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| Upper Harbor Terminal | |
|---|---|
| Name | Upper Harbor Terminal |
| Settlement type | Industrial site |
| Subdivision type | Country |
| Subdivision name | United States |
| Subdivision type1 | State |
| Subdivision name1 | Minnesota |
| Subdivision type2 | City |
| Subdivision name2 | Minneapolis |
| Established title | Opened |
| Established date | 1930s |
| Area total acres | 48 |
Upper Harbor Terminal Upper Harbor Terminal is a former industrial riverfront terminal in the North Minneapolis riverfront of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, along the Mississippi River. The site operated as a bulk materials handling facility largely for steel and coal in the 20th century and later became the focus of large-scale environmental remediation, urban redevelopment, and community planning efforts involving municipal, state, and federal agencies. It occupies a prominent location between the Mississippi River Gorge and the historic riverfront industrial corridor near Saint Anthony Falls and has been central to debates about land use, equity, and cultural programming in the Twin Cities.
The terminal was developed during the interwar period when river terminals and Great Lakes shipping hubs expanded to serve industries such as U.S. Steel, regional railroads like the Great Northern Railway and Milwaukee Road, and coal suppliers servicing municipal utilities such as Minneapolis Public Utilities Commission. The site functioned as a transfer point for commodities arriving via Mississippi River barge traffic and connecting to transcontinental freight lines including Northern Pacific Railway. In the postwar era, deindustrialization trends driven by shifts in manufacturing and consolidation in the steel industry led to decline; ownership changed hands among private terminal operators and port authorities. Environmental investigations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries—prompted by laws like the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act—identified contaminated soils and river sediments, precipitating involvement by agencies such as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and proposals involving the Environmental Protection Agency. Local activist groups, neighborhood organizations, and elected officials from Minneapolis City Council districts engaged in debates over remediation, reuse, and equitable redevelopment.
The property is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River between the Washington Avenue Bridge and I-35W corridor, adjacent to neighborhoods including Webber-Camden and Near North. The terminal occupies roughly 48 acres of riverfront industrial land contiguous with other historically industrial parcels in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and sits across the river from the Marcy-Holmes, Minneapolis neighborhood. Topographically the site includes riparian bluffs associated with the Mississippi River Gorge, a formerly hardened riverbank with piers, bulkheads, and rail spurs that connected to regional freight networks like BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. The site’s location made it strategic for commodity flows between the Twin Cities and Duluth-Superior ports on Lake Superior.
Historically the terminal featured loading cranes, conveyor systems, storage yards, warehouses, and multiple rail sidings tied into terminal trackage used by carriers such as Canadian Pacific Kansas City predecessors. River infrastructure included concrete piers, sheet piling, and barge fleeting areas configured for the handling of bulk materials such as coke, coal, and scrap iron. Utility connections serviced industrial operations with power supplied by regional utilities and freight access via spur lines connected to mainline arteries like the Twin Cities and Western Railroad corridors. Decommissioning removed some aboveground systems but left subsurface structures and engineered fill that complicated remediation, while legacy docks and bulkheads remain visible along the shoreline adjacent to recreational trails like the Mississippi River Trail.
Decades of bulk handling produced contamination from heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, and other industrial byproducts documented by environmental assessments conducted in coordination with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and federal agencies. Sediment contamination in the adjacent Mississippi River prompted evaluation under state water quality criteria overseen by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and coordination with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging standards. Remediation strategies have included soil removal, capping, phytoremediation pilots, and institutional controls guided by regulatory frameworks such as CERCLA and state cleanup programs. Environmental justice advocates from organizations like AFL–CIO affiliates, neighborhood associations, and tribal governments including regional representatives of the Anishinaabe raised concerns about cumulative impacts, subsistence fishing in the river, and equitable community benefits.
The site became the subject of a high-profile redevelopment initiative led by City of Minneapolis planners, municipal elected leaders, and public-private partners including nonprofit development corporations and philanthropic organizations. Proposals emphasized mixed-use programming combining affordable and market-rate housing, public open space, cultural venues, and stormwater management features tied to the riverfront revitalization agenda. Planning processes invoked tools and actors such as the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, metropolitan planning agencies like Metropolitan Council, and community development corporations represented by neighborhood groups. Public engagement included charrettes, environmental review under state statutes, and agreements addressing workforce development, inclusionary housing, and community benefits modeled after agreements in other adaptive reuse projects like Navy Pier and Atlanta BeltLine.
Access to the site historically relied on multimodal connections with barge access on the Mississippi River, rail spurs to carriers such as BNSF Railway and connections to regional highways including I-94 and I-35W, while local access used arterial streets that link to downtown Minneapolis. Contemporary planning integrates active transportation networks including the Mississippi River Trail, bicycle greenways, and transit routes operated by Metro Transit with potential extensions of bus rapid transit corridors. Parking and multimodal freight considerations reference freight planning frameworks used by agencies like Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Council and regional freight partners to reconcile goods movement with public access and pedestrian-oriented waterfront design.
The terminal site holds cultural resonance for local communities, neighborhood groups, and Indigenous peoples who maintain historical connections to the river including the Dakota people and Ojibwe communities. Civic organizations, arts collectives, and cultural institutions such as regional museums and performing arts groups have advocated for public amenities, interpretive programming, and land use that honors industrial heritage and Indigenous histories. Community stakeholders from groups like neighborhood associations, labor unions, and environmental nonprofits have negotiated terms for workforce pipelines and cultural programming reflecting priorities similar to redevelopment projects in other postindustrial waterfronts like Brooklyn Navy Yard and Baltimore Inner Harbor. The site continues to be a focal point in civic discourse about equitable development, river stewardship, and the future of the Minneapolis riverfront.