Mill City Museum
Encyclopedia
Mill City Museum is a Minnesota Historical Society
museum
in Minneapolis
. It opened in 2003, built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park
on the banks of the Mississippi River
. It focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries which used water power from Saint Anthony Falls
.
The mill complex, dating from the 1870s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is part of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and within the National Park Service
's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
.
The Gold Medal Flour sign still shines at night at the top of the adjoining grain elevator. Across the river, the former competitor Pillsbury A Mill is topped with a sign reading "Pillsbury's Best Flour."
Local Artists
The work of local artists is featured throughout the building. Pieces by Joann Verburg, Tom Maakestad, Kim Lawler, Kathleen Richert, Paul Wrench and Becky Schurmann include murals, an art glass collage, a 15' Bisquick
box, and sculpture.
bands of various genres. "Mill City Live" was traditionally held on the first and third Thursdays of June, July, August, and September, however in 2009 and 2010 concerts will be held every Thursday in July and August
The first Washburn A Mill, built by C. C. Washburn in 1874, was declared the largest flour mill in the world upon its completion, and contributed to the development of Minneapolis. On May 2, 1878, a spark ignited airborne flour dust within the mill, creating an explosion that demolished the Washburn A and killed 14 workers instantly. The ensuing fire resulted in the deaths of four more people, destroyed five other mills, and reduced Minneapolis’s milling capacity by one third. Known as the Great Mill Disaster, the explosion made national news and served as a focal point that led to reforms in the milling industry. In order to prevent the buildup of combustible flour dust, ventilation systems and other precautionary devices were installed in mills throughout the country.
By 1880, a new Washburn A Mill, designed by Austrian engineer William de la Barre, opened as the largest flour mill in the world, a designation it retained until the Pillsbury A Mill opened across the river in 1881. At the peak of the Washburn A Mill's production, it could grind over 100 boxcars of wheat into almost 2,000,000 pounds of flour per day. An ad from the 1870s advertised, "Forty-one Runs of Stone. Capacity, 1,200 Barrels per Day. This is the largest and most complete Mill in the United States, and has not its equal in quantity and quality of machinery for making high and uniform grades of Family Flour in this country." Advertising hyperbole aside, the mill, along with the Pillsbury A Mill and other flour mills powered by St. Anthony Falls, contributed greatly to the development of Minneapolis.
Washburn later teamed up with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, which later became General Mills
.
After World War I
, flour production in Minneapolis began to decline as flour milling technology no longer depended on water power. Other cities, such as Buffalo, New York
became more prominent in the milling industry. Later on in the mill's lifetime, General Mills started putting more emphasis on producing cereals and baking mixes and shifted away from flour milling. The mill was shut down in 1965, along with eight other of the oldest mills operated by General Mills, and left in disuse.
In 1991, a fire nearly destroyed the old mill, but during the late 1990s, the city of Minneapolis, through the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, worked to stabilize the mill ruins. After the City of Minneapolis had cleaned up the rubble and fortified the mill's charred walls, the Minnesota Historical Society announced plans to construct a milling museum and education center within the ruins. Construction on the museum began in March 2001. Designed by Tom Meyer, principal for the architectural firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, the museum is a new building, built with the ruin walls of the 1880 Washburn A Mill. Efforts were made to retain as much of the historic fabric of the building as was possible. Many features of the Washburn A Mill were left intact, including turbine pits, railroad tracks, a train shed and two engine houses.
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
. It opened in 2003, built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park
Mill Ruins Park
Mill Ruins Park is a park in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, standing on the west side of Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River. The park interprets the history of flour milling in Minneapolis and shows the ruins of several flour mills that were abandoned.The park is the...
on the banks of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. It focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries which used water power from Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony, located northeast of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. The natural falls was replaced by a concrete overflow spillway after it partially collapsed in 1869...
.
The mill complex, dating from the 1870s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is part of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and within the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area protects a and corridor along the Mississippi River from the cities of Dayton and Ramsey, Minnesota to just downstream of Hastings, Minnesota. This includes the stretch of Mississippi River which flows through Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota...
.
Exhibits
The museum features exhibits about the history of Minneapolis, flour milling machinery, a water lab and a baking lab. The centerpiece of the exhibit is the multi-story Flour Tower, in which visitors sit in the cab of a freight elevator and are taken to different floors of the building, each designed to look like a floor in a working flour mill. Voices of people who worked in the Washburn A Mill are heard throughout the show. Visitors exit on the 8th floor, where extant equipment is interpreted by staff, and are then lead to the ninth floor observation deck to view St. Anthony Falls.The Gold Medal Flour sign still shines at night at the top of the adjoining grain elevator. Across the river, the former competitor Pillsbury A Mill is topped with a sign reading "Pillsbury's Best Flour."
Local Artists
The work of local artists is featured throughout the building. Pieces by Joann Verburg, Tom Maakestad, Kim Lawler, Kathleen Richert, Paul Wrench and Becky Schurmann include murals, an art glass collage, a 15' Bisquick
Bisquick
Bisquick is a pre-mixed baking product sold by General Mills under their Betty Crocker brand, consisting of flour, shortening, salt, and baking powder ....
box, and sculpture.
Mill City Live
Mill City Museum began an outdoor concert series named "Mill City Live" in the summer of 2004. The concerts are held in the museum's Ruin courtyard and features Twin CitiesTwin cities
Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time...
bands of various genres. "Mill City Live" was traditionally held on the first and third Thursdays of June, July, August, and September, however in 2009 and 2010 concerts will be held every Thursday in July and August
| List of Bands/Performers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer | Band/Performer |
| 2004 | Tim Mahoney | Adam Levy Adam Levy Adam Levy is an accomplished jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Levy has recorded with Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob, and Amos Lee, and has released several solo albums as well. is his latest.... |
Ellis Ellis (singer-songwriter) Ellis Delaney is an American singer-songwriter based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She performs under the name Ellis, having found early on that her last name is frequently mispronounced... |
Big Ditch Road | Kraig Johnson; Member of Run Westy Run, Iffy, The Jayhawks, and Golden Smog Golden Smog Golden Smog is a loosely connected group of musicians comprised, at various times, of members of Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Run Westy Run, The Honeydogs and Big Star... |
Mark Mallman Mark Mallman Mark Mallman is a Minnesota musician and composer for film.-Education:Mallman graduated from Waukesha South High School in 1991. He studied jazz piano at The Milwaukee Conservatory of Music then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1991... |
Jessy Greene Jessy Greene Jessy Greene is a violin, cello, and vocal musician from Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. She has released two albums, Blue Sky , and A Demon & Her Lovers . She was a former member of Geraldine Fibbers and The Jayhawks. Jessy has also played with a number of artists including Wilco, Atmosphere,... |
The Owls |
| 2005 | Adam Levy Adam Levy Adam Levy is an accomplished jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Levy has recorded with Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob, and Amos Lee, and has released several solo albums as well. is his latest.... |
Nachito Herrera | The Hopefuls The Hopefuls The Hopefuls, formerly known as The Olympic Hopefuls, are an indie-pop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Hopefuls won both the Artist of the Year and Best Pop Artist awards at the 2005 Minnesota Music Awards.-History:... |
Willie Walker and the Butanes | Faux Jean | Dana Thompson | Mark Olson Mark Olson Mark W. Olson was a member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2001 to 2006. Filling an unexpired term to end on January 31, 2010, he resigned on June 21, 2006 in order to run the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.-Biography:In 1943, Mark W. Olson was born on March... ; Founding Member of The Jayhawks |
Spaghetti Western String Co |
| 2006 | The Hopefuls The Hopefuls The Hopefuls, formerly known as The Olympic Hopefuls, are an indie-pop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Hopefuls won both the Artist of the Year and Best Pop Artist awards at the 2005 Minnesota Music Awards.-History:... |
Charlie Parr Charlie Parr Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician, born in Austin, Minnesota, United States. He started his music career in Duluth, Minnesota. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, and Dave Van Ronk. He plays a National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back... |
New Primitives | Chris Koza | Yawo | Desdamona Desdamona Desdamona is a hip-hop and spoken word artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. She has won five Minnesota Music Awards for 'Best Spoken Word Artist' in the years 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006... |
Becky Schlegel | The Ashtray Hearts The Ashtray Hearts The Ashtray Hearts are a U.S. band originally from Minneapolis. The band currently comprises six members, and their music is described as apartment music, a mix of Americana, folk, and country. They are noted for their melancholy, sad sound... |
| 2007 | The Brass Kings | The New Congress | Molly Maher and Her Disbelievers | White Light Riot White Light Riot White Light Riot is an American indie rock group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Members include brothers Mike Schwandt and Mark Schwandt , Dan Larsen , Randy Tomes and Zack Caroll . White Light Riot is sometimes abbreviated as WLR.- History :In early 2005, brothers Mike and Mark Schwandt... |
JoAnna James | Salsa Del Soul | The Alarmists | Kip Blackshire |
| 2008 | The Owls | Romantica | M.anifest | Roma di Luna | Salsabrosa | Jelloslave | Kid Dakota | Little Man |
| 2009 | Jeremy Messersmith Jeremy Messersmith Jeremy Messersmith is an indie pop musician based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Biography:Jeremy Messersmith was born in Charleston, and grew up in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. He moved to Minneapolis in 1999 to attend North Central University... |
Gospel Gossip | Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps | Charanga Tropical | First Communion Afterparty | The Butanes | ||
| 2010 | Koerner & Glover | Aby Wolf | Joey Ryan & the Inks | Salsa Del Soul | The 757s | Idle Hands | Black Blondie | |
Washburn A Mill
By 1880, a new Washburn A Mill, designed by Austrian engineer William de la Barre, opened as the largest flour mill in the world, a designation it retained until the Pillsbury A Mill opened across the river in 1881. At the peak of the Washburn A Mill's production, it could grind over 100 boxcars of wheat into almost 2,000,000 pounds of flour per day. An ad from the 1870s advertised, "Forty-one Runs of Stone. Capacity, 1,200 Barrels per Day. This is the largest and most complete Mill in the United States, and has not its equal in quantity and quality of machinery for making high and uniform grades of Family Flour in this country." Advertising hyperbole aside, the mill, along with the Pillsbury A Mill and other flour mills powered by St. Anthony Falls, contributed greatly to the development of Minneapolis.
Washburn later teamed up with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, which later became General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
.
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, flour production in Minneapolis began to decline as flour milling technology no longer depended on water power. Other cities, such as Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
became more prominent in the milling industry. Later on in the mill's lifetime, General Mills started putting more emphasis on producing cereals and baking mixes and shifted away from flour milling. The mill was shut down in 1965, along with eight other of the oldest mills operated by General Mills, and left in disuse.
In 1991, a fire nearly destroyed the old mill, but during the late 1990s, the city of Minneapolis, through the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, worked to stabilize the mill ruins. After the City of Minneapolis had cleaned up the rubble and fortified the mill's charred walls, the Minnesota Historical Society announced plans to construct a milling museum and education center within the ruins. Construction on the museum began in March 2001. Designed by Tom Meyer, principal for the architectural firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, the museum is a new building, built with the ruin walls of the 1880 Washburn A Mill. Efforts were made to retain as much of the historic fabric of the building as was possible. Many features of the Washburn A Mill were left intact, including turbine pits, railroad tracks, a train shed and two engine houses.