Mill Ruins Park | Field 2 Field

Boom Island Park in Minneapolis is one of my favorite places to explore in the Twin Cities. In fact, it was the first place I went to when I got bit by the exploring bug. Well, now that Derrick moved to Minnesota, it’s time to start showing him some of my favorite places in the Twin Cities (and there are a LOT of them).

The park actually gets its name from the island that it once was. The island was named for the booms that were used to separate logs floated down the Mississippi River to sawmills powered by St. Anthony Falls (another of my favorite spots). Each log cut along the tributaries of the Mississippi River was “branded” by each lumber company that put its own stamp on the end of is logs.

One of the things I love about Boom Island Park is the big city is on one side, the green (it will be at some point!) and the wide open space of the park on the other side. (Photo by Chad Smith)

They were separated using the stamps and directed to the right mill by men working from Boom Island. The sawmills at the falls were eventually replaced by flour mills. What remains of those flour mills makes up Mill Ruins Park, yet another great place to explore in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

What I love most about the park, besides just how big it is, is the fact that it’s set up next to the Mississippi River. You’ve got the big city on one side, and the open areas of the park on the other side.

The land ceased to be an island a while ago due to a buildup of silt and sawdust. It was bought by the park board with funds from the state legislature through the Metropolitan Council in 1982. The land was bought from a construction company for $2.6 million. That land had been targeted for acquisition in the 1978 plan for the development of the central riverfront as a park by the Riverfront Development Coordinating Board.

At one point, the RDCB even considered converting the land to an island once again, but they decided against it because of the cost. The first phase of the park was dedicated in 1987.

Isn’t this a remarkable old bridge at Boom Island Park? (Photo by Chad Smith)

One of my other favorite parts of the park is an old railroad bridge, originally built in 1901 to Nicollet Island, was converted into a bicycle and pedestrian bridge. The bridge was repaired and restored in 2018.

And here is the old railroad bridge. The MOTHER LODE for this old urban explorer.

What I was most surprised at that day is how many people took hiking trips up and down the tracks. (Photo by Chad Smith)

Here’s the link to my Facebook photo album.

Mill ruins are so much fun to explore. Minnesota seems to have its share of these old buildings scattered around the state. Time to Explore Minnesota. We’ve all seen or heard the commercials from time to time, haven’t we?

Well, as I’ve unfortunately had a little more free time lately (thanks COVID-19), I’ve taken that commercial a little more to heart than I have in the past. And yes, I’m keeping socially distant. Instead of feet, my distance between me and other carbon-based lifeforms stretches for miles, okay?

After exploring an abandoned farm that didn’t have much left to it, I was off to Hastings next to see their Old Mill Park. That kind of thing is even more interesting to me after spending a couple days poking around Mill Ruins Park in the Twin Cities. While this one wasn’t as big as Mill Ruins Park, the history was just as interesting.

It turns out this is all that’s left of the old Ramsey Mill in Hastings, built back in the mid-1800s. My first thought as I was walking down the path to the old structures was “man they’re tall!” And I was more right than I first knew. The old mill was no less than four stories tall. Alexander Ramsey and Dr. Thomas Foster built it right next to the Vermillion River.

The big structure was called a “grist” mill. What that means is it ground cereal grains into flour and what were called “middlings.” Those are the parts that aren’t flour. Middlings are a good source of protein, fiber, phosphorus, and other nutrients. People use them to produce foods like pasta, breakfast cereals, puddings, and couscous for humans, as well as fodder for livestock and pets. How about that? You and I learned something today. I didn’t know what middlings were either.

It’s interesting that Ramsey actually sold his interest in the business in 1877 but the place still retained his name. The mill would operate for another two decades before a fire broke out in late 1894. A Wiki article says it unfortunately may have been arson. It was really too bad because the mill had just cranked up its production to 125 barrels a day, higher than it had ever done before.

The Ramsey Mill was hit by a fire in 1894. While there isn’t much of the physical structure left, there’s still a lot of history there. (Photo by Chad Smith)

I don’t actually know when it shut down officially. The oldest photo I could find online was in 1902, when folks in Hastings were already calling it the “Ramsey Mill Ruins.”

As I was leaving the Old Mill Park, I glanced off to the right and saw the most remarkable little tree that seems to be growing right out of the end of the overhang. Those trees can grow in the strangest places, can’t they?

Tag: Mill Ruins Park

Boom Island in Minneapolis – Take Two

Mill ruins explore in Hastings, Minnesota