SHORT - SECTION ONE (WALKING)

SECTION ONE: ORIGIN OF THE TWIN CITIES SAINT ANTHONY FALLS LOOP (WALKING TOUR) ~2 MILES RECOMMENDED TIME WINDOW: 11:10am - 1:20pm Disregard Time Window if doing A La Carte or going at own pace A to B

THE GREAT RIVER ROAD We are on a National Scenic Byway, The Great River Road, that starts at the headwaters of the Mississippi and goes all the way down to Venice, Louisiana in the heart of the delta. (COMING SOON: Under our TRIPS section you’ll find a Loreway that travels this Byway pretty exclusively into the mesmerizing Driftless, called that because of the fact that the glaciers never drifted into the area, essentially leaving it a mesmerizing paradise of vast cliffs, unique hills, ravines, woods, and maybe the most epic part of the Mississippi, making up a huge area where Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois meet. It’s a major part of the Mississippi Mark Twain immortalized in much of his writing.) Coincidentally, we are also on a State Byway, the Grand Rounds, which encompasses a vast network of parks, lakes, creeks and riverfront. The entire thing can be biked in a day, albeit a crazy, long and tiresome day. But worth it!

Follow the combined foot and bike path northwest along the Mississippi River. Watch out for bike traffic. Thankfully, a footpath splits off to the right shortly after starting so your paranoia can go down. Eventually, we’ll reach the 3rd Avenue Bridge, with the Upper Dam of the falls just past. Keep walking. Across the river is Nicollet Island, where we will spend a good chunk of our time on this walk. To our left, we’ll be passing by the massive Minneapolis Post Office, an art deco palace that makes a commonplace government service seem like a Hollywood revue. Right before you get to the next bridge, you’ll pass through First Bridge Park, which holds some info and artifacts from the first bridge ever to span the river (more on this soon)!

Pass under the next bridge, the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and come to a zig-zagging staircase on its northwest side. The huge building across the street is the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, in case you were curious. Climb the zig-zaggy stairs up to the top of the bridge and Hennepin Avenue and stop. B to C

HENNEPIN AVENUE BRIDGE “Welcome to Gotham City,” a friend of mine always says when driving across this span. He’s not wrong. It looks like something out of Batman: The Animated Series!

You are standing on the fourth iteration of the first ever bridge to cross the Mississippi!

Before any bridges were made, a rock ledge above the falls allowed passage between Saint Anthony and Minneapolis. Fording was possible when the water levels were low. Dakota also took people across in canoes. A rope ferry crossed from Nicollet Island to Minneapolis starting in 1847, with a short bridge being built from Saint Anthony to Nicollet Island in 1851. In 1852, Franklin Steele (Fort Snelling sutler and aforementioned builder of the first dam for the falls) and his partners, who were in charge of the rope ferry, were granted a charter to build a bridge from Nicollet Island to Minneapolis.

The first bridge was completed in early 1855. It cost “25 cents ($8.64 in 2025) per team of horses and 5 cents ($1.75 in 2025) per pedestrian” (Hennepin Avenue Bridge Wikipedia). From the get-go, the bridge was unable to serve and keep up with the growing population. But, at least, in 1872, the bonds used to build the bridge were paid off, so it became free to use.

Once Saint Anthony and Minneapolis merged, the bridge traffic began to grow even more, so people were frothing at the mouth for a new bridge. A second bridge was completed in February 1877, just north of the first bridge. The first bridge was then demolished.

The third bridge was opened in 1888. This one lasted over 100 years!

That’s a good number of years to say that the bridge might be old and aging. Plans were made for a $28.6 million ($74.3 million in 2025) suspension bridge. This enraged a lot of people, since it was deemed three times as expensive as a close by bridge and unnecessary due to its design.

Hennepin County defended this bridge, as they wanted a landmark. It was eventually granted permission to be built, and was completed in August 1990. 

Ironically, the suspension aspect is redundant and doesn’t really do much to keep it up, but it has been hailed as “elegant”. I mean, it totally looks like Batman could be standing up in one of the towers with his swirling cloak and cowl. It’s a cool looking bridge! It goes really well with the art deco Post Office building.

Off to the left, on the Nicollet Island shore, is the historic Grain Belt sign, one of our most famous beers! Back in 1938, the Minneapolis Brewing Company really wanted to get a leg up on the lifting of Prohibition, so they constructed several such signs around Minneapolis. This particular sign was completed in 1941, and at the time was one of the largest neon signs in the US! It was moved to this location in June of 1950.

Now, let’s cross the river on the bridge over to C on the map.

C is right where you touch land again on Nicollet Island, right at the top of some stairs. Stop. Alas, this is the end of the bridge, as the next bridge down Hennepin Avenue on the other side of the island isn’t considered the same bridge.  It has no Gotham City vibes, therefore, we’re skipping it! C to D

NICOLLET ISLAND Take the stairs down to W Island Ave. Once at the street, turn right and pass the backside of the Grain Belt sign. Cross Eastman Ave. We’re skirting the left side of DeLaSalle High School. I’ve always thought it would be cool to say that my high school was on a tiny island in the Mississippi!

Continue across the railroad tracks. Get a view to the left of the Nicollet Island Silver Railroad Bridge.

Just past the tracks will be a little semi-circular parking lot on the right. Let’s go into it.

On the left side of the semi-circle is a little walking path into some trees. Take this path.

Now, get ready . . . this path is almost like a portal, a thinny, a rip in the fabric of time as we know it.

We’ll start to hear chickens, and general neighborhood activity. We’ll see a backyard on the left. We get almost a rural vibe.

Come out onto Nicollet St. and look to the left (northwest). Stop.

Take your time looking around. The first time I came here, I was speechless.

At first glance, this little neighborhood looks like some Twilight Zone pocket dimension floating in the foreground of a vast cityscape just behind it. Like a slice of a time long forgotten. Like Brainiac’s bottled city of Kandor.

We are standing in a little preserved Victorian-era gathering of houses. Just listen to how the noise of the city has quieted. How the neighborhood’s sounds prevail instead. Sounds of small livestock, maybe the odd holler of a kid, a mother calling for said kid. This place feels like what the comics and cartoons of the 30’s were getting at. Like the Little Rascals could come whoopin’ up the street any minute.

And to think this place was almost razed to the ground in the 1950s.

Before the European settlers, Sioux (Dakota) and Ojibwe people lived on the island. For the Sioux, it was a birthing place, “and according to oral tradition for ceremonies such as the vision quest and as a neutral meeting site.” (Nicollet Island Wikipedia)

The island and the area of the falls opened to settlement in 1838. The first house was built in 1849. As time went on, more houses were built, along with mills galore. By the later decades of the 1800’s it was where the Gilded Age wealthy lived.

A quick aside: if it hadn’t been for all the attempts and final successes at stemming the erosion of the falls during this period, Nicollet Island would have been totally obliterated by now. Six islands had been in the St. Anthony Falls area in the early 1800s, and they’ve all disappeared, save for this one.

From the 1910s, the status of the island declined. It became poor, with slumlords running the residences. In the 1950s, the city was seriously considering razing the historic buildings to be turned into high rise apartments, an amusement park, a “historic village”, and a conservation museum. “City agencies favored using the island to increase recreational space near Downtown.” (Nicollet Island Wikipedia)

In the 1970s, preservationists became involved and put the island on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the rest of the Saint Anthony Falls district.

But even so, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board wanted to raze the buildings to the ground to make park land. Flash forward to 1983, following the continued intervention of the preservationists, a compromise was reached. The houses on the west side of the island would stay up, the east side would be open space. “The Park Board restored the homes on the island and now owns them, but the previous residents were allowed to remain with 99-year leases despite the high cost of restoration.” (Nicollet Island Wikipedia)

Feel free to go up to the cross street, Maple Place, and go to the left and right to see what the rest of the neighborhood has to offer. There’s even a public fire pit at this crossroads. Come back to this fire pit and face the wooded path to the northwest. D to E

Head down the path into the trees. Meander through the little grassy area until you get to Island Avenue. Cross the street and continue on the path, which is in the form of a steep stairway down to the northwest point of the island. When you reach the larger path at the bottom, head over to the bridge on the left. Stop.

This is the historic Butler Ryan Iron Bridge, completed in 1901. Across the river is Boom Island (used to be an island, now isn’t, but the name is better than Boom Land. Actually, scratch that, Boom Land sounds like it’d be a riot. Like a fireworks store in Wisconsin!) a place that was used in the 20th century as a landing area for logs that floated downriver, preparatory to getting utilized in the sawmills nestled in the area.

Turn and go past the stairs and down the path between the hill on the right and the river on the left. You’ll come to the East Channel Railroad Bridge. Stop. Have I been out on the bridge Stand By Me style? Since Loreways is a public business, I can neither confirm nor deny. I’ll just say that reminding you about the end of that scene in Stand By Me might be the best thing to say. The tracks ARE still used, at least past the unused spur in front of us. “RUN, MOVE IT, VERN!!!!!!!” (Hey, at least they found out when the next train was due?)

Walk to the right and we’ve come back to E Island Avenue. Continue on the sidewalk southeast across the train tracks and toward the overpass down the street. On our right is DeLaSalle High School again. Head under the bridge (1st Ave.) and the next one (Hennepin Ave.).

We’ll come out next to a three story stone building with a parking lot on the right. Come to Merriam Street and turn right to go to the front entrance of the Nicollet Island Inn.

This is our E destination. Stop.

This Inn is in a building constructed in 1893 as the Island Sash and Door Company. It closed in 1899 and became a hub for several milling companies. It fell into disrepair, and in the late 1970s the Minneapolis Park and Recreation District bought it and turned it into the Nicollet Island Inn. The Inn is a romantic hotel with a super fancy fine dining restaurant. Mark this place down in your Date Ideas notes, hopeful romantics . . . E to F to E

This stretch of the walk is a bit off road from the map.

Cross the road directly across Merriam Street to the southeast and head to the southeastern tip of the island, passing the Nicollet Island Pavilion on the right. The tip is our F destination.

But here’s where you can meander off the road and make a clockwise rotation around the Pavilion. Traversing the boardwalk area, we’ll be able to get a close up view of the Upper Dam. Take in the view from the top of the falls.

Continue clockwising around the Pavilion until you come back to E. E to G

Head slightly northeast down Merriam Street across the Merriam Street Bridge. Halfway across it, stop. Another historical bridge! This bridge was originally built in 1887 and was a super fancy bridge, with finials on each top corner with scrolls, crosses and lines between. One side of this former fanciness was preserved on the east side of the bridge built in 1987 (the mainland side).

SAINT ANTHONY MAIN

Continue across the bridge to the mainland. Stop.

You’ve reached one of the most romantic and unique spots in all of the Cities! This cobblestoned remnant of the Victorian Turn-of-the-Century era has so many gems. In the early 2000s, due to several condos being built nearby (they’re everywhere on this side of the river!), an effort to have a really nice riverfront area was undertaken, “resulting in a movie theater, four bars and restaurants, a small cafe, design firms, and a Segway tour operator”. (St. Anthony Main Wikipedia) It is actually really amusing to watch the Segways (operated by Human on a Stick, nice) going around this area. Who knew that Segways would become the primary mode of transport for Mall Cops the world over (and overly arrogant HOA representatives when they’re not using their golf carts)? And as the name implies, what are they Seg"way"ing between? Bikes to hoverboards? Treadmills to those Jet Packs that spew water out of the leg platform and the individual arms? Anyhew, this isn’t why you called.

Some of these buildings date back to the 1850s. Which is a great segue (eh?) to . . .

As mentioned earlier, Saint Anthony was the first town to be settled along the falls in 1849. The west bank was opened for settlement in 1852 (Minneapolis). Between the two towns, 16 sawmills were built, eventually turning into flour mills. In 1872, the two towns merged into Minneapolis.

This side of the river almost seems like it was forgotten since they discarded the Saint Anthony name and focused on Minneapolis. Which benefits us today! All of these repurposed buildings add so much charm and uniqueness to the area.

If you are going at your own pace, there are the aforementioned bars and cafe to peruse. The views of downtown Minneapolis across the river as you sip on a drink of some kind is on a different level here. I personally like Aster House and Aster Cafe the most. But there is also FRGMNT Coffee (which has a really great atrium), The Cabana Club, Hideaway Cabin Bar and Jefe Urban Cocina.

RESTROOMS: If neccesary, there are public restrooms in the building housing Aster Cafe.

Mosey down SE Main Street past all of these great places. Head under the 3rd Avenue Bridge again. You’ll reach the G destination across the street from The Cabana Club. Stop.

Here, if the gate is open, feel free to go off-road again and traverse the pathway going toward the river. In fact, I insist you take this path! It leads you to the Xcel Energy Water Power Park. The reason I insist on going down this path is that it literally takes you RIGHT UP TO THE FALLS CLOSE AND PERSONAL!!!! This is it, the reason all of this, everything you see, is here!!!!!

You’ll feel the power of the water that so many used to harness for their mills, that we currently use for power in general. No wonder all of that industry grew here.

But here you’ll also understand the phrase “St. Anthony Falls WAS the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi River”. It’s no longer natural. It’s a human made dam. Which . . . okay, mixed feelings about that. It is what it is? That feels like a cop out (picture Larry David confusedly weighing his options).

But now, you’re feeling the power of the falls, the Big Bang of the Twin Cities!!!! It’s invigorating!!!

Once you get all the POWER you can handle, head back to SE Main Street. Once there, stop.

G to H

Once at SE Main Street, turn right and continue southeast. Cross SE 3rd Ave. Stop.

The building across the street used to be the Pillsbury A-Mill. Finished in 1881, it was the largest flour mill in the world for 40 years. It was able to produce 17,500 barrels a day “at a time when a 500-barrel mill was considered large”. (Pillsbury A-Mill Wikipedia) Production ceased in 2003. It lay in disuse for ten years until it was converted into 251 affordable live/work artist lofts, A-Mill Artist Lofts.

Continue walking on Main. Just ahead, we’ll reach the H destination. You’ll see a little post with “Heritage Trail” and “Lower Trail” signs. Stop at the post. If you’re feeling up to it, take the Lower Trail. This will bring you down to Hennepin Island, where presides the Hennepin Island Hydroelectric Plant that we saw in the Water Power Park which converts the water flow into usable power.

This area also affords a chance to get down to the water and walk amongst the ruins of old mills. There are two main out and back trails; one goes near the hydroelectric plant, the other goes down just underneath the Stone Arch Bridge.

If we’re lucky, we might see a beaver hanging around! Once, I was down here and had to sign nature’s guest book after hanging at one of the restaurants up top (as one does and is wont to do). In the middle of my cursive signage I looked to my left and not four feet away was a beaver sitting on its tail chewing on something. It legit looked like we were temporary public bathroom mates. It was staring off to the left, perhaps thinking in exasperation about all of the flowing water nearby that it couldn’t possibly control. I finished, it looked at me with a comical rodent “Eh?” face, we both paused. I couldn’t help but nod and say “‘Scuse me,” before going farther down the path, leaving the beaver to yet ponder the intricacies of fluid dynamics.

Head back up the stairs to where the sign post is, back to the street. Stop at the top.

H to I

Continue to the right, southeast on Main. When we’re equivalent with the end of the A-Mill Lofts, take the path that forks off to the right and hugs the wooded cliffside. Go past the bandshell and reach a T-junction with a major pathway leading from a parking lot to the Stone Arch Bridge. We’ve reached the I destination. Stop. I to J

STONE ARCH BRIDGE

Head out onto the iconic Stone Arch Bridge. Once out on it a good ways, stop.

This is the second oldest bridge on the Mississippi after the Eads Bridge that connects St. Louis, Missouri to East St. Louis, Illinois. A former railroad bridge, it was completed in 1883 by James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway. It ceased to be used as a railroad bridge in 1978, was in a period of disuse, then repaired and transformed into a pedestrian and bike bridge.

In the summer, Minneapolis holds the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts here and in the nearby park we just walked through (Father’s Day weekend). Fireworks during the Fourth of July and the Minneapolis Aquatennial (late July) are lit off of Hennepin Island below.

A couple of landmarks to note:

First, the blue building on the downtown side that looks like a giant sewing machine is the Guthrie Theater, our premiere theater venue. It has three stages, several bars, and is home to the aforementioned Indigea by Owamni restaurant. The building really pays homage to the river and is one of the loveliest places to see live theater that I’ve ever been to.

The second landmark:

The next bridge directly to the east is the I-35W bridge, which catastrophically collapsed on August 1, 2007. It resulted in 13 deaths and 145 injuries. The cause was a design flaw in the gusset plates. Over the years, resurfacing projects increased the weight of the bridge by 20%. Plus, nearly 300 tons of construction equipment and materials were staged on the bridge deck for an upcoming concrete pour.

I remember the day it happened. I was leaving work in nearby Dinkytown, a few blocks from the bridge. Just after 6pm I heard what sounded like a really loud low flying military jet getting closer. Then the sound just . . . stopped.

I remarked to my coworker, “What the hell was that?! Sounded like a jet just disappeared.” We both shrugged it off and set off for home.

Driving home on the third bridge up from the river (8th Street) I noticed dust everywhere and no cars going northbound, southbound was a quagmire of stopped traffic. The bridge sits juuuuuust beyond sight of the I-35W Bridge. Home was five minutes from there.

I get in and my roommates had the news playing on the TV. I quickly got back in the car and drove back to work, ran over to the bridge as close as I could go.

It was a tangle of green metal, collapsed pyres of concrete. It looked like a scene from Independence Day or 2012. Absolutely horrific. The scene was under control by authorities, but it was chilling. It was my first experience in dealing with huge, real, terrifying moments in the Twin Cities, setting up a way to deal with what was to come over the next two decades (George Floyd and Operation Metro Surge, for example). Moments like these happen all over the world, but in the context of the USA I’d say this area has seen a higher concentration of harrowing moments. And it shows on the resilient population. We’re hardened by it, but it has really made us closer and more neighborly. You hear about us in the news and think “Boy, that place must be a war zone!” Quite the opposite. We protect each other here, but overall, it’s a beautiful region occupied in overcoming ugliness and hardship in a way that makes us humbly proud to live here. I love this town(s).

Continue across the bridge until we get to our J destination. Once at the area where we started the loop, stop.

END

We’ve just completed the entirety of the Saint Anthony Falls Loop!!!

This concludes Section 1: The Origin of the Twin Cities!

I hope you’ve gained some knowledge of our history; the up and coming story of the mills and our booming industry, the booms in our history (explosions, water disasters, collapsing bridges), and have gotten a taste of the mentality of the Twin Cities population as shaped by this history. Hopefully, you dug the different feel of the zones we walked through (downtown, Nicollet Island, Saint Anthony Main, Hennepin Island, the Stone Arch Bridge)! I love a tour with variety.

Section 1 may be over, but our Loreway as a whole is not even a quarter finished! The urban vibe so far is about to change to one with a lush green major park feel. A nice change of pace with some much deserved rest, here and there, ahead. Head on over to Section 2 to start on our journey out of downtown towards the beautiful Minnehaha Falls area!

***Information gathered for this tour, and if you desire to read more, come from these sources: Saint Anthony Falls (Wikipedia)

Hennepin Avenue Bridge (Wikipedia)

Grain Belt Beer Sign (Wikipedia) Nicollet Island (Wikipedia) Butler Ryan Iron Bridge Nicollet Island Inn (Wikipedia) Merriam Street Bridge Saint Anthony Main (Wikipedia) Pillsbury A-Mill (Wikipedia) Stone Arch Bridge (Wikipedia)

CLICK HERE TO HEAD TO SECTION 2: LIGHT (RAIL) SPEED!