Nicollet Island

Wita Waste: Ceremony and Diplomacy

Known as Wita Waste (Beautiful Island), Dakota oral history describes the island as a site of spiritual ceremony and diplomacy. According to historian and cultural chairman of the Mdewakanton Mendota Dakota band Mahpiyaduta (Red Sky) also known as James Anderson, spiritual ceremonies may have included a life ceremony that celebrated transitions from childhood to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, and adulthood to old age. The island was ceded in an 1837 treaty.

Nicollet Island: Residential

When John Wesley North and Ann Loomis North, a white couple from New York State, moved to the island in 1849 there was no bridge. They reached the east bank mainland over a set of logs lying in the dam. Their home was built of lumber so green that the walls oozed sap. Wolves, foxes and lynx roamed the island. Without the benefit of a housecat, Ann caught twenty-two mice herself. In 1861, the island was still covered by a forest of maple trees. Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau visited to examine flour and fauna. 

Nicollet Island: Park Land

The Minneapolis Park Board imagined Nicollet Island as a park for many years, and began acquiring land in 1979. By 1981, the Park had nineteen acres. But, residents on the island wanted to stay in their homes. In 1983 the park board acquired title to four-plus acres of land from the Minneapolis Community Development Agency and leased the land back to MCDA. The MCDA then sold by lottery—for $1—99-year leases to individuals to maintain historic homes. 

Hage, Christopher. Hage, Rushika. Nicollet Island: History and Architecture. Minneapolis, MN. Nodin Press, LLC, 2010.

Smith, David C.. Nicollet Island Park History, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Accessed August 13th 2020. https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks__destinations/parks__lakes/nicollet_island_park/.