A Sept. 19 ribbon-cutting on the west bank of the Mississippi River marked the official opening of a 10-year-long project with a 42-year history as it became Minneapolis’ newest public park.
The project includes the restoration of one mile of natural shoreline, an overlook to the island heron rookery and the Park Board’s first-ever “living ephemeral stream,” a water feature that sits above the water table and flows because of precipitation or snowmelt.
At 20 acres, Upper Harbor Park is one of the largest additions to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB)’s system in decades. It is part of a 53-acre initiative to transform a large section of the North Minneapolis riverfront, making it more accessible to neighborhood residents.
Officials and residents attended the September 19 ribbon cutting for Upper Harbor Park, between 33rd Avenue and 39th Avenue N. This most recent public park has been in development for 10 years. (Mark Peterson)
An “important milestone”
Superintendent Al Bangoura said the opening was “an incredibly important milestone” for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in North Minneapolis, and for the larger Upper Harbor project. He thanked former and present members of the Board of Commissioners who supported the project through numerous required negotiations and approvals.
Also noted were the City of Minneapolis, the city’s Community Planning & Economic Development agency, the Department of Public Works, the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and the project’s development partners, United Properties and First Avenue. Bangoura also noted the help of Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (District 59) and Rep. Fue Lee (District 59A) saying, “Without them, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Bangoura added that he wanted to recognize North Minneapolis residents, community leaders and the organizations who, he said, helped shape what the riverfront could become. “We’re so grateful for the love for our park system and for the support and incredible gratitude to our community.”
MPRB General Counsel Brian Rice recalled an event in 1984, when the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County and Northern States Power had brokered an agreement to turn what has become this present park site “into a refuse-derived fuel center with 200 trucks a day coming into this very property to separate commercial and residential waste. If that had happened, we’d be standing next to a big facility for separating garbage, and next to a conveyor belt across the Mississippi River, the greatest river on the North American continent, as feedstock for energy at the NSP plant,
“But for that act, North Minneapolis and the east side of Minneapolis would have been condemned to another half-century of industrialization, instead of being on the verge of the roofing factory GAF selling their property and turning it into a recreational use.” The GAF shingle plant, which operated in the area for decades, ceased operations in February 2026.
Board of Commissioners President Tom Olsen called the occasion “one of those wonderful moments for an elected official,” adding that it was up to the board and future park leaders to “continue to see the vision, to continue to activate the space, to continue to make sure that this is a thriving North Minneapolis space.” Olsen pointed to I-94 and how it has separated North Minneapolis and its community from the riverfront. But he said he saw “Future parkland, future housing and future community gathering spaces.”
Olsen recognized community partners, including Indigenous community members who shared perspectives and “ensured that we were staying true to Mississippi River and the history of the area.” Olsen also recognized cultural organizations, environmental advocates and several Minneapolis neighborhood organizations, including McKinley, Hawthorne, Bottineau, Marshall Terrace, Weber Camden and the North Side Neighborhood Council, among others. He also noted Juxtaposition Arts, UROC, Pillsbury United Communities and the Environmental Justice Coordinating Council, along with the Upper Harbor Community Advisory Committee.
From a trail to a park
MPRB Commissioner-at-Large and former President Meg Forney said, “We are here today noting the transformations from the Red River Ox Cart Trail to a floating timbers highway to a barge alley, and prior to these ebbs and tides, the Dakota treated all as a relative for both animals, plants, people to thrive and not to extract. But this is no longer a terminus, but instead a beginning of access.”
Forney said Asian carp shaped the area’s evolution. Due to their invasive nature, she said, it took an act of Congress to shut down three dams, terminating the need and use of the land. She added that she was grateful “for the visionaries that put in place plans for a new use, or actually a reuse, of Mother Nature’s creation from glaciers and their melting and carving out this terra firma we stand on today.”
Upper Harbor Park is in the 72-acre Mississippi National River Park and Recreation Area. The area is a protected corridor through the Twin Cities metropolitan area dedicated to the Mississippi River. An interim river report in 1970 led to the Upper River Plan and the Above the Falls plan that passed through the state legislature. The City of Minneapolis, through MPRB, the Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership advocates and the River First Initiative that focused on enacting financing were largely responsible for saving the land.
Forney noted that many people and organizations have helped make the river fully accessible, from the preservationist vision of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to MPRB’s assistant superintendent of planning, Al Whitman, Ralph Rapson, Roger Martin, John Derus and river advocate Mary Jamin MacGuire. Also recognized were Ann Calvert, the Friends of the Mississippi, Chuck Watts, Irene Jones and MPRB historian John Anfinson, who served the Corps of Engineers.
Sen. Bobby Joe Champion said, “When this project started, this stretch of the Mississippi was not accessible to our communities. Imagine being from North Minneapolis and not be able to see the river from here. You knew that it was there, but you couldn’t see it. But now we have access to it. We can touch it. We can feel the mighty roar of these waters, and I think that is really wonderful. What is significant about that is that there are so many people who thought about us even before we were standing here today, thought about kids and families who could run and play and have access to this great river, and that this river project showcases and gives people in North Minneapolis communities as well as people across the city and across the region access to this beautiful new area. Great things seldom come easy.”
Rep. Fue Lee recalled his first meeting about securing state funding, saying that as a “first-termer” he was hesitant to ask for $15 million. In 2018, Lee took the House Capital Investment Committee to the proposed site. “It was just an abandoned barge terminal, so there wasn’t really much for us to see,” he said. But Lee said he was glad to see that the plan would keep some of the relics from the past, “So my kids and those after me can actually still learn the history of this terminal and this area as we move forward.”
“As we continue to develop not just this part, but as we move forward with the Community Performance Arts Center,” Lee said, “we’re going to have folks from across the country coming to visit North Minneapolis, which will really benefit the entire state of Minnesota.”
Invasive threats and development
Mississippi Watershed Management Organization Executive Director Kevin Reich reminded the audience that Asian carp once threatened to destroy the waterway. “We knew that there could be something special here, but you’ve got to step up. You cannot do the normal kind of development. You have to think differently, and with the partnerships that have been described well, the watershed district thinks that way. The MWMO has no authority except for bringing partners together, and the water doesn’t care about whose jurisdiction it is.
“The first move with MPRB,” Reich continued, “was to claim one mile of the riverfront to integrate the water management. It’s not just a bunch of pipes. It’s actually the thing that brings this site alive. It’s not just infrastructure; it’s honoring the water.”
Speaking of a nearby water feature, he said that it is “actually (accomplishing) two things”: first, it “cleans the water before it goes anywhere” and, second, it “demonstrates that water does something very, very valuable to all of us. It provides life, and that’s not just a fountain. That is a living stream. It wants to be honored and utilized in a positive way … That’s River First. We integrated the water management.”
Reich said that, given the location next to the river and the scale of the Upper Harbor redevelopment area, this was a top-priority project site for the park board.
MWMO worked closely with MPRB from the project’s beginning, contributing to concept designs, technical assistance and providing funding that enabled many of the project’s developments.