Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Trail: The Barrel-Makers' Co-Ops

The red brick building at the corner of
Third Avenue and First Street was one of
many factories that supplied the barrels used 
for flour. Called coopers, the skilled workers
who made barrels pioneered a new role for labor
in Minneapolis. When their wages were cut in
1874 and a strike was broken, some of them
formed a co-op. The idea spread, and by 1886
two-thirds of the coopers at the falls belonged
to shops owned and managed by the workers.
They prospered until flour sacks replaced
barrels after 1900.

Submitted by @changeup3