Before construction could begin on Wadaag Commons, Redesign and co-developer Noor Companies partnered with archaeologists from Nienow Cultural Consultants to complete archaeological mitigation, a process required when development occurs on land likely to contain significant historic or archaeological resources.

The goal isn’t simply to collect old objects.

It’s to document and preserve the stories they tell before a site is permanently changed.

What began as a routine step in the development process quickly became something extraordinary.

Archaeologists recovered more than 11,000 artifacts, most dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They later described the excavation as producing “one of the largest diagnostic sets of information collected within the Twin Cities.”

The number is impressive. But what makes the discovery truly remarkable is what those artifacts revealed.

Reading the Layers of History

Archaeology isn’t just about what is found. It’s about where it’s found.

Every generation leaves traces behind. A family fills an old privy after indoor plumbing arrives. A backyard ash pit accumulates years of burned household refuse. A house burns, is repaired, and new residents move in. Layer by layer, those moments become part of the ground beneath our feet.

Archaeologists excavate these layers one at a time, carefully recording the exact location of every object. This process, known as stratigraphic analysis, allows them to reconstruct the history of a site in chronological order. Older deposits generally lie beneath newer ones, while changes in soil, ash, brick, charcoal, and building materials reveal moments of construction, demolition, fire, and everyday life.

Just as important as the artifacts themselves is their context.

A medicine bottle found on its own can often be dated by its manufacturer. The same bottle found alongside baby bottles, children’s toys, food containers, and household ceramics from a specific period begins to tell a much richer story about the family who used it. A layer of burned debris beneath those objects might reveal a fire. A privy filled with household goods might mark the arrival of indoor plumbing and a major household cleanout.

Not every artifact is equally informative. Archaeologists pay special attention to diagnostic artifacts, objects like embossed bottles, decorated ceramics, and manufacturer-marked containers that can be dated very precisely. Thousands of these diagnostic artifacts allowed researchers to build an unusually detailed timeline of life at the site.

But archaeology alone couldn’t identify the people who lived here.

The archaeological team combined what they uncovered underground with Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, city directories, census records, newspapers, construction permits, property records, and genealogical research. Together, these sources transformed broken bottles, discarded dishes, toys, and household objects into the stories of real people.

More Than Artifacts

The excavation uncovered evidence of a neighborhood that changed constantly.

Over the decades, families from all over the world lived here. Entrepreneurs opened businesses. Children played in the yards. Boarders rented spare rooms.

Some stories were joyful. Others reflected discrimination, illness, economic hardship, and loss.

Together, they paint a far more complete picture of everyday life than official records alone ever could.

Meet the Families

Historical records can tell us who lived at an address. Archaeology tells us how they lived.

By connecting artifacts with documentary research, archaeologists identified many of the families who once called this neighborhood home. They uncovered stories of immigrants building new lives in Minneapolis, working-class households opening their homes to boarders, and families preserving cultural traditions while adapting to a changing city.

One particularly remarkable story follows the Thomas and Royster families, who lived at 2115 Snelling Avenue from 1938 to 1949. More than 1,100 artifacts dating almost entirely to the years they occupied the home reveal a household deeply rooted in family, civic life, and community during an era when restrictive housing covenants limited opportunities for many Black families.

The excavation also uncovered stories of Norwegian, German, Swedish, Irish, Italian, and Greek families whose lives reflected successive waves of immigration, changing industries, and the evolution of South Minneapolis over more than half a century.

Buildings That Never Stood Still

The people weren’t the only ones constantly changing.

Historical research revealed that 2119 and 2121 Snelling Avenue served as a hotel, saloon, boarding house, grocery store, confectionery, brewery, bakery, family home, and more between the early 1880s and their demolition in 1933. Every new owner and business reflected another chapter in the neighborhood’s history.

What Trash Can Teach Us

Ironically, many of the excavation’s most important discoveries came from places no one intended to preserve.

Former privies, ash pits, and backyard trash deposits became accidental time capsules. Once indoor plumbing arrived, many families filled old privies with broken household goods during major cleanouts. Ash pits accumulated decades of burned refuse. Because these deposits often represent relatively short periods of time, they preserve remarkable snapshots of everyday life.

Archaeologists often say they aren’t uncovering what people wanted future generations to remember. They’re uncovering what people left behind.

Those discarded objects tell surprisingly personal stories about shopping habits, childhood, health, immigration, entrepreneurship, and even the medicines families trusted before modern medical treatments existed.

→ Read more: What 11,000 Artifacts Tell Us About Everyday Life

A New Chapter

Today, Wadaag Commons continues this story.

The buildings are new. The families are different.

But this corner of Minneapolis remains what it has long been: a place where people build homes, start businesses, raise children, and create community.

Redesign is proud that, through the archaeological mitigation completed before construction began, these stories were documented before they were lost. Rather than erasing the past, Wadaag Commons has helped preserve it, ensuring that the generations who came before remain part of this neighborhood’s story.

See the Artifacts for Yourself

Many of the artifacts uncovered during the excavation are now on display at Redesign’s office in the Historic Coliseum Building.

We invite neighbors, history enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the hidden stories beneath our feet to stop by and explore them.

What you’ll see are not treasures in the traditional sense. They’re broken dishes. Glass bottles. Children’s toys. Buttons. Medicine bottles. Household tools.

Yet together, they tell an extraordinary story.

They remind us that every neighborhood is built one family, one business, and one generation at a time.