North Star Woolen Mill

Last updated

North Star Woolen Mill
North Star Blankets Woolen Mill Sign.jpg
The North Star Blankets sign
Location Minneapolis, Minnesota
Built1864
ArchitectPike & Cook/ C. F. Haglin & Sons [1]
Part of St. Anthony Falls Historic District (ID71000438)

The North Star Woolen Mill, now the North Star Lofts, is a building in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The building, located in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, was originally a textile mill for the North Star Woolen Company. The mill was built in 1864 by W.W. Eastman and Paris Gibson on the west side of the west side canal. High quality wool blankets, scarves, flannels, and yarns were manufactured at the facility and it became the nation's largest manufacturer of wool blankets by 1925.

Contents

Back of the sign North Star Blankets-20071218.jpg
Back of the sign
North Star Woolen Mill NSWoolen.jpg
North Star Woolen Mill

Entrepreneurs in the early days of Minneapolis had high hopes for developing a textile industry at the falls, similar to that of Lowell, Massachusetts. However, the industry never had as much success as hoped for, mainly because Minneapolis was a long distance from eastern markets and shipping centers. The North Star Woolen Mill was an exception, and it remained a significant industry in Minneapolis until the 1940s. [2]

In 1949 the North Star Woolen Company moved its operations to Lima, Ohio. In the 1950s North Star Woolen mills was used as a public warehouse, North Star Warehouse. North Star Warehouse existed from the 1950s to the late 1970s and had multiple locations, the Portland Ave location being the primary location. The building later sat empty until it was re-developed in 1998-99 into lofts. The building maintains its existing exterior including a sign reading "North Star Blankets".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Anthony Falls</span> Waterfall in Mississippi River into the Mississippi River Gorge in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony, located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, various dams were built atop the east and west faces of the falls to support the milling industry that spurred the growth of the city of Minneapolis. In 1880, the central face of the falls was reinforced with a sloping timber apron to stop the upstream erosion of the falls. In the 1950s, the apron was rebuilt with concrete, which makes up the most visible portion of the falls today. A series of locks were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s to extend navigation to points upstream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Loop, Minneapolis</span> Neighborhood in Hennepin, Minnesota, United States

The North Loop is a neighborhood in the Central community of Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Arch Bridge (Minneapolis)</span> Bridge crossing the Mississippi river in Minnesota, United States

The Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the only arched bridge made of stone on the entire Mississippi River. It is the second oldest bridge on the river next to Eads Bridge. The bridge was built to connect the railway system to the new Union Depot, which at that time was planned to be built between Hennepin Avenue and Nicollet Avenue. The bridge was completed in 1883, costing $650,000 at the time. 117 Portland Avenue is the general address of the historic complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillsbury A-Mill</span> United States historic place

The Pillsbury A-Mill is a former flour mill located on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the world's largest flour mill for 40 years. Completed in 1881, it was owned by the Pillsbury Company and operated two of the most powerful direct-drive waterwheels ever built, each capable of generating 1,200 horsepower . In 1901 one of the turbines was replaced with a 2,500 horsepower one. Both the mill and its headrace tunnel are contributing resources to the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill is also independently on the NRHP. The mill was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and has since been converted into the A-Mill Artist Lofts.

Pendleton Woolen Mills is an American textile manufacturing company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is known for its blankets and woolen clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Anthony Main</span> Commercial area in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Saint Anthony Main refers to an area of buildings with multiple owners located on Main Street across from Saint Anthony Falls in the Nicollet Island/East Bank, Minneapolis section of Southeast, Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Commonly the area is associated with Northeast, Minneapolis as it is actually northeast of downtown on the east side of the Mississippi River. It opened as a festival marketplace in the 1980s.

The American Woolen Company is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of men’s and women’s worsted and woolen fabrics. Based in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, the company operates from the 160-year-old Warren Mills, which it acquired from Loro Piana SpA in June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company</span> Former American flour milling company

Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company was an American flour milling company that operated about one-quarter of the mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when the city was the flour milling capital of the world. Formed as a business entity, Northwestern produced flour for the half-century between 1891 and 1953, when its A Mill was converted to storage and light manufacturing. At its founding, Northwestern was the city's and the world's second-largest flour milling company after Pillsbury, with what is today General Mills a close third. The company became one of three constituents of a Minneapolis oligopoly that owned almost nine percent of the country's flour and grist production and products by 1905. This occurred as a result of their attempt at a United States monopoly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceresota Building</span> United States historic place

Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company Elevator A also known as the Ceresota Elevator and "The Million Bushel Elevator" was a receiving and public grain elevator built by the Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company in 1908 in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The elevator may have been the largest brick elevator ever constructed and ran on electricity. The elevator was the source for the Crown Roller Mill and Standard Mill. Those mills closed in the 1950s but the elevator continued in use for grain storage until the mid 1980s. The building is a contributing property of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Anthony Falls Historic District</span> United States historic place

The following are all the contributing resources to the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, thus these properties are on the NRHP. The "period of significance" of the District was 1858–1941. The district's archaeological record is considered to be one of the most-endangered historic sites in Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mill City Museum</span> American History Museum in Minnesota, USA

Mill City Museum is an American Minnesota Historical Society museum in Minneapolis. It opened in 2003 built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. The museum focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries that used hydropower from Saint Anthony Falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shields Woolen Mill</span> United States historic place

Shields Woolen Mill is located along the edge of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. The building has been repurposed as commercial and office space called One River Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Forks Woolen Mills</span> United States historic place

Grand Forks Woolen Mills is a building located on the corner of Third Avenue North and North Third Street in Grand Forks, North Dakota, designed by architect John W. Ross. A three-story construction approximately 50 feet (15 m) by 100 feet (30 m) in size, it is recorded as being built in 1895. Constructed of brick, the architectural style has been described as Commercial vernacular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faribault Woolen Mill Company</span> United States historic place

The Faribault Woolen Mill Company is a textile manufacturing company in Faribault, Minnesota, United States, that produces and sells wool blankets and other woolen products. Its products included ingeo, cotton, acrylic and wool bed blankets, pillows, mattresses, pads, and baby blankets, and wool, ingeo and blend throws. The company sells its products through its store in Faribault and nationwide through retailers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winooski Falls Mill District</span> Historic district in Vermont, United States

The Winooski Falls Mill District is located along the Winooski River in the cities of Winooski and Burlington, Vermont, in the United States of America. It encompasses a major industrial area that developed around two sets of falls on the river in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Avenue Historic District (Philadelphia)</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

Washington Avenue Historic District, or Washington Avenue Factory District, is a national historic district located in the Hawthorne and Bella Vista neighborhoods of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It comprises the remaining four blocks of one of the last industrial neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and encompasses eight contributing buildings built between 1889 and 1927:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill</span> Former textile mill in Cedarburg, Wisconsin

The Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill is a former textile factory in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Built in 1864, the mill was one of many wool- and flax-processing factories that opened during the American Civil War, due to a shortage of cotton textiles formerly supplied by southern states. The mill produced yarns, blankets, and flannels, and was the largest woolen mill west of Philadelphia in the 19th century. The mill closed in 1968 and has since become a commercial complex called the "Cedar Creek Settlement," containing restaurants and stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl F. Struck</span> American architect

Carl F. Struck was a Norwegian American architect, who designed private residences, civic buildings and commercial structures throughout the Midwest in the latter part of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland Woolen Mills</span> Defunct textile manufacturer in Portland, Oregon

The Portland Woolen Mills were a wool textile manufacturer in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. By 1950, they had become the largest wool manufacturer west of Cleveland, Ohio. The origins of the factory started in Sellwood in 1901 but after a fire destroyed the mill two years later owners decided to rebuild in St. Johns. Portland Woolen Mills offered several worker programs including baseball, basketball and bowling teams; a cafeteria and a library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conley–Maass Building</span> United States historic place

The Conley–Maass–Downs Building, also called the Maass and McAndrew Company Building, is one of the oldest remaining commercial buildings in Rochester, Minnesota.

References

Notes

  1. "National Register of Historic Places - National Register District Property Details". National Register of Historic Places. Minnesota Historical Society. April 25, 2007.
  2. Pennefeather, Shannon M. (2003). Mill City: A Visual History of the Minneapolis Mill District. St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society.