The West Side Milling District

Minneapolis led the nation in flour production from 1880 to 1930. This was largely due to technological innovations, geographic advantages, and the Falls of Saint Anthony. Minneapolis is still referred to as "Flour City" or "Mill City" due to this heritage.

Although there were mills on both sides of the river, the most grain was milled here on the west side. The first water powered flour mill was built here by the soldiers of Fort Snelling in 1821. This was the only flour mill here in Minneapolis until the late 1840s. It was the power that could be drawn from the waterfall that led to the development of this city. At first, the lumber mills churned here, but by the late 1860s, more flour mills had been built as well as a 300' canal that ran inland then parallel to the river. Mills were built around this water power canal and soon there was a maze of tunnels, turbines and outflow canals to return the water to the river.

Due to the middlings purifier and the roller milling process, the wheat that was grown locally and brought to the mills by rail could be ground into a superior flour to feed a growing nation. Companies like Pillsbury, Consolidated Milling, and Washburn Crosby built more and better mills, acquired competitors and streamlined the milling and distribution processes. A native Austrian engineer named William De La Barre was empowered by the millers and the water power companies to make the mills more efficient in their use of the water power. His improvements eventually led to about 57,000 horsepower being generated in most seasons by the waterfall. De La Barre also helped more mills to stay functioning by rationing the water supplied to the mills during times of low water. De Le Barre also was the architect on both the Washburn Crosby "A" Mill and the adjacent Wheat House.

These improvements were not enough to supply all the energy needs of a growing industry and the 1880s and 1890s saw most mills install auxiliary steam power for the times of low water. As time wore on, the mills relied on the water power less and so it was used for generating electricity.

Minneapolis lost the flour milling lead in 1930's to Buffalo, NY due to their advantage of a deep-water port. Milling operations generally decentralized after the 1930s. Water power continued to be used on the West Side until about 1965 when General Mills left the area (they changed their name from Washburn-Crosby in 1928) and moved to the suburbs. The water power canal was filled in and the turbines stopped turning.

Although no grain is milled in the milling district today, there are still functioning mills over on the East Side. Electricity is still generated via water power on Hennepin Island. The Lower Hennepin Island Hydroelectric Plant generates about 12.5 megawatts (enough for about 9,000 homes) of power and will continue to do so for some time.

Times are changing for the West Side Milling District. These old buildings are being refurbished into living spaces. They're very nice and are all going for incredible prices. There will also be a "Mill Ruins Park" created inside the ruins of the old Washburn-Crosby "A" mill.

The West Side Milling District from the rear.

This will include an interpretation center as well as some exhibits of old equipment. There's also talk of reopening the canal and doing some thing with water power again. They will also be excavating the ruins of the East side of the canal mills which are presently covered with gravel and a road. It should be neat and they've already started stabilizing the ruins.

Within the milling district, there are several buildings. To learn more, just click on these links.

The Humboldt Mill
Washburn-Crosby "A" Mill
Washburn-Crosby Utility Building