If you grew up in Wayzata or are currently living in
Wayzata, you know exactly where Klapprich Field is located.
It’s been there for
decades along Wayzata Boulevard between Minnetonka and Barry Avenues.
And hockey enthusiasts play between
boards that are used as a dog park enclosure during warmer weather.
Klapprich Field was featured nationally when Coors Light
shot a hockey commercial in early 2017.
OK, so that’s the here and now. But what was the genesis of
this cherished local gathering place?
Klapprich Field is named after a local man Ed Klapprich. The
Wayzata City Council passed a resolution back in 1955 to name the recreation
area in honor of Klapprich for his efforts to make the field what it is today.
In the early 1940s, Klapprich rounded up a crew of
volunteers loading wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt into a marsh.
They
spread the dirt with shovels.
A hockey rink was completed on the east end of the marsh by
the mid-1940s. The boards surrounding the rink stood only 18 inches high. The
warming house was a donated garage.
By 1947, a team of 14-year-olds from Wayzata, Hamel, Sunset
Hill, Minnetonka Beach, the Woodhill Club and Medicine Lake was formed.
Klapprich was the coach.
In 1955, Klapprich and others passionate about hockey went
before the school board to ask for a hockey program for Wayzata High School.
The board agreed and the team would play at the rink on the marsh with
Klapprich as the head coach.
In the late 1950s, a cement block warming house was
constructed on the northwest corner of the rink.
While the hockey rink kept kids busy during the winter, the
baseball field provided hours of summer fun.
In July of 1948, the ball field was ready for games.
The local team, the Little Giants, beat a South Minneapolis
team in the first game.
Klapprich Field was added to the Wayzata Parks System in
1986.
In 2005, the old warming house made way for a new one.
One man’s vision of year-round fun for local children more
than seven decades ago lives on today.
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