Mill Ruins Park
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board
You are watching the creation of a unique new park destination. Mill
Ruings Park will be the crown jewel of the Minneapolis riverfront, a
unique place which will be both fun and educational. Its development
symbolizes the return o f the city to its roots, celebrating the river
and St. Anthony Falls, the only true waterfall along the entire course
of the Mississippi River.
The falls and the waterpower they provide are the reason for the
founding of Minneapolis and its growth and prosperity throughout
the Nineteenth Century. The park will tell this story through exposing
the historic mill foundation walls and waterpower features, long
buried beneath many feet of sand and gravel. It will also be a wonderful
recreational destination on the river with landscaping, picnic areas,
and views of the falls and the stone arch bridge. With the reopening of
the historic tailrace canal. Visitors will have the opportunity to interact
directly with an exciting water feature.
Park development will occur in four semi-independent phases, each one
of which can stand alone as an enjoyable park experience.
-The first phase of park construction, currently underway, focuses on the lower tailrace
area, reopening the historic tailrace canal which carried water from the mill turbines back
to the river and uncovering portions of the historic mill foundation walls. bicycle and
pedestrian path links to the Stone Arch Bridge and up- and down-river along West River
Parkway will be created. Additional mill walls will be excavated and more paths and
interpretive features will be installed in 2003.
-The canal plank road, which will recreate the wood "lid" which once capped the water
inflow canal powering the mills, will b ebuilt in 2002. The plank road will form a portion of
West River Parkway between Portland Avenue and the grain elevators. Later, vertical
interpretive features will bring to life the towering facades of the mills on the north side
of the road, now demolished, as well as an overhead ralroad trestle.
-A later phase will address the gatehouse/headrace canal area, west of Portland Avenue where
water entered the canal system from the river. This will include reopening of the headrace canal,
reconstruction of the historic gatehouse, interpretive features, and potential hydropower generation.
-An ongoing archaeological education laboratory will offer hands-on involvement for children and
adults in the excavation and documentation of the internal foundations of mills currently buried
along the steep slope on the north (river) side of the parkway. Programming for this major public
educational opportunity will be developed jointly with the Minnesota Historical Society's planned
Heritage Center.
