Lake Nokomis was originally called Lake Amelia and is so recorded on the Fort map in 1823. It was probably named for the wife or daughter of Capt. George Gooding, who came with the first troops in 1819. In 1910 it was rechristened Nokomis by the park commissioners of Minneapolis, in honor of the mythical grandmother of Hiawatha.
Lake Nokomis is a part of the natural system bound together by Minnehaha Creek, which joins the Mississippi about two miles to the east and is itself the outlet of Lake Minnetonka, about twenty miles to the southwest. The source of Minnehaha Creek is pronounced one of the most perfect and characteristic specimens of the smaller northwestern lakes on the map and is as familiar to thousands of Minneapolis people as the charming lakes which lie at their very doors. Opposite Lake Nokomis, to the north, is Rice Lake through which flows Minnehaha Creek on its way to the falls and the Mississippi.
In response to the oft-expressed wishes of the people of southtown, it is probable that Rice Lake and the winding shores of Minnehaha Creek to Minnehaha Park will soon be acquired for park purposes. Instructions have been issued for the survey and preparation of plans and estimates of cost for a park surrounding Rice Lake be tween Twenty-eighth Avenue South and Cedar Avenue and as far north as is necessary. The proposed site corresponds generally with the width of the area devoted to the Lake Nokomis grounds south of Minnehaha Parkway.
Excerpted from:
History of Minneapolis Gateway to the Northwest
Rev. Marion Daniel Shutter
Chicago – Minneapolis The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1923