Mattocks Park — Attraction in Saint Paul

This park used to be the site of Mattocks Elementary School, serving grades kindergarten through sixth grade. The building sat on the east side of the park and was oriented in a north-south direction. It was three stories high with a basement, with a brick exterior. In my days there, namely 1961 - 1968, the playground toward the west part of the block was entirely paved with blacktop. Nonetheless, we played vigorously on it and had all the bumps and scrapes to show for it. It was torn down in the 1970s (I think), and it's terrific that a park took its place that is so vital to the neighborhood to this day. It's the site of a school with many fine memories. Mrs. Eng and Mrs. Ambrose were the...

This park has it all, several grilling areas and picnic spots for families. Also plenty of open grass, so bring a blanket or two to sit down on. There's also a rather large kid friendly park with the rubber floor so falls don't hurt, plenty of good activities for kids on the park and lots of seating spots to supervise at. Theres also a 3ft wading pool, beware that there is no life guard on duty, but this is a great place to bring the little ones on a hot summer day. There are also fields and courts for sports here. Anything you could want at a park can...

Update: it seems someone took it upon themselves to remove all of the toys that kids played with. So thanks for taking the charm of this place away.

Old review: This park is known to my kids as the "truck park," because there are a lot of old toys that have been "donated" for general use. (Keep careful track of any toys you bring if you don't want them to join the collection.) The main playground has sand; the smaller one is padded and showing its age. Lots of shade from...