Interest in forming a "friends" group for Milwaukee's historic Lake Park began at the time of the park's centennial celebration in summer 1994. Over a thousand people attended the centennial and enjoyed old-fashioned horse and buggy rides, an ice cream social, a display of 41 historic park photographs, a turn-of-the-century fashion show, a barbershop quartet, a banjo quartet, and a concert by the Cudworth Post American Legion Band. At the concert's intermission, Frederick Law Olmsted himself (born 1822, died 1903) appeared on the bandstand to offer reminiscences of how the park was designed in the 1890s.

Early that fall, a small steering committee led by Mary Kamps began to form a structure for Lake Park Friends. After receiving a seed grant of $1,000 from The Park People, an initial board was created with officers Joanne Barndt, president, Nancie Baker, vice president, and Gretchen Docter, treasurer. Lake Park Friends was incorporated in 1996 and became a 501c3 nonprofit organization in 1997.