May 21, 2009: Rice Creek Regional Park Hike (Fridley)

Join the hiking group for a hike along Rice Creek in Fridley. Rice Creek flows through a series of lakes and marshes in southern Anoka and northern Ramsey counties, eventually joining the Mississippi near Fridley. Its drainage basin is in the southern portion of the Anoka Sand Plain, which was formed after the last glacier retreated from the region about 12,000 years ago. Indians occupied Rice Creek throughout the last 12,000 years, but population increased dramatically during the Middle Woodland period (2,600 to 1,100 years ago). Henry Mower Rice (1816-1894), for whom Rice Creek was named, settled in Manomin, as the area was initially named, in 1849, after acquiring a parcel of land, most of it for $1.25 an acre or less and sometimes with "Whisky Script." In 1851, Abram McCormick Fridley (1817-1888), a Winnebago Indian agent, a lawyer, Minnesota territorial and state legislator, farmer, merchant, a land agent of the St. Paul and Pacific RailRoad Company and its successor, the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, and the person for whom Fridley was eventually named, settled in Manomin. In 1857, Manomin County was separated from Ramsey County, becoming the smallest county in the United States with only 18 sections of land. In 1870, Manomin County was annexed by Anoka County and Manomin was granted township status. It was named Fridley in 1879. The hike passes by the headquarters of Medtronic, a medical device company formed by Earl Elmer Bakken (1924- ) and his brother-in-law, Palmer J. Hermundslie ( -1970), in 1949. In the mid-1950’s, in conjunction with Dr. C. (Clarence) Walton Lillehei (1918-1999), a University of Minnesota Department of Surgery professor, the company developed the first external heart pacemakers. It began manufacturing implantable heart pacemakers, developed by Dr. William Chardack, chief of surgery at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Buffalo, Wilson Greatbatch (1919- ), an electrical engineer at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, and Dr. Andrew Gage, a surgeon at the Buffalo Veteran's Administration Hospital and a high school classmate of Greatbatch's, in 1960.

If driving: From I-694, take the University Avenue exit and proceed north on University Avenue approximately 1.75 miles to the former Columbia Ice Arena parking lot (7011 University Avenue NE, Fridley). Either turn east on 69th Avenue and use the frontage road on the east side of University Avenue to the south edge of the arena or turn east on 73rd Avenue and use the frontage road on the east side of University Avenue to the north edge of the arena.

The group will meet along the southern edge of the former Columbia Ice Arena parking lot by the Locke Park paved trail.

If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s): 10; 824. The closest bus service point appears to be along University Avenue. Applicable Metro Transit Map / Bus Schedule information

Interested hikers will reassemble after the hike at Perkins, 7520 University Ave NE, Fridley, for dessert or dinner.

Map to hike start point: 7011 University Ave Ne
Fridley, MN 55432-3111

Map of Columbia Ice Arena and Locke Park/Rice Creek West Regional Trail

Map of Locke Park and Rice Creek West Regional Trail

Rice Creek geological and historical information

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This page was last updated on April 28, 2009.