St. Paul recognizes Indian Mounds Park as a historic burial site

Those entering Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul will now be informed upon arrival: "This is a cemetery."

Signs explaining that the area is a burial site have been added to the park this year — a win for organizers who have long sought official acknowledgment that the mounds are not a typical park, but a sacred place. The recognition from city officials and community members comes after the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department planned to build a splash pad at the park — plans that were canceled following pushback from local Indigenous groups.

"I was like, 'No, that's a cemetery of some of my ancestors,' " said Crystal Norcross, a community organizer who helped oppose the new construction and lead the movement toward adding the signs.

According to the city of St. Paul website, the park was established in 1892, but it served as a sacred site and burial ground for Indigenous people for at least 1,000 years. The mounds were primarily made by Dakota tribes, though according to Norcross several more tribes likely also have mounds there. Hundreds of mounds exist below ground in addition to the seven that are visible above ground, she said.

Norcross said her goal is not to see the space closed off from the public. She uses the area as a prayer space, and said the signs will help cultivate more respect for the mounds and their history.

"I was for the signage when other people were bringing it up because there was no representation; people didn't know who was even here before," she said. "Representation matters, and the signage that you see is something visible, something that [the community] can retain."

Ellen Stewart, a senior landscape architect with the parks department who is in charge of the signage project, said that it was agreed soon after the initial criticism that constructing the splash pad and otherwise expanding construction in the park should be stopped. But she said properly understanding and learning about the issue took longer.

"It was a learning curve for me, and I think [also for] a lot of people who consider themselves liberal and awake and culturally sensitive," she said. "It was really doing a lot of untangling of things that I have always considered to be normal and right and fair."

To further address concerns, a cultural landscape study was conducted to better understand what needed to be protected in the area. The study involved looking at the history of Indian Mounds Park and using technology to scan for burial mounds and remains.

The city reallocated a $400,000 grant originally intended for the splash-pad project to pay for the signs and the study. So far, $90,000 has gone toward the signs and $280,000 toward the study.

The remaining money will go toward other projects in the park that Indigenous groups have asked for, such as a gathering circle and more signs. According to Stewart, the existing kids' play area will eventually be decommissioned and Indian Mounds Park will move away from the traditional parks and recreation model.

"It doesn't necessarily make sense to continue to construct the regular type of recreational pieces or amenities that you would see in other parks," Stewart said. "This is a very different place. This is culturally sacred."

Norcross said she hoped the new signs would deter littering and graffiti, though Stewart said there hasn't been a significant decline in the amount of litter in the area. She said she hopes that will change by next year, once all of the signage has been added.

According to St. Paul City Council Member Jane Prince, who lives nearby, the surrounding neighborhood has been largely supportive of the new signs. She said her expectation was that some people would be upset at the signs labeling the park as a cemetery, but ultimately she hasn't heard pushback from residents.

"It's a really significant historic and cultural and religious site within the city that I think people have a great deal of respect for, regardless of their backgrounds," Prince said.

Norcross said she thinks that the city's willingness to carry out the changes at Indian Mounds Park indicates other sacred sites in St. Paul — including the nearby Wakan Tipi cave — could be given more attention in the future.

Prince noted that organizers are also pushing for further study at another St. Paul site, the former Boys Totem Town juvenile detention center. As at the park, they want to determine if and where there might be burial mounds there.

Norcross said the city has been receptive to organizers' requests so far, but her main ambition is to see the land at Indian Mounds Park returned to the people it once belonged to.

"It's not a park," Norcross said. "I go there to pray, if I'm having a bad day I bring my kids there, and we just kind of know that we can hang out with our ancestors and be a little closer. Because everything that our culture is and our language is, is tied to the land."