White Castle Building No. 8

In 1926, White Castle entered the Minneapolis area. The eighth restaurant in the Minneapolis area was built in 1927 at 616 Washington Avenue Southeast, originally with glazed brick. By 1950, the landowner of the Washington Avenue property refused to renew the lease. The reluctance of landowners to extend leases on small parcels was the reason why White Castle manufactured movable buildings. The chain moved the restaurant to the corner of Central Avenue and Fourth Street Southeast. However, by this time the company had failed to notice the population shift from central cities to suburbs, and it spent more time trying to survive in urban neighborhoods instead of building larger buildings in the suburbs. The company eventually recognized the business potential of building larger restaurants in the suburbs. However this meant that the smaller, older castle buildings became obsolete. In 1983, the company built a new restaurant in northeast Minneapolis. Historic preservation efforts succeeded, and the old building was moved to its present location in 1984 and has since housed a contracting firm, an accordion and jewelry business, and an antique/vintage goods shop. Usually properties on the National Register of Historic Places lose their designation if they are moved or significantly altered, but the National Register recognized that early White Castle restaurants were specifically made to be movable. ==Current use==