What Does the Future Hold for St. Anthony Falls?
Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 2:53PM
What does the future hold for St. Anthony Falls?
That is the main question to be addressed in a panel discussion titled “Water Over the Dam: The Past, Present, and Future of St. Anthony Falls.” The discussion, co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership (MRP) and Preserve Minneapolis, will take place at the Mill City Museum, 704 S 2nd St, Minneapolis, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 6-7:30 p.m., as part of MRP’s Riverfront Vitality Forum series.
The public is invited. Admission is free. To allow for planning, registration is encouraged.
When the Army purchased land from Dakota Indians for Fort Snelling in 1805, they made sure the land parcel included St. Anthony Falls. The falls was essential as a source of power to saw timber and grind wheat into flour. Over the next 150 years, industrialists used the power of the falls to build our mighty Mill City. Today, the falls represent different things to different people: a tourist attraction, a pleasant view from their living rooms or the center of a vital cultural heritage.
“With so much interest in the downtown riverfront, events such as this are essential,” says MRP executive director Kathleen Boe. “It’s vital to talk about the different ways our community depends on the water flowing over St. Anthony Falls and I look forward to the discussion.”
The panel members include:
• Peggy E. Lucas, co-founder of Brighton Development and U of M Regent.
• Darlene St. Clair, professor of American Indian Studies at St. Cloud State University.
• Dan Dressler, public programs manager, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, part of the National Park Service.
• Neal Route, development associate for Dominium, owners of the Pillsbury A-Mill.
• Moderator: Richard Kronick, architectural historian and Preserve Minneapolis board member.
Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing diverse community partners together to shape a vital role for the Mississippi River in enhancing the economic, social and natural life of the City of Minneapolis and to ensure that this development benefits all segments of the community.
Preserve Minneapolis is a nonprofit organization that promotes and celebrates Minneapolis’s historic architectural and cultural resources through advocacy, education, and public engagement.
