New York has the Rockefellers, Minnesota has the Pillsburys.
Minnesota’s history might not be as flashy as New York’s, but there is no denying its tremendous impact on American history, especially the flour milling industry. Once upon a time, Minnesota’s mills were grinding over 14 percent of the nation’s grain and while less than four percent of America’s flour mills were in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, they produced almost a quarter of the nation’s wheat flour.
“A number of converging factors contributed to Minnesota becoming a flour milling leader in the 19th century,” said Dave Stevens, Mill City Museum site manager. “The rich prairie soils of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana were ideal for wheat growing. At the same time, Minnesota flour millers developed new technologies for milling spring wheat that transformed its flour from an inferior product to some of the best bread flour on the market.”
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Minneapolis was iconically known as the “Flour Milling Capital of the World,” or simply, “Mill City.” With more than 20 flour mills lining the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, the city’s natural landscape – the raw power from St. Anthony Falls – skyrocketed it past Budapest by 1884 to become the world’s leading flour miller. The city boomed, and its population rose by over 150,000 in a mere 20 years.
‘Flour milling revolution’
What did a prosperous flour milling industry mean for Minnesota wheat producers? Easy and affordable access to vital market opportunities. But the milling industry was also deeply dependent on the wheat industry – the two evolved together.
“The flour milling revolution created a new market for the spring wheat of the Upper Midwest, which led to a boom in wheat production,” Stevens said. “On the flat lands of the Red River Valley, entrepreneurs developed ‘bonanza’ wheat farms, which was the world’s first industrial-scale agriculture, with hundreds of horses and workers farming thousands of acres at a time.”
Minneapolis flour milling reached its peak of 18.5 million barrels in 1916 but several developments around the turn of the century led to its demise, with the shutdown of mills beginning in the 1920s. Though there aren’t any working mills left in Minneapolis, the symbolic Washburn A Mill remains as Mill City Museum, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
“The advantages held by Minneapolis of cheap energy, competitive transportation rates and a near monopoly on hard wheat eroded in the 1910s and 1920s,” Stevens said. “Changes in tariff and transportation rates made it cheaper to mill wheat closer to eastern markets and seaports (Buffalo) or near hard winter wheat sources (Kansas City). The cheap energy from St. Anthony Falls was surpassed by these increased costs, and the lack of available land next to the falls discouraged expansion and new investment.”
The impact of Minnesota’s flour milling legacy still reverberates today. It’s easy to forget about the pivotal role Minnesota’s flour mills played in history, but Minnesota wheat growers haven’t forgotten. The state may not boast the same volume of flour produced as in its “glory” days, but the Prairie Grains region remains home to essential flour mills.
* Photos courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.
