ST. CLOUD TIMES — Last fall, when St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis dedicated Talahi Woods — 25 acres of forest added to Riverside Park in southeast St. Cloud — he stumbled upon a historic marker honoring American explorer Zebulon Pike.
Pike is remembered around Central Minnesota for naming the Beaver Islands while “commanding an expedition for the exploration of the Upper Mississippi,” the sign proclaims.
But another important history was missing — that of the Dakota, who originated in this area more than 10,000 years ago, and the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), who began settling in northern Minnesota in 1545.
“If we’re going to keep telling our story, it’s a long story,” Kleis said Friday at a dedication for a new historic marker at Riverside Park. The marker is near the granite staircase that leads to the Mississippi River on the west side of the park.
