Built in less than a year, the Industrial Exposition Building in Minneapolis housed the city's first Industrial Exposition in 1886 and the Republican National Convention of 1892. It dominated the Mississippi riverbank east of St. Anthony Falls for decades.

Sometimes known as the "Father of the Skyscraper," Leroy Sunderland Buffington was a prolific architect who had a lasting impact on the built environment of Minneapolis. In the 1880s, Buffington was nationally known. His architectural office employed more than thirty draftsmen, making it the largest in the region.

In 1884, the young city of Minneapolis got its first world-class hotel, the West Hotel. It was a match for the growing aspirations of the city, which until then had been served primarily by the Nicollet House, founded in 1857, before Minnesota was a state.