Bohemian Flats Park

Annual Patron Parking Permit: Enjoy parking privileges in specially designated spaces at some of our most popular regional parks. View parking permit details.

Outdoor Use and Event Space: Learn how to reserve park space for corporate events, community celebrations, and more.

Parkway Use: You must obtain a permit for special use of the parkway including closures, and dumpsters, trucks, limousines or carriages on the parkway. View parkway permit details.

Private Charters: Private Charters on the Mississippi River available through Paradise Charter Cruises.

Canoe/Kayak Storage Rack Permit: An annual permit allows you to store your canoe or kayak. View canoe/kayak permit details.

Food Truck Permit: City of Minneapolis licensed food truck operators can apply for a one-day permit at this park. View food truck permit details.

Bohemian Flats was formerly a residential area. About the time city was incorporated (1867), immigrants seeking employment in Minneapolis or at the St. Anthony mills began settling there.

The Washington Avenue Bridge was constructed over the area in 1884, linking central Minneapolis with the campus of the University of Minnesota, on the east bank of the river. By 1900, the 100 homes, a few stores, and a church created what many described as an Old World-style village below the University.

In 1915, Minneapolis began its effort to evict residents of the flats. Residents fought to keep their homes, but by 1925, one-fourth of the population was forced to move in order to accommodate the initial stages of development for barges along the flats. The City of Minneapolis conducted more evictions through the 1930s and 1940s to make way for coal storage and oil tanks, and by the late 1960s, all remainders of the residential history of the Bohemian Flats had ceased to exist.

The area became a park in the 1980s with the extension of West River Parkway. It was used to house wreckage from the collapsed I-35W bridge from 2007 to 2010. The park was used as a staging area for the Franklin Bridge reconstruction from 2015 to 2017. In 2018 it became a new nursery site to stage young trees to be planted by park board forestry in the spring.

Park history compiled and written by David C. Smith and MPRB staff, with additional information from the University of Minnesota.