Powderhorn Park wraps around a small lake shaped vaguely like a gunpowder horn, and that shape gave the neighborhood its name. The park was designed in the early 1900s as part of Minneapolis's extraordinary park system, and the neighborhood that grew up around it was solidly working-class — a grid of craftsman bungalows built for factory workers, tradespeople, and immigrants. Powderhorn is also at the center of Minneapolis's recent history in a painful way.
The intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, about a mile south of here, is where George Floyd was killed on May 25th, 2020, under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. What happened next — the protests that spread across the country and world — began in this neighborhood. George Floyd Square at 38th and Chicago is a living memorial that community members have maintained since that night.
The Powderhorn neighborhood has a long history of activism: it is home to many organizations that serve Minneapolis's immigrant and refugee populations, and it has been at the center of debates about policing, housing, and equity that have defined the city's politics for a generation.