THEMINNESOTA MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY A newsletter on historic preservation Preservation from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Minnesota Historical Society Spring 1998 PLANNERVol. IX, No. 2 Minnesota’s Preservation Plan in Action: CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Celebrating Accomplishments PUBLIC MEETINGS ON

MHS Collections HISTORIC PRESERVATION This issue of the Planner is filled with information promoting SHPO will host two public meetings to a wide range of activities planned discuss planning for historic preservation for National Historic Preservation as it relates to the needs of the general Week this May. The focused atten- public, government agencies, and commu- tion that Preservation Week pro- nities throughout Minnesota. Your views vides gives us a useful lens for and ideas are needed to help SHPO assessing recent accomplishments review the goals of its statewide preserva- tion plan, issued in 1995, and establish against the goals adopted in the priorities for its 1998-99 work plan. The Statewide Preservation Plan issued Preservation Alliance of Minnesota (PAM) in 1995. That plan will be revised, will give an illustrated presentation of its and a new plan produced, in the list of the “10 Most Endangered Historic The Shattuck Historic District in Faribault (Rice year 2000. Properties in Minnesota.” We encourage County) will be the location for this year’s annual There is good reason to cele- you to attend one of the meetings listed Historic Preservation Conference. brate this year. The first goal listed below. No advance registration required. in the 1995 plan addressed a very basic Duluth to Pipestone—are planning their Meetings begin at 7 p.m.; receptions are need for Minnesota’s historic preserva- own activities for the national occasion. at 6 p.m. For more information, call tion efforts: to increase community This year the preservation communi- Michael Koop, (612) 296-5451. awareness about the value and impor- ty has special reason to celebrate as the April 23: Little Falls, Little Falls City Hall tance of the state’s cultural resources. Preservation Alliance of Minnesota Another equally important goal is to (PAM) welcomes and introduces its first May 7: Virginia, Coates Plaza Hotel expand and strengthen the historic executive director, George Edwards. The MEETINGS, CLASSES, preservation network throughout the Alliance, founded in 1981, is the state’s state. only statewide, nonprofit advocacy orga- TOURS & WORKSHOPS The activities such as those planned nization dedicated to safeguarding Saturday, April 18: Reception, Duluth for Preservation Week increase the visi- Minnesota’s historic resources. The part- Union Depot, 5th Ave. W. and Michigan bility of the historic resources them- nership of the National Trust for Historic St., Duluth. The Midwest Regional Office of selves—as well as the issues and opportu- Preservation, through its Statewide the National Trust for Historic Preservation nities they present. Each year since the Initiative, has been instrumental to the and the Northern Lights Tourism Alliance plan was issued, the number of partner Alliance in reaching this important step. are sponsoring a reception to welcome organizations and sponsors for Minnesota’s preservation community will George Edwards, the new executive Preservation Week has increased, evi- benefit as its statewide organization is director of the Preservation Alliance of dence of a growing preservation network strengthened. Minnesota and Michael Hamer, the new in the state. For the past two years, events The various programs planned for the director of the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation. Public welcome; free. have swelled to cover two weeks, as Preservation Conference being held in Archaeology Week and Preservation Faribault during Preservation Week have April 23-May 14: Compleat Scholar Week celebrations join forces. The listed been designed to address other goals in Class. “The Architecture of Frank Lloyd sponsors are only the tip of the iceberg, the plan. One session, for example, will Wright” will meet four times on Thursday for local communities and historical evenings at the Minneapolis Institute of organizations—across the state from Continued on page 2 Continued on page 2 Preservation Plan in Action CALENDAR OF EVENTS Continued from page 1

Arts. For information or to register, call examine legislative issues affecting his- How can you participate? Plan (612) 624-8880. toric preservation as part of a continuing now to attend one or more of the many effort to develop a legislative agenda for events being planned this spring May 2-10: Minnesota Archaeology Minnesota. Other sessions will look at around the state. Week. The 4th annual Minnesota tax incentives for historic properties Archaeology Week includes a range of Britta L. Bloomberg events throughout the state. For more and design-review issues at the local information, call (612) 725-2729. commission level. Deputy SHPO

Sunday, May 3: Mendota Landmarks Walking Tour, Sibley Historic Site, 2-3:30 p.m. Fee required. For informa- REGISTRATION tion, call (612) 452-1596. Recent Additions to the National Register of Historic Places Sunday, May 3: Ask the Experts: Chuck Diesen and Paul Storch on Hennepin County: Prospect Park Water Granger, Kay Grossman and Patricia Archaeological Artifacts, 1 p.m., Tower and Tower Hill Park, 55 Malcolm Murphy. Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg Ave. S.E., Minneapolis. Prepared by Blvd. W., St. Paul. Curator Chuck Diesen Christine Curran and Charlene Roise. Rice County: Church of the Most Holy and conservator Paul Storch will help Trinity (Catholic), 4938 N. Washington identify objects brought to the History Norman County: Ada Village Hall, 404 St., Veseli. Prepared by David C. Center, and offer information on the W. Main St., Ada. Prepared by Susan Anderson. Minnesota Historical Society’s archaeo- logical collection. Holy Trinity Thursday, May 7: State Review Board Church (1925) Meeting, 7 p.m., Minnesota History has been an Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul. important focus For agenda information, call Michele in the social and cultural life of the Decker, (612) 296-5434. predominantly May 10-16: National Historic Czech residents Preservation Week. “Preservation Begins of the parish and at Home” is the theme of this week-long the village of celebration. See other articles in this Veseli. issue. SHPO files Wednesday, May 13: Spring Benefit,

Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, 5:30 Photograph courtesy Hess, Roise & Co.; photograph by Chrisine Curran to 10 p.m., Theatre de la Jeune Lune, The Prospect Park Water Tower was built in 1914 out of 105 N. First St., Minneapolis. For more reinforced, cast-in-place con- information, call (612) 341-8140. crete. Designed by Frederick Wednesday, May 13: Illustrated lec- W. Cappelen, a nationally ture by Larry Millett, “Continuity and prominent engineer, the tower Change in St. Paul: How Will Our exemplifies the waterworks Cityscape Be Shaped?” 7 p.m. industry’s encouragement of Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth St., St. architectural ornamentation of municipal waterworks Paul. Free, open to the public; call (612) structures. The water tower 292-3233. occupies the highest elevation Saturday, May 16: Compleat Scholar in the Twin Cities and stands Class. “Historic Minneapolis: A Walking in the 4.7-acre Tower Hill Tour” will meet from 1-4:30 p.m. at Park, which helped shape the Nicollet Island Park. For more informa- pattern of development in tion or to register, call (612) 624-8880. southeast Minneapolis in the early 20th century.

2 Minnesota Preservation Planner • Spring 1998 (April) CELEBRATE NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION WEEK

“Preservation Begins At Home” is the Sunday, May 10: “History HiJinx: Thursday, May 14: “Divided theme of this year’s National Historic Survey the Landscape,” 1-4 p.m., Highways” Film Screening, 3:30-5:30 Preservation Week, May 10-16. The Minnesota History Center, 345 Kellogg p.m., Weisman Art Museum, University Minnesota Historical Society and com- Blvd. W., St. Paul. Explore surveying of Minnesota, 333 East River Road, munities throughout the state have orga- with Gallery Guest Keith Dahl, a licensed Minneapolis. Tom Lewis, English profes- nized a variety of events to recognize land surveyor from BRW Inc. View sor at Skidmore College, Saratoga Preservation Week. A sampling follows. Trygg survey maps from SHPO and Springs, N.Y., will introduce his film make a site surveyor’s notebook. Free “Divided Highways,” a documentary Thursday, May 7: (Advance session admission; materials provided. about the history and impact of the for Preservation Week): “Whose House Federal Interstate Was This?” 6-7 p.m. Find Highway system. Lewis out the various ways to ANNUAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONFERENCE is author of Divided discover the history of Friday, May 15, 1 to 7 p.m. & Saturday; May 16, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Highways: Building the your urban house and the Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, off Shumway Ave., Faribault Interstate Highways, resources at the MHS Transforming American Library that can assist The conference begins with a tour of the Shattuck-St. Mary’s School Life. Free. you. Tracey Baker, MHS campus, several state institutions and downtown Faribault from 1-5 p.m. A reference specialist, will reception at the Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church follows from 5-7 p.m., with special guest George Edwards, new executive director of the Thursday, May 14: discuss maps, directories, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. Tour buses leave from the parking lot “Divided Highways” photographs, manuscripts, of the Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, 219 4th Ave. N.W. Slide Lecture, 6-8 p.m., periodicals and the State Highlights of Saturday’s program include a keynote address by Professor College of Architecture Archives. MHS Library, Tom Lewis (see May 14 event). Concurrent sessions will cover such topics and Landscape 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. as: local history education programs, using tax incentives to rehabilitate his- Architecture, 89 Church Paul. Fee: $5 ($3 for MHS toric properties, legislative issues affecting historic preservation, and design St. S.E., University of members). Preregistration review for preservation commissions. For more information, call (612) 296- Minnesota, Minneapolis. required; call (612) 296- 5434. Registration fee: $35. Professor Tom Lewis 2143. will present an illustrated lecture on the history of the interstate Saturday & Sunday, May 9-10: Wednesday, May 13: “Minnesota’s highway system. Free. “Subfloor Deposits in the Fort Snelling 10 Most Endangered Historic Properties,” Officers’ Quarters, 1820s-1830s,” noon Noon-1 p.m., Irvine Room, Minnesota Sunday, May 17: Summit Hill Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Historic Fort History Center, 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Neighborhood Historic House Tour, Snelling, Hwys. 5 and 55, St. Paul. A talk Paul. The Preservation Alliance of Noon-6 p.m., James J. Hill House, 240 and slide show by archaeologists who Minnesota will present an illustrated lec- Summit Ave., St. Paul. Approximately 15 worked on excavations under and around ture describing 10 historic resources that homes will be open to the public on a the Officers’ Quarters in the 1970s. Fee are in danger of destruction. Attendees self-paced tour of the neighborhood. includes admission to the historic fort. can bring a brown bag lunch. Free. $10 for tickets in advance, and available Fee: $5 adults, $4 senior citizens, $3 chil- after April 1 from Grand Avenue busi- dren ages 6-15. nesses; $15 on day of tour. SAVED

Through the philanthropy of indus- trialist Andrew Carnegie in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, more than 1,600 Carnegie libraries were erected in small towns and big city neighborhoods all across the United States. The Redwood Falls library (1904) is one of 65 such facilities built in Minnesota. The interior was rehabilitated in 1997 for use as a law office using the federal investment tax credits. These two photographs show the front of the building and a rehabilitated SHPO files SHPO files office area after adaptation. Minnesota Preservation Planner • Spring 1998 (April) 3 Two Rural Historic Landscapes Ready for Study by Dennis Gimmestad MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Minnesota Preservation SHPO Government Programs & Compliance Officer Planner is published and distributed in Phase I of the rural landscape project an agricultural character, including round January, April, July and October by the has recently been completed. Working barns, brick and clapboard farmhouses, State Historic Preservation Office of the with historians Amy Squitieri and tile silos, and windmills, many of the Minnesota Historical Society. Information Christina Slattery of the consulting firm farms are larger and have substantial new for each issue should be received by the of Mead and Hunt, State Historic outbuildings. New home construction is editor no later than one month before Preservation Office (SHPO) staff have appearing with increasing frequency. the publication date at the Minnesota identified two areas for Phase II analysis. The study will analyze the survival Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd. The first of these areas is located of the various historic landscape features W., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906. For near the short-lived community of in both of these areas. It will be the first further information call (612) 296-5434. Nansen, in Goodhue County’s Sogn time a rural district has been systemati- Valley. It includes a wide variety of his- cally studied in Minnesota. If a high Material from this issue may be reprinted toric buildings and structures, as well as with the following credit line: Reprinted degree of significance and integrity is landscape features such as windrows, found, an evaluation of the areas’ poten- with permission from the Minnesota fences, cemeteries, agricultural fields and Preservation Planner, published by tial as National Register rural historic an early stage-road route. A preliminary districts will be completed. the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. IX, evaluation of the area has concluded that Phase III of the project, scheduled to No. 2, Spring 1998. Do not reprint the landscape retains a good degree of begin later this year, will build on the material that has been reprinted from historic character. results of the surveys of the two areas. some other source. The second area is in southwest During this phase, SHPO will work with Carver County. Though it, too, retains local land use planners to seek ways to Upon request, this publication can be

Courtesy Mead & Hunt, Madison, Wis. preserve those areas that are made available in alternative formats: determined to be significant. audiotape, large print or computer disk. Funding for this project has Unless otherwise noted, photographic been approved by the images in the Planner are from the Minnesota Legislature, 1997 State Historic Preservation Office, Laws, Ch. 216, Sec. 15, Subd. 5 Minnesota Historical Society. (b) as recommended by the This newsletter has been financed in part Legislative Commission on with federal funds from the National Park Minnesota Resources from the Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minnesota Trust Fund. through the Minnesota Historical Society under the provisions of the national Historic Preservation Act as amended. However, the For further information on contents and opinions do not necessarily the project, contact SHPO at reflect the views or policies of the (612) 296-5462. Department of the Interior, nor does the This farm near Nanson on Hwy. 14 is in the Goodhue County mention of trade names or commercial rural landscape project area. products constitute endorsement or recom- mendations by the Department of the Interior. NonProfit Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Organization Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY U.S. Postage in departmental federally assisted programs PAID on the basis of race, color, national origin, 345 KELLOGG BOULEVARD WEST age or disability. Any person who believes St. Paul, MN SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA 55102-1906 he or she has been discriminated against in Permit No. 854 any program, activity or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Equal Opportunity Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127

Britta Bloomberg, Editor Michael Koop, Assistant Editor James Smith, Assistant Editor

http://www.mnhs.org

4 Minnesota Preservation Planner • Spring 1998 (April)