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 Mississippi River port city. The Saint Paul Municipal Grain Terminal was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The structure is nationally significant as the first successful grain terminal elevator owned and operated by a farm cooperative in the United States. At one time the facility included 90 grain silos, a small mill, the head house for loading grain onto barges and train cars, and the sack house for sacking milled flour.

Currently the complex is unused and in serious disrepair. There have been plans to restore the buildings and turn them into a restaurant and interpretive center.

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Members: ToXiC & Myth
Photos by: ToXiC w/ Sony Cybershot DSC-H9 8.1
Written by: ToXiC
August, 2008 Trip #1

I had wanted to visit the Headhouse for almost 2 years after first reading about it on the Action Squad website. It was August 2008 that me and Myth had been exploring the High Bridge Coal Power Plant during its decommission phase. It was on such a night, we had been wrapping up our final exploration of the High Bridge Coal Power Plant with RNC coming up I decided since it was relatively early that we check out the GTA Headhouse before it was to be renovated.

We hopped on our bicycles and sped off down Shephard Road. Only a couple minutes had passed when we locked our bikes up again and headed to find an entrance into the Headhouse. Finding a entrance along the riverside by climbing up one of the log piers we silently entered into the headhouse. Upon jumping down I walked over to the sackhouse portion of the building.

It wasnt a large room. Its roof was collapsing and most of the former windows had metal coverings that had been rusted and bent out of shape. There was some equipment laying around. Some flood lights, tool belts, cement bags and various tools that renovation contractors used. Drifting back to the Headhouse I began studying the remains of this historical place.. atleast what was left of it.

So much of the old equipment had been removed over the years, windows broken, rusting metal and pigeon feces were what remained. A shadow of its former glory. Yet it still told a story to anyone who would listen. Listening to the story as I went up along the staircase I heard the former operations of the building and looking out the window I could see the barges of the past filling up with grain. What was left of the Headhouse was a story of success. The Headhouse still standing was proof of that and the fact St. Paul was going to reinvest in it once again to renovate it for modern uses was another proof of its success.

Up and up I went, taking a few minutes to examine the small floors. Nothing really out of the ordinary for an abandoned mill. Snapping shots where I felt and looking out the windows when I wanted to. Finally reaching the top floor me and Myth headed up to the roof to have a couple smokes and relax.

Finally deciding to head out, we headed back down the stairs, out the window we had entered through and down the wooden pier. We had just got back up to the side walk when I thought how good it would be to come back and take a tour of the building when it is renovated and open to the public to tour through.

Sources
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul_Municipal_Grain_Terminal