Mill City Museum

The Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, once the largest flour mill in the world and the centre of an industry that made Minneapolis the flour milling capital of the United States from the 1880s through the 1920s. The museum traces the history of flour milling, the Mississippi River, and Minneapolis's industrial development in an impressive series of galleries built into the restored ruins.

The building's roof affords excellent views of the Stone Arch Bridge, Saint Anthony Falls, and the river gorge. The eight-story Flour Tower — an industrial elevator reconstructed inside the mill ruins — takes visitors through a dramatic multimedia presentation of the mill's history. The museum is on the riverfront in the Warehouse District, adjacent to the walking and cycling paths along the Mississippi.

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In 1878, the Washburn A Mill exploded when flour dust ignited, killing 18 workers and destroying half the city's milling capacity. The disaster accelerated the development of exhaust systems that separated flour dust from the milling process — an advance that made modern industrial baking possible. The ruins of the rebuilt mill, destroyed again by fire in 1991, now form the exterior walls of the museum.

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