About the Falls

The Falls will serve as a recreational and cultural hub that at last makes our river the center of the community rather than its edge. It will contribute to civic and state identity and lead to a more connected and inclusive riverfront.

Though we have generous riverfront parkland, there are still very few moments where the river and the city come together in a way that achieves an authentic sense of connectivity. The Falls will be one of those moments. The Falls can deliver new access to the Mississippi for fishing, hiking and boating, as well as outdoor learning, events and celebrations, and peaceful enjoyment of the river.

Design and programming will shine a light on Native American history and experience, and a resilient Native culture that has produced important contemporary voices in the arts, literature, business, planning, and government.

St. Anthony Falls is the cradle of a great Indigenous society, which thrived for hundreds of generations. The Dakota and other Native American communities sanctified the Falls as one of two sacred Indigenous sites on the Upper Mississippi.

Spirit Island was one of three islands that existed downstream of the Falls. It held great significance to the Dakota people, but white settlers quarried the island for limestone to provide building materials for many of the mills in the area. The narrow jetty south of the Upper Lock is all that remains of Spirit Island today.

The Falls Initiative is one of many transformative riverfront projects within the Twin Cities and across the state. Each project is valuable alone, but taken together they represent a much larger gesture that will place the Mississippi River firmly at the center of the Minnesota experience.

Upriver, city redevelopment projects are underway at Upper Harbor Terminal and the Grain Belt district. The Minneapolis Park Foundation’s signature RiverFirst projects are underway at 26th Avenue North, Halls Island, and Water Works Park. MNDOT is undertaking crucial work to care for the Stone Arch Bridge, which lands at the Falls and continues on as a walking and biking path through Water Works Park. The emergence in the last couple years of a new water taxi service, and the National Park Service’s Paddle Share kayak rental (now available at numerous sites between Coon Rapids Dam in the north, to Boom Island at the Central Riverfront) sparks the imagination about the future vibrancy of water trails and public docks on the Upper River.

The Falls will be a destination feature of the 10-state Great River Road, a National Scenic Byway. It will draw visitors to discover our city, state, and region at an iconic downtown waterfront location with both cultural and scenic richness. The facility will be a gateway to the Mississippi National River Recreation Area, our river National Park.