The museum, an entity of the Minnesota Historical Society that opened in 2003, focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries that used hydropower from Saint Anthony Falls.

Visitors exit on the 8th floor, where extant equipment is interpreted by staff, and are then led to the ninth-floor observation deck to view St. Anthony Falls.

Pieces by JoAnn Verburg, Tom Maakestad, Kim Lawler, Kathleen Richert, Paul Wrench and Becky Schurmann include murals, an art glass collage, a 15-foot (4.6 m) Bisquick box, and sculpture.

On May 2, 1878, a spark ignited airborne flour dust within the mill, creating an explosion that demolished the Washburn A and killed 14 workers instantly.

In order to prevent the buildup of combustible flour dust, ventilation systems and other precautionary devices were installed in mills throughout the country.

This is the largest and most complete Mill in the United States, and has not its equal in quantity and quality of machinery for making high and uniform grades of Family Flour in this country."

Based on the fifth floor of the Utility Building (part of the A-Mill complex) while living on the sixth floor,[5] [6] Peter Nelson Hall Architects and his team put together preliminary plans in 1976 that would set in motion the long term vision of the Washburn Crosby Mills as a Minnesota landmark.

Many features of the Washburn A Mill were left intact, including turbine pits, railroad tracks, a train shed and two engine houses.