I recently attended a talk at the
Apple Valley Senior Center about Nicollet Island, its history and the "shakers and movers" in its colorful past, from Joseph Nicollet down the line. (see the
Minnesota Archeologist site for a nice concise summary of the island's history, including a disastrous tunnel collapse in 1869 in an attempt to bring water power to the island. The collapse nearly destroyed the falls and took 7 years to repair. In 1893, a
raging fire destroyed most of the buildings in Nicollet Island and leaped to Boom Island to burn 5 million board feet of sawed lumber - my 2015 post
Minneapolis-Nordeast also covers some of this history.
Nicollet Island is the largest inhabited island in the Mississippi. It was named for the French explorer and cartographer, Joseph Nicollet. The island sits above the St. Anthony Falls of the Mississippi, across from downtown Minneapolis. The location played a pivotal role in the westward surge of white settlers and the eventual establishment of the city of Minneapolis. The Falls of St. Anthony were named after the patron saint of the early explorer and missionary, Father Hennepin, whose name adorned the first bridge across the Mississippi, as well as the county in which Minneapolis resides, a major Minneapolis thoroughfare as well as a state park and a beer.
Nicollet Island's position above the falls made it a center of the lumber and milling industry booms, leveraging the water power to create industries and jobs that led to an influx of immigrants to Minneapolis - see my
Immigrant Stock post. It also figured in the brewing industry when Nordeast Minneapolis was declared one of the few "Patrol Limits" areas of the city where alcohol could be served and the tunnels on the island served as cold storage for the beer barrels.
Before the arrival of whites, Nicollet Island area, including the falls, were sacred to both the Dakota and Ojibwa. Oral histories indicate that the island was a place for childbirth as the noise of the falls drowned out any screaming and also provided protection from enemies.
As I listened to the talk and learned tantalizing new details about the island, I realized, that although I have biked through Nicollet & Boom Island dozens of times, I had never pedaled to the northwest end of the island, the residential section.
I have now fixed that.
First, here are the standard well-known island landmarks.
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| St. Anthony Falls before being tamed by the Corps of Engineers |
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| St. Anthony Falls today |
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| Plaque on the Stone Arch Bridge |
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Nicollet Island Inn. Built in 1893 (before the fire) as a sash & door company. Survived the fire and is now a nice place to stay and eat in Mpls.
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| Nicollet Island Pavilion. Have your next wedding there. |
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| Merriam St. Bridge. This is a span from the 2nd Hennepin Ave bridge, floated down river when the 3rd Hennepin bridge replaced it in 1891 |
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| DeLaSalle High School |
And some hidden gems
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| Grove Street Flats - French Empire style row housing - survived the 1893 fire |
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| Frank Griswold house - Queen Anne style |
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| Love the craftsmanship on the chimney work |
Copyright © 2016 Dave Hoplin
I spent many happy summers staying at my grandparents house on West Island Avenue back in the late 60's and early 70's. My kid brother and I would play on the tracks and the railroad bridge and tried our best to avoid the homeless guys that frequented that area. At night, we'd lay in our upstairs bedroom with the window open and stare out at the Minneapolis skyline across the river. Those summer nights were so nice and cool and magical now that I look back on them. I have really awesome memories of my week or so each year we'd spend there.
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