News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Saturday December 27th 2025
The Phillips Aquatic Center: A Jewel of equity and collaboration
By State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis; state Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis; Minneapolis City Council Members Abdi Warsame and Alondra Cano; Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Members Brad Bourn, John Erwin, Meg Forney, and Scott Vreeland; Evan Hall, Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association board chair; Carol Pass, East Phillips Improvement Coalition board chair, and Denny Bennett, Minneapolis Swims board president.
Minneapolis, the City of Lakes, has a dirty little secret. With one of the highest state drowning rates for children of color in the nation, Minneapolis has no public, community-accessible indoor pools offering year-round swimming instruction. Unfortunately, in Minneapolis, the opportunities to learn to swim, and reap the many health benefits that can come with swimming regularly, are too often reserved for those with means.
On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 six of our nine Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioners voted to move forward with restoring and expanding a MPRB-owned pool in the Phillips Community Center. With the opening of the Phillips Aquatics Center, close to public transportation, these Commissioners made a huge contribution to the equity picture in Minneapolis.
The best part of all this is that 57% of the capital required for this project has already been raised by outside sources, and the money continues to come in!… Read the rest “The Phillips Aquatic Center: A Jewel of equity and collaboration”
See $1,000. House on 15th Ave. – Phineas Phelps built houses after Civil War service
Beginning June 5, 1886, Phineas Phelps built a $400. wooden barn at 2800 15th Ave. So. Mpls. and this $1,000. house. The vinyl siding and windows along with the metal door and satellite dish are probably more recent changes.
By Sue Hunter Weir
One hundred and fifty years ago, on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and our four-year Civil War was over. By the time that the war ended an estimated 630,000 to 750,000 men had been killed and another 1,000,000 injured. It seems like that war happened so long ago but if you know where to look there still are some small reminders in the Phillips Community of the men who fought it.
Phineas Phelps was born in Canada on December 2, 1831. He enlisted as a private in Company F of the 25th Massachusetts Infantry on September 24, 1861. A little over three years later, on October 25, 1864, he was discharged for disability.… Read the rest “See $1,000. House on 15th Ave. – Phineas Phelps built houses after Civil War service”
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