Laying the cornerstone of the Exposition Building, 1886. Photographer: William H. Jacoby.

Advertisement for the first Industrial Exposition with image of new building, 1886.

Portrait of Leroy Buffington by William Cogswell, 1889. Owned and donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by Buffington's daughter Ella.

Photograph of a Buffington design drawing for the Pillsbury A Mill, 1879. Photographer: Leroy S. Buffington.

Cabinet photograph of Leroy Buffington, c.1895. Photographer: George W. Floyd.

James G. Blaine and Benjamin Harrison delegates to the Republican National Convention cheering in the hallways of the West Hotel, 1892.

The West Hotel, several decades old, in 1910, on Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue, looking west.

The West Hotel, Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue, c.1902.

The lobby of the West Hotel, c.1890. It was one of the largest lobbies in the country at the time.

The West Hotel, on Hennepin Avenue, looking west from Fourth Street, 1890.