The level of Lake Hiawatha is controlled by a high point in Minnehaha Creek downstream of the lake. This control point may have changed over time. The control point could be a downstream weir in the creek, a downstream bridge, culvert, or utility crossing or simply a downstream high point in the creek channel bottom. Since the golf course was built in the early 1930s, there have been many new creek crossings and at least one weir added at 28th Street. There may have also been modifications to the weir on the upstream side of Hiawatha Avenue during one of many road and LRT projects at this location. Accurate historical data is difficult to obtain. We do not have enough information to conclusively say whether or not the control point of the lake has been changed over time. We do know that if the lake is higher than it used to be, then groundwater is higher and more pumping is required to keep the golf course dry.
Without pumping, groundwater on the golf course property would rise until it matches the elevation of Lake Hiawatha. This would result in a significant portion of the golf course being under water and unplayable. Additionally, approximately 18 nearby homes would be at risk for groundwater intrusion.
The water quality of Minnehaha Creek has a significantly larger impact on the water quality of Lake Hiawatha than the pumped water. Testing has demonstrated that levels of nutrients such as phosphorus were similar in the pumped groundwater and the lake.
Join a league or take group or private lessons from a golf professional. The Hiawatha Golf Club is located next to Lake Hiawatha in south Minneapolis. Hiawatha is an 18-hole regulation golf course, Par 73. It is a long course, generally flat with mature trees and small greens.
In 1916 the park board opened its first golf course at Glenwood (Wirth) Park. The nine-hole course was an immediate success even though it had only sand greens. The course was such a success, and revenue-generator, for the park board that in 1919 the Glenwood course was expanded to eighteen holes and new six-hole course was built at Columbia Park. By 1920 it was evident that the park board needed more golf courses, especially one in the southern section of the city, because both existing courses were in north Minneapolis.
In 1922 the park board followed that advice and designated for acquisition not just Rice Lake, but the land to the west of the lake for a golf course, and the entire valley of Minnehaha Creek from the lake to Minnehaha Falls. While the final acquisition was much larger than contemplated years earlier, so was the price tag. With increasing development of southern Minneapolis, certainly aided by the creation of Lake Nokomis and the surrounding park, Rice Lake was no longer priced as just a swamp. The park board paid $550,000 for the lake, surrounding land and creek bed. Rice Lake had been acquired not to provide a reservoir for Minnehaha Falls, or to be filled in as meadow; it had been acquired in large part to become a golf course. The cost of the acquisition was assessed 100% against “benefited” property over five years, the steepest assessment in park board history not spread in part over property city-wide.
While waiting to build the Hiawatha course, the park board had also created two more golf courses, Armour (Gross) and Meadowbrook in the mid-1920s.
In the next year’s report, board president William Bovey “strongly” advised the board to acquire the land around Rice Lake—but only what was ”absolutely necessary” to provide a suitable golf course and playground. He repeated the advice the following year.
Over 1.2 million cubic yards were dredged out of the previously swampy Rice Lake area creating Lake Hiawatha on the 28th Ave. side. The course was created on the west shore of the lake using the dredged fill material. The clubhouse was built in 1932 for $14,864. The course opened in 1934.