ISLAND PARK VILLAGE HALL — THE LEGACY

Home of the Village Hall-Early Island History  

The island that comprises a major portion of the city of Mound, is seen labeled  as Phelps Island on many Lake Minnetonka maps. During the 1800s, the island was privately owned, bought from the government by William Noble in 1856.  It was sold to Carrington Phelps in 1875. ​

Roughly 500-acres in size, the island was heavily treed, mostly with Maple, Ash, Oak, and Elm covering the rolling topography, and it was pocked with low swampy areas where giant cottonwoods stood as sentinels, and the sweet smell of peat bogs soothed the senses. Like the Noble family, Phelps wished to keep the island in its natural state, refusing to sell plots, although he did lease a few lakeshore lots to well-to-do friends and acquaintances.

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