Chain of Lakes

The Chain of Lakes is a district in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is one of seven districts that make up the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a greenspace circling through the city. The Chain of Lakes was formed as a series of parks in the early twentieth century, when the young city purchased all of the land surrounding the lakes from which Minneapolis takes its name and nickname (the “City of Lakes”). The phrase dates back to the nineteenth century, when an article referred to “the chain of lakes which, ‘like a necklace of diamond in settings of emerald,’ enriches Minneapolis.” The Chain of Lakes district consists of Lake Harriet, Lyndale Park, Lyndale Farmstead, Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Browning Lake.