Star Tribune: You Can Learn A Lot About Minneapolis History By Walking The Skyways

By: James Lileks, Star Tribune

Photo by Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune

Article Excerpt: 

Wherever you live, you have to know where things are. To really understand the place, though, it helps to know where things were.

Newcomers to town, or longtime residents suddenly possessed by curiosity, can read books or browse websites to learn more about the rise and fall and rise of downtown Minneapolis.

Or they can take a walk in the skyways.

There are history lessons on the walls, hanging in plain sight, waiting to inform and surprise. Who knew the skyway was also a museum?

The most impressive exhibit may be the enormous aerial views of Minneapolis in the skyway level of the Wells Fargo buildings in Downtown East. There are 12 massive images, all teeming with details. The sequence begins in the tower at 550 S. 4th St., with an illustration from 1879, a bird’s-eye view of the burgeoning milling metropolis. The last image, in the tower at 600 S. 4th St., is a photo from 2013.

Ryan, the Minneapolis-based company, developed and built the Wells Fargo Downtown East campus. Josh Ekstrand, national director of design for Ryan, said the company realized the space could be used to give a visual history of the city.