The Meeker Island Lock and Dam
Located just north of the Lake Street Bridge, the Meeker Island Lock and Dam was the first lock and dam facility built on the Upper Mississippi River. The facility also known as “Lock and Dam No. 2″ or “Government Lock and Dam” took almost eight years to build, but was only in operation from [...]
Lake Harriet Parkway and Paths
In the middle of the 1890s bicycle craze, the Minneapolis Park Board put in the first bike path around Harriet. By 1896 the lake had a walking path, bike trail and a parkway for horses and carriages. Bicycles were incredibly popular and when the park board built an enclosure for people to check their [...]
Forgotten Falls
Fawn’s Leap used to descend into the river from the marshes and bogs of the East Side at about 9th Avenue SE and the river. An even bigger waterfall called The Silver Cascade emptied Tuttle’s Brook into the river at about 13th Avenue SE. Both falls were lost to development and watershed damage in the [...]
The Calhoun Beach Hotel
Theodore Wirth claimed the tall building across the street from the bath house and beach on Lake Calhoun would “disfigure” the natural beauty of the area and probably disintegrate into a house of debauchery upon completion. Despite Wirth’s initial objections, in 1927 he recommended the Minneapolis Park Board consent to a building permit as [...]
Seeing Double at Bridal Veil Falls
You can still find this small waterfall just north of the Franklin Ave bridge. These falls were once the endpoint of Bridal Veil Creek, but the creek was incorporated into the sewer system and now runs underground. The falls are about 15 ft below East River Road and about 100 ft above the Mississippi [...]
