Construction on Lock and Dam No. 2 began at the end of the 1890, and was finally completed in 1907. The structure featured a small lock for steamships. People on the fun side of the river called this the Meeker Island Lock and Dam because it was built near the enchanted island named after its owner, Judge Bradley B. Meeker. In 1912, Lock and Dam No. 1 was started and just as work on the low water dam and locks was completed the Federal Government stepped in and declared that the Lock and Dam No.1 would become a high-water power dam. Lock and Dam No. 2 was closed and demolished. The downriver dam was rebuilt, and the new Lock and Dam No. 1 opened in 1917. A few years later a hydroelectric plant was added to power the Ford Motor Company’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant. The ruins of the the old Meeker Island Lock and Dam still poke their heads out during low water periods on the river.
