Tour the Ruins of a Once-Booming Minnesota Business

Across Minnesota, you can find plenty of abandoned locations. Most of the time, it's not legal to go in and check them out. It's also dangerous to do so. But at this particular abandoned location, you're able to legally take a tour.

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It's the ruins of a former Minnesota business. Back when the business was in operation, it was the biggest of its kind in the entire world.

Pretty amazing, right?

Maybe you've heard of this place before. You may have even taken a field trip here as a kid (I know I did).

Abandoned Places Around Minnesota

Like I said, most abandoned places you have to enjoy from afar. Some of those include

Hadley Bank in Hadley, MN

and the Tanner Hospital in Ely, MN.

READ MORE: 8 Abandoned Places Across Minnesota

However, a few abandoned places you CAN check out are

the abandoned quarry at Banning State Park

and the former flour mill in Minneapolis.

Mill City Museum - St. Paul, MN

The former flour mill is now part of the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. This is the place where you can tour the ruins!

There were multiple mills built along the Mississippi River. One of them, the Washburn A Mill, was built in 1874.

But then in 1878, a terrible explosion occurred in the mill, taking the lives of 18 and leveling the mill.

They came back from that tragedy a few years later. The Washburn A Mill was rebuilt and other mills followed.

In 1881 the Pillsbury A Mill was built and was the largest flour mill in the world for 3 decades. It made Minneapolis the largest producer of flour in the nation.

Eventually, the mills were abandoned, the Washburn A Mill was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1983, the Mill Ruins Park opened in 2001, and the Mill City Museum opened in 2003.

It's a super interesting tour and museum to visit! I remember enjoying it as a kid when I went on that field trip I mentioned.