Notice the building behind you — once the largest flour mill on Earth. The Washburn A Mill opened in 1879 on the west bank of the Mississippi, powered entirely by the hydraulic energy of St. Anthony Falls channeled through a system of canals and tunnels dug into the riverbed. At its peak this mill complex produced enough flour to bake twelve million loaves of bread every single day.
Then on May 2nd, 1878 — actually the year before it was rebuilt larger — a spark ignited flour dust inside the A Mill and the resulting explosion killed eighteen workers and destroyed several nearby mills in what was Minneapolis's worst industrial disaster. The rebuilt mill used advanced dust-collection technology and went on to define the industry. The brands born here — Gold Medal, Pillsbury, Gold'n Plump — fed a continent.
The mill stopped operating in 1965. A fire gutted what remained in 1991. The Mill City Museum now uses those ruins as its architecture, with an outdoor amphitheater where the mill's footprint used to be.
Walk inside if you can. The freight elevator alone is worth it.