Historic Mill Boutique Hotel in Fergus Falls is anything but run

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Sometimes, walls really can talk.

At the old flour mill in the heart of Fergus Falls, the 20-inch thick masonry exterior walls tell the story of a 1915 structure built to withstand fire and F5 tornadoes. Its layout of chutes and towering silos relay its decades of service milling local farmers' hard red spring wheat into flour. And the graffiti splashed on its surfaces tell of years of disuse after it was closed down for good in the late 1980s.

So when veteran developer Kevin Bartram decided to turn the historic monolith at 309 W. Stantion Ave. into a boutique hotel several years ago, it made sense to let those walls keep telling their tales.

Especially because the mill is on the National Register of Historic Places, which required preserving as much of the origina