On that day
Shortly after 5:00 pm on November 25, 1982, fire broke out in a vacated department store on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. The blaze quickly spread to the neighboring Northwestern National Bank building, and grew into a five-alarm fire that would take 150 firefighters four days to fully extinguish. The intense heat from the flames melted light fixtures across the street while below freezing temperatures froze the water from the fire hoses until the buildings looked like ice castles. The top eleven floors of the sixteen story bank building were destroyed, causing an estimated $100 million dollars in damage in what would become the costliest fire in Twin Cities’ history...(full Story)

Business as usual.

Banking business, however, resumed the next day. “Bricks and mortar and marble don’t make a great institution” stated Norwest CEO John W. Morrison, “Great people do… the bank and its people hardly missed a beat.” Luckily, Northwestern National Bank had just completed a new emergency plan that ensured that back-up records were stored off-site, a communications network was in place, and the number of desks each department would need tabulated. Team members were posted around town to direct people where to make deposits or speak with bankers. This recovery was so successful that the Northwestern emergency plan became a model for businesses around the country.

Because the first five floors only suffered smoke and water damage, the safe deposit boxes and vaults were in tact and customers could retrieve their items within days. Charles Lindbergh’s first airplane, a Curtis “Jenny”, on display in the bank lobby, was safe as well.

Reconstruction

On March 11, 1984, the fire-damaged building was imploded into a pile of rubble in just 15 seconds. Planning was already underway for a new signature headquarters building, designed by international architect Cesar Pelli. The 57-story bank tower, now known as the Wells Fargo Center, opened in 1988. Pelli salvaged and reused many architectural parts from the demolished 1930 bank building. “These elements… help make the connection between past and present, old and new, to strengthen the continuity through time that is the hallmark of all great cities.”