Geography is Everywhere

Dr. Bob Douglas took a break from a show at the Guthrie Theater to point out the significance of St. Anthony Falls, Nicollet Island, and the Stone Arch Bridge to the historical geography of the Upper Midwest. St. Anthony Falls is the only waterfall on the Mississippi River and powered the industrial development of Minneapolis. Nicollet Island provided an ideal location for the first bridge across the Mississippi River which opened in 1855. The Stone Arch bridge was built in 1883 for James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway. It was used by the famed Empire Builder train that ran from Chicago to Seattle. It is now listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.