A forty acre factory campus sits along the Mississippi River in northeast Minneapolis, a stretch of land that once symbolized the industrial strength of one of the Midwest most important cities.

Four large buildings contain more than six hundred sixty thousand square feet of manufacturing space.

For decades the site served as the heart of Graco, a company that grew from a small invention in the winter of nineteen twenty six into a global manufacturer with sales on every continent.

In the spring of two thousand twenty five Graco announced that it would abandon the Minneapolis campus and relocate its headquarters and remaining production to suburban facilities.

The decision ended nearly a century of continuous manufacturing in the city where the company was born and revealed how far Minneapolis has moved away from the industrial base that once defined it.

The story began during a bitter winter almost one hundred years ago.

Russell Gray worked as a parking lot attendant in downtown Minneapolis, struggling to lubricate automobiles with a manual grease gun that failed in freezing temperatures.

Grease thickened into sludge and equipment seized in the cold.

Gray designed an air powered grease gun that worked reliably even in winter conditions.

He and his brother formed Gray Company and began selling the new tool to local garages.

Sales reached thirty five thousand dollars in the first year and climbed rapidly during the following decade.

By nineteen forty one the firm had grown into a one million dollar business.

During the Second World War the company became a defense supplier, producing a mobile lubrication system known as the Convoy Luber that kept military vehicles operating across Europe and the Pacific.

After the war the firm expanded its product lines and workforce.

In nineteen fifty four the company purchased riverfront property in northeast Minneapolis and began building a permanent manufacturing campus.

The site offered rail access, river transport, and proximity to working class neighborhoods that supplied a steady labor force.

Four years later the company introduced the first airless paint sprayer, an innovation that transformed industrial and residential painting.

The company went public in nineteen sixty nine and adopted the name Graco.

Over the following decades Graco became one of the largest manufacturers in Minnesota, operating in twelve countries and selling products in more than one hundred markets.

At its peak the Minneapolis campus employed about eight hundred people in production, engineering, maintenance, and administrative roles.

Many workers did not hold college degrees yet earned wages that supported families, mortgages, and long careers.

The factory became a central economic anchor for nearby neighborhoods.

Change arrived gradually.

In two thousand nineteen Graco invested seventy three million dollars to expand a facility in Rogers, a suburb twenty five miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The project nearly doubled the size of that plant and added modern production lines.

Two years later the company purchased one hundred acres of land in Dayton, another northwest suburb, and began building a new campus with more than five hundred thirty eight thousand square feet of space and extensive solar installations.

By two thousand twenty two the Dayton complex opened with more than two hundred workers and room for future growth.

As suburban operations expanded, the Minneapolis workforce declined.

Employment fell from about eight hundred in two thousand twenty one to roughly four hundred by early two thousand twenty five.

In May of that year Graco announced that it would leave Minneapolis entirely and construct a new headquarters in either Dayton or Rogers.

The riverfront property would be offered for sale.

City officials learned of the decision only shortly before the public announcement.

Economic development leaders described the news as consequential and acknowledged that large scale manufacturing had become rare within city limits.

Former city council members explained that the northeast industrial district once held the highest concentration of factory jobs in Minnesota.

Over time zoning changes, redevelopment plans, and political priorities shifted attention toward housing, technology firms, and environmental initiatives.

Manufacturing came to be viewed as incompatible with dense residential growth and riverfront redevelopment.

The area surrounding the Graco campus includes neighborhoods with some of the highest unemployment rates in the state, yet the remaining factory jobs are now moving more than twenty miles away.

Transportation challenges magnify the impact.

Many workers live within walking distance of the riverfront plant and rely on public transit.

Suburban sites in Dayton and Rogers have limited bus service and few direct connections from the city.

Employees without reliable cars face long and uncertain commutes or must seek new work.

The loss therefore affects not only payroll numbers but also access to opportunity for residents of high unemployment districts.

City leaders have already begun discussing redevelopment of the riverfront land.

The forty acres represent one of the largest remaining industrial parcels along the Mississippi in Minneapolis.

Council members have compared the potential project to major redevelopment sites in neighboring cities and spoken of housing, parks, and mixed use districts.

A public park named Graco Park recently opened on the southern edge of the campus.

Soon the company name may remain only on signage and maps while the manufacturing buildings are cleared for new construction.

The departure fits a broader pattern.

Several long established employers have reduced their downtown presence in recent years.

Major retailers have surrendered office towers, financial firms have eliminated thousands of jobs, and headquarters footprints have shrunk.

Manufacturing in particular has steadily retreated from the urban core.

The city comprehensive plan adopted in two thousand forty devotes little attention to industrial retention and largely references outdated policy language from earlier decades.

Tax policy also shapes the landscape.

Minnesota now carries the highest corporate income tax rate in the United States at nine point eight percent.

Business tax rankings place the state near the bottom nationally.

In two thousand twenty three lawmakers enacted nearly ten billion dollars in tax increases over four years despite a large budget surplus.

Neighboring states moved in the opposite direction, reducing corporate rates or eliminating them entirely.

Suburban communities near Minneapolis have competed aggressively for new plants, building highway interchanges, offering development assistance, and promoting business friendly reputations.

Graco executives cited operational efficiency and consolidation as reasons for the move.

Newer facilities in Dayton and Rogers allow manufacturing, engineering, and corporate teams to work closer together with modern equipment and energy systems.

The company reported more than two billion dollars in annual sales and continues to expand globally.

The departure therefore reflects not corporate decline but geographic reallocation toward locations with lower costs and more supportive development climates.

For Minneapolis the consequences extend beyond the four hundred remaining workers.

The campus once generated significant property tax revenue and supported a network of suppliers, maintenance firms, and local businesses.

Restaurants, childcare centers, and retail shops near the plant depended on factory payrolls.

Redevelopment may eventually replace some of that economic activity, but construction and service jobs rarely match the stability and wages of skilled manufacturing positions.

The symbolism resonates deeply in a city built on milling, machinery, and river commerce.

From flour mills to metal shops, industrial employment once provided pathways to the middle class for immigrants and migrants who lacked formal education.

Graco embodied that tradition.

A simple invention born from winter hardship grew into a multinational enterprise that remained loyal to its birthplace for nearly a century.

Now the riverfront stands at a turning point.

Demolition crews will eventually arrive, and new apartments and parks will rise where machine tools once operated.

City officials will celebrate revitalization and waterfront access.

Yet few public ceremonies will mark the disappearance of an industrial chapter that shaped generations of families.

The story of Graco and Minneapolis illustrates the trade offs of urban transformation.

Environmental goals, housing demand, and fiscal policy have redirected investment toward suburbs and service sectors.

High value manufacturing, once central to the city identity, has become an afterthought.

Workers without advanced degrees lose access to nearby stable employment, while redevelopment favors residents who can afford rising rents and long commutes.

Russell Gray built his first grease gun to solve a practical problem in a cold city.

He chose to build his company where he lived, among people who shared those winters and those challenges.

For decades Graco returned that loyalty by keeping production in Minneapolis.

The final decision to leave was shaped by taxes, land use, infrastructure, and political priorities accumulated over many years.

Graco will continue to thrive in modern suburban campuses with solar roofs and automated lines.

Dayton and Rogers will gain jobs, tax base, and prestige.

Minneapolis will gain redevelopment opportunities and scenic parks.

What it will not regain are the hundreds of manufacturing jobs that once stood within walking distance of neighborhoods that need them most.

As cranes and planners reshape the riverfront, the memory of an industrial pioneer may fade.

Yet the lesson remains visible in steel frames and empty floors.

Cities that stop caring about the workers who built them eventually lose the industries that sustained them.

Minneapolis now faces that legacy along the Mississippi, where a company born in nineteen twenty six finally decided that its future lay somewhere else.