City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 519 Oak Grove St.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
33. High Bridge
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: The High Bridge is a landmark that provides one of the best views of downtown St. Paul. The original High Bridge opened in 1889 to link St. Paul’s West Seventh Street and the upper West Side. The span of the bridge was an astounding 2,770 feet, and it was constructed with more than one million pieces of iron. It was no small accomplishment for its era; however, the bridge deteriorated over the course of almost a century, and it was razed in 1985.St. Paul completed construction of the current replica High Bridge in 1987. Once again, the 160-foot-high bridge had a steep 4 percent grade. In addition, the bridge consisted of 11 spans, the longest stretching 520 feet.
34. I-35W Bridge
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: The 2007 collapse of the bridge replaced by this span made international news: It was a major tragedy that took 13 lives, as well as a wake-up call to a country that wondered whether it had been paying enough attention to its aging infrastructure. Despite the fact that this new bridge was built at a breakneck pace, opening in September 2008, you can feel as safe crossing it as on any highway bridge in the world: It’s been inspected more closely than a teenager’s secret copy of Playboy, and it features the very latest in active stress-monitoring technology. It’s even pretty good-looking: When the sleek span is blue-lit at night, it’s clearly visible from any number of vantage points along the river, serving both as a monument to the fallen and as a beacon of hope for the future.
35. Mendota Bridge
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: The spectacular 4,119-foot Mendota Bridge carries MN 55 over the Minnesota River and Fort Snelling State Park to link southeast Minneapolis with the southern suburbs of St. Paul. When the original bridge was completed in 1926, it was the longest concrete arch bridge in the world, and it remains one of the longest bridges of any kind in the United States—only New York City’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, and several highway trestle bridges in the Louisiana bayous are longer. The deck of the bridge was completely rebuilt in the early 1990s, a two-year project that closed the bridge entirely during construction. The Mendota Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
36. Stillwater Lift Bridge
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: The Stillwater Lift Bridge is one of only two automotive lift bridges in Minnesota (the other is the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth), but its future is uncertain. The span linking Stillwater, Minnesota, to Houlton, Wisconsin, was constructed in 1931. The vertical-lift bridge rises to allow large vessels on the St. Croix River to pass under it. Despite the bridge’s architectural significance, it has a questionable future because of the population growth in the western Wisconsin counties along the St. Croix. A 2007 Sierra Club lawsuit against the National Park Service (the current and potential future bridges span the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway) has halted planning on the replacement bridge, adding another chapter to one of Minnesota’s longest-running environmental controversies.
37. Stone Arch Bridge
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Description: The Stone Arch Bridge was constructed in 1883 for James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway. The bridge spanning the Mississippi took two years to complete. In 1978 the bridge was closed because of decreased train traffic. The bridge remained dormant until the State of Minnesota purchased it in 1992. The historic railroad bridge, the second oldest surviving bridge over the Mississippi, was renovated to serve pedestrians and bicyclists; the bridge reopened in 1994.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
39. Underwater Adventures Aquarium
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (952) 883-0202 or (888) 348-38
Description: Underwater Adventures is a huge (1.2 million gallons) walk-through aquarium located under the Mall of America. The facility features more than 4,500 different sea creatures from around the world in eight displays. For a one-time admission charge, visitors can walk through a 300-foot glass-walled tunnel that leads them through the middle of the three freshwater exhibits: Touch of the Wild Woods, Fisherman’s Hollow, and the Wild Amazon, and five ocean exhibits: Shark Cove, Rainbow Reef, Seacrits of Hollywood, Circle of Life, and Starfish Beach, where you can touch harmless sharks and stingrays (if you dare it, you may be given an i touched a shark sticker for bragging purposes).
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
41. The Hitching Company
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (612) 338-7777
Description: Romantic horse-drawn carriage tours of downtown Minneapolis cover, depending on the tour, such sites as the Stone Arch Bridge, the new Guthrie Theater, the Mississippi riverfront, the Warehouse District, Loring Park, the Basilica of St. Mary, Nicollet Mall, and more. Tours range from 15 minutes to an hour, and the carriages seat up to six, less romantic but great fun for families. Operating year-round (The Hitching Company provides blankets when the mercury drops), the carriage can pick you up at numerous spots in downtown Minneapolis. Call ahead for reservations.
42. Padelford Packet Boat Company Inc.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (651) 227-1100
Description: Hop on one of five riverboats leaving from Harriet Island in St. Paul for a Mississippi River excursion. These paddleboat river tours offer an excellent way to experience the river up close.Padelford Packet Boat Company offers two narrated daily public excursions seven days a week in June, July, and August and at 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in May and September. Elegant evening dinner cruises depart Fridays, June through September. A Sunday brunch cruise, a lunch cruise, a showboat cruise, a birding cruise, a fall color cruise, private charters, and more are also available.
43. Segway Magical History Tour
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (952) 888-9200
Description: One of the funnier-looking ways to tour the historic sites of the Minneapolis riverfront is aboard a Segway, a perfectly balanced scooterlike device that travels up to 10 mph. After some brief training on how to drive a Segway, a guide-led convoy departs Saint Anthony Main and tours such sites as the Stone Arch Bridge, Saint Anthony Falls, Mill Ruins Park, the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and Nicollet Island. The 5-mile tour includes a loaner helmet, free admission to and refreshments at the Mill City Museum, and discounts at area restaurants.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 2600 Park Ave.
45. The Ard Godfrey House
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (612) 813-5300 (tours are arra
Address: 50 University Ave. NE
Description: Built in 1848, the Ard Godfrey House was the family residence for the millwright who helped build the first dam and sawmills to put the waterpower of the Falls of St. Anthony to use. The oldest wood frame house in Minneapolis, this Greek revival structure was restored and refurbished by the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis as a gift to city residents.The Godfrey House was reopened to the public in 1979. Today the house is available for guided tours Saturday, and Sunday June through September and for private tours by appointment year-round.