Weird Nicollet Tour, Minneapolis

Does Minneapolis have mystical energy? Was there really a mummy found on Nicollet? What are some of the area's strangest places and most bizarre stories?

Tour Information
Tour Map
Tour Stops
Comments

Weird Nicollet Tour, Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407, United States

Created By: Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District

Tour Information

Does Minneapolis have mystical energy? Was there really a mummy found on Nicollet? What are some of the area's strangest places and most bizarre stories?

Magical elixirs, Egyptian hieroglyphics, shocking bar stools, a sordid past. Take a tour of WEIRD Minneapolis with this walk around the Nicollet Mall, downtown. And, yes, the Nicollet corridor was once the site of the world's largest tap-dancing parade. Today, Nicollet is a bustling business, cultural, and pedestrian center in the heart of the city.

This tour is produced by the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District, with help from multiple contributors. If you like the content, please ping us on Twitter at @MplsDID, or tag your post with the #onNicollet hashtag.


Tour Map

Loading Tour

 

What You'll See on the Tour

Welcome to Nicollet Mall In the 1870s, before it was full of railroads, the eastern bluffs of the Mississippi River were believed by European settlers to have natural healing powers. In those early years of Minneapolis, when today’s metr... Read more
20 S 7th Street, Between Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues Here on 7th Street, between Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues, once sat possibly the most influential restaurant in Minneapolis history: the Nankin Café, which spawned dozens of imitator... Read more
700 Nicollet Mall Dayton’s Department store was built in 1902, and quickly became the center of Nicollet Avenue’s shopping scene. Known for its seasonal sales, the store was famous for having themed window displays and wares from all o... Read more
Nicollet and Alice Rainville Place Here at Nicollet and Alice Rainville Place, named for an influential former Council Member, is the spot where conflicting downtown street grids come together. When Minneapolis was originally platted out b... Read more
Near the Corner of Nicollet and West Grant Street Here at the corner of Nicollet and West Grant Street, once sat the famed Marigold Ballroom. Back in the big band and swing dance era, the Marigold was one of Minneapolis hot spots for night... Read more
1523 Nicollet Avenue, Corner of Nicollet and E 16th Street At first glance, the one-story media documentation company on the corner of Nicollet and East 16th Street looks mundane, but the flashes of Art Deco styling and round windows revea... Read more
On Nicollet Avenue, Between 6th and 7th On 6th Street between Marquette and Nicollet once stood the city’s largest department store for a time, the Donaldson’s Glass Block building. Along with Dayton’s Department Store, Donaldson’s... Read more
  651 Nicollet Mall Here’s a test. bring a stranger from another city to downtown Minneapolis, and ask them if they see anything weird. They will most likely point to the ubiquitous bridges of the skyway system and ask, “what are those... Read more
90 S 7th Street, Location of Current Wells Fargo Building Here on 7th Street, between Nicollet and Marquette were once two famous Minneapolis buildings. The first, the Northwestern National Bank (later Norwest bank, then Wells Fargo bank),... Read more
527 S Marquette Avenue If you look closely at the facade around and underneath the skyway leading into the parking lot next to the art deco Rand Tower, one of downtown Minneapolis finest buildings, you will find a strange mystery. Here in... Read more
Corner of S Marquette Avenue and 5th Street For over 10 years a skyway dangled here leading to an empty parking lot and a 30-foot drop off. Sealed to the outside world, the “skyway to nowhere” was reminiscent of the famous “escalator... Read more
Corner of 4th Street and Nicollet Mall The corner of Nicollet and 4th Street was once known as Newspaper Row, so-called because it was the key intersection where most of the newspapers of the late 19th and early 20th century were located. ... Read more
280 Nicollet Mall, Corner of Nicollet and 3rd Street  At Nicollet and 3rd once stood the Nicollet Hotel, a massive hotel that dominated the urban landscape of this part of Minneapolis. Among other things, the hotel was famous for being th... Read more
200 Block of Nicollet Mall Here near 3rd Street once gathered the largest parade of tap dancers in the history of the United States. The parade took place in 1979, and involved over 1,800 tap dancers marching for two miles down Hennepin Av... Read more
20 S Washington Avenue, Corner of Nicollet and Washington Avenue Though you would never know it today, if you stand at the T-intersection of Nicollet and Washington Avenue, you are at the center of a lot of early Minneapolis history. Where... Read more
Gateway Park Today Nicollet dead-ends at its intersection with Washington Avenue, but for a hundred years the street ran straight to the Hennepin Avenue bridge over the Mississippi. Pause at today’s terminus, near at the main entrance of... Read more

 

Leave a Comment

 

 

Download the App

Download the PocketSights Tour Guide mobile app to take this self-guided tour on your GPS-enabled mobile device.

iOS Tour Guide Android Tour Guide

 

 

Updates and Corrections

Please send change requests to changerequest@pocketsights.com.