Many parks are developed through cooperation between the public and private partners. Nehls Park was developed following two brothers disputing with the city over property tax assessments.

Though Nehls Park is now considered an important part of New Ulm’s Park system, its creation and development were the cause of many headaches for the city and state.

Nehls Park is named for the family who operated a 12-acre farm at the location for over 100 years. In fact, the last members of the Nehls family were still living in the park until Jan. 1981.

The Nehls family started the farm in 1874. It would eventually be passed down to two brothers Fred and Carl Nehls. The Nehls brothers often sold vegetables grown on the property in town. They kept a small horse that would pull the vegetable carriage into town.

Ethan Eckstein practices throwing the disc at the Nehls Park disc golf course.

By the 1960s, Fred and Carl were still living together on the farm site. They lived together in a two-story frame house with a tin roof. A log cabin was also located on site with a barn.

By this time, the Nehls Farm had become an island of New Ulm’s pioneer past in a sea of modernity. Modern 20th-century residential homes bordered the brothers’ farm, which had no electricity or running water. The stark contrast between Nehls Farm and the rest of the neighborhood came to a head in 1966.

The New Ulm Country Club and a few other residents signed a petition requesting new water and sewer infrastructure. This included curb and gutter improvements.

Fred and Carl Nehls had not signed the petition but were assessed for the improvements. The Nehls brothers were willing to pay their property tax but refused to pay the assessment. Since the brothers could not pay property taxes without paying assessments, they chose not to pay taxes at all. For several years, the Nehls brothers paid no taxes to protest the assessments.

In 1970, Carl Nehls died, leaving Fred to manage the property alone.

The disc golf course at Nehls Park was added in 2002 and remains a popular attraction to the park.

By 1975 the unpaid taxes were $12,000 and the unpaid assessments were $8,300. The state of Minnesota chose to exercise its right to take the Nehls Farm as back taxes. The story of Fred Nehls refusing to pay taxes and his resistance to adopting a modern lifestyle gained significant attention. The Journal and other Minnesota papers ran articles on Fred Nehls and many began to sympathize with him.

He had lived on the property his whole life, 79 years by 1975. The modern world had grown up around him. The assessments placed do his property were for infrastructure improvements he did not want or need. In addition, many of his neighbors did like him. Fred Nehls was described as a friendly man.

Many in the community were looking for options that would allow Nehls to stay on his family land.

The City of New Ulm ultimately found a solution to the conflict.

After the state took possession of the land, the City of New Ulm was given the first opportunity to buy it with the condition the land be use for the public good. New Ulm purchased the property with the plan to create a city park, with the condition development would not begin until after Fred Nehls’ death, which happened on Jan. 1981.

Lance Deeter pushes his children Reese and Chase on the swings at Nehls Park. The Deeter family visits many of the parks in New Ulm, but always enjoys coming back to Nehls Park for the playground.

New Ulm immediately took control of the property. One of the first tasks the city needed to do was secure items in Nehls’s home for the estate. The city requested the Brown County Historical Society (BCHS) salvage any item of value from the property.

BCHS Research Librarian Darla Gebhard remembers searching the property with then-director Paul Klammer and museum curator Gale Christensen.

“We were up there for days trying to find everything of value,” Gebhard said. “It was amazing what we found in that house.”

Gebhard remembers finding in the home a flintlock pistol, several jars of coins and most surprisingly a pony.

Gebhard said after searching the house, they moved to the barn. Immediately after she opened a window, a pony stuck its head out. The pony has been locked in the barn since before Nehls’ death and no one had let the animal out until Gebhard searched the barn.

A photo taken in the early 1980s of the log cabin built by the Nehls family. The cabin remained in Nehls Park until 1988, when it was relocated to the Brown County Fair Grounds. Photo provided by Brown County Historical Society.

Development of the Nehls’ property into a full park stalled for a few years. The city did not have sufficient funding in the earlier years.

By 1985, there was a push to develop Nehls Park. The New Ulm City Council voted twice in 1985 to allocate $50,000 to develop the park, but Mayor Carl “Red” Wyczawski vetoed both motions. In Feb. 1986, the council unanimously approved a more modest $10,000 allocation for the park.

In 1988, the log cabin on the property was preserved and relocated to the Brown County Fairgrounds. By 1992, the park had expanded to feature playground equipment and a fitness trail that features outdoor workout equipment. The last addition to Nehls Park came in July 2002, when the disc golf course was added.

New Ulm Park and Recreation Director said that today, Nehls Park is considered one of the city’s highest traffic neighborhood parks. He credits the unique blend of amenities for the park’s popularity.

Schugel said the fitness trail is plowed during the winter, allowing year-round use. The park’s proximity to Flandrau State Park lets people hike the trails between the parks. The disc golf course is extremely popular.

“I always see someone playing disc golf when I drive by,” he said.

The park also has a baseball field and playground equipment.

Nehls Park is one of the most unique public spaces in New Ulm in terms of its amenities, but that’s appropriate considering the men it is named after.