The Northwestern Knitting Company Factory, also known as Munsingwear Corporation and later as International Market Square, is a former factory building in the Sumner-Glenwood neighborhood of Minneapolis. The company was founded in 1888 by George D. Munsing, who invented a method of plating wool fibers with silk and cotton to make the union suit more comfortable. The company received financial backing from Clinton Morrison and

Charles Alfred Pillsbury Charles Alfred Pillsbury (December 3, 1842 – September 17, 1899) was an American businessman, flour industrialist, and politician. He was a co-founder of the Pillsbury Company. Education and early business career Pillsbury was born December ...

, who were prominent businessmen in the Minneapolis flour milling industry. This style of underwear, patented in 1891, proved to be very popular, and the company eventually became the world's largest manufacturer of underwear. The company changed its name in 1919 to

Munsingwear Munsingwear was a Minnesota-based brand of underwear from which Original Penguin developed. The company was established as Northwestern Knitting Company. It also was known as PremiumWear. History The company was started by George D. Munsing, who c ...

. The company built five brick and concrete buildings between 1904 and 1915, eventually creating a complex covering and employing up to 2000 workers. The five- to eight-story buildings had long rows of windows, and although the buildings mostly had a plain appearance, the architects added some details such as slightly projecting

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s, fretwork friezes, and fluted

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns. The oldest of the buildings, along Glenwood Avenue, is notable for being the city's first entirely

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

building. Engineer

C.A.P. Turner Claude Allen Porter Turner (July 4, 1869 – January 10, 1955) was an American structural engineer who designed a number of buildings and bridges, particularly in the midwestern U.S. states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Turner was born ...

used concrete columns shaped like a mushroom on top, and he eventually patented this process, which was widely used. The factory eventually closed in 1981 when the economy reduced demand for Munsingwear's products. In 1985, the buildings were renovated and the complex was renamed International Market Square, which housed offices, shops, and over 100 showrooms for home and office products. The renovation included a five-story atrium created by roofing over an old courtyard where rail tracks once served the complex. In 2005, some portions of the building were renovated into 96 loft apartments. This was a leading example of adaptive reuse in Minneapolis. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

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International Market Square
{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Minneapolis Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Industrial buildings completed in 1915 National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis Textile mills in the United States Undergarments

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