Welcome to Nicollet Island!

elcome to Nicollet Island! Located in the heart of Minneapolis, Nicollet Island is the only inhabited island on the Mississippi River. This forty-eight-acre wonderland is a bucolic refuge, hiding right under the nose of Downtown. Many don't even notice it as they drive over the Hennepin Avenue bridge to Northeast Minneapolis on the East Bank of the Mississippi, but it contains many marvelous secrets including the Nicollet Island Inn, the Nicollet Island Pavillion, DeLaSalle High School, twenty-two historic Victorian-era homes, and acres of park land and trails for jogging, biking, walking, and any number of activities.

icollet Island is also home to the Bell of Two Friends, a gift to the City of Minneapolis from its sister city, Ibaraki, Japan, as a monument to friendship and world peace. The Bell is actually a replica of a two-thousand-year-old terra cotta mold for an ancient bronze bell. It was given to Minneapolis in July of 2001 to celebrate the two cities’ 20th “anniversary” as sister cities.

he Hennepin Avenue Bridge which crosses Nicollet Island marks the first point at which the Mississippi river was ever bridged in 1855, and the West Bank (Downtown side) of the River is home to First Bridge Park.

2006.01.11