The Midway elevator (later Bunge) was among the early structures, at 12th Ave. SE and the Great Northern tracks. It was a wood structure that was expanded several times, most significantly in 1936-1937, when the tower and new row of elevators were built of reinforced concrete.
The Bunge Midway elevator continued in operation until 2003.
* photo circa 2005
Bunge Elevator – Head Tower (built in 1936) 13th Avenue SE by BNSF railroad tracks
This building is the main visual landmark of the Como neighborhood. Minneapolis was called “Mill City” because of its prominence in flour milling, along with many lumber saw mills. Accompanying the flour milling industry were dozens of grain elevators along rail lines throughout Minneapolis. The Bunge is a generally unadorned, resolutely functional commercial structure – but the form of this reinforced concrete tower is enlivened by its pentagonal wall outline, shaped roof parapet, and window groupings. Hopefully, after the 2007-2008 re-construction, the head tower will remain and become part of the residential housing redevelopment.
Additional sources of information: - before and after photos of the Bunge property being converted into housing
- Bunge Grain Elevator, Minneapolis (photo by Will Agar)
- Bunge North America company history
- Case Study: How a Nuisance Property Changed to Answer a Neighborhood Need (Van Cleve Development in Minneapolis, MN) by LandOf.org, Planning Smart for the Next Minnesota
- "Grain elevators to be razed but not erased," Star Tribune, December 22, 2006
- Van Cleve Commons Development, Project for Pride in Living
- Van Cleve Commons development on the former Bunge grain elevator site complete, press release, August 24, 2009
- "Vanishing Giants: The grain elevators of Minneapolis and their legacy", by William E. Stark, The 106 Group Ltd. (1.4MB PDF) pp. 4-21 in the Hennepin History magazine -- Bunge photos on pp. 13, 14, 15, 17, "The Bunge Midway Elevator" section on p. 5
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"Smothered in bran: A peculiar fatality occurs at the Midway Elevator"
"Emil Lund, 20 years old, employed on the Midway elevator on Thirteenth avenue SE, and residing at 1027 Twentieth avenue SE, while working in a huge bran pit yesterday afternoon, was covered by bran and suffocated before aid could come . . ."
excerpted from the Minneapolis Journal, March 20, 1897
"Former Alderman killed in fall"
James Wallace died on February 19, 1937
"James F. Wallace, 74, former second ward alderman, was killed Friday night when he fell from a "manlift" at Bunge elevator, Thirteenth & Brook Aves SE, where he was employed as a night watchman.
Wallace apparently slipped from the platform, fixed to a vertical conveyor belt which is used as an elevator. He suffered a broken back and crushed chest. Wallace was elected to the city council in November 1916. He is survived by a daughter, Helen Mary, and lived at 1004 16th Ave. SE."
Appearing in the Wednesday, February 24, 1937 edition of The Southeast Mirror
There is a June 8, 1917 Minnesota Supreme Court decision, Hawley v. Wallace, regarding the 1916 election. Description of the case can be found on pp. 127-131 of the Northwestern reporter, volume 163. A new election was ordered and held on July 3, 1917, which James Wallace also won.
"The Short Life and Sudden Death of Germain Vigeant"
Germain Vigeant died on January 29, 2006
"The big-hearted college student was legally drunk when she died in a Minneapolis grain silo. But family and friends say her story is much more than a cautionary tale of high-risk drinking on campus. Since it was shut down three years ago, the Bunge grain elevator has towered over southeast Minneapolis’s Como neighborhood with an almost gothic foreboding . . ."
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