At one time, the Minneapolis and St. Louis rail line was lined with mammoth grain elevators. This list of those structures may not necessarily be complete or accurate. If you have additions or clarifications, please contact us. As a point of reference, the first grain elevators in Minneapolis had been built above St. Anthony Falls in 1867.
Some general observations:
On April 2, 1893, the Minneapolis Tribune noted:
St. Louis Park seems to be rapidly gaining favor as a place for grain elevators. According to one of the local grain elevator builders, the bunching of elevators at the park is a natural result of the advantages for them there. The switching rates from the city are not unreasonable, and three railroads have stations there – the Minneapolis & St. Louis [now the bike path], the Hastings & Dakota [later the Milwaukee Road and now the Twin Cities and Western] and the Omaha. It is not improbable that within five years the grain storage room at St. Louis Park will be increased by many million bushels.
The elevators often changed hands and names, and some of these may actually be the same ones with different names. See what you think.
The Belco Elevators in Manhattan Park are most remembered for the 1977 fire that leveled them.
Commander Larrabee Elevators (City Scape Apartments)
Great Western Grain Elevator: See Belco above.
Interior/Standard Elevators (Robin Hood Flour) – Salem Ave.
Peavey-Haglin Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator (Nordic Ware Tower)
Standard Elevator: See Interior above.
1932 court records indicate that one of the grain elevators was owned by the Upton Mill Elevator Co.