nonprofit headed by Darwin Dean. Dean remains opposed to downsizing, arguing that it would diminish the course’s legacy and make competitive tournaments impossible. His organization has put forward its own proposal that would preserve all 18 holes while still addressing flooding.
Bangoura acknowledged the course’s historic significance but stood firm on the need for change. “I understand very clearly the history of this golf course and what it means to Black golfers, and for me as a person of color, too. But I also know that change is hard, and I believe this is the way forward.”
Project manager Tyler Pederson said the redesign concepts would honor the course’s cultural history while also prioritizing youth golfers and broadening recreational opportunities. Plans include a nine-hole course that could be played as an “18-hole experience,” along with new winter amenities such as cross-country skiing trails.
The renovation is expected to cost more than $40 million, with work beginning as early as 2030. Until then, Hiawatha will remain an 18-hole course.
2 comments:
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has continually exaggerated the flooding issues with Hiawatha Golf Course. In 90 years it has totally flooded 4 times. Does it have some water problems? Yes, because it is a flood plain that receives water from the whole watershed. Does the MPRB's plan solve these problems? No. In fact, according to the project team, their recently revealed plans would produce a 9-hole golf course that is more vulnerable to flooding than the current golf course due to the fact that the golf course would barely be above the high-water level of the lake.
Also, Al Bangoura says that the MPRB has fought persistent flooding over the years. What he doesn't say is that the watershed has dumped more and more water into Lake Hiawatha and onto Hiawatha Golf Course over the years rather than building proper infrastructure to mitigate the water levels created by more and more development in the watershed. One person stated that the communities in the watershed have treated Lake Hiawatha as the toilet bowl of the watershed.
Your article says that the Hiawatha Golf Course has deep ties to the Black community in Minneapolis. That is true. But, it also has deep ties to the White community, and now serves members of the Hispanic, Asian and Native-American communities.
And, the MPRB conveniently leaves out the effect on homeowners in the neighborhood. The current pumping of water from the golf course keeps the golf course dry, while it also protects up to 500 homes from flooding and water intrusion. The MPRB recently told me that they do not currently know how they will keep our homes dry, this after 9 years of planning!
No matter how the MPRB wants to spin this project, the MPRB has consistently failed to deliver a viable project.
Sad to loss the golf course with such a historic legacy. But the anti-golf Park Commissioners and management want to remove half the nine hole at a cost of $42 million. So tearing aparte the course is gonna be expensive as well as a direct hit on the first golf course in Minnesota to open to people of color. Joe Lewis the Brown Bomber hit one golf ball completely out of the course into a yard across the street. Save Hiawatha Golf Course!
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