Why go
Look at the river’s two banks as more than a scenic divide. The falls drew military mills and later private industry, while land acquisition and Dakota displacement opened the way for the settlements that became Minneapolis and Saint Anthony. Their eventual union explains the modern city’s two-bank form.
The full story
Dakota communities lived in the region before the arrival of French explorers and the expansion of United States authority. Federal land claims and treaties pressed the Mdewakanton Dakota to cede land, enabling settlers to move into the area. Fort Snelling, established near the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers in 1819, became a military base that influenced settlement farther upriver. Saint Anthony Falls was another decisive site: its water power supported mills, and the falls marked a limit of commercial river navigation before later engineering altered the river. Settlement developed on both sides. Saint Anthony grew on the east bank, while Minneapolis took shape on the west. Minneapolis became a city in 1867 and joined Saint Anthony in 1872. A visit to the falls is therefore a way to see where river geography, colonial expansion and early industry met, while remembering whose land was taken.