Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis covers the 9th District of the Federal Reserve, including Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It has one branch in Helena, Montana. The current president is Gary H. Stern.
The Minneapolis Fed has strong ties to the economics department at the University of Minnesota. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics winner Edward Prescott was affiliated with both institutions for a long time. The Bank publishes The Region, a magazine featuring articles about economic policy and interviews with famous economists.
Three buildings have served as headquarters for the district, all within a few blocks of each other. The first was designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1915. It was unusual in that there were no windows on the lower walls close to the street—from the start, large bricks filled in the spaces where windows would be expected. Only up at the top was anyone able to look out from the building. The structure only became more strange in the 1950s, when a small skyscraper 8 stories tall was added on top. The modern superstructure clashed with the Roman columns on the building's façade. After the Fed moved to its second building in 1973, new owner National City Bank had the lower portion covered with something that was a better match to the skyscraper "hat" on top.
The building still exists as 510 Marquette at the corner of Marquette Avenue and 5th Street South in Minneapolis, right next to the Nicollet Mall station of the Hiawatha light rail line. Inside on the second floor is an indoor garden.
The Federal Reserve moved two blocks away on Marquette Avenue to a building now known as Marquette Plaza, which is constucted much like a suspension bridge with cables strung between pillars at the ends carrying the load. It is noted as the first (and perhaps only) building ever made to use catenary support. Design problems, along with asbestos contamination, led the Federal Reserve to decide to move into a new complex and sell the old structure. The new owner rehabilitated the building and added on, and the building has temporarily housed the central Minneapolis Public Library while that organization's new structure is being completed.
A complex along the Mississippi River now serves as home to the Minneapolis Fed, which moved there in 1997.
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