Industrial Exposition Building was located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The building stood from 1887 to 1940. It was the site of the 1892 Republican National Convention, the only major party convention to be held in Minnesota until the 2008 Republican National Convention. It was also the site for the "Festival of Fire and Victory Jubilee" on September 5–10, 1898.
The structure was built on the east side of Minneapolis on the site of the Winslow House Hotel. It was bounded by Bank Street SE, Central Avenue SE, Main Street SE, and Ortman Street SE, in the Old St. Anthony part of the city.
Designed by Isaac Hodgson, the building had eight stories and was completed in 1887. Its modified Renaissance exterior was dominated by a 240 foot corner tower. The exterior walls were masonry and the interior had metal support structures. Over $250,000 was raised in private funds to build it.
It initially featured displays of modern technology. The building failed as being a major convention center, however, and in 1903 was taken over by the International Stock Food Company. In the 1930s, it was used a merchandise warehouse for a mail order company. The 240 foot tower on the southwest corner of the building was, for many years, the tallest structure in Minneapolis.
The Exposition Building was torn down in 1940 for the construction of a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The bottling plant was torn down in the early 1980s. The area was later a parking lot and is currently built up with townhouse condominiums.
This is the tallest structure in Minneapolis to be demolished intentionally. The Northwestern National Bank Building, though taller, was destroyed in a fire known as the Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire.
Famous quotes containing the words industrial, exposition and/or building:
“Coal is a portable climate. It carries the heat of the tropics to Labrador and the polar circle; and it is the means of transporting itself whithersoever it is wanted. Watt and Stephenson whispered in the ear of mankind their secret, that a half-ounce of coal will draw two tons a mile, and coal carries coal, by rail and by boat, to make Canada as warm as Calcutta, and with its comfort brings its industrial power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Hard times accounted in large part for the fact that the exposition was a financial disappointment in its first year, but Sally Rand and her fan dancers accomplished what applied science had failed to do, and the exposition closed in 1934 with a net profit, which was donated to participating cultural institutions, excluding Sally Rand.”
—For the State of Illinois, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“And of the other things death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)