Harriet Island was initially an enlarged sandbar located in the
Mississippi River, but was later populated by trees. In 1900, Justus Ohage, a German doctor who had acquired the island, sold it to the city of Saint Paul for use as a park. At first the park was successful, drawing in tourists, but by the 1920s, sewage from the Mississippi River had caused tourism to die down. Before he died in 1935, Ohage threatened to take back the island, but this did not occur. In 1950, the neglected island's back channel filled up, merging Harriet Island with the mainland. == Geography ==