WESTWOOD HILLS GOLF COURSE
AND NATURE CENTER

Thanks to 7th grade student Emily C. Krause for sharing her research with the Historical Society. Please contact us with additional information you may have.
 

As was much of St. Louis Park, the area that would become the Westwood Hills Environmental Education Center was primarily populated with dairy farms. The acreage included Westwood Lake. A fox farm may have been on part of the property.

The land became the Westwood Hills Golf Course some time before 1939 - the land was platted in November 1937. In 1948, the 240-acre golf course was owned by the McNulty family, operating as the Hyland Homes Corp., John C. McNulty, Secretary. The golf course was open to the public.

In 1955, the golf course was no longer profitable, and given the rush to build houses in St. Louis Park, the family began to look for developers. Ted Dietrick and others suggested to the City Council that the City buy up a fair number of the 500 acres for a park.

The Westwood Hills 1st subdivision was approved on September 12, 1955, and was located on the site of four of the golf course’s 27 holes. At this point the golf course was still operating with 18 holes.

In 1957, the Murri-Mac Co. bought 117 acres and threatened to develop 400-500 homes if the city didn’t purchase the property. 68 acres of the parcel were from the golf course and the rest from further north. A “Save the Green” committee was formed, with 450 members, trying to stop residential development

A referendum was held in the spring of 1958 and the City did buy 90 acres of the property. 30 acres were set aside for Westwood Jr. High School, which was originally to be called Westwood Hills Jr. High.

A note in the City Council minutes says that the City leased the Westwood Hills Golf Course in 1960 and 1961.

Development continued in the area. In 1959/60, a housing development was started on Westwood Hills Drive. A water pipe broke on Franklin Ave., and Westwood Lake started to fill up and flood, killing surrounding trees. Water backed up through the Highway 12 culvert onto Brookview Golf Course, and into Basset Creek. In 1963, the City Council required the developers of Westwood Estates 2nd Addition to ensure that the water of Westwood Lake was controlled by an adequate outlet.

In 1971, the City was looking at 150 acres, including 60-acre Westwood Lake, to be developed into what would become the Westwood Hills Nature Center. Borders of the area were Highway 12, Westmoreland Lane, Flag Ave., and Utah Ave. 22 acres of that land was owned by the City of Golden Valley. 16 acres south of the lake belonged to Robert McNulty, and there were six other acres east of the lake.

The property was acquired with Federal, State, City, and private money, including donations from Northwestern Bell, the West Suburban Chamber of Commerce, and Rotary. Acquisition apparently took a long time, as the Westwood Hills Nature Center didn’t open for another ten years. In the meantime, the site was used for summer day camp.

There was a devastating fire in September 1976 that required the services of many fire departments in the surrounding area.

            

The first building of the Nature Center started construction on January 16, 1980, and was completed in February 1981. The first director, Pat Parker, was named in 1982. Honeywell donated an alarm center in June 1982, but vandals caused $1,700 in damage that September.

Two houses came with the site, both built in 1935.  The "Brick House" (1324 Westwood Hills Road) sits on a glacial morraine, one of the highest points in St. Louis Park.  The houses are used for housing for interns, and cannot be sold.

Some of the activities that were sponsored by the Center included making maple syrup, an Easter egg hunt, making apple cider, and beekeeping. A honey bee observation apiary was constructed in 1995, and a puppet theater was added in 2000. Over 10,000 school children, public and private, visited the center during 1982-83. The Center was also a site for the Hennepin County Youth Program, where young people between 14 and 21 were paid minimum wage to build trails.

The Nature Center’s web site is http://www.stlouispark.org/experience/nature_center.htm

 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.