File:Washburn A Mill (Mill City Museum), West River Parkway, Mill District, Minneapolis, MN - 51781471709.jpg

English: Built in 1879 as the Washburn A Mill, the ruins of this Italianate structure were once a large flour mill designed by William de la Barre for Cadwallader C. Washburn, whom operated a previous mill on the site starting in 1874, which was destroyed in a dramatic explosion in 1878. The largest flour mill in the world upon its completion, the mill was surpassed by the Pillsbury A Mill on the west bank of the Mississippi River two years later in 1881. The mill’s large capacity for grinding wheat into flour, powered by the river’s vertical drop over Saint Anthony Falls, allowed Minneapolis to rapidly develop into the primary business and population center of the upper plains, as well as the state of Minnesota. The Washburn Milling Company eventually merged with the John Crosby Milling Company, forming the Washburn-Crosby Company, now known as General Mills. The mill continued to operate until 1965, when it closed thanks to the diminishing feasibility to operate the antiquated mill, and the shift of milling away from Minneapolis that occurred in the 20th Century. The mill then sat largely vacant until 1991, when a massive fire destroyed most of the structure, only leaving the exterior walls standing, which were stabilized and preserved thanks to the building’s significance, eventually being converted into part of the Mill City Museum in 2001, with a modern addition designed by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle occupying part of the footprint of the original mill, along with the still-standing portion of the building built following a fire in 1928. The building originally stood seven stories tall with a rusticated stone exterior, a raised center aisle roof with broad overhanging eaves, a decorative tower with arched windows and a mansard roof, and windows with shallow arches, with the rebuilt portion from 1928 featuring the rusticated stone walls of the original structure at the base, with a buff brick facade featuring large steel industrial windows above, brick pilasters between windows, and arches above the top row of windows, with a stepped parapet, and a concrete-faced portion on the east side. The building is a contributing structure in the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark in 1983.