 Fortunately for the generations to come , the state legislature began in 1883 acquiring land immediately adjoining its lakes and the Mississippi River in order to turn them into public parks rather than allowing them to be privately developed . The choice of noted landscape architect Horace Cleveland was fortunate as well ; he was hired by the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners to create a series of parks and interconnected parkways to connect and preserve existing natural features in and near the city . Cleveland was a preservationist by nature , respecting the natural landscape features and using the existing topography and vegetation to keep his designs as natural as possible . When the park board considered building a photographic stand in the lower glen near the falls in 1884 , he responded saying : 
