Minneapolis in 1974. The Walker Art Center grew out of the Walker Art Gallery, which was established in 1927 by Thomas Barlow Walker, a wealthy lumber baron, as the first public art gallery in the Upper Midwest. Walker had been inviting the public into his home to view his extensive art collection since the 1880's. He built the Walker Art Gallery to perpetuate his public service focus after his death, which occurred soon after the Gallery opened. In the 1940s, under the auspices of the WPA Arts Project, the museum shifted its focus toward modern art, after a gift from Mrs. Gilbert Walker made it possible to acquire works by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and others. The museum continued its focus on modern art with traveling shows in the 1960s and is now one of the "big five" modern art museums in the U.S. Churches Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church was founded in 1854. It is the oldest church in Minneapolis in continuous use. The church was originally built by the First Universalist Society, and later became a Catholic church in 1877 when a Catholic French Canadian congregation acquired it. The Basilica of Saint Mary was constructed between 1907 and 1915 on land that was formerly a farm, then a zoological garden. Archbishop John Ireland supervised the planning of the church, originally named the Pro-Cathedral of Minneapolis, along with the Cathedral of St. Paul in Saint Paul. He chose architect Emmanuel Masqueray, who was trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The first Mass was held on May 31, 1914. Church leaders desired to build the finest altar in America, handcrafted of the finest marble they could afford. It was elevated to the rank of basilica and became the first basilica in the United States in 1926. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the area's finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture. A changing city In the first few decades of the 20th century, Minneapolis began to lose its dominant position in the flour milling industry, after reaching its peak in 1915–1916. The rise of steam power, and later electric power, eroded the advantage that St. Anthony Falls provided in water power. The wheat fields of the Dakotas and Minnesota's Red River Valley began suffering from soil exhaustion due to consecutive wheat crops, leading to an increase in wheat leaf