Historically, plating companies, paint manufacturers, machinery makers and any industry that cleaned equipment potentially polluted the ground beneath and around them. In this Earth Day week, we look at a part of Northeast which is still primarily businesses. Last month, the eastern two-thirds of the Mid-City Industrial neighborhood was declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
It’s a compact warren of businesses, bordered on the east by Industrial Blvd., the south by East Hennepin, the west by Harding Street and the north by Broadway. Beneath this warren is a toxic plume of chemicals. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the EPA are unsure of its size or how many pollution points there are, but they have a good handle on its composition.
The primary suspects in what has been labeled the Southeast Hennepin Area Groundwater and Vapor site are trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), often used to clean machinery and metal parts in industrial situations; PCE was also used for dry cleaning. In its March bulletin, the EPA wrote, “These VOCs (volatile organic compounds) have gotten into the ground and created an area of vapor contamination in the soil … the contaminants were first found to be migrating toward the neighboring General Mills/Henkel Corp. Superfund site.”
Tim Grape, Superfund project manager, MPCA, said shallow groundwater in the area generally flows from northeast to southwest. “It can be hard to discern between sources of contamination when there are multiple sources in close proximity to each other,” said Grape. “It’s likely that there are multiple different sources.”
In 2001, the MPCA reported, TCE was detected in the groundwater at 359 Hoover Street NE (now Ryder Truck Sales). Another contaminated site was found across Hennepin at Frank’s Auto Repair in 2009. In 2014, soil vapor on and around the property formerly owned by General Mills at 2010 E. Hennepin was investigated at the request of the MPCA. During World War II, the building was a General Mills research facility. Chemicals used in their research were historically disposed of in an absorption pit located on the southeast portion of the property. Although General Mills no longer owned the site, as the responsible party, it paid for vapor mitigation of nearby homes. Today, 2010 E. Hennepin is the home of many small businesses, including artist studios.
Industrial development, ’20s-’40s
Development in the Mid-City Industrial district began after World War I. The area along Stinson Blvd. developed first, with the construction of the Northwestern Terminal Company, a place where shipments came from one mode of transportation and were transferred to another, the Cream of Wheat factory and Glidden Paint.
The central and eastern part, which includes the Superfund site, was dominated by a gravel quarry owned by German immigrant John Wunder, who had been removing rock and aggregate for his construction business from the area since 1903. His address was listed in the October 30, 1926 issue of Rock Products as Broadway and K (later renamed Wilson) Street. The Gopher Stone Co.’s rock crushing plant was at 1501 Johnson Street NE, across from Northeast Athletic Park. The quarry changed hands after Wunder’s death, but continued to operate until 1977.
Perfection Manufacturing Company was the first company to occupy 2125 E. Hennepin. They manufactured milking machines, which were a relatively new technology in 1917, and dairy farmers wanted them. According to the Oct. 31, 1917 issue of Farm Implements, “The company has been working both day and night since the first of the year in order to meet the demand for milking machines, and their business has been such a splendid success that they have now increased the capital to $300,000.” The building is now the Nordøst Exchange and houses several small businesses.
One of the largest businesses in the area was the Scott-Atwater Outboard Motor Company, located at what is now the Target Sortation Center at 2700 Winter Street NE. Founded in 1932 by Cliff Scott and H. Bruce Atwater, they started out as a small tool making and punch press operation. In 1935, Earl DuMonte approached them about building outboard motors. In 1939, he landed a contract to build outboards for Firestone. In two years, Scott-Atwater was the second largest manufacturer of outboards (Evinrude was first). In 1949 they introduced outboard motors with a forward, neutral, and reverse (F-N-R) gear shift. Scott-Atwater was bought out by McCulloch in 1956. A decade later, McCulloch decided to focus on its landscape equipment business. When they couldn’t find a buyer for Scott-Atwater, they closed the business. 359 Hoover Street, now Ryder Truck Sales, was part of the Scott-Atwater empire.
The closing of the quarry coincided with the construction of I-35W through Northeast. Suddenly, the land surrounding the massive hole in the ground was available for development. While several small businesses remained, the area became populated with large warehouses with numerous truck bays.
Possible contamination sources
MPCA believes the toxins came from metal finishing, foundries, dry cleaning and manufacturing operations in the area. Although they don’t know for sure, the former Scott-Atwater site is thought to be one of the primary polluters, dumping waste into the gravel pit. A 2015 study done by Barr Engineering states, “Disposal practices at the Scott-Atwater facility are unknown. Historic aerial photos identified possible disposal areas on properties in the Northeast Area that Scott-Atwater acquired circa 1953. These disposal areas may have been used for waste disposal as early as the 1930s, based on the presence of dirt roads leading from the Scott-Atwater facilities to the possible disposal areas.”
The report also listed Twin City Plating, 641 Hoover Street NE; Excel Metal Finishing Inc., 2501/2503 Winter Street NE; Glidden Paint, 1901 Hennepin Avenue; and Minneapolis Casket Company, 2125 Hennepin, as possible sources of toxic solvents. The Glidden Paint building underwent mitigation and is now an apartment building.
A map published by MPCA in April 2021 shows that 2125 Hennepin (Nordøst Exchange) and Twin City Plating need to have sub slab sampling done. The Target Sortation Center, once the main manufacturing building for Scott-Atwater, has had a mitigation system installed and verified. Excel is the only facility listed by MPCA as “unable to access,” although that may have changed in the year since the map was published.
Moving the Southeast Hennepin Area Groundwater and Vapor site under the wing of the EPA and placing it on the agency’s National Priorities List means more resources for investigation and remediation are available. According to its March bulletin, EPA will begin a 12-18-month investigation and follow it with a plan of cleanup alternatives, which is expected to be ready for comment in 2026. Once the plan is approved, cleanup is expected to take another 12-18 months.
Below: Graphic provided by The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Scott-Atwater was the second-largest manufacturer of outboard motors in the U.S. It’s now the Target Sortation Center. (Photo provided by Minnesota Historical Society)