Clio Logo
This is a contributing entry and appears exclusively within that tour.Learn More.

This entry is saved as a draft, but has not been submitted for review.

The Mill District and the Changing Minneapolis Riverfront

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

From this spot between Mill City Museum's train shed and the Guthrie Theater, you can start to see what the present-day riverfront is like. What do you notice about the neighborhood around you? Depending on the day, you might see shoppers at the Mill City Farmers Market. You may see people on bike rides or walking their dogs along the riverfront. Or you might notice the cultural attractions---a museum and a theater. Perhaps you notice things that are absent in this neighborhood, like schools or single-family homes and duplexes. As you walk through the neighborhood, consider how it's been shaped by change and by deliberate choices that people have made. Like all communities, the neighborhood you see has changed over time. People have made choices that shaped what you see before you today.

Images

Washburn-Crosby Mill

Washburn-Crosby Mill

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

People had, and have, different relationships to the Minneapolis riverfront. It’s a location of spiritual importance, a gathering place, a place of industry, a place of recreation, or a home. For many people, it’s multiple things at once.

The area that is Minneapolis is Dakota Homeland, and the area around Owamniyomni (also called St. Anthony Falls) has been a gathering place for time immemorial. Many of the buildings that you can see along the riverfront were built relatively recently, starting in the 1850s by colonists who moved to Dakota land from New England and other places.  

In the early 1900s, a visitor to the Falls would have been coming to work or on business. It was an industrial neighborhood. You would have heard the sound of railroad cars, perhaps smelled grain, and possibly, you wouldn’t have seen any water going over the falls. It was diverted to power the mills along the river. For Minneapolis business leaders it was considered a good day when water wasn’t going over the falls because it meant industry was in full swing. 

In 1975, a visitor would have been pretty alone on the west bank of the river. The Washburn A Mill closed in 1965, and other mills were also gone, and not replaced by other businesses. Parking lots spanned entire blocks and had emerged from the abandoned rail lines and railyards, and urban renewal teardowns. Reiko Weston's Fuji-Ya restaurant, the first Japanese restaurant in Minneapolis, was an exception to the abandonment and a neighborhood draw.

In the early 2000s, a visitor to the riverfront would have seen a neighborhood experiencing rapid change. Some existing buildings were adapted into luxury housing, while new construction sprang up quickly and real estate started to become more expensive.

Sources

Pennefeather, Shannon. Mill City: A Visual History of the Minneapolis Mill District. St. Paul, Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003.

Tanaka, Kimmy and Jonathan Moore. "Fuji-Ya, Second to None: Reiko Weston's Role in Reconnecting Minneapolis and the Mississippi River." Minnesota History. Fall 2018: 98-111.

Weber, Tom. Minneapolis: An Urban Biography. St.Paul, MN. Minnesota Historical Society, 2020.

Westerman, Gwen. White, Bruce. Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota. St. Paul, MN. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Minnesota Historical Society Collections

Additional Information