It was named after Harriet Bishop, an American educator who helped found the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul.

Harriet Island was initially an enlarged sandbar located in the Mississippi River, but was later populated by trees.

[3] 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.

[1] In 1969, a proposal to expand the island was rejected due to the Mississippi River still suffering from pollution.