Center at Indigenous sacred site opens in St. Paul after years in the making
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Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi, a nonprofit that oversees two Dakota sacred sites, celebrates the grand opening of a new building on Friday in St. Paul. The recently constructed Wakaŋ Tipi Center is located along the Mississippi River at Wakaŋ Tipi, a 27-acre sacred site formerly known as Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, and will serve as an intergenerational gathering place honoring Dakota sacred sites.
Maggie Lorenz, executive director of the nonprofit, points out the different aspects of the roughly 7,000 square foot center, like traditional medicine gardens around the outside of the building.
"We have a lot of sage, red osier dogwood, which we use for our traditional tobacco, but also has medicinal purposes for teas and different things like that,” Lorenz said.
There are several garden beds for other plants such as sweetgrass, another traditional medicine. Lorenz said there is also room for cultivated foods such as corn, beans, squash and sunflowers.
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Inside the building, a photo gallery and a map of Dakota sacred sites along the Mississippi River are on display. The building has high-angled ceilings in its exhibit hall, classrooms and a community gathering area. In the entryway, there is a Dakota star constellation map, which can be changed to match the time of year.
Lorenz said Wakaŋ Tipi Center will serve as a place for community to come together for different purposes, such as ceremony or educational programming.
"We really want this place also to be an opportunity, and a place that people can come to reconnect and deepen their cultural sense of identity,” Lorenz said during a tour of the building.
For more than 20 years, nonprofit and community leaders have advocated for the restoration of the Wakaŋ Tipi site, which was heavily polluted by western settlement.
A push for a dedicated space on Wakaŋ Tipi’s site began just over a decade ago.
"This is a site with many stories that are tied to both Dakota history as well as a wider Native presence,” said Kate Beane, a member of Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi’s board of directors. She said the organization felt it was necessary to have a physical presence on site to continue those restoration efforts.
"What we came to realize is that we needed a footprint here. We needed people here, visibility here, in order to be able to just steward the site and keep it safe,” she said.
Wakaŋ Tipi translates to “dwelling place of the sacred” in the Dakota language. It's named after a cave located within the landscape where Dakota people gathered for ceremony.
In addition to the landscape's restoration, Beane said the center provides space for community to come together and reconnect with the land.
"I think we were really missing that in St. Paul for a long period of time,” Beane said.
Community member Thomasina Top Bear was invited to paint a mural at Wakaŋ Tipi Center. The mural features images of what can be seen at the site, like the different types of plants and animals.
Top Bear said the site has transformed from how she remembers it in her childhood.
"It was a lot different. It was like a little scary to be down here,” she said.
Since the site's restoration and the addition of a new center, Top Bear said it's become a place her family visits. The landscape now has trees, wildflowers and a pond. Squirrels, foxes and birds are frequent visitors.
"It is a beautiful, safe place. We don't have to worry about the things that you normally do in other parks because there are people that tend to the land every day,” said Top Bear.
Lorenz said the center can help both Native American and non-Native people better understand the history of St. Paul and draw their own connections to the land.
"Through our exhibits and our programs and our interpretation, that's the offering for non-Native communities, is really that pathway to learning and understanding,” Lorenz said.
The Metropolitan Council has been a supporter and partner of Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi for several years. The council creates and implements policies and provides essential services in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.
Allison Waukau, tribal liaison and Native relations coordinator at the Metropolitan Council, said the council wanted to engage with the nonprofit before Wakaŋ Tipi Center’s opening.
“Wakaŋ Tipi is going to be that place where they can come and learn at their pace, and also involve the whole family,” Waukau said.
Waukau said both Lorenz and Beane are on the Metropolitan Council’s American Indian Advisory Council, which implemented a commitment to minimize the operational impact of a wastewater receiving station near Wakaŋ Tipi.
She said the nonprofit’s goals for land restoration and education aligns with the Metropolitan Council’s own mission to serve local communities.
“When something benefits the Native community, it benefits all of us,” Waukau said.
While Wakaŋ Tipi Center did not officially open its doors to the public until the end of May, Lorenz said there have already been ceremonies, birthday parties and other events on site.
“This place has been a need for a long time for the Native community,” she said. “I'm so happy we have that now for our community.”
In addition to the Wakaŋ Tipi Center, walking trails throughout the site are open for the public to explore and learn the history of the sacred Dakota site.
Chandra Colvin covers Native American communities in Minnesota for MPR News via Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
