ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Rochester preservationist sees something sacred about a nondescript downtown building that is, well, nondescript except for the bar-front tinsel of a recent watering hole. In 1922 the building was where Mayo Clinic co-founder William Mayo and General Mills chair James Ford Bell created the first Red Owl grocery store. Red Owls soon were franchised everywhere in the Upper Midwest — the era’s early  supermarkets. Now the City Council has been asked by local preservationist Kevin Lund to stop demolition plans until he can apply to the Rochester Heritage Preservation Commission for the building, at 11 Fourth Street Southeast on the Zumbro River, to be designated a landmark. That would halt city plans to take a wrecking ball to the structure to make way for riverfront development. The building most recently housed the bar Legends bar and the next-door Labor Union Temple. Over the years the building has been added onto and subdivided time and time again for many tenants. What next?  Yet another fashionable hotel? A Red Owl museum? Stay tuned.

Earlier: City to raze decripit Legends bar building

Lots of memories. Some as early as 1852. Some the morning after the night before.
Tenants over the years

As much as Kevin Lund can tell from his research so far:

1852: Rochester Milling Company.

1922: Red Owl.

1930s: General Mills Farms Services Division.

1950s: Time Theater.