Lock and Dam No. 2
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Meeker Island Lock and Dam c. 1910
Location	Minneapolis andSaint Paul,Minnesota
Built	1899–1907
Architect	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
NRHP reference No.	03000522[1]
Added to NRHP	June 13, 2003

TheMeeker Island Lock and Dam (originally known asLock and Dam No. 2) was the firstlock anddam facility built on theUpper Mississippi River. Meeker Island was named after its owner JudgeBradley B. Meeker.Meeker County was named after him also. After a construction period lasting eight years, the site was only in operation for five years from 1907 to 1912 when the growing interest inhydroelectric power led to design and construction of today'sLock and Dam No. 1 a few miles downriver.^[2] It was realized that the new dam could take over the function provided by this first site and another small dam a short distance downriver.

Lock and Dam No. 1 opened in 1917, and a hydroelectric plant was added there in the 1920s to power theFord Motor Company'sTwin Cities Assembly Plant. The Meeker Island dam was demolished, although some ruins of the lock remain. Tops of the old lock walls become visible during low water periods on the river. It is located in the Desnoyer Park neighborhood, north of theLake Street-Marshall Bridge connectingMinneapolis andSaint Paul, Minnesota.

The Meeker Island Lock and Dam ruins were added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Each year, National Park Service historian Dr. John Anfinson and the Friends of the Mississippi River lead a tour of the lock and dam ruins.

In 2005 a $380,000 restoration project began to create a public park near the dam. It was finished in 2007.^[3]

The historic dam site and off-leash dog park are part of theMississippi River Gorge Regional Park.

Media related toMeeker Island Lock and Dam at Wikimedia Commons

44°57′14″N93°12′28″W / 44.95389°N 93.20778°W /44.95389; -93.20778

• Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
• Locks on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
• Mississippi Gorge
• National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
• Mississippi River locks
• National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis
• National Register of Historic Places in Saint Paul, Minnesota
• Ruins on the National Register of Historic Places
• Transport infrastructure completed in 1907
• Transportation buildings and structures in Saint Paul, Minnesota

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