Address

425 West River Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55401

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Hours

The outside park is open from 6 AM to midnight

The Water Works Pavilion building and programming hours are 10 AM to 8 PM (the building is open during programming hours)

Contact

Phone: 612-230-6400
Emailwaterworks@minneapolisparks.org

Programming and Activities

Water Works

Park Hours: 6:00 am – midnight
Daily Staffed Building Hours:
10:00 am – 8:00 pm seven days a week

Come enjoy the lawn with a fun game, grab a book or check out all the great programs happening throughout the summer at www.minneapolisparks.org/downtown

Indoor

  • Dine-in Indigenous cuisine from Owámni by The Sioux Chef
  • Carefully preserved mill remnants from Bassett’s Sawmill and Columbia Flour Mill
  • Visitor Center Welcome Desk
  • Lenzmeier Family Foundation Classroom
  • Six bathrooms, three fully accessible
  • Water fountain and water bottle filler
  • Adult-sized changing table

Outdoor

  • General Mills Plaza with three gas firepits
  • Bank of America City Steps with social seating and terraced green spaces
  • Columbia Terrace with outdoor dining space and event lawn overlooking St. Anthony Falls
  • Nature Play Lab, nature-themed playground for small children
  • Mezzanine lawn with open green space overlooking St. Anthony Falls
  • Stone remnant walls from Occidental and Columbia mills
  • Industrial relics unearthed during construction
  • Street/trail connection called a woonerf connects to Second Street
  • Native plants, many with medicinal and edible properties

This project is part of RiverFirst, a generational vision for transforming 11 miles of once-industrial Mississippi Riverfront into a welcoming place for all people through improved habitat and miles of new interconnected parks and trails.

Size: Two stories, 7,800 square feet

Neighborhood: Downtown West

Commissioner District4

Did you know?

We offer programming at neighborhood recreation centers throughout Minneapolis.

Reserve Water Works

Host an event at Water Works! With flexible layouts for groups from 4 to 40 Water Works has options to suit your next special occasion, meeting or gathering.  Contact us for more information.

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

Outdoor Weddings: Make your outdoor ceremony unique and memorable. View wedding permit details.

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

People have gathered at Owámniiyomni (St. Anthony Falls) for thousands of years. It was a prime place for encampments by the Dakhóta, Ho-Chunk, and Ojibwe due to the proximity to a place of spiritual power, traditional routes, and locations for harvesting foods such as maple sugar and cranberries. Even after the European settlement of the cities of St. Anthony and Minneapolis, Native peoples continued to stay at the Falls through the 1860s, when they were forcibly relocated to reservations.

Minneapolis grew around industrial development on the Mississippi River. Loggers gathered for work at the city’s saw mills, then some of the world’s largest flour mills were built, harnessing the power of the river as the city continued to grow. Water Works showcases carefully excavated mill remnants from the Bassett Sawmill, which was built in 1870 and burned in 1897, and Columbia Flour Mill, which was built in 1882 and collapsed in 1941.

The decline of riverfront industry in the mid-20th century was followed by a central riverfront revitalization, led by the Fuji Ya restaurant. When it opened in 1968, Fuji Ya was the first new building in an abandoned industrial area of Minneapolis, spurring the beginning of a riverfront redevelopment period that continues to this day. Beams salvaged from the Fuji Ya building were used to build the staircase in the Water Works Pavilion.

Acquisition and Development: MPRB bought the site in 1990 after Fuji Ya moved. It was during an era of riverfront park development that saw the Stone Arch Bridge transition from railroad to pedestrian and bike use, an expansion of trails on West River Parkway and the development of Boom Island Park.

The site lay dormant for more than 20 years. Following an international riverfront park design competition in 2010, the MPRB launched RiverFirst, a generational vision for transforming areas of once-industrial Mississippi Riverfront into a welcoming place for all people through improved habitat and miles of new interconnected parks and trails. Water Works was one of the first projects identified through RiverFirst.

Other RiverFirst projects include Hall’s Island, a habitat-rich island and gravel beach restored in 2018 after it was destroyed by 1960s industrial expansion, and the 26th Avenue North Overlook, a new North Minneapolis river overlook and trail connection that also opened in 2021.

Construction on Water Works started with archeological investigation that began in 2017. Park and pavilion construction began in 2019, and the project was completed in the summer of 2021.