Episode 2 of 2
Explosion and Fire
- When
- 1878-05-02
- Where
- Washburn 'A' Mill
- Part of
- Washburn 'A' Mill explosion
A spark ignited airborne flour dust, causing an explosion that demolished the Washburn 'A' Mill and killed eighteen people.
On May 2, 1878, a spark ignited airborne flour dust within the mill, creating an explosion that demolished the Washburn 'A' Mill and killed 14 workers instantly. The ensuing fire resulted in the deaths of four more people, destroying five other mills and reducing Minneapolis's milling capacity by one third.
Sources
- Mill City Museum Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05
- Minneapolis Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.