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September 1939. "Railroad yards, wholesale district, Minneapolis, Minnesota." A nice view of the Chase Bag tower. Photo by John Vachon. View full size.
Where the John Deere building was on Washington Avenue. They were on the north side of the street, on this side of picture, Washington Avenue runs left and right here. The building is still there, though John Deere moved to Bloomington.
The photographer is looking northwest along First Street North and the cross street is 4th Ave North. Fourth Avenue was atop a granite wall, and the Northern Pacific tracks cut through the wall to enter the picture at the far left, hence the railroaders called this location Hole In The Wall.
Today, the scene is unrecognizable.
However the wholesale district is now the residential district. All converted to condos and the rail yard filled in with new condos. An interesting side note, a residential building that I was part of constructing uses that stone retaining wall at the far side of the yard as a foundation wall.
Here's a similar view now.
This rail yard was between North First and Second Streets, running from Fourth Avenue North to Plymouth Avenue North. The tower for Chase Bag stands at 700 Washington Avenue North. The entire area is now filled with apartments and condos. The current view is from about the same place, but at street level.
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