1889, 1895
Fire plagued this building address from 1889 to 1973, and the current building was not the first on the site. The St. Paul Storage Forwarding and Implement Company moved from St. Paul to 108-110 Third Avenue in 1889 and changed its name to Smith Wagon Company. The business’ goal was to increase its space and be closer to customers. Unfortunately, the Smith Wagon Company and the adjacent Cooper Building were damaged by fire, said to have been started by an arsonist, in November of 1891.
The replacement structure, a five-story warehouse, was constructed at the site in 1895 in the Classical Revival commercial style. The structure features a brown brick façade with classical details including brick pilasters flanking the first-floor bays, a limestone base, continuous limestone belt concourses that form the lintels for windows on the upper stories. The façade is topped by a brick corbelled parapet. The brick is trimmed with copper corners, and the building features plate glass windows.
John W. Stoddard was an owner-builder from Dayton, Ohio, who was investing in the city. The five-story Stoddard Block building was considered at the time to be the best constructed of its class in Minneapolis, with its iron posts and girders.
Adam L. Dorr designed the Stoddard Block’s Building. The forty-by-eighty-foot brick storage warehouse was built for $25,000 by J.H. McClay Contractors. Adam Lansing Dorr and his son, William Gray Dorr, were the architects. William Gray Dorr became a partner with his father in 1910, and together, they were known as Dorr and Dorr. The younger Dorr continued the practice after his father’s retirement in 1915. The Dorrs were known for commercial buildings, apartments, townhomes, and houses. The Ogden Apartment Building/Continental Hotel in downtown Minneapolis (68 South 12th Street) was also designed by Adam L Dorr.
The building was originally commissioned and occupied by Mill City Manufacturing. Mill City was an industrial firm involved in textiles and related machinery. The building served as both production-facility and warehouse. The company occupied the building into the early 1920s. The building then transitioned into multi-tenant usage. Although it is the same building, the building has two addresses and two doors. It is not known whether the second door is original or was added later. It was not unusual for single buildings in the neighborhood to have two building addresses, even with single tenants.
Like its predecessor, the Stoddard building was also affected by fires–in 1904, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1922, and 1973.
An August 20, 1908, fire was described by the Minneapolis Journal as “one of the most spectacular of the year. Smoke from the fire looked like a “black tornado.” The building was occupied at the time by Painter-Norris Company, manufacturers of overalls; Pioneer Printing Company; McKusick-Towle Company; P.F. Collier & Son; and the Labor Review. Adjoining the building on the south side was the Commercial Building. The adjoining 252 First Avenue building was separated from the rear of the building by a fire wall and sustained no damage. The total loss from the fire was between $40,000 and $50,000.
The building was again impacted by fire in 1909. The building had been repaired following the 1908 fire with a dark vitrified brick veneer front and interior mill construction. The Minneapolis Journal noted on December 18, 1909, that a fire in an adjacent building caused damage to the 110 building. The Minneapolis Tribune reported that extinguishing the fire took sixteen hours.
Additional commercial occupants over the years included Printers’ Supply Company from 1904 to 1906 and Krueger Transfer Company in 1918. McKusick Towle Company, a confectioner, was a long-term occupant from 1909 until 1922.
Once again, fire impacted the building. The Minneapolis Star reported on September 7, 1922, that a fire starting on the first floor caused significant damage to the five-story building. The fire spread rapidly through all floors. The Minneapolis Tribune noted the following day that the fire caused $250,000 in damage to the building and to neighboring buildings, with $60,000 of the sum related to damage to the Stoddard Bock building, $80,000 on its stock and machinery, and the remaining amount of damages to the adjacent Commercial Building and to Western Union.
A building permit from September 12, 1922, noted that McKusick Towle would make repairs costing $20,000. From 1923 to 1932, United Garment Manufacturing, a leather and fur dealer, operated out of the building.
The building was advertised for sale in 1937 and 1938, as a five-story brick building, forty by eighty, with elevators, and a sprinkler system, important to the history of the building.
The building sustained damage in 1958, due to a fire in an adjacent building, but the brick façade, limestone sills, and cornice survived with only routine maintenance. Internal modifications were minor.
In April of 1973, a three-alarm fire damaged the fourth floor of the Mill City Manufacturing Company building (as it was then called). The fire caused an estimated $50,000 in damage to furniture being constructed. Investigators found containers of gasoline and six incendiary bombs. Twenty-one arson-related fires occurred in Minneapolis during a two-week period.
Bu 1975, multiple tenants occupied the building, primarily for office or light production uses. An external fire stair and new egress doors were added.
The building, along with the rest of the Warehouse District, experienced economic decline as industry moved out of the downtown area. Gradually, the building was filled with small businesses, art studios, and specialty workshops, drawn by the heavy timber interior and high ceilings. Coldside Silkscreening and artists’ lofts have occupied the building since 1977. Coldside provides silk screening and embroidering for local and international clients, including the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Art Institute, and the Minneapolis Public Library.
During the 1980s and 1990s, as the area began to be revitalized, the building shifted from purely industrial storage to more creative and commercial uses. The heavy timber interiors and high ceilings became assets. Overall, the building is well preserved for its age. Beyond maintenance, there have been no large-scale structural modifications.
The buildings is a contributing element to the Minneapolis Warehouse District, recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.