Category Archives: Industrial

August 12, 2010
Island Station– also posted in Power Plants

Island Station Power Plant is a decommissioned coal power plant on the Mississippi River less than a mile up-river from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. St. Paul Gas & Light Company commissioned construction of the plant in 1921. In 1923, before construction was even complete, a more efficient technology for burning coal was developed, rendering the [...]

December 30, 2009
Bureau of Mines– also posted in Government, Research

For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.
Founded on May 16th, 1910, through the Organic Act (Public Law 179), to deal with a wave of catastrophic mine disasters, [...]

December 19, 2009
GTA Headhouse– also posted in Mills

The Saint Paul Municipal Grain Terminal, also known as the head house (a six-story grain elevator) and sack house, sits on piers over the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was built between 1927 and 1931 as part of the Equity Cooperative Exchange and is a remnant of Saint Paul’s early history as a [...]

December 17, 2009
Peavey Electric Steel Elevator– also posted in Mills

The Peavey Company was founded in Sioux City, Iowa in 1874 by Frank H. Peavey. In 1884 he moved his business to Minneapolis and incorporated it in 1906. The firm began as a grain-storage company but in 1928 expanded into flour milling with the purchase of the Van Dusen [...]

November 26, 2009
Purina “Chow Plant”– also posted in Factory, Mills, Warehouses

Purina Mills, Inc. is the largest manufacturer of animal feed products in the United States, producing more than five million tons of feed each year. Through its 50 feed mills, the company produces thousands of feed formulations specially designed for various types of animals, including beef and dairy cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, pets, [...]

November 20, 2009
Pillsbury “A” Mill– also posted in Factory, Mills

In 1879, after five years of secret planning, Charles Alfred Pillsbury announced to the public that he would build the largest and most advanced mill the world had ever seen. He had traveled to mills all over the world, searching for the best technique for milling flour on a large scale. Despite the convention of [...]

November 13, 2009
Upper Harbor Terminal

This is The Port of Minneapolis, a city-owned barge terminal that is operated by River Services, Inc. Truck traffic makes this a dangerous place. Almost any non-hazardous commodity may be present at this terminal, including grain, lumber, phosphate fertilizer, seed oil, steel, twine, paper, pipes, and salt. The igloo-shaped storage tanks are used for solids, [...]

November 6, 2009
ADM Mill Part 1 & 2– also posted in Factory, Mills

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) is one of the world’s leading processors and distributors of agricultural products for food and animal feed, with additional operations in transportation and storage of such products. Its principal operations are in the processing of soybeans, corn, and wheat, the three largest crops in the United States. ADM also processes cocoa beans, [...]

November 6, 2009
Silgan Containers– also posted in Factory, Manufactoring, Warehouses

The old Silgan Containers factory is a sprawling heavy manufacturing complex covering eight acres on ——— just north of ———- Ave in St. Paul. The oldest building dates to 1889, and by 1926 4 more additions increased the floor space to 150,000 square feet. Three more expansions in the mid fifties added another 300,000 square [...]