Irvine Park visitors admiring the square’s recently refurbished ornate, iconic fountain have a dog named Chipper to thank.
On walks in the historic St. Paul park, Chipper made plenty of friends for his human companion, William White.
“He was a character,” White says of the miniature pinscher. “I don’t think anyone who came to the park didn’t interact with him.” Chipper, who died in 2022, was always looking out and around the park, White says.
When it came time to raise money for renovations to the park, White – and Chipper – were so well-known in the historic district around the park that fundraising moved swiftly. More than $120,000 was “raised fairly quickly – less than a year – without even having a launch,” says White, who has lived near the park since 2010.
The median gift, mostly from residents around Irvine Park, was $5,000, White says.
“The generosity of residents was remarkable,” White says. “I credit the people just living around the park for believing so much that it was worth investing.”
Relationships are key to fundraising, White says.
“It’s mostly about relationships,” he adds, “not about hustling for money. People give because they believe in the cause and because of the relationships.”
White will be recognized with the Saint Park Parks Conservancy’s 2025 Golden Shovel Award. He says the fundraising efforts (Phase 1 of a project that plans to renovate the gazebo and lights and pathways in the 5-acre park in the future) “got the attention of the city because we raised money – lots of money.”
The Historic Irvine Park Association helped commission the fountain in 1978-79. It was based on the design of the original ornate cast iron fountain that was installed in the park in 1881 but had been removed by 1927.
Before the recent renovation, which was completed this summer, the fountain was severely corroded and bits of metal were missing, White says. The fountain was refurbished and returned to the park in May.
White calls the lighted fountain “romantic” and “spiritual.” He says the park is one of the few in St. Paul that is “still largely green space.”
Land developer John Irvine, who established the Upper Landing for steamboats where Chestnut Street meets the Mississippi River, deeded the land for the park to the city in 1849. Officially named Irvine Park in 1872, it was graded by ox teams and landscaped with walks and flower beds. Park furniture and a gazebo was added, and in 1881 an ornate fountain was installed.
But the area declined and the fountain was removed in 1927, the metal scrapped. By the 1970s, 96 percent of the homes around the park were classified as substandard and developers began looking at razing the remaining homes to build high-rise apartments.
Called St. Paul’s only remaining frontier neighborhood, the Irvine Park historic district was rescued and nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in October 1973. Since 1981 Irvine Park has been a St. Paul Heritage Preservation District.
The Irvine Park district has eight homes built before 1853 and includes the recently reopened Forepaugh’s restaurant and the historic Ramsey House.
White says there’s a misperception that Irvine Park is “exclusive and out-of-the-way.” But it’s on the edge of downtown St. Paul.
“We want to get the word out there that the park exists,” White says.
Irvine Park reminds White of the parks in his native London. He moved to the Twin Cities in 1995 for work for the supercomputer company Cray. He’s a huge supporter of the arts in the Twin Cities and served on the Minnesota Opera’s board of directors for seven years.
He’s fighting back from health problems. Two years ago, melanoma metastasized into brain cancer. Through immunotherapy and radiation, the cancer is under control.
His progress gets noticed.
“The amazing thing is how well I look, and that reflects how I feel,” White says. People comment on his improved appearance.
He adds that he ignored the harmful effects of the sun for most of his life, even though his British and Irish complexion made him particularly vulnerable to melanoma.
When White, who is 71, turned 60 years old, he said “old is a problem of attitude,” calling 60 “the new 40.” Five years later, he said, “65 is still 65.”
Now, he admits, he struggles with stairs in his home and “can hardly get off the floor.”
“From that point of view, 70 is the new 80,” he says.
But he’s not stopping or leaving his house on the park. “I’m going to work the stairs,” he says.
White jokes that the Conservancy’s Golden Shovel Award makes him a “gold-digger.” But the money he’s raised and the relationships he’s built are anything but a laughing matter.