Mill City Museum, History museum in Minneapolis, United States
Mill City Museum stands within the remains of the Washburn A Mill building on the Mississippi and combines old machinery with newly designed exhibit halls. Large sections of the original outer walls still rise above the site, while inside galleries, panels, and a multi-story elevator guide visitors through former production floors.
After a devastating dust explosion in 1878, the facility was rebuilt and became the largest mill in the world until a fire in 1991 destroyed much of it. The city chose to preserve the ruin and opened it as a museum in 2003.
The name recalls the Washburn family, whose operation once supplied most of the flour leaving Minneapolis by rail and barge. Visitors today walk through open ruins where daylight enters through missing walls and steel beams remain exposed overhead.
Visitors who want to reach the upper levels should expect several stories of stairs and elevator rides. Parking is found on public streets and in garages a few walking minutes away.
Interactive labs in the building let visitors grind flour themselves and try out different baking techniques used across decades in the city. Children handle tools and ingredients while adults follow the differences between old and new methods.
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