The Mill City Museum Explores the Tragic Past and the Decline of the Minneapolis Flour Industry

The Mill City Museum of Minneapolis bills itself as "The Most Explosive Museum in the World." The Mill City Museum is located at 704 S. Second Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401.The museum is built in the ruins of a flour mill that was destroyed in the 1990s, not by an explosion, as some people think, but, according to a museum worker, by a fire apparently set by some homeless people seeking shelter and trying to warm themselves. The mill itself had been closed down for several years. The fire got out of control and the building was destroyed.

The "explosive" in the museum's slogan refers to an explosion that took place in 1878, when the Washburn A Mill (having been built four years earlier) blew up due to a flour dust explosion. Mill operators had suspected that flour dust in the air could explode, but no one had proved the theory. Wikipedia describes the destruction caused by the explosion: The Washburn A Mill explosion destroyed not only the Washburn mill, but two other mills in the area, as well as killing 14 Washburn workers and 4 men in the other mills. Washburn built a new mill which included a ventilation system to reduce the collection of flour dust in the air, and the mill was back in business in 1880. A flour dust explosion requires a combination of flour dust, sufficient air, and a triggering spark. Those factors had come together in the Washburn Mill and led to its destruction.

My wife and I recently visited the Mill City Museum and saw the explosiveness of flour dust portrayed in two ways. The first was a simple demonstration by a museum worker in which a cup of flour was placed in a small model of a flour mill, air was pumped in, and a spark was provided. The resulting controlled explosion gave the museum visitors a small taste of what a large explosion could do. The other demonstration came during the "Flour Tower" tour of the flour industry's past in Minneapolis, when a simulated explosion-consisting of light and sound-bombarded the visitors.

At one time, Minneapolis was the leading producer of flour in the world. A few years ago, the last flour mill in the city ceased production. A combination of transportation costs, tariffs, and shifting markets led to the decline. The greater Kansas City area is now one of the leading producers in the United States.

If you're in the Minneapolis area, the Mill City Museum will give you a wonderful overview of the flour industry and its growth through creative new products. Some of our household names--Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, and General Mills--had their start in the Minneapolis flour industry.

Source:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washburn_%22A%22_Mill