The din of the flour mill machinery experienced over a lifetime numbs a worker's senses even as it seeps into his dreams. The constant rumble of blowers, roller mills, bells, and buzzers muffles thoughts beyond the work at hand. Twelve hours a day. Seven days a week. Incessant vibration of machinery grates at a miller's faculties like wheat through a grinder.
Still the toil brings honor. Flour mill workers take pride in transforming grain into flour, especially Minneapolis millers. For they helped give rise to a blend of labor, capitalism, and technology that captured the power of the Mississippi River to create the milling capital of the world. Time changes everything. Shifts in the economy post World War I triggered a decline of the Minneapolis milling industry.
Look at Hiawatha Avenue grain elevators now. See relics of the past watching over the future unfolding across the street where shinny electric train cars speed in near silence away from the grain economy into the future. What future might that be? Consumerism, Mall of America? Or are we watching a city re-discover its river, its immigrant heritage, and the need to connect communities?
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