The Mill Ruins and the Flour That Built Minneapolis

The Mill Ruins and the Flour That Built Minneapolis

Minneapolis exists because of a waterfall. St. Anthony Falls — the only major falls on the Mississippi — powered the flour mills that made this the milling capital of the world by the 1880s. Pillsbury, Gold Medal, Washburn-Crosby (which became General Mills) — all started here, all powered by the same river.

The Mill City Museum at 704 South Second Street occupies the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, which exploded in 1878 (flour-dust explosion, eighteen workers killed, heard ten miles away). The museum is built into the remaining walls — glass and steel inserted into limestone and brick. The Flour Tower is an eight-story elevator ride through the milling process, each floor a production stage with stories of the Scandinavian immigrants who worked twelve-hour shifts in dust-thick rooms where a spark meant death.

The Stone Arch Bridge outside crosses the Mississippi beside the falls. The ruins on the west bank, modern city behind them, river running beneath toward the Gulf 2,300 miles south. The city flour built, visible from one bridge.