Mississippi River

Horace Cleveland's Vision

— The 125th Historical Marker Project —

Photographed By McGhiever, June 11, 2020

1. Mississippi River: Horace Cleveland's Vision marker

Within weeks of its inception in 1883, the Park Board hired H.W.S. Cleveland, a prominent landscape architect, to create a comprehensive plan for the development of parks in Minneapolis.

Cleveland expressed his vision for large parks connected by a system of pleasure drives to take advantage of existing natural features. The realization of this central idea is a hallmark of our park system today.

In particular, Cleveland was passionate about protecting the city's "jewel," the Mississippi River Gorge south of St. Anthony Falls. He describes:

"The banks of the river on both sides for some miles below the city have a height of 150 or 200 feet and appear almost precipitous... these banks are covered with a magnificent growth of trees and shrubbery, assuming all the picturesque forms... which no art could imitate. I observed luxuriant growth of elm, oak, linden, ash, butternut, cottonwood, birch, cherry, willow and hornbeam, together with a few groups of grand specimens of white pine and a rich undergrowth of hazel, sumac, alder, serviceberry, dogwood, cornel, red-berried elder and a profusion of wild grape vines. At frequent intervals on both sides, pure and abundant springs burst from the hillsides..."

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(1883).

Acting immediately upon Cleveland's plan, the Park Board acquired the first riverfront property, 20 acres of land for Riverside Park, in its first year. Land purchases on the riverfront continued until all of both banks of the river within the city, from Franklin Avenue to Minnehaha Creek, were under the protection of the Park Board.

Continuing the Vision...
In the 1970s, the Park Board and City looked at its central riverfront with rail yards and aging and vacant industrial buildings, and developed a plan to re-invigorate the riverfront by expanding public green space and access to the Mississippi River and St. Anthony Falls.

Since then, significant progress has been made. Opening Mill Ruins Park, re-dedicating the Stone Arch Bridge for recreational use and establishing a new Park Board headquarters building are highlights. Public investment in green infrastructure has resulted in more than $1 billion in private investments, including restaurants, housing, theatres and museums.

In 2005, the Park Board looked farther up the river and saw more intensive industrial businesses. A new vision was captured in the Above the Falls Master Plan. This document charts the future for the northern portion of the Mississippi River, focusing on connecting to the river with a series of parks and restoring the natural features that Cleveland

Photographed By McGhiever, June 11, 2020

2. Marker beside bike path along West River Parkway