I live really close to Nicollet Island and love to take walks around it. It’s so quiet and secluded that for a few minutes you can forget that you are right in the middle of a huge city. Most people pass right over it as they cross over the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, but the island has so much history. Originally a sacred site for the Sioux and Ojibwe, it was used as a birthing location. The island was opened for settlement in 1838 and the first house was build in 1849. There are now three multi-family residential buildings and 43 historic homes.  The  The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Bridge was built in 1867 as the first cross-river railroad bridge in Minneapolis and has since gone through a number of modifications.

See more photos from my walk here.