Water Lab Family Day 

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In 2019, Mill City Museum's Water Lab has been reimagined for the first time in its 15 years. Celebrate the Water Lab's new hands-on activities with a variety of water-related programs during this family day.

Spark your creativity at an invention station, work together to learn about mechanical waterpower and hydroelectricity at two interactive tables, participate in a "build-a-city" poster activity, and enjoy performances by History Player William de la Barre, the engineer who developed Minneapolis milling.

In the new Water Lab exhibit, visitors can build the Minneapolis riverfront as it looked in 1916 at the peak of the flour milling era, with more than 70 pieces to build railroads, bridges, mills, and more. A new interactive model of a flour mill demonstrates mechanical waterpower by allowing visitors to control the flow of water to turbines, which set in motion miniature moving machines. Plus, new graphics tell the story of St. Anthony Falls over time.

This program is part of the fall 2019 series "River, Water, Stories," which examines the relationship between people and the Mississippi River in the past and today.

This program is supported by the Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008.