Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of what was the largest flour mill of its time

The Mill City Museum is located on the Mississippi Riverfront in Minneapolis and was built into the ruins of what was once the largest flour mill in the world. Visitors to the museum will learn about the history of the flour industry, the Mississippi River and Minneapolis City. The museum is an adventure for visitors senses, visitors are able to go on an 8-storey elevator ride or explore the baking lab.

The mill was completed in 1880 and in registered as a National Historic Landmark. The Mill is known as the Washburn A Mill and was almost destroyed in 1991 by fire. After the fire the city of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Community Development Agency starting cleaning and fortified the charred walls, then the Minnesota Historical Society announced plans to build a milling museum and education center on the ruins.

There are many different exhibits of unique works by local and regional artists at the museum, these include Joann Verburg located between the glass window and rail corridor and his works are titled, `Between Now and Then, St. Paul, Minnesota', the art work is a 14' x 25' collage made from glass, photographs, steel and cement, the aim of the work is to invite visitors to look through images of wheat, water, tree and sky and to contemplate the ever-changing present.

In the Promoting Mill Products exhibit, a 15-foot freestanding Bisquick Box has been created by Kim Lawler who is a scenic Painter and muralist. The box has the image of packaging used in 1931 and on the opposite side is the packaging used in 1981. Inside the box are television and radio commercials from the past and present, Lawler also created a 6-foot stack of pancakes for the hands-on area where children can design their own packaging for a mill product.

Kathleen Richert created fabric and felt sculptures of food for the harvest table in the Harvesting Wheat exhibit. The table has been designed to look like the table used by threshing crews, the sculptures show the large quantity of food that was needed to keep the crews sustained.

Sculptures, which represent individuals who played an integral role in the milling empire in the late 19th century were created by Paul Wrench and Becky Schurmann. There are 13 figures, which were carved by hand from timber salvaged from a neighboring mill of the Washburn A Mill.

Tours of the mill are available, the Gallery Visit will take around 2 1/2 hours as a self-guided tour visitors will receive a 15-minute greeting and orientation from museum staff and tickets for the Flour Tower multimedia show and the movie `Minneapolis is 19 Minutes Flat'. The Washburn A Mill tour plus Gallery Visit will take visitors around 3 hours, which includes the hour long guided walking tour of the museum and mill followed by self guided time experiencing the exhibits. The Riverfront Walking Tour plus gallery visit includes an 1 1/2 guided tour of the Minneapolis Riverfront district and the Step-On Riverfront Bus Tour plus Gallery Visit includes a 1 1/2 hour bus tour of the Riverfront District.

Field trips are available at the museum and will include a lesson of choice, a self-guided scavenger hunt, the Flour Tower show and movie. Schools are able to choose from three topics, People - the people of Minnesota's past, Power - how does water equal power and Flour - where students will spend time in the Baking Lab, which is designed after one of the test kitchens of the Pillsbury and General Mills.

The Museum has a caf,, which served salads, sandwiches, pizza, soup, desserts and a coffee bar, box lunches area available for catered events. The Mill City Museum Store is open to all visitors who wish to purchase unique gifts such as jewelry, cards, treats and locally handmade pottery. There are also many cookbooks, kitchen accessories and historical books for the history buffs.