Vaudeville acts and burlesque shows, which were popular during the early 20th century, did not perform at the Shubert Theatre during the first part of its history. It was sold to William Steffes in 1935 who renamed it "Alvin", his middle name. Though he showed movies at the theater, business declined and he closed in December 1940 and reopened it not long after as a burlesque venue. This operated until 1953 when it became a church called the&nbsp;Minneapolis Evangelistic Auditorium. This church lasted just three years and it became solely a movie theater showing wide screen films. By the 1980s the area became neglected and the city wanted to tear down everything including the theater. Local residents called for its preservation and a long debate ensued about what to do. Fortunately, the theater was ultimately preserved. It was named the Goodale in 2010 after&nbsp;Katherine and Robert Goodale, who helped pay for its restoration.&nbsp;

The Goodale Theatre, part of the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, was built in 1910.

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One of the venues of the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, the Goodale Theatre is an excellent example of historic theater design. The well-preserved building was constructed by the New York-based Shubert Theatrical Company, which built 60 theaters around the country between 1900-1920. Architect Will A. Swasey designed it in the Classical Revival style. He also designed it to be very fireproof and as such included wide stairways and many fire exits. The theatre became the home of the leading resident professional performing company in the city called the Bainbridge Players. Touring Broadway shows also performed here. The Goodale was moved to this location in 1996 to be part of the Cowles Center and was renovated at that time. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, a designation that helped save it from demolition.

Goodale Theatre

This walking tour begins at  the Historic Wesley Center and includes some of the leading cultural icons of Minneapolis such as Goodale Theatre and Henepin Center for the Arts. The tour weaves its way through the downtown area before concluding at the Mill City Museum. 

Historic Downtown Minneapolis Walking Tour

Although it is next to the enormous Minneapolis Convention Center, the former Wesley United Methodist Church—now the Historic Wesley Center—still retains its architectural grandeur and historical significance. It was built in 1891 and designed by architect Warren H. Hayes (1847–1899) in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, which typically includes arched window and several towers. The building's tower reaches a height of 120 feet. Hayes was one of the foremost designers of churches in the United States and Canada during the 19th century. He was a proponent of the "diagonal" layout for churches as opposed to the long design usually seen, for example, in Gothic-style churches. Wesley United was such a design. The interior features a ground floor and balcony level, as well as a stained glass dome. Pews are placed in a fan shape to follow with the diagonal design of the church. Today, the building is a non-profit event center; weddings are among the events allowed to take place here. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Historic Wesley Center

The Minneapolis Auditorium was a basketball arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Minneapolis Lakers played their home games at the Auditorium beginning in 1947 until they moved in to the Minneapolis Armory in 1959. Potentially the most prominent player to ever play at the Minneapolis Auditorium was George Mikan, the dominant center for the Lakers. Mikan from played from 1947-1956 under Hall of Fame coach John Kundla. With coach Kundla, Mikan won seven championships, four scoring titles, and the 1958 MVP award. Mikan was also a 4x NBA all-star. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960. The Minneapolis Auditorium was demolished in 1989 so that the Minneapolis Convention Center could be built in its place.

The Minneapolis Auditorium was an indoor arena/theater located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The arena was constructed in 1927 and could hold up to 10,000 people. The Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA played their home games at the auditorium until they moved in to the Minneapolis Armory in 1959. In 1989 it was demolished and the Minneapolis Convention Center was built in its place.

Minneapolis Auditorium (Minneapolis Convention Center)

The Architects and Engineers Building, with its Italian Renaissance design, arose in 1920 just as the "City Beautiful" urban-planning movement started to transition to the International Style. The City Beautiful plan sought to improve otherwise disjointed, poorly managed cities that rapidly grew during the late nineteenth century. Over time, that movement often catered to white, middle-class residents at the expense of the poor and minorities. The City Beautiful movement emerged when the U.S. transitioned from a majority rural nation to one dominated by cities. From 1860 to 1910, the number of American cities exceeding 100,000 residents climbed from eight to fifty. By 1910, several cities surpassed one million residents, aided in large part by substantial immigration numbers. The immense speed at which cities grew left them unorganized, unsafe, dirty, and utterly unattractive. The move to improve cities got a bit boost by the massive renovation of Paris by Georges-Eugène Haussmann under Emperor Napoléon III between 1853 and 1870. The movement gained considerable momentum in the U.S. after the late 1850s development of Central Park in New York City designed by Frederick Olmsted, Sr. and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Daniel H. Burnham constructed a temporary utopia known as "White City" (for its abundant white buildings). Visitors at the Exposition were shielded from Chicago's nineteenth-century reality that included poverty, pollution, and crime. Burnham and a team later devised the Plan of Chicago in 1909 that referenced Haussmann and laid out the first notable plan for a major city. Not all architects embraced the City Beautiful idea as many preferred a unique, American approach rather than draw inspiration from Europe. Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright serve as two notable examples of those who disliked the Burnham approach to city building and architecture. Another flaw in early urban planning came from the lack of concern given to social and economic issues. The plans often catered to the middle class, notably white citizens. Progressives emerging during the 1890s and early twentieth century ultimately changed the course of urban planning as the twentieth century advanced. The changing attitudes towards City Beautiful theories could be seen in building designs by the 1920s, transitioning more toward the International Style influenced in part by the aforementioned architects, Sullivan and Wright. (Although Wright steered away from this movement, too, as he matured, eventually making the Prairie School style popular.) The design style is defined by simplification, functionality, and clarity. The Architects and Engineers Building, though primarily inspired by City Beautiful, enjoys some influence from that International Style design trend that grew prevalent during the 1920s and 1930s. The exterior includes gold-painted names of prominent architects such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Christopher Wren, and Henry Hobson Richardson, which speaks to the building's function as a home to professional architects and students. The building interior consists of private offices, drafting rooms, libraries, and other office-related spaces. The idea behind the building involved having a place where architects could work, research, and share ideas all under one roof.

Minneapolis' Architects and Engineers Building was constructed in 1920, a time of rapid growth following the phase of urban planning influenced by European city building that came to be known as City Beautiful. The trend that heavily influenced the building's lauded architects, Edwin Hawley Hewitt and Edwin Brown, who built the building in an Italian Renaissance style as a place for architects to work, learn, and share ideas.  

Architects and Engineers Building

The thirty-three-story Foshay Tower arrived shortly after twenty-six-story Rand Tower in 1929 as buildings that exceeded the decades-old mandate to limit building height to less than 125 feet. The Rand Tower stood as the largest building in the city until the Forshay arrived months later and took over that mark. The name speaks to the rags-to-riches multi-millionaire Wilbur B. Foshay who long desired to obtain a fortune and build a replica of the Washington Monument. However, shortly after his dream came to fruition, the Great Depression arrived and his riches quickly faded. Foshay moved to Minneapolis in 1915 and carried with him a debt of $150,000 (equal to more than $3.5 million in 2020). Foshay incurred the debt through the collapse of his first venture in the utilities industry. Forshay engaged in shrewd bargaining, investments, and stock sales to erase his debt and then again try his hand at building a utilities company. Within ten years, he turned the new company into a $22 million operation. Foshay had long wished to construct a building with a similar design to that of the Washington Monument. And, by obtaining his fortune during the "Roaring '20s," Foshay could turn that dream into a reality. It took two years to build before opening on August 30, 1929. Foshay spared no expense, including using fabricated steel, hot-riveted with reinforced concrete, for which they received a patent on November 11, 1930. The interior was adorned with elaborate detailing and materials such Italian marble, hand-wrought iron, gold-plated doorknobs, and African mahogany. Foshay also spent nearly $117,000 (worth $1.7 million in 2020) on an extravagant three-day dedication party attended by dignitaries such as governors, public officials, foreign ministers. The Secretary of War during the Hoover administration, James W. Good, addressed the crowd and John Philip Sousa and his seventy-five piece band played "Foshay Tower-Washington Memorial March" for the occasion. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred less than two months after that party, and the subsequent Great Depression put an end to Foshay's lavish lifestyle. By the time the U.S. Patent finalized the patent for the materials used in the Foshay building, he had been charged with fifteen counts of mail fraud and lost his skyscraper as a result. The court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison, but President Franklin D, Roosevelt provided in with a pardon in 1937 followed by an unconditional pardoned granted by President Harry Truman in 1947. Forshay never again returned to the world of big business. On August 30, 1957, exactly twenty-eight years after the tower dedication party, he died without any fanfare. In somewhat fitting fashion, the tower now functions as a luxury hotel, providing lavish amenities once enjoyed by many during the booming 1920s.

Completed in 1929, the 32-story Foshay Tower became Minnesota's first skyscraper and remained the tallest building in the city of Minneapolis until 1971. Visitors to the Tower can tour its museum and enjoy one of the best views of the city from its Observation Deck. It is named after Wilbur Foshay, an entrepreneur who operated the largest utility company in the city during the early 20th century. Unfortunately for Foshay, the onset of the Great Depression destroyed his business and he was unable to pay for all of the building's costs. Between 2006 and 2008, the building was converted into a hotel and is presently operated by W Hotel-a member of the Starwood Chain. Foshay Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The museum explores the tower's history and Wilbur Foshay's life.

Foshay Tower

After Young passed away in 1911, Quinlan wanted to expand
their store and consulted with several department store owners and managers in
America’s biggest cities.&nbsp; Quinlan hired
New York architect Frederick L. Ackerman to design the Young-Quinlan building,
an extremely unique construction as each of the 4 facades were designed as
equally attractive as the front and adorned with “arched windows, columnns and
decorative elements giving each side the appearance of being the entrance side
of the building” (“Young-Quinlan Building”). &nbsp;The building’s “interior has a marble
staircase, crystal chandeliers, and metalwork of iron, brass, bronze, and
pewter” (“Young-Quinlan Building”). &nbsp;Another innovative feature of the building was
its inclusion of a parking garage. While
being innovative for its time, the department store still held on to high-class
hospitality by housing the last elevator in the city to still use an elevator
operator.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Constructed in 1926, the Young-Quinlan Building was home to Young-Quinlan Department Store. The store originally began in 1894 as a small specialty women’s dress shop, the first ready to wear shop of its kind and was owned and operated by Elizabeth Quinlan and Fred D. Young. The building, which continues to a retail and office building, was designated a Minneapolis Landmark in 1988.

Young-Quinlan Building 

In the 1880s, Minneapolis’s theater and entertainment district began to shift westward along Hennepin Avenue, away from the earlier halls built on Washington Avenue. At the beginning of the 20th century, a number of vaudeville theaters were built in this new district, as the popular new form of entertainment swept across the nation. Among these was the Seventh Street Orpheum, constructed in 1904 by the Orpheum vaudeville circuit, which booked shows in hundreds of theaters from Chicago to the West Coast. 17 years later, needing a larger home for its Minneapolis performances, the Orpheum circuit commissioned a new theater near the corner of Hennepin Avenue and 9th St., naming it the Hennepin Theatre.  The theater was designed in the Beaux Arts style by the Milwaukee-based architectural firm Kirchhoff and Rose, which had designed several other vaudeville theaters throughout the Midwest and in New York City. Constructed by the Thomas Starrett Company of Chicago, the theater actually consists of two distinct structures: a long, narrow lobby stretches from Hennepin Avenue to the main building that houses the auditorium (this unique design made the facade and marquee visible on busy Hennepin Avenue). Its ornate interior was common at the time, when going to the theater was as much a part of the experience as the performance onstage. The construction cost totaled just over $1 million, and its 2,928 seats made it the largest vaudeville theater west of New York City, until it was surpassed the following year by Cleveland’s Palace Theater. The Hennepin Theatre opened to much fanfare on October 16, 1921, with a program headlined by the Marx Brothers. 70,000 people attended shows in the theater’s opening week, with the most expensive seats selling for 47 cents. Since vaudeville was geared toward families, children's tickets only cost 9 cents, and the theater featured a playroom and daycare. It its early years, it also housed a Wurlitzer organ and, since live animals were often a part of vaudeville performances, the backstage area had a large steel cage. Part of the esteemed Orpheum circuit, the theater drew many of the top, nationally touring vaudeville stars. Throughout the 1920s, Jack Benny, George Burns, and Gracie Allen all graced the Hennepin Theatre stage, among many others. As vaudeville declined in popularity and movies became the nation’s new preferred entertainment, the theater transitioned accordingly. Films increasingly replaced vaudeville acts in the late 1920s and 1930s, and the theater installed a sound system in 1933 so it could screen the new “talkies” coming out of Hollywood. Around this time, the theater also changed its name to the Hennepin Orpheum and then the RKO Orpheum, reflecting the recent merger that created RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum). Eventually, it became known simply as the Orpheum Theatre. As the Orpheum became more of a movie palace, it promoted its film premieres with extravagant events that included marching bands, dances, and appearances by the movie stars themselves. When the theater screened Gone with the Wind in 1940, it sold out every show for three straight weeks. The Orpheum kept up with changing trends in the industry, installing a 25’ x 55’ screen and stereophonic sound system in 1953 to accommodate the new CinemaScope films.  While vaudeville was phased out in the early 1930s, the Orpheum continued to host live performances of all kinds. During the age of big band swing music, such icons of the genre as Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman all performed at the theater. In 1959, the businessman Ted Mann purchased the Orpheum and started bringing in touring Broadway productions like My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof. In the 1970s, however, business declined at the theater, and it was up for sale at a low price near the end of the decade. Bob Dylan, a Minnesota native who briefly lived in Minneapolis while attending the University of Minnesota, bought the theater with his brother David Zimmerman in 1979. While Dylan owned the theater, it hosted more touring musicians, but was in a state of disrepair by the time he sold it to the City of Minneapolis in 1988.  The city renovated the theater twice over the next five years, making substantial updates and additions in 1993 so it could accommodate large Broadway musicals. The first of these, Miss Saigon, ran at the theater in 1994, breaking local records for ticket sales; three years later, Disney’s wildly successful musical adaptation of The Lion King premiered at the Orpheum. In 2005, Minneapolis transferred ownership of the theater to the Hennepin Theatre Trust, a nonprofit organization which also owns and operates the historic State and Pantages theaters. Today, the Orpheum continues to host performances and events, primarily touring musicians and musical productions.

Originally called the Hennepin Theatre when it opened in 1921, the Orpheum is one of the few remaining theaters from Minneapolis’s vaudeville era. When it was first built, its 2,928 seats briefly made it the largest vaudeville palace west of New York City. The theater was part of the famous Orpheum vaudeville circuit, and its first decade featured popular performers like the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. As vaudeville declined in popularity, the theater transitioned to showing movies and concerts, primarily hosting big bands during the 1930s and ‘40s. The businessman Ted Mann bought the theater in 1959 and brought in touring Broadway productions like "My Fair Lady" and "Fiddler on the Roof." Business declined in the 1970s, and Minnesota native and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan purchased the property with his brother David Zimmerman in 1979. They eventually sold the theater to the City of Minneapolis in 1988, which renovated the building so it could accommodate large-scale Broadway musicals. Since it reopened at the end of 1993, the Orpheum has hosted a number of touring musicians and musicals, including the premiere of Disney’s stage adaptation of "The Lion King." Of all the Minneapolis theaters built in the first few decades of the 20th century, the Orpheum is the largest to survive. 

Orpheum Theatre

The eight-story Pence Automobile Company Building, named for its owner, Harry E. Pence, stands as a monument to one of the Midwest's most influential contributors to the exponential growth of the automobile industry during the early twentieth century. At the time of its completion in 1909, the 102,000-square-foot Pence Automobile Company functioned as one of the world's largest buildings devoted entirely to the automobile trade. The company was one of the most prolific Buick dealerships in the nation and served as an anchor to what became "Automobile Row" on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.  Harry Pence was born in Ohio in 1868 to Charles and Ruth, who had moved to the U.S from England (and before that, from Bavaria) where they changed their name from Bentz to Pence. The younger Harry moved to Minneapolis in 1886 and lived with his uncle, a prominent businessman in the railroad and mining industries, as well as banking and land markets. The two traveled throughout Europe and Asia for five years. When they returned, Pence purchased six steamboats and started a Mississippi River transportation company that proved unsuccessful. In 1898 Pence married Dorothy Draper. They went on to have three children.The automobile and the related manufacturing and sales industries in the United States quickly grew to prominence during the early twentieth century. In 1903, Pence grew interested in the growing automobile trend and decided to open a Cadillac car dealership, the second auto franchise operating in Minneapolis. Two years later, Pence desired cars with more power and speed. Buick agreed to offer two-cylinder engines, whereas Cadillac refused. Consequently, Pence decided to switch from selling Cadillacs to Buicks and enjoyed tremendous success as a result. Pence was selected as a Buick distributor in 1905 and given control of between thirty and fifty dealerships in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana. The role of the distributor was especially influential in the upper Midwestern plains. This mostly rural area stood to benefit immensely from the automotive transport of people and agricultural goods. Pence's territory expanded beyond his original four-state area to parts of Wisconsin and Wyoming. He opened warehouses and branch dealerships under his name in Duluth, Minnesota, Fargo, North Dakota, and Huron, Mitchell, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Harry Pence's success helped make Buick one of the most successful auto brands in the country, helping the CEO of Buick launch General Motors and subsequently take ownership of numerous other car makers such as Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and eventually Chevrolet.The success first pushed Pence to build a four-story structure that quickly proved too small shortly after moving into the building. The next plan involved constructing a new six-story structure that would function as a salesroom, garage, and warehouse. However, before the company broke ground in 1908, the company decided to add two more stories to the design. Hence, the historic building stands eight stories high. The completed eight-story building in 1909 had floors devoted to sales showrooms and offices; automobile assembly, finishing, repair, and service; and storage for parts, accessories, and completed vehicles. A freight elevator near the rear of the building allowed cars to be driven onto the lift and raised to the upper floors. By 1915 Pence reportedly had the largest auto business in the world, accounting for twenty-nine percent of all of the Buicks sold.  The company moved again in 1929, but it retained an office on one of the historic building upper floors until Pence sold his company outright to General Motors in 1930, three years before he passed away at the age of 65. Most of Automobile Row on Hennepin Avenue has long since vanished since then. However, the Pence Automobile Company Building remains and stands today as a physical reminder of the genesis of the giant automobile industry (notably General Motors) that arose during the early twentieth century, of which Pence significantly contributed.

Harry Pence established Minneapolis's second auto dealership in 1903.  By 1915, his company was one of the most influential auto dealers in the world, selling nearly 30% of all the Buicks that were manufactured. Pence's sales helped the company grow into one of the largest American automakers that later became part of General Motors, a company the grew into one of the largest corporations in the world. Pence later added two stories to his plan for this building before ground was broken. Today the eight-story building is a reminder of what was once  Automobile Row in downtown Minneapolis. 

Pence Automobile Company Building

Lincoln National Bank was established in 1917 by Harry Pence, who established Minneapolis's second auto dealership in 1903 and became one of the world's most influential auto dealers. His dealerships accounted for roughly 30% of all the Buicks manufactured and sold. He created the bank to provide financing to potential auto buyers at a time when buying on credit increasingly grew acceptable in the United States. The bank served his auto business and many dealers located on "automobile row" along Hennepin Avenue, as well as numerous other industries during the booming 1920s economy. The rapid growth of the bank led to its need for a much larger building. In 1921, the now-historic Lincoln Bank Building opened across the street from the Pence Automobile Company Building.Harry Pence entered the automobile trade in 1903 by opening one of the city's first automobile dealerships. Two years later, he partnered with General Motors to become a local Buick distributor and became instrumental in opening the automobile markets to rural Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana. Financing, once seen as unsavory, grew more popular by the 1910s as more and more people looked to by cars. By the time Pence opened the historic Lincoln Bank Building across the street from his dealership, more than one-hundred auto dealers, wholesalers, and repair garages operated nearby. In addition to handling auto loans, Pence created Lincoln Bank to provide banking services for large corporations and busy business people on upper Hennepin. Furthermore, the bank's success can also be attributed to its timing, having opened during a period of significant national and local growth within the banking industry after the first World War and into the "Roaring '20s. For instance, demand for agricultural products skyrocketed, resulting in a rapid increase in land prices, expanding transportation businesses, and the processing of farm commodities in urban regions. The growing economy also allowed fuel and lumber dealers, manufacturers, produce and fruit distributors, clothing industries, and entertainment operations to flourish. To wit: the booming economy came with a need for both savings and credit, making banks like the Lincoln Bank a profitable operation. The Lincoln Bank enjoyed the added success gained by its ties to Pence's auto dealerships. But, the Lincoln Bank did not remain entirely autonomous during much of its growth as Northwestern National (now Wells Fargo) had acquired it in 1921. Harry Pence and many Lincoln Bank investors transitioned to Northwestern National board members. The consolidation mirrored that of many banks during the 1920s when larger banks continually purchased smaller banks and developed several branches. Pence's company moved out of the building next door just as the Great Depression arrived in 1930, and Pence died in 1933. Over the years, the vast majority of Automobile Row has disappeared, leaving only the Pence Automobile Company Building and the Lincoln Bank Building. The two buildings across the street from each other stand as reminders of the 1920s in Minneapolis, an era dominated by Pence, his automobile dealer, and the bank he created.

The Lincoln Bank Building (1921) is associated with Harry Pence, who formed the bank with partners during the early 20th century at roughly the same time he started his highly successful automobile business directly across the street. Pence grew into one of the most influential Buick and GM dealers in the world. The bank handled the increasingly popular trend of buying new automobiles for credit and grew as a result of the economic boom during the 1920s. 

Lincoln Bank Building

It is a narrow, three-story brick building. It remains home
to Gluek’s Restaurant &amp; Bar, which officially began in its present form in
1934 after the repeal of Prohibition. The building caught on fire in 1989 but
has been restored to its original condition. It is the oldest restaurant in
downtown Minneapolis. 

Visitors, who will need a reservation to eat, should note
the elaborate woodwork, brick walls, high arched ceilings and stained glass
windows. The restaurant frequently hosts private parties and live music. The
Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission designated the building as a local
historic site in 1984.

The Gluek Building was built in 1902. The architects were Christopher Boehme and Victor Cordella, who chose a Renaissance Revival style. Gluek Brewing Company was founded in 1857 by Gottlieb Gluek, before Minneapolis was a city. It grew quickly and the bar and restaurant was built in 1902 primarily to serve customers Gluek beer. 

Gluek Building

The building served as the Masonic Temple for more
than a century. It housed offices and lodging space for the Masonic Temple
Association of Minneapolis. Visitors might notice the intricately carved motifs
on the building’s exterior. The sandstone building originally had two domes on
the corner towers but those were removed because of deterioration. 

Ownership changed in 1978 and it became home to the Hennepin
Center for the Arts. The building has been home to a number of business and
medical offices, a church as well as street-level retail stores. Improvements
have included a new roof and windows as well as a chemical wash to restore it
to its original color. New mechanical and electrical systems were installed.
Lodge halls were converted to theatre spaces. 

The building is now owned and operated by Artspace Projects.
As part of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, the building is
home to several dance troupes and is visited by thousands of children and
adults each year for classes, rehearsals, workshops and performances. It also
has a distance learning program which used technology to create two-way
interactive teaching environments for students throughout the nation.

The Hennepin Center for the Arts was originally built from 1888 to 1990 as a Masonic Temple. The building is a Richardsonian Romanesque style designed by long architects, Long and Kees. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1795. Today is part of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. 

Hennepin Center for the Arts

The Farmers and Mechanics (F&amp;M) Savings Bank building opened in 1942, but the bank's history goes back to the 1870s. The bank owns a legacy as the state's only long-lived mutual savings bank focused less on entrepreneurs and more on laborers, and with a history that is intertwined with that of the city. The institution also played a significant role in the mid-twentieth-century urban renewal story. Common to most quickly growing urban centers during the last half of the nineteenth century, population booms coincided with commercial construction and bank openings. A common theme among banks that emerged during the era, notably during the height of the "Gilded Age," involved their relationships with wealthy investors and entrepreneurs. F&amp;M appeared in 1874 with a plan to serve mariners, merchants, laborers, minors, and other "working" occupations. F&amp;M functioned as a mutual savings bank, arriving at a time when the mutual savings bank trend had gained momentum, with 771 operating by 1875. F&amp;M stood as the only mutual savings bank in Minnesota (and west of the Mississippi) when it opened for business. Serving laborers did not bring immediate success to the bank. Still, as Minneapolis grew into the "flour capital of the world" by the 1880s, laborers moved to the city in droves, and they conducted business with F&amp;M; deposits increased from $300,000 in 1880 to more than $2 million in 1885.  As the bank grew, its need for larger office buildings arose. The bank opened new premises several times in the 1880s and 1890s. The bank's previous building was constructed in 1891 and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. But, the commercial center for the city trended southward away from F&amp;M as the twentieth century progressed. By the 1920s, despite a broad economic boom for the nation and city, the bank found itself in an area of town abound in abandoned buildings and urban blight. The bank constructed in 1893 also showed its age. Thoughts of moving to another building had to be put on hold after the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression that followed it.  During the 1930s, the bank continued to function well, despite the economic decline that affected its clientele -- laborers -- the hardest. The bank succeeded partly because unlike large banks heavily tied to large businesses and high-risk investments, F&amp;M built its reserves by investing in smaller ventures such as residential real-estate and municipal bonds. As a result of its vitality, the search for a new building commenced during the Great Depression. The bank took advantage of the Depression by purchasing the lot for which the historic building stands for $250,000; the land had previously sold during the 1920s for $750,000. However, by the time the bank opened, just as World War II began, the "lower loop" that F&amp;M had long desired to locate now found itself on a slow path of decline as the Great Depression and war efforts took its toll on the area. Yet, again, the bank found itself in a less than ideal location, from a typical business viewpoint. But, hope prevailed that the city would not allow blight to dominate the area as it existed as the city's commercial center for years. Before F&amp;M arrived, Chicago urban planner Edward H. Bennett, a colleague of Daniel Burnham, issued a "City Beautiful" plan for Minneapolis in 1917. As well, projects such as the 1924 construction of the Nicollet Hotel, a 1927 expansion of a federal office building, and the opening of a post office in 1934 all served as private and public efforts to maintain the lower loop. Urban blight still ravaged the downtown area, and numerous businesses fled to the suburbs during the 1950s -- a common activity in post-war America. During that same decade, F&amp;M's growth forced them again to need a new home. The bank ultimately decided to invest in a massive expansion of its 1942 structure. Bank executives noted that they hoped to contribute to the re-investment of downtown Minneapolis. Not long after that, the nineteen-story Sheraton Hotel and a six-story office building for International Business Machines emerged, along with other smaller investments. Thus, the area found new life. Sadly, due to reasons beyond this entry's scope, the bank ceased to exist by 1982. Regardless, its choice to invest in the city proved to be its last effort in a long history of investing in people and regions that otherwise may have been forgotten by other banks and businesses.

The Farmers and Mechanics (F&M) Savings Bank began in the 1870s in Minneapolis as the only mutual savings institution west of the Mississippi. The bank catered to laborers and merchants rather than commercial operations. Once located in a historic 1891 building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the organization moved several times before completing this structure in 1942. When numerous businesses fled downtown for the suburbs during the 1950s and urban decay became prevalent around the F&M neighborhood, the bank decided to add to its 1942 structure rather than move, which started a movement of reinvestment in the city and helped it survive. Today, the building is home to the Westin Hotel. 

Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank (Westin Hotel)

Construction of the Rand Tower finished in 1929. The building was built by a World War I and World War II pilot, Rufus Rand, whose family owned the Minneapolis Gas Co. The stepped skyscraper enjoys an Art Moderne design from the nationally recognized firm of Holabird &amp; Root. The Rand Tower opened in 1929 as the tallest building in the city, although that title lasted for less than one year. The structure emerged at a time when the city transitioned from a town built on flour milling to one benefitting from companies producing flour-based ready-to-eat products. Downtown Minneapolis grew during the "Roaring 20's" despite the city's flour industry losing its dominance. Steam and electricity overtook water power as the primary supply source, leaving many of the area's mills that relied on water power with declining business success. Furthermore, soil exhaustion in the Dakotas and Minnesota resulting from decades of persistent wheat farming put a dent in the region's flour mill industry. As a result, companies that eventually grew into General Mills and Pillsbury marketed their goods directly to customers, created slogans and mascots (like Betty Crocker), sponsored baking contests, and developed mixes and prepared foods such as pancake mixes and cereal. Rand Tower served as one of the first challenges to an 1890 height restriction that limited buildings to no more than 125 feet. (The original limit stood at 100 feet in 1890, but officials later raised the maximum height to 125 feet.) The Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association reimposed the mandate after the First National – Soo Line Building finished in 1915 with a height of 252 feet. Regardless, the Rand Tower and Foshay Tower emerged in 1929, soaring 26 stories and 32 stories, respectively; the Rand Tower stood as the tallest building until the Foshay building appeared less than one year later. John Holabird and John Root were second-generation Chicago School architects who designed the building. They took over the famed Holabird &amp; Root and continued in the lauded firm's traditions during the late 1920s and 1930s. The two designed several stepped skyscrapers in Chicago and throughout the Midwest as well as the Rand Building. The building features terrazzo floors in the lobby and ornamental carvings of Mercury (the Roman god of merchants and travelers) holding planes above the entrance. Today, the building is currently in the process of renovation and conversion into a luxury hotel.

The twenty-six-story Rand Tower opened in 1929 as the tallest building in Minneapolis, only to be lose that title within a year. Before Rand Tower emerged, the city had restricted heights of buildings to no more than 125 feet since the 1880s, minus one building that challenged that in 1915. Second generation Chicago School architects designed the stepped skyscraper for Minneapolis at a time when the city's flour industry adapted to changing 1920s consumer culture that arose amidst a growing, robust economy. 

Rand Tower

The exterior is rusticated pink Ortonville granite. It
occupies an entire city block. The 5-story building is 100-feet tall. It
features Romanesque elements such as arched entryways, turrets and steep roof
pavilions. The interior is highlighted my marble walls, a grand ceremonial
staircase and a large statue of the “Father of the Waters.” Another notable characteristic
of the building is that it was engineered so that the floors could be remodeled
independently. 

As the city grew and more services were needed, the building
needed to grow as well. A 4-story addition was completed in 1949 closing off
the once open center court. The original terra cotta roof gave way to sheet
copper in 1950. The rotunda was extensively refurbished in 2002. It has had
numerous other upgrades through the years. 

The building is operated by the Municipal Building
Commission. Hennepin County moved most of its operations to a new building
across the street in 1975. Today, the building is occupied by 60 percent city
departments and 40 percent county and district courts. Visitors can enjoy
self-guided tours and listen to one of many scheduled bell concerts that take
place from noon to 1 p.m. on select days. The building is also a popular spot
for weddings.

This majestic government building has also been known as Minneapolis City Hall. It also serves as the county courthouse. The Minneapolis architecture firm of Long and Kees designed the building. It was built at a cost of $3,500,000 between 1889 and 1905. The clock was added in 1916 and was said to be the largest timepiece in the world. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 

Minneapolis Municipal Building

The Flour Exchange building survives as a monument to the nearly fifty-year period where Minneapolis stood as the flour milling capital of the world from roughly 1880 to 1930. Construction of the building took place in two phases. Completion of the first four floors occurred in 1892 only to have the "Panic of 1893" result in a halt to the construction of the rest of the structure. In 1909, builders finished the final seven floors. When the building opened, it held the distinction of being the first steel high rise in Minneapolis. Minneapolis lies near abundant wheat-growing areas located in the central and northern Great Plans as well as parts of Minnesota. Furthermore, the state nickname, Land of Lakes, speaks to the city and region's easy access to water power. Also, Minneapolis grew in a location near St. Anthony Falls and its tremendous waterpower. With nearby wheat and plenty of water power, the milling industry flourished in the Twin Cities, especially with railroad lines tying the area to Chicago, New York, and numerous other big cities in the Eastern U.S. Of course, cities don't arise naturally. Minneapolis owes its history, including the abundant mills, to entrepreneurs who possessed the foresight to see the potential for investing in flour in what would become a major city in Minnesota. The industry's early success led business leaders to focus on improving the technology to produce more flour each day, which in turn inspired farmers in its hinterlands to find ways to produce substantial amounts of wheat. The expanding milling industry coincided with the cultivation of millions of acres of northern Great Plains land. By 1890, Minneapolis surpassed St. Louis as the leading center for flour milling and subsequently enjoyed a booming economy marked by wealthy investors and countless laborers that mirrored many large urban centers during the Gilded Age. The flour-milling success coupled with numerous ancillary businesses, and the resultant economic boom, drew migrants and immigrants to the city so that its population more than quadrupled from under 50,000 in 1880 to over 200,000 by 1900.  To view the Flour Exchange building today is to see the example of humans to commodify the soil and turn natural resources into profit at an exceedingly rapid pace. The economic success tied to the milling industry helped Minneapolis grow into one of the nation's twenty biggest cities by the early twentieth century. The city's downtown region grew as the city matured and the subsequent construction of skyscrapers by around the turn of the twentieth century. So, it is fitting that the Flour Exchange building emerged as the city's first steel high rise.

The 128,000-square-foot Flour Exchange Building was constructed in two phases. Construction of the first four floors occurred in 1892 followed by the last seven floors in 1909 The Flour Exchange Building enjoys a Chicago School design and was the first steel-and-concrete high-rise in Minneapolis. The building stands as a lasting reminder to its once flourishing flour milling industry, earning it the nickname: Mill City. 

Flour Exchange Building

Initially, the depot was the end of the line for the
Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad Company. It’s a three-story
Renaissance Revival structure with arched doorways, marble floors and carved
wood ceilings. Behind the station was a long-span steel truss-roofed train
shed. This shed is one of only 12 remaining ones in the United States. 

The last train left the depot in 1971. In 1998, the city
sold it to developers who turned it into the mixed-used complex it is today.
Notably, it is the home to a pair of hotels, the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel,
The Depot and Residence Inn Minneapolis Downtown at The Depot. The Depot is
also home to Milwaukee Road restaurant. The Depot also serves as a popular meeting
and special event special as well as parking spot for area events.

The Milwaukee Road Depot and Freight House was built from 1897-99 to meet the growing demands of railroad expansion and the city’s industrial and commercial sectors. Architect Charles Frost designed the depot. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Today The Depot stands a reminder of the railroading days of the past as well as a mixed-used commercial space. 

Milwaukee Road Depot

Railroad baron James J. Hill built the bridge in 1883 to link the two sides of the Mississippi, thereby facilitating&nbsp;greater movement of people and goods. Trains used the bridge until 1965. Repair work began in 1980 and now only&nbsp;bikers and walkers use it.

A National Historic Engineering Landmark, the Stone Arch Bridge features 23 arches and is made of native granite and limestone. The bridge spans 2,100 feet across the river below St. Anthony’s Falls and hosts a number of activities, including Segway tours, the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, and beautiful, scenic views of St. Anthony’s Falls. The bridge is the only one of its kind to span the Mississippi River. 

Stone Arch Bridge 

<div>The original mill, built in 1874, was leveled by a flour dust explosion that claimed 18 lives. That explosion and the resulting fire destroyed much of the riverfront business area, cutting Minneapolis' milling capacity in half.</div><div> </div><div>The mill was rebuilt by 1880, with state-of-the-art machinery that permitted safer operations and higher-quality flour. By the turn-of-the-century, this was the largest and most technologically-advanced mill in the world. Automatic steel rollers replaced traditional millstones. According to contemporary sources, the mill produced enough flour to make 12 million loaves of bread a day during its peak of operations in the 20th century. However, the mill eventually became obsolete and operations ceased in 1965. The structure was not well-maintained in the following decades and was nearly destroyed by a fire in 1991. The fire raised awareness of the historic value of the mill and led to a community effort to restore the remaining structure and create a museum at the site.&nbsp;</div>

Located in the ruins of what was once the largest flour mill in the world, the Mill City Museum commemorates the history of milling and the Riverfront. Exhibits present the history of the mill and the city's role as a center of flour production from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. The museum also preserves and interprets the history of the city and region with exhibits and programs that change throughout the year to make each visit unique and educational. 

Historic Downtown Minneapolis Walking Tour

Goodale Theatre

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information