Restricted View
2017 photo looking southeast towards Savage from the abandoned Lookout Park Wayside on Shakopee Hill across from Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The wayside was built in 1938 during the New Deal era by the National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Highways (now MNDOT).
The five acre site was designed in the National Park rustic style to enhance and blend in with its natural surroundings. It consisted of a concourse made of local stone including a historical marker. There also was a picnic area that had picnic tables and fireplaces.
It was a popular rest stop on old US Highway 212 (later US 169 and 212) for many years, offering tourists and locals alike awe-inspiring views up and down the Minnesota River Valley.
MNDOT closed the wayside in the 1970's and sold it to the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in 1977. The MAC has had it ever since, keeping the wrecking ball away but allowing it to crumble and decay and fall victim to vandals for some 40 years now.
The site was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, but apparently didn't make the register. The city of Eden Prairie has it as one of their Heritage Sites and there has been interest in creating a park out of it, but MAC reportedly says that the site's location in relation to Flying Cloud Airport is a safety hazard.
Yah shure - the wayside has been there since 1938, the airport has been there since 1941, and no plane has ever crashed into the wayside that I've been able to find. Growing up in Richfield right next to the MSP airport was probably far more hazardous than spending an occasional afternoon at the Lookout Park Wayside. The safety hazard argument smells of being a copout for some other unknown reason. #ONLYinMN #Minnesota
Restricted View
2017 photo looking southeast towards Savage from the abandoned Lookout Park Wayside on Shakopee Hill across from Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The wayside was built in 1938 during the New Deal era by the National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Highways (now MNDOT).
The five acre site was designed in the National Park rustic style to enhance and blend in with its natural surroundings. It consisted of a concourse made of local stone including a historical marker. There also was a picnic area that had picnic tables and fireplaces.
It was a popular rest stop on old US Highway 212 (later US 169 and 212) for many years, offering tourists and locals alike awe-inspiring views up and down the Minnesota River Valley.
MNDOT closed the wayside in the 1970's and sold it to the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in 1977. The MAC has had it ever since, keeping the wrecking ball away but allowing it to crumble and decay and fall victim to vandals for some 40 years now.
The site was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, but apparently didn't make the register. The city of Eden Prairie has it as one of their Heritage Sites and there has been interest in creating a park out of it, but MAC reportedly says that the site's location in relation to Flying Cloud Airport is a safety hazard.
Yah shure - the wayside has been there since 1938, the airport has been there since 1941, and no plane has ever crashed into the wayside that I've been able to find. Growing up in Richfield right next to the MSP airport was probably far more hazardous than spending an occasional afternoon at the Lookout Park Wayside. The safety hazard argument smells of being a copout for some other unknown reason. #ONLYinMN #Minnesota