Forgotten MN History: Minnesota’s First KFC Store Is Still Standing

Have you ever wondered what a building used to be when you look at it? I worked in an old piano factory during my time in Southern Minnesota, and much like the song says, Time Marches On. One older Minnesota building that is still standing, was home to Minnesota's first physical KFC Store, and remained unchanged for nearly 30 years. Here's the story behind this quirky Minnesota building along Hennepin Ave.

What was once Minnesota's first physical Kentucky Fried Chicken store, is still standing today at the corner of West 25th Street and Hennepin Ave. However the new owners of the building aren't in the food business, Osman Cleaners has now taken over, and has since the late 80s.

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Opening up in 1959, was the first physical store for Minnesotans to try the Colonel's secret recipe.

The store on Hennepin wasn't the first KFC however to open in Minnesota, that honor goes to the Southdale Mall, where the De Laria family had a restaurant that served up the "Colonel’s pressure-cooked chicken there before becoming the first franchisee in Minnesota with the opening of the Hennepin Ave location".

Looking at the building now, you can still see the trademark large billboard on top of the restaurant, and looking around the building you can see that the new owners changed up the colors, but otherwise, it looks the same.

What's fun to learn about from this social media post from Old Minneapolis is that at the time the De Lauria family owned the franchise rights to the entire state of Minnesota! The family up until 7 years ago still operated a Kentucky Fried Chicken location, selling off the last franchise in 2017 in Wayzata.

As I mentioned before, just like the song says Time Marches On, but we also know that the more things change, the more things stay the same.