Minneapolis, a city with approximately 385,000 inhabitants and situated in the state of Minnesota,
is located where the only naturally occurring waterfall of the Mississippi River can be found.
Early settlers (around 1820) used the energy that falling water can give to them to power their industries.
The lumber and flour milling industry were such industries, who came to flourishment at the end
of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and helped Minneapolis to become the city it is today.
Minneapolis became a city in 1867.
Because of the many small lakes that can be found in Minneapolis and surroundings
(24 of these lakes can be found in the city itself) one early settler suggested a name for the city
which was derived from 'minne', the Dakota word for water and 'polis', the Greek word for city.
In the old days, Minneapolis was nicknamed the Mill City, but these days it's the City of Lakes.
Together with St. Paul, which lies 16 kilometers east of the city, Minneapolis is known as the Twin Cities.
South of the Twin Cities, in Bloomington, America's largest shopping complex can be found:
the Mall of America, with more than 520 shops. It was opened in 1992.
The mall also houses the largest indoor amusement park, Camp Snoopy.
One of the features of the city (like its twin city St. Paul) is that most of the major office and retail buildings
in the downtown area are connected by skybridges, called skyways.
These heated and air-conditioned passageways give easy access to all the buildings,
and the shops within these buildings, without having to cross streets or having to pay attention to busy traffic.
During business hours all of those skyways are accessible; at all other hours some skyways are closed.
Skyscraper wise the city is home to a few extraordinary skyscrapers.
On this page, the first of three Minneapolis skyscraper picture pages,
the three tallest skyscrapers can be found. They were built in the mid-Seventies,
late Eighties and early Nineties, and currently rank as the United States' 43rd, 51st and 52nd tallest skyscrapers.
Above: three skyline views of downtown Minneapolis:
from 24th street, from Stone Arch Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River,
and from Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
Above: nine pictures of IDS Tower (241m/792f, 55 stories, 1973),
currently the tallest skyscraper of Minneapolis.
The skyscraper is part of IDS Center,
which also consists of 770 Marquette (38m/125f, 8 stories, 1973),
and the Marquette Hotel (69m/227f, 19 stories, 1973).
The Tower and Hotel are connected by Crystal Court,
a glass-enclosed urban park with a 32m/108f ceiling-to-floor waterfall.
Above: eleven pictures of 225 South Sixth (237m/776f, 56 stories, 1992).
The building, formerly known as First Bank Place, was designed
by the architectural firm of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners.
The building looks different from almost every angle.
Above: and fifteen pictures of Wells Fargo Center (236m/774f, 57 stories, 1988),
arguably Minneapolis finest skyscraper.
The building was built as Norwest Center on the ruins of the previous headquarters
of Norwest Corporation, which was destroyed in a fire in 1982.
In the initial design plans the building would become the city's tallest,
but after some changes to the design it just missed that record by a few meters.
The building was designed by Cesar Pelli and later renamed to Wells Fargo Center.
Above: downtown Minneapolis seen from the air
and from Minneapolis/St. Paul's International airport.
On this page the three tallest skyscrapers of Minneapolis can be found.
For pictures of the other tall buildings of Minneapolis, go to page 2 or page 3
The building data, the top 10 of tallest buildings and some of the building information
are courtesy of EMPORIS.COM,
One of the world's leading architectural resources on tall buildings on the Internet
