🚧 Coon Rapids Dam

The Coon Rapids Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Mississippi River located in Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids, Minnesota. It is approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of downtown Minneapolis. Between 1914 and 1966, it provided hydroelectric power generation for northern Twin Cities suburbs. Since 1969 it has been used primarily for recreation, with two county parks on either side connected by a 12-foot-wide walkway for cyclists and pedestrians. Suffering from serious wear and tear by the mid-1990s, it was entirely reconstructed from the foundations in 1997 and received further modifications in the early 2010s. As the southernmost dam on the Mississippi that does not have any locks, it is the theoretical northern terminus of the navigable portion of the Mississippi River. The dam is owned by Hennepin County's Three Rivers Park District; Anoka County owns and operates a park on its side of the river.