Guided by History continues a week-long memoir of the "Great Thanksgiving Fire" of 1982. The blaze destroyed a block of downtown Minneapolis, including the Northwestern National Bank Building. NWB was an icon in the region to thousands of employees, customers and neighbors. (Read Part 1.)
In a small town, something big like a fire burning down the bank would be talked about for years. Does the same hold true in a city like Minneapolis? Personally, the Thanksgiving Day Fire never registered on my radar. But then I was eight in 1982.
I do know from working at the Wells Fargo History Museum in Minneapolis that there are people—many of whom had worked for Northwestern National Bank—who will never forget that day or that fire. People like those who stop by the museum and point out photos of the fire to friends and family, who still have Thanksgiving Day Fire Survivor T-shirts in their closet, and who can clearly recall the marble columns of the 1930 bank building.
Perhaps the greatest impact of the fire was that the Northwestern Weatherball 
was removed from the top of the building. The 157-foot-high sign broadcast the weather in colored lights to Minnesotans from 1949 until 1982 (it was removed in 1984 before the building demolition). A replica stands in the museum where visitors recite the jingle that went with it.
The fire left a lasting mark by dramatically altering the Minneapolis skyline. Gone is the 16-story building. In its place is a 57-story building designed by Cesar Pelli—it's the third-tallest building in downtown Minneapolis (just a tad shorter than the IDS and 225 South Sixth ). Lit up at night, the Wells Fargo Center is the jewel of the skyline (OK, I might be a little biased, but really, it is the prettiest building).
Today, the legacy of the fire can't compete against Black Friday and the siren of the shopping malls. Even back in 1982, news reports focused on the effect of the fire on post-Thanksgiving Day shopping downtown. And really, the balmy 50-degree weather we're expecting this Thanksgiving does nothing to remind us of the chilly weather that turned the water-soaked building into an ice castle 24 years ago. But I think there are a few out there for whom the smell of smoke on Thanksgiving Day will always bring back the memory of a red-tinged sky over Minneapolis.
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