Robbinsdale To Hold Public Hearing on Sanborn Park Name Change
For decades, the Robbinsdale Park overlooking Crystal Lake has gone by the name Sanborn Park.
“It’s just a nice, old-fashioned, small park,” said Tony Papenfuss, a Robbinsdale resident who lives nearby.
It’s an old-fashioned park that will soon be getting a facelift and a name change.
“Sometimes we’ve got some blemishes in our history that we don’t need to celebrate,” said Robbinsdale City Manager Tim Sandvik.
The “blemishes” Sandvik is referring specifically deal with racial convenants.
“Racial covenants, unfortunately not unique to Robbinsdale, not unique to the metro here, throughout the country existed in a variety of capacities and just had some abhorrent language that denied the occupancy and ownership of a number of properties,” he said.
In the late 1960s, the federal government made racial covenants illegal and unenforceable nationwide.
Historical context
In the early 1900s, the Sanborn family owned much of the unplatted land in the area north of Crystal Lake.
When the family started selling that land for development, the Sanborn Holding Company contained language in their deeds stating the property “shall not be conveyed, mortgaged or leased to any person or persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian or African blood or descent.”
Screenshot from the University of Minnesota’s ‘Mapping Prejudice’ website, showing a racial covenant attached to a home near Crystal Lake.
That language is why city officials thought a name change for Sanborn Park would be appropriate.
“I have confidence in saying that our city council is supportive of the renaming of Sanborn Park, again, to what that is, that’ll be determined down the road,” said Sandvik.
The public will be asked to weigh in at a city council meeting on Sept. 17.
“I think it would be of value to be as non-political and non-controversial as possible,” said Papenfuss, the Robbinsdale resident.
Two of the applications that were submitted for the name change include Shoreline Park, and Castile Park, (in honor of Philando Castile, a Black man who was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in 2016). Castile’s family were longtime Robbinsdale residents.
Ultimately, the council will decide what to call this popular gathering spot in the heart of the city.
Related: Robbinsdale Seeks Feedback on Park System Improvements
