Crown Roller Mill, 105 Fifth Avenue, South, West Side Milling District, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN

Significance: The Crown Roller Mill is historically significant for its unusual architectural detailing and close association with Minneapolis's "West Side Milling District." Begun in 1879 and completed in 1880, the Crown was one in a series of flour mills built on the West Side during the 1870s. The new structure was among the largest of these mills, and one of the first to utilize rollers and the gradual-reduction milling process on a large scale. While most flour mills were plain, utilitarian structures, the Crown was unique for its full mansard roof, segmental arched windows, ornamental date and name plaque, and other architectural details. The Crown and other West Side mills helped establish Minneapolis as the flouring capital of the United States from 1880 to 1930. Due to widespread mill closures in the 1930s, the Crown Roller Mill is currently one of only four West Side flour mills still standing. In 1971, the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office of the Minnesota Historical Society nominated the structure to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District.
Survey number: HAER MN-12
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 71000438