The new park names were recommended from a vigorous community dialog
At their April 8 meeting, the Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Commission voted to approve the recommended names for the four new parks to be created at Highland Bridge (aka the old Ford site).
The Commission has never had the task of naming four new parks all at once, so this is exciting news. While the community members convened for the naming conversation generated hundreds of ideas, the broad categories of conversation included names that identified location, referenced the industrial history of the site, connected to indigenous culture/history, and the name of a leading person of color in Saint Paul’s history.
The last category generated many great ideas, but ultimately, none of the Saint Paulites nominated had a connection to the land or the general area itself. The four names chosen were:
Gateway Park (a gateway between the past and future and between Saint Paul and Minneapolis)
Assembly Union Park (referring to both the site’s past as an important Assembly plant and now as a space for family gatherings and public “assemblies”)
Uŋči Makȟa (Dakota for “earth”)
Míča (Dakota abbreviation for “coyote” as coyotes are still seen in this area.
Click here to learn more about the development of Highland Bridge parks, including the area master