Family 4th of July Celebration on the Minneapolis Riverfront

The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Building
The headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is along the Mississippi River from Hennepin Avenue to Second Avenue North, a site commonly referred to as the Bridgehead Site.

Plaza and Grounds
In addition to the trees and benches on the plaza, there is a 16-foot diameter city map which orients visitors and residents alike to the area's historic sites: St. Anthony Falls, the Warehouse District and key buildings in the downtown area. Six beacon lights separate the plaza at the street level from the handicapped-accessible walkway that leads down to the parkway and complement the lights atop the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.

Along the plaza walkway that leads to the riverfront are five interpretive exhibits that depict the history of the site. They are titled respectively: A Great Waterfall (1805), Gateway to the West (1875), Growth of Commerce (1895), Civic Improvements (1925) and Transformations (1995). At the base of the plaza is the pergola, an arborlike structure that overlooks the river. The Second
Avenue North end of the Bank's property is planted with prairie grasses and wildflowers and surrounded by a decorative wrought iron fence. In all, landscaping includes 148 deciduous trees, 59 evergreen trees and 6,945 shrubs.

Minneapolis Post Office
This is quite possible the strongest Art Deco building in the City of Minneapolis. Inside, the main lobby is over 1,000' long and it is a monument of nicely shaped sandstone, marble and brass. It also features the longest brass light fixture in the U.S. stretching the entire length of the lobby.

PILLSBURY A MILL
In 1881, the Pillsbury Milling Company built the largest grain mill in the world on the east bank of the Falls of St. Anthony. A canal was dug under Main Street (extant) and water powered this mammoth mill. Leroy S. Buffington was a prominent architect here in Minneapolis and was called in to design it. He had been itching to do this for some years, because he thought buildings should be designed by Architects and not by Engineers.

Most milling buildings on the East and West side of the falls of St. Anthony had been designed by Engineers with not much thought to how these buildings might please the untrained eye. These buildings were built to accommodate a process that was very hard on a building. There was much moving of heavy machinery and much vibration built-in to the process, and the building had to be built to withstand many years of this sort of abuse.

Buffington consulted with engineers familiar with the milling process when he designed the building, but he must not have taken their advice too seriously. The Pillsbury "A" Mill was finished in 1881. In 1905, the building had to be shut down and extensively rebuilt and reinforced because it was literally falling in on itself.

Notice the picture shows the top of the mill slumping in towards the middle of the building. That's no trick of light. That's real. This building was in big trouble and to fix it, the top two floors inside had to be completely rebuilt. Shoring was added to the front of the building on the lower floors to keep the limestone of the building from bulging any further.

Through all this, the mill still stands. It's on the National Historic Register and it is also a National Engineering Landmark. It's currently being developed as a residential community.