Minneapolis Uprising: The Murder of George Floyd

April 2020

April 2020: Minneapolis Under Stay-At-Home Orders

Documentation of Minneapolis during statewide COVID-19 shutdowns prior to the events of May 25, 2020.

April 1–30, 2020 Minneapolis

April 2020 in Minneapolis was defined by the deepening COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid transformation of daily life under statewide public health restrictions. Stay-at-home orders, business closures, and emergency declarations workplaces, and public space. Streets grew quieter as residents adapted to remote work, distance learning, and evolving guidance from city and state officials.

Community response during the month centered on mutual aid, food distribution, and housing stability. Grassroots networks expanded to support vulnerable residents, frontline workers, and small businesses navigating the sudden disruption. Handwritten signs, window art, and socially distanced gatherings reflected both isolation and solidarity through the unprecedented period in the city’s history.

By late April, conversations about structural inequities in healthcare access, employment, and housing were becoming more visible in public discourse. Volunteer-led initiatives increased in scale, and local organizations amplified efforts focused on food security and emergency relief.

Key dates

April 2020 in Minneapolis was shaped by escalating COVID-19 case counts, public health mandates, and expanding community support networks responding to pandemic conditions.

April 1–7 — Stay-at-home orders and public health communications dominate city life as COVID-19 cases rise in Minnesota; workplaces close and residents adjust to new restrictions.
April 8–12 — Mutual aid networks and community organizations expand food distribution and housing support efforts for vulnerable residents.
Mid-April — Small, socially distanced memorials and neighborhood expressions of solidarity appear across the city.
April 18–22 — Public discussion grows around disparities in health outcomes and economic impacts affecting communities of color.
April 24–26 — Volunteer-led support for frontline workers and at-risk neighbors accelerates; nonprofit and faith-based groups increase visibility.

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Lucky Dragon Restaurant and Hard Times Cafe storefronts illuminated at night in Minneapolis. — *April 1, 2020* — Lucky Dragon Restaurant serves Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine from a storefront on Minneapolis's West Bank, in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood near the University of Minnesota. Next door, Hard Times Cafe has operated as a 24-hour coffeehouse since the early 1990s, drawing a mix of students, night-shift workers, and the neighborhood's longtime punk and counterculture crowd. Cedar-Riverside took shape as a dense immigrant enclave in the late 19th century and later became a center of Minneapolis's Somali and East African community, giving the area its wide range of restaurants and small businesses.

First Avenue music venue in downtown Minneapolis displays "VOTE 2020" on its marquee during COVID-19 shutdowns on April 2, 2020. — *April 2, 2020* — First Avenue, the nightclub at 701 First Avenue North, occupies a building that opened in 1937 as a Greyhound bus depot before its conversion to a music venue in 1970. Its Mainroom has hosted acts from Prince—who filmed key s of "Purple Rain" here—to touring bands across nearly every genre. The 7th Street Entry, the smaller adjoining room, opened in 1980 as a launching pad for punk and indie acts. The building's exterior stars, added over the years, each mark a musician who has performed there. On this night the marquee read "VOTE 2020" instead of a show listing, a message posted while the venue sat closed under Minnesota's statewide shutdown orders.

Millennium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis illuminated at twilight with lit windows forming a heart pattern during early COVID-19 — *April 3, 2020* — The Millennium Hotel Minneapolis sits at 1313 Nicollet Mall, a high-rise a few blocks from the Minneapolis Convention Center. The tower opened in the 1970s under an earlier flag before joining the Millennium Hotels and Resorts chain, and its upper floors face north over downtown toward the Mississippi River. During the early weeks of the 2020 coronavirus shutdown, hotel occupancy across downtown Minneapolis fell sharply as conventions, sporting events, and business travel came to a halt.

Hilton Minneapolis in downtown Minneapolis with “HOPE” and a heart lit in hotel windows during COVID-19. — *April 3, 2020* — The Hilton Minneapolis in downtown Minneapolis is lit at night with guest-room windows forming the word “HOPE” and a heart on April 3, 2020. The hotel stands among office towers and the nearby Westminster Presbyterian Church during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, when shutdowns had reduced activity across the city center.

Empty parking level at Ramp A garage in downtown Minneapolis with yellow bollards and directional markings. — *April 4, 2020* — Ramp A is one of several municipal parking ramps the City of Minneapolis operates in the downtown core, serving nearby government offices, hotels, and retail. The ramp typically fills with commuters and visitors on weekdays but stood empty in early April 2020, during the citywide shutdown ordered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Seville Club nightclub with red neon sign on 1st Avenue North in downtown Minneapolis during April 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns. — *April 4, 2020* — The Seville Club sits at 1st Avenue North and 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis, near the Target Center. Its red neon sign has long marked the block along a stretch of downtown known for nightlife and entertainment venues. In April 2020, statewide stay-at-home orders halted nightclub operations and left the surrounding streets and parking areas largely empty, a temporary condition rather than a permanent closure.

Loews Minneapolis Hotel beside the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis at night during April 2020. — *April 4, 2020* — The Loews Minneapolis Hotel and the Target Center are shown in downtown Minneapolis at night. The hotel, which opened in 2000, stands beside the arena as part of the same downtown entertainment complex. Photographed in April 2020, during the early COVID-19 shutdown period, the image shows the illuminated hotel tower and the Target Center signage on the arena facade.

Spiral parking ramp with yellow-painted curbs and concrete support columns in downtown Minneapolis. — *April 6, 2020* — Ramp C is a municipal parking garage in downtown Minneapolis, operated by the city as part of its downtown parking system. The structure's central spiral connects its parking levels with a continuous curved roadway rather than straight ramps between floors, a common design solution for maximizing vehicle capacity on a compact urban site. Yellow curb markings delineate the traffic lane around the concrete support core. Facilities like Ramp C serve commuters, downtown employees, and visitors to nearby offices and entertainment venues in the central business district.

Interstate 35W and connecting ramps at night in Minneapolis with Cedar-Riverside neighborhood visible in background. — *April 10, 2020* — Interstate 35W cuts through the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood just south of downtown Minneapolis, carrying traffic between the city center and southern suburbs along the Twin Cities' busiest north-south corridor. The high-rise towers of Riverside Plaza, built in 1973 as public housing and now home to a large East African immigrant community, stand along the freeway's western edge. The interchange visible here connects 35W with Washington Avenue and the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus, one of several ramps rebuilt after the 2007 collapse of the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River prompted a broader reconstruction of the corridor.

Metro Transit buses parked in a North Minneapolis storage lot at night. — *April 15, 2020* — Metro Transit operates the bulk of bus and rail service across Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding Twin Cities metro area. Its fleet includes standard 40-foot coaches like the ones numbered here, typically pulled from routes for storage, repair, or reassignment between garages. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency cut scheduled service significantly as ridership dropped, leaving more buses parked than usual. Metro Transit is run by the Metropolitan Council, the regional planning body that also oversees transit for the seven-county Twin Cities area.

Downtown Minneapolis beyond Lake of the Isles at night. — *April 17, 2020* — Downtown Minneapolis rises beyond Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a nighttime view from the city’s Chain of Lakes park system.

Centre Village and Hyatt Place in downtown Minneapolis at night during reduced Covid-19 activity in April 2020. — *April 18, 2020* — Centre Village and the Hyatt Place hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, are shown at night in April 2020. The Centre Village complex, completed in 1984, combines residential and commercial uses, while Hyatt Place serves visitors and business travelers in the city center.

Hennepin Healthcare Paramedic ambulances parked in a vehicle bay in downtown Minneapolis. — *April 18, 2020* — Hennepin EMS operates as the ambulance service of Hennepin Healthcare, formerly known as Hennepin County Medical Center, which serves as Minnesota's only adult Level I trauma center and one of two in the state for pediatric trauma. The service covers Minneapolis and much of Hennepin County, responding to roughly 100,000 calls a year and transporting patients to HCMC's downtown campus on Chicago Avenue. Its paramedics also staff a community paramedic program that follows up with high-need patients outside the emergency room. HCMC has held its Level I trauma designation since the American College of Surgeons verification program began rating hospitals in the 1980s.

TV airing a CNN coronavirus report in the Marquette Hotel lobby, downtown Minneapolis. — *April 18, 2020* — The Marquette Hotel lobby in downtown Minneapolis is pictured with a television broadcasting a CNN coronavirus report featuring Chris Cuomo and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The image was made in April 2020, when hotels and other public interior spaces were operating under the constraints of the early COVID-19 pandemic.

Crosswalk button with COVID-19 notice in Minneapolis stating the walk signal turns on automatically. — *April 21, 2020* — A pedestrian crosswalk button in Minneapolis is covered with a notice stating that pushing the button is not required and that the walk signal will activate automatically. The temporary sign was part of the city’s COVID-19 response in spring 2020, when Minneapolis disabled hundreds of walk buttons to reduce contact with shared surfaces.

Loews Minneapolis Hotel and Target headquarters in downtown Minneapolis with Bullseye sign at dusk. — *April 23, 2020* — The Loews Minneapolis Hotel and the Target corporate headquarters are illuminated in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. The hotel occupies part of the LaSalle Plaza complex, while the office tower at right houses Target’s headquarters in the city where the retailer is based. In the foreground, the Bullseye dog sign and Target logo rise above lower commercial buildings, marking the company’s presence in the central business district.

Nearly empty Interstate 394 in Minneapolis at night during COVID-19 restrictions, April 2020. — *April 25, 2020* — Interstate 394 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is nearly empty after midnight on April 25, 2020, during statewide COVID-19 restrictions. The freeway is a main route between downtown Minneapolis and western suburbs, but only a few vehicles are visible under the roadway lights.

Eduardo Kobra's colorful Bob Dylan mural at Nicollet Mall station in downtown Minneapolis. — *April 27, 2020* — Eduardo Kobra painted this mural of Bob Dylan, titled "Face of Music," in 2015 for the Downtown Improvement District's Betsy-Ann Kane public art initiative. Brazilian street artist Kobra is known for his geometric, kaleidoscope-patterned portraits, which he has installed in cities worldwide. The mural covers roughly 90 feet of wall along the light rail corridor near Nicollet Mall Station, close to Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. Dylan grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, and began his music career in Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota before moving to New York in 1961.

Cedar-Riverside Blue Line station platform at night in Minneapolis with yellow safety edge and rail tracks. — *April 27, 2020* — Cedar-Riverside Station sits along Metro Transit's Blue Line, formerly the Hiawatha Line, which opened in 2004 as the region's first light-rail route. The station serves the Cedar-Riverside and West Bank neighborhoods, just south of downtown Minneapolis and adjacent to the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus. The Blue Line runs roughly 12 miles between downtown Minneapolis, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America in Bloomington. Metro Transit operates the line with trains arriving every 7 to 10 minutes during peak service hours.

Interstate 35W construction site at night with downtown Minneapolis skyline and illuminated office towers beyond. — *April 27, 2020* — Interstate 35W cuts through downtown Minneapolis on its way between the northern and southern suburbs, carrying more than 100,000 vehicles a day under normal conditions. The tallest building on the skyline, the IDS Center, rises 792 feet and has held the title of Minnesota's tallest structure since its completion in 1972, designed by architect Philip Johnson. Capella Tower, completed in 1992 as the Norwest Center, stands 776 feet tall and is topped by a lattice crown that's lit gold for much of the year. This stretch of freeway saw major nighttime lane closures and repaving work in spring 2020, part of ongoing maintenance on one of the Twin Cities' primary north-south corridors.

Punch Pizza closure notice posted in window announcing temporary restaurant shutdown on March 16, 2020, due to COVID-19. — *April 29, 2020* — Punch Pizza posted this letter to customers announcing the temporary closure of all its restaurants beginning Monday, March 16, 2020. Signed by co-founders John Soranno and JP Audette, the notice cites the need to protect employees, customers, and the Twin Cities community from the spread of Covid-19. The letter notes the company was entering its 25th year in business at the time of the shutdown.

Walgreens A-frame sign instructs customers to maintain six feet of distance and follow CDC guidelines during COVID-19. — *April 29, 2020* — Walgreens posted this A-frame sign outside one of its Minneapolis stores asking customers to keep six feet of distance, both inside and outside the building, in line with CDC guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacies were classified as essential businesses under Minnesota's stay-at-home order, allowing them to remain open while most retail closed. Chains including Walgreens adopted floor markers, capacity limits, and posted signage like this one to manage store traffic during the outbreak's early months.

Painted sign at Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis features portrait and text about staying active during pandemic lockdowns. — *April 30, 2020* — The sign at Powderhorn Park pairs a painted portrait with a quoted statement: "I'm a very active person, being at home is hard, but I know is for the best." It's signed "Marcus Minneapolis" and includes a web address inviting others to participate, suggesting the piece was part of a broader community art project rather than a single standalone work. Powderhorn Park, on the city's South Side, became a gathering point for public art and expression during the spring 2020 pandemic shutdowns.

Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis features a curved path and large tree at sunset with the recreation center visible beyond. — *April 30, 2020* — Powderhorn Park anchors a residential section of South Minneapolis, its 66 acres laid out around Powderhorn Lake since the park's founding in 1889. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board maintains the grounds, which include the lake itself, open lawns, and a recreation center built in the 1970s. The neighborhood surrounding the park takes its name from the same source, and the park remains one of the larger green spaces on the city's south side.

April 2020: Minneapolis Under Stay-At-Home Orders

Minneapolis Photographer