Lake Minnetonka Real Estate » Lake Minnetonka Islands » Phelps Island

Phelps Island on Lake Minnetonka

Phelps Island is a neighborhood with a long memory. Set between Phelps Bay and Spring Park Bay on the Upper Lake, it has road access, established homes and a shoreline that turns toward several different parts of the lake. It is part of Mound, and the route to Enchanted Island and Shady Island runs through it.

From Noble's Island to Phelps

William Noble purchased land here in 1856, and Noble's Island became an early name. The island also appears as Mound Island on an 1876 map. The Phelps name followed the family's nineteenth-century ownership; deed research identifies Carrington and Catherine Phelps with the 1875 purchases.

Early geographic histories describe Phelps as a former peninsula, a reminder that channels and shoreline work have helped shape the lake we know today. The precise timing of that separation is less firmly established than the ownership history.

Summer cottages and boat landings

A tornado in 1904 brought down many of the island's trees. Subdivision followed, with the Tuxedo Company laying out summer neighborhoods in 1910. Names such as Pembroke, Avalon and Wychwood still recall that chapter. At Pembroke, the streetcar boat made hourly stops in 1916. Groceries, ice and laundry came by water, as did the people who spent their summers here.

Island Park later became a village of its own before joining Mound in 1960. The result is an island whose history lives in its streets and neighborhoods as much as in its shoreline.

Today, Phelps Island offers private residential property with everyday road access. A home's particular shore makes a considerable difference: protected bay water, channel activity and longer lake views all occur here. The address alone does not tell you which experience comes with the house.

For a closer look at property around Phelps Island, contact Daniel and Elisha Gustafson.