I remember seeing this on t.v. while we were visiting my Grandmother for Thanksgiving in Two Harbors. 1982 - hard to believe it happened almost 30 years ago.
The following is from Wikipedia:
"The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire destroyed an entire block of Downtown Minneapolis on November 25-26, 1982 including the 16-story headquarters of Northwestern National Bank (now Wells Fargo) and the vacant, partially demolished location formerly occupied by Donaldson's department store, which had recently moved across the street to the new City Center mall. Nobody was injured or killed as a result of the fire."
"The Minneapolis Fire Department quickly determined the cause of the fire as arson. Shortly thereafter, two juveniles were arrested and later convicted of setting the fire, using an acetylene torch found at the partially demolished Donaldson's site."
"In 1988, Northwestern National Bank (then called Norwest Corporation_ constructed a 57-story Cesar Pelli-designed headquarters on the site of the Bank building. The new headquarters is now known as the Wells Fargo Center, after Norwest merged with Wells Fargo. The Donaldson's half of the block is occupied by the Saks Fifth Avenue wing of Gaviidae Common, and upscale shopping mall."
Dale was living in Washington D.C. at this time but was in Minneapolis when this happened to scout out an apartment for his impending move here.