Nicollet Island developed as a microcosm of early Minneapolis, with water-powered factories, storefronts, block-long rowhouses, a mansion district, and a neighborhood that still stands as a sampler of the 19th century residential architecture.
The 40-acre island just above St. Anthony Falls next to downtown Minneapolis is the site of the first bridge anywhere across the Mississippi River (where Hennepin Avenue crosses now), as well as an early railroad crossing that divides the island in two. It is said to be the only inhabited island the entire length of the Mississippi.
The North Tip Tour focuses on the the neighbourhood upriver from the railroad tracks where people have lived since the 1860s. Native Americans tapped maples there, houses moved within the island and onto the island, a school went up and came down, and resident donkeys made friends with visitors into the 1980s.
This tour walks about a half-mile; the tour guide is Chris Steller.