Landscape Information
In 1890 Frederick and Johanna Noerenberg purchased 73 acres on Lake Minnetonka, fifteen miles west of Minneapolis, where they built an estate called Wilkommen. With their settlement on Lake Minnetonka, the Noerenbergs joined many other wealthy Minneapolis residents who established the area as a Gilded Age retreat.
The Noerenbergs built a Queen Anne style house, a carriage house, a boathouse, a gazebo, and a large barn for their farming operation. The property also included acres of manicured lawn and English-style rose gardens. Avid travelers, the Noerenbergs collected trees and herbaceous plant specimens on their journeys, which they brought home and planted.
Lora Hoppe, the Noerenberg’s daughter and a trained horticulturist, continued to manage the property until her own death in 1972, when she bequeathed it to the Three Rivers Park District as a public garden. Although the mansion was demolished at Hoppe’s request, the Noerenberg property has never been subdivided and retains its original 73 acres, 8,490 feet of shoreline, and many of its significant landscapes features including the pergola, the major north/south and east/west alignment of the pathways, and some original plant materials. Now known as Noerenberg Memorial Gardens, the estate is managed by the Three Rivers Park District and remains a popular destination on Lake Minnetonka.
