Some of my favorite roadside attractions are the ones that are totally incongruous with the surrounding area (like finding a blue whale in the middle of Oklahoma).
Unless, that is, I’m wildly misinformed, and Iowa is actually chock full of elephants…
I lived in the Twin Cities for a few years, and I used to pass under the Gold Medal Flour sign every day on my way to and from work. To me, the mill complex is as important a part of the Minneapolis skyline as the Foshay Tower or any of the modern skyscrapers. That’s because the city’s history and wealth were built by the mills—thanks to the hydro power of the adjacent St. Anthony Falls and the Mississippi River.
You could say that flour was Minneapolis’ bread and butter…
(Sorry, I can never resist.)