In the 19th century the scenic beauty of Saint Anthony falls was transformed by city’s water-powered flour and lumber milling businesses into an industrial landscape of giant mill buildings and rail yards. The decline of these industries in the 20th century left the Minneapolis riverfront full of abandoned mills and warehouses, polluted ground and water and a large resident homeless population.

Various efforts to revitalize the area were tried from pushing through locks to develop barge-based industries above the falls, to tearing down nearly a third of downtown, but the formula that worked relied on the value of the river and its history.

First the river had to be cleaned up: the Twin Cities spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fix the main source of the problem – separating the storm water and sanitary sewer systems. The river rebounded from a nearly dead condition to become fairly clean, full of game fish that a rebounding bald eagle population began to enjoy.

In the 1970s some brave restaurants paved the way for a riverfront revival that has managed to save and adaptively reuse not only the cute Victorian homes of Nicollet Island but even many of the large industrial buildings.

Public investments in parks, preservation and planning have leveraged private investments at a ratio of better than one to nine dollars and the riverfront is now home to some of the city’s most expensive condos, trendiest bistros, and best walks. James J. Hills’s 1883 Stone Arch Bridge, a National Civil Engineering Landmark, was restored in 1994 now serves bikes and walkers instead of trains. The National Landmark Washburn A Mill, reduced to a ruin by a 1992 fire is now home to Mill City Museum. Mill Ruins Park, First Bridge Park, the Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Trail, free music, fine dining, festivals and many more attractions have made the riverfront once again the heart of Minneapolis.
Contact: David Wiggins (Supervisory Park Ranger) 651-290-5386.