File:Mill District from Stone Arch Bridge, Mill District, Minneapolis, MN - 51781420289.jpg

English: The result of the preeminent position of Minneapolis in the flour milling industry between 1880 and 1930, which grew as a result of the ease of access to the major transportation corridor on the Mississippi River, proximity to rich farmland in the upper plains, and the hydropower generated by Saint Anthony Falls, this area is an assemblage of industrial buildings that helped grow Minneapolis from a small frontier settlement into the business, financial, cultural, and industrial center of the Northern United States it is today. The former industrial buildings, powered by machinery that was operated via tunnels that ran from the Mississippi River upstream beneath the district, were used for a variety of purposes, from grinding grain, to weaving blankets, to storing goods for shipping, which led to Minneapolis being nicknamed “Mill City” around the turn of the 20th Century. The falls first were utilized for industrial purposes by the United States Army following the establishment of Fort Snelling nearby in 1820, with a sawmill and grist mill being built at the falls to take advantage of the energy from the cascading water of the river. Industry around the falls began to decline in the early 20th Century thanks to advances in technology, with the final flour mill, the Pillsbury A Mill on the east bank, closing in 2003. Since the closure of the former mills, several have been demolished, but many former mills remain, now serving new purposes as residential, commercial office, and civic buildings, anchoring a revitalized downtown riverfront that has been reclaimed from industrial purposes that have run their course and repurposed as a place for leisure and living.