Mill City Museum

Another gem we discovered is right on the banks of the Mississippi, overlooking the famous St. Anthony Falls. The falls were made known to Europeans in journals published by Father Louis Hennepin in 1680. Father Hennepin came to the area to convert the locals who tended to live near the falls due to the water source, the rich fertile lands and the abundant game. While the falls look nothing like they did in the 1600’s when viewed by Father Hennepin, they still are a very impressive sight.

We learned that the first grain mill was built along St. Anthony Falls in 1866. C. C. Washburn chose the site since power was needed to run the mill equipment, and in those days the only source of such power was water turbines. St. Anthony Falls would provide the power that would run this mill, and the river below the falls would also provide a transportation route both in and out – in for grain and out for processed flour.

The next decade saw the mill in full blown operation – that is until they discovered what full blown meant. In 1878, 18 workers in the mill were killed when the flour dust exploded and completely leveled the mill. Until that time it was believed that flour was an inert material and not combustible, but they learned the hard way that airborne flour dust was many times more combustible and explosive than dynamite. Apparently the blast took out windows all over downtown Minneapolis and was felt as far away as Hudson Wisconsin.

1880 saw the opening of the new mill, on a far greater scale than the original. And with it, Minneapolis became the largest world producer of processed flour, and held that status for half a century. It was this time period that gave Minneapolis the moniker Mill City.

Over the decades, the demand for raw flour was replaced to a great degree by processed and prepared dough, and the need for such a massive plant dissipated. In 1965 the plant was closed, and sat vacant for decades. Eventually it became unofficial housing for many of the city’s homeless, and during the winter of 1991, a fire broke out, likely set by accident due to a fire the unofficial residents were using for heat or cooking. Since the floors and support beams were all wood, the place went up like a tinderbox.

The Mill City Museum has been built in what remains of the walls and foundations of that second mill. The Minnesota Historical Society has done a great job of keeping some of the historic walls in their ruined state, while building the brand new museum sections within other areas of the original structure. In addition to all the general historical information about the history of milling and the people involved, as well as the numerous artifacts, there are two great feature attractions that should not be missed.

The first is an elevator ride up to the eighth floor observation deck – the original height of the mill buildings. On each floor of the ride, the elevator stops and an audio and visual display of historic footage, historic interviews with mill workers, or both are available to give you the feel of what it would have been like when the building was in full production. Each floor has a carefully done display along with the AV presentation showing artifacts arranged as they would have been during production.

The second attraction is a 350 year history of St. Anthony Falls and Minneapolis, done in both an humorous and informational video presentation. How they pack 350 years of history into a 19 minute video production is pretty fun.

After the Museum, we went to another historical landmark, this time in St. Paul – the Nook. A bar/restaurant sitting atop the basement level RanHam bowling alley on the corner of Randolph and Hamline Avenues, they are known for having the best burgers of anyplace in the cities. From what we ordered and experienced, we could not dispute that claim. If you are ever in St. Paul and want a really spectacular burger, find your way here.

Talk to you soon!