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List of lakes in Minneapolis

Lakes, in blue, against a white background with the outline of Minneapolis in black
Minneapolis's lakes (dark blue); light blue bodies of water are included in the City of Minneapolis's official count but are either smaller than five acres (two hectares), channels between lakes, or entirely outside Minneapolis's borders. See other bodies of water for more.

There are 13 lakes of at least five acres (two hectares)[a] within the borders of Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Of these, Bde Maka Ska is the largest and deepest, covering 421 acres (170.37 ha) with a maximum depth of 89.9 feet (27.4 m). Lake Hiawatha, through which Minnehaha Creek flows, has a watershed of 115,840 acres (468.79 km2), two orders of magnitude larger than the next largest watershed in the city.[3] Ryan Lake, in the city's north, sits partially in Minneapolis and partially in neighboring Robbinsdale.[4][5] Certain other bodies of water are counted on some lists of Minneapolitan lakes, though they may fall outside the city limits or cover fewer than five acres.

Many of Minneapolis's lakes formed in the depressions left by large blocks of ice after the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the end of the last glacial period and now overlie sandy or loamy soils.[6][7] Before the appearance of white settlers, the Dakota harvested wild rice from the lakes.[8] In the early 1800s, the lakes' shorelines were marshy, deterring large-scale settlement and development by white residents though an experimental Dakota agricultural community, Ḣeyate Otuŋwe, was founded on the banks of Bde Maka Ska by Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa in 1829.[8][9] In the 1880s, landscape architect Horace Cleveland foresaw Minneapolis's growth and made a series of recommendations to the city's Board of Park Commissioners to acquire land along Minnehaha Creek, near Minnehaha Falls, and around several lakes in the southwest portion of the city in order to form a robust, interconnected park system that would aesthetically and morally benefit the city's residents. Board president Charles M. Loring heeded Cleveland's advice and bought the land, later developed into a robust system of parks by Theodore Wirth.[10] During this time, many of the lakes were reformed by the Board of Park Commissioners through draining, dredging, shoreline stabilization, and the construction of parkways around their perimeters.[6][9] Property in neighborhoods surrounding the lakes grew desirable, especially by the "Chain of Lakes", five lakes in the southwestern portion of the city (Maka Ska, Harriet, Isles, Cedar, and Brownie) that were joined by artificial channels.[9]

Various municipal symbols and icons reference the presence of the lakes in Minneapolitan life and culture, from the sailboat in the city's logo to the ship's wheel on its flag to Minneapolis's nickname, the "City of Lakes".[11][12][13] Much of Minneapolis's lakeshore is public parkland, in contrast to other American cities where lakeside property tends to be privately controlled.[14] Since they were dredged, the lakes have drawn city residents for recreation and sport including swimming, sailing, yachting, canoeing, biking, jogging, and ice skating.[15] The 76-mile (122.3 km) Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway passes around many of Minneapolis's lakes.[10]

  1. ^ Moss, Brian; Johnes, Penny; Phillips, Geoffrey (May 1996). "The Monitoring of Ecological Quality and the Classification of Standing Waters in Temperate Regions: a Review and Proposal Based on a Worked Scheme for British Waters". Biological Reviews. 71 (2): 301–339. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1996.tb00750.x. Closed access icon
  2. ^ Daley, Jason (July 19, 2019). "Minnesota and Wisconsin Are Beefing About Who Has More Lakes". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Environmental Stewardship (April 2016). "Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board 2014 Water Resources Report" (PDF). Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  4. ^ Wilson, Craig (September 2003). "Ryan Lake Trail Concept Plan" (PDF). Center for Urban and Regional Studies. University of Minnesota. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  5. ^ Street Map (PDF) (Map). City of Minneapolis. June 30, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Myrbo, Amy; Murphy, Marylee; Stanley, Valerie (2011). "The Minneapolis Chain of Lakes by bicycle: Glacial history, human modifications, and paleolimnology of an urban natural environment". In Miller, James D.; Hudak, George J.; Wittkop, Chad; McLaughlin, Patrick I. (eds.). Archean to Anthropocene: Field Guides to the Geology of the Mid-Continent of North America. GSA Field Guides. Vol. 24. Boulder, CO: The Geological Society of America. pp. 425–437. doi:10.1130/2011.0024(20). ISBN 978-0-8137-0024-3. Closed access icon
  7. ^ McBride, Mark S. (1976). Hydrology of lakes in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Area: A summary of available data (PDF) (Report). Saint Paul, MN: U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division. doi:10.3133/wri7685. Water-Resources Investigations Report 76-85.
  8. ^ a b Beane, Katherine (2012). "Bde Maka Ska / Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis". In Westerman, Gwen; White, Bruce (eds.). Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 104–107. ISBN 978-0-87351-869-7.
  9. ^ a b c Millett, Larry (2009). AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-87351-645-7.
  10. ^ a b Adams, John S.; Vandrasek, Barbara J. (1993). Minneapolis–St. Paul: People, Place, and Public Life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-8166-2236-8.
  11. ^ Roper, Eric (March 18, 2015). "Revealed: The story behind Minneapolis' sailboat logo". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on May 23, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  12. ^ Purcell, John M. (2002–2003). "Minneapolis, Minnesota". Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 9–10: 219–220. doi:10.5840/raven2002/20039/1090.
  13. ^ Hintz, Martin (2003). Minnesota Family Weekends. Black Earth, WI: Trails Books. p. 1. ISBN 1-931599-22-X.
  14. ^ Cornell, Tricia (2016). Moon Minneapolis & St. Paul (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Avalon Travel. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-63121-272-7.
  15. ^ Lanegran, David A.; Sandeen, Ernest R. (2004). The Lake District of Minneapolis: A History of the Calhoun–Isles Community. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 49–67. ISBN 0-8166-4422-5.


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