Historic sunken stone walled rock garden

Tree planted by historic stone table

Newly planted tree being mulched with stone picnic table and stone wall in background

Cookies shaped like beehives

Tree planting at Graeser Roadside Park couldn’t have gone better! #historicwayside #lilacway #GraeserPark

Rock Island Park's meadow rezoned to park and open space in new zoning amendment ⋆ Restore Lilac Way Rock Island Park’s meadow will be rezoned to park and open space as part of a new comprehensive zoning amendment, saving it from development.

Once again, Lilac Way supporters stepped up. Their emails encouraged the city council to rezone Rock Island Park's 1930s north meadow to 'park and open space', NOT residential development. Thank you! #lilacway #stlouispark #mpls #rockislandpark

Building Highway 100's Lilac Way and its seven roadside parks in the 1930s provided jobs during the Great Depression. One of Minnesota's largest WPA projects, workers labored in sub-zero winters and stifling summers. Works was largely done by hand to employ as many men as possible. #lilacway #mpls

You can watch lots of cool videos on our YouTube channel. Here is one of our favorites—EAI Historic Restoration cleaning 81 years of grime off the historic 1940 beehive fireplace, getting ready for restoration. Powerwashing is so satisfying. 🙂 #lilacway #mpls #graeserpark

Lilac Way's seven rustic roadside parks had three styles of handcrafted fireplaces - 'beehive-shaped', and 'tapered'. This historic 1930s WPA project provided employment during the Great Depression, and picnic areas for locals. Two rare beehives remain today. #lilacway #beehivefireplace #mpls #mn

Graeser Park's restored beehive fireplace was graffiti'd. Will be hard to remove paint from 1940s mortar/stone. Was part of a $500k, 3-year restoration paid for by MN taxpayers. One of two beehive fireplaces left, and only one restored to Nat'l Historic Standards. #graeserpark #lilacway #mpls #mn

I like to think that Lilac Way's 1930s WPA-built limestone picnic tables inspired Fred Flintstone cartoons in the 1960s. In 2023, MnDOT rebuilt 11 tables from stone salvaged from lost Lilac Way parks as part of a major Graeser Park restoration project. #lilacway #mpls #flintstones #MN #graeserpark

Stonemasons were paid $57/mo to hand-cut limestone blocks for Lilac Way's beehive fireplaces during the Great Depression. Families roasted hot dogs for picnics in the beehives. Only two survive today, but we have engineer Carl Graeser's 1937 original drawings. #lilacway #beehivefireplaces #mpls #mn

Two of the last three remaining 1930s Lilac Way parks are in St. Louis Park, MN. Rock Island Park and renewed Lilac Park are 'sister parks', protected under the park system. Along with Graeser Park, they are all that remains of the seven original Lilac Way roadside parks. #lilacway #stlouispark

Graeser Park Angels Memorial landscape plan ⋆ Restore Lilac Way Thanks to a generous community, five shade trees and two flowering lilacs will create a living memorial in Graeser Park’s rock garden.

The Graeser Park Angels Memorial Fund has closed, thanks to $2,878 in donations! The rock garden will get five shade trees and two flowering lilacs in spring 2025. Andrea S. Weber, PLA, MnDOT Historic Roadside Properties Program, designed the landscape plan #graeserpark #lilacway #robbinsdale #MN

Historic 1930s Rock Island Park has a south rock garden & a north meadow. The rare rock garden is now protected by the St. Louis Park, MN but they're open to developing the meadow. We support preservation of this home to deer, native plants & original lilacs. #lilacway #rockislandpark #MN #lilacs