BRINGING BACK THE BUCKMAN HOTEL

BRINGING BACK
THE BUCKMAN HOTEL
A RESTORED LANDMARK WILL SERVE LITTLE FALLS' FUTURE
AND ITS SENIOR CITIZEN COMMUNITY
"Why, this is the Buckman Hotel Building; I thought everyone knew that" was the
enthusiastic response of a big, burly bricklayer repairing masonry arches on the
historic hotel when asked the name of this downtown Little Falls structure. Metro
Plains Development, a Minnesota-based firm that has successfully converted several
out-state commercial buildings into elderly housing in the midwest, is now in the
Continued on page 10, column 1
PRESERVATION MATTERS
PRESIDENT'S
COLUMN
by R{)H T. Anderson
The Preservation Alliance recently met with several
individuals from Little Falls who were interested in
learning about our Preservation Easement Program.
An easement grants a partial interest in an historic
property and may impose limitations on use or
alteration. Easements may be granted on a facade,
interior, or open space.
Easements are donated in order to protect historically
and architecturally
significant
buildings
and
properties in perpetuity. The donation may also
provide tax benefits.
The Alliance currently hold four easements. We hold
facade easements on the Langdon Building in
Minneapolis and the St. Paul and Gilbert Buildings in
St. Paul. Our fourth easement, which we administer
jointly with the Minnesota Historical Society, protects
the Veblen Farmstead, a National Historic Landmark
near Northfield. The Veblen easement not only
protects buildings and structures on the property but
also interior features and open space.
Our visitors from Little Falls included city manager
Richard Carlson, heritage preservation commission
members Art Warner and Donald Opatz, and Jan
Warner, the executive director of the Morrison County
Historical Society. They not only wanted general
information about our easements but were also
interested in advice on establishing
their own
easement program. What distinguishes their approach
is that they not only want to accept easements, they
actually want to purchase them from property owners
in Little Falls' commercial historic district.
While planning our meeting I was curious if any other
organizations
had taken a similar approach in
acquiring easements. After numerous phone calls, I
found that Historic Annapolis, a non-profit located in
Annapolis, Maryland, had also aggressively solicited
and purchased easements. A staff person explained
they concluded that easements would offer more
lasting and consistent protection
than a local
preservation ordinance. They found that a lack of city
staffing resulted in problems in enforcing their
ordinance. In addition, there is always the possibility
that an ordinance could be repealed, particularly with
the so-called property rights movement growing,
thereby eliminating all forms of local protection.
2
In Minnesota we've seen how a heritage preservation
commission may deny a demolition permit only to
find their decision overturned by the city council.
Easements, by their nature, would continue to protect
despite such issues.
Little Falls has already appropriated $20,000 for a
revolving loan fund for their historic district, and more
recently an additional $20,000 was allocated for
purchasing easements. It is envisioned that a property
owner will be required to use the funds received for
the easement for improvements on the facade and
other aspects of the building.
Little Falls is certainly to be congratulated for what
must be one of the state's most proactive and farreaching approaches to historic preservation. I am also
very pleased that Little Falls called on us for advice.
That's just the kind of service the Alliance would like
to provide communities throughout Minnesota.
PRESERVATION ALLIANCE
OF MINNESOTA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Rolf Anderson,
President
Marlene de Boef,
Vice President
Robert Frame, Treasurer
Roger Brooks
Robert Copeland
John Diers
Peter Erickson
Martha Frey
Thomas Holman
Charles Leer
Diane Montgomery
Mark Peterson
Peter Rand
Pamela Thorsen
Donald Woods
Preservation
Minneapolis
Lakeland
Saint Paul
Saint Paul
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Minneapolis
Winona
Minneapolis
Hastings
Saint Paul
Alliance
of Minnesota
FEBRUARY
1995
PRESERVATION ATTITUDES
Right now, it'syour attitude We're Interested In!
Tell Congress to Keep Arts and Humanities
Funding!
By now you've heard of the intentions of our Congress to eliminate or reduce Federal funding to the National
Endowment for the Arts and to the National Endowment For the Humanities, and if you are a reader of this
newsletter, you probably are supportive of the arts. And you probably support making government a partner
in fostering art for its cultural value and for its growing ability to generate economic revitalization in America's
cities and towns. But have you written to your congressmembers?
The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota most strongly encourages you to TAKE ACTION: please write your
Congressmember today, or tomorrow at the latest. A brief paragraph will do, along with your signature - that's
all that is needed. An envelope, a stamp, a one-paragraph letter. And only two minutes of your time. Plan now
to do it, write it, and mail it. Thank you!
Senators
Fourth District
Senator Rod Grams
261 Dirkson Senate Office Building
Washington D.C
20510
fax: 202 228-0956
2304 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C 20515
202225-1968
Senator Paul Wells tone
702 Hart Senate Building
Washington D.C 20510
fax:202 224 -8438
First District
Gilbert Gutknecht
425 Cannon House Office Building
Washington D.C
20515
fax: 202225-0051
Second District
David Minge
1415 Longworth House Office
Building
Washington D.C 20515
fax: 202 226-0836
Bruce Vento
Fifth District
Martin Sabo
2336 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C 20515
fax: 202225- 4886
Sixth District
Bill Luther
1419 Longworth House Office
Building
Washington D.C 20515
fax: 202 225-3368
Seventh District
Collin Peterson
1314 Longworth House Office
Building
Washington D.C 20515
fax: 202225-1593
Third District
Eighth District
Jim Ramstad
103 Cannon House Office Building
Washington D.C
20515
fax: 202225-6351
P.O. Box 582804 Minneapolis,
James Oberstar
2366 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C 20515
fax: 202225-0699
MN 55458-2804
3
PRESERVATION MATTERS
HOMEWARD BOUND
A LOOK AT THE ROLE OF ORPHANAGES
IN MINNESOTA
orphanage, with classes conducted in both English and
Swedish. Until this time, Vasa Home was totally
financed by private contributions mostly derived from
the state-wide Lutheran Augustana Synod. In 1906 the
orphanage began to receive state aid for education.
In the next two decades, more staff was added,
more land was purchased and more barns were
built. 1926 proved to be a banner year for Vasa
Home, as a large new building for 45 resident
children was constructed, with the cornerstone
being laid by Crown prince Gustaf Adolf of
Sweden. The building, which housed children until
1954 when it became an institution for mentally
retarded, still stands today.
An outgrowth of the Vasa Home was the formation
of Lutheran Social Services, today a large and wellrespected provider of social services throughout
Minnesota.
Vasa Lutheran Home for Children
The word" orphanage" has recently re-appeared in public
discourse, with the late twentieth century's version of
Newtonian gravity attempting to change our nation's
moral and economic value systems. Today, there are
many elderly Minnesota citizens who can remember their
upbringing in one of the several orphanages that existed
throughout the state several generations ago. This article
will examine the beginning and growth of orphanages in
Minnesota, with several examples of buildings that were
home for thousands of young people.
In the fall of 1865, Eric N orelius, a Red Wing Lutheran
pastor on church business in Saint Paul, was told of
the sudden death of two Scandinavian immigrant
parents who left behind four young children with no
relatives. Norelius took the children home with him,
and arranged temporary living quarters in the
church's basement. When several additional children
arrived, the need was seen for a larger and separate
building. The church purchased ten acres of land near
the small Scandinavian immigrant village of Vasa, and
in 1867 a small building housing ten children was
constructed. In 1877 a larger building was built, and
at the dedication ceremony, the Vasa Home, as it was
called, received a gift of $40.00 and two cows.
The next 25 years were marked by losses of orphanage
buildings by tornado and fire, with each loss quickly
replaced with a church-sponsored larger structure. By
1906, children were schooled privately within the
4
Most of the orphanages in Minnesota have origins
coming from a city's leading citizens who develop
charitable attitudes
that serve to create an
orphanage's initial formation. After a period of
growth, the operation became complicated enough
to require an institution to assume administration and
ongoing financial fundraising. Most of these facilities
were taken over by religious institutions, with very
few requiring public involvement.
The highly noble purpose of providing for children in
plight, according to Clarke Chambers, professor
emeritus at the University of Minnesota, was offset by
the very self-centered
motive of establishing
orphanages as a kind of quarantine to prevent social
contagion of the problematic poor.
One of the exceptions to private operation of
orphanages was the Minnesota State Public School for
Dependent and Neglected Children established in
Owatonna in1885. The facility was one of the first to
be built on the "cottage plan," The cottages were two
story brick structures measuring 30 x 40 feet. Today
the only remaining building is the Romanesque style
Administrative Building.
Aside from the particular adversities of many young
children whose circumstances
brought them to
children's' homes, the orphanage experience had its
unfortunate aspects. Many now-elderly Minnesota
residents came to the midwest from the east coast on
"orphan trains," loaded from social service agencies
in New York where orphanages
were often
overcrowded
and adoption opportunities
were
Preservation
Alliance
of Minnesota
FEBRUARY
limited. The midwest was the destination of many of
these orphan trains. Many of the "adoptive" parents
had the typical hopes and aspirations for caring for a
child of their own. But there were stops at freight
depots in farm towns that brought out farmers looking
Washburn Orphanage Superintendents House
Southwest corner of Nicollet Avenue and 50th Street
for farm labor. Lined up on a platform, sometimes the
young boys had their arm muscles squeezed and
husky fingers run through their mouths checking for
good teeth as signs of sturdy and healthy workers, not
unlike scenes at slave docks in Mid-Atlantic seaports
in the early 1830s.
Cadwallader Washburn, one of the most successful
men in 19th century Minneapolis flour milling, was
said to have " found milling a trade and left it a
science." When he died in 1882, he endowed the
formation of the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum
that resulted in a complex of buildings built at Nicollet
Avenue and 50th Street which was then outside
Minneapolis city limits. His interest in this endeavor
is said to have come from his personal knowledge of
families broken up through the death of one or both
parents as the result of war, disease, or accident.
Washburn's legacy insured that this institution be built
well. The architect for the first building was E.
Townsend Mix, who gained fame for his design of the
Metropolitan Building in downtown Minneapolis.
Grounds landscaping
was designed by H.W.S.
Cleveland, who had three years earlier masterminded
the Minneapolis Parks system. At this same time,
Cleveland had also prepared a plat plan adjacent to the
institution for what was to be known as Washburn
Park, a 200 acre real estate development featuring
woods and hill-sloped large residential lots. The land
P.O. Box 582804 Minneapolis, MN 55458-2804
1995
owners were a brother of Cadwallader
other real estate speculators.
and several
By 1895 the resident population reached 122. The three
story structure (a strict interpretation of Washburn's
will dictated it be called an "asylum" instead the the
more favored orphanage") contained a kitchen and
laundry in the basement; a well-appointed trustees
meeting room, dining room, nursery, school rooms
and offices occupied the main or first floor: the
second floor contained a chapell assembly hall,
individual bedrooms for the institution's officer s
and teachers, a hospital room, and dormitory
quarters for girls; the boys' dormitories was located
on the third floor.
Farming had become a necessary part of the
orphanage operation in order to provide food,
including milk and eggs, for the residents and staff.
A fifteen acre site south of 50th Street near
Elmwood Place provided adequate land for these
needs. A separate water supply system was built.
All in all, the Washburn Asylum was a completely
self-sufficient orphanage in a rural countryside
setting.
By the beginning of the 20th century the Washburn
asylum reached a certain prominence such that the
Board of Trustees authorized construction
of a
Superintendent's cottage, designed by noted architect
Harry Jones. This house, which is the only building
remaining of the orphanage complex, was intended to
be a prototype for the next expansion phase of "family
groups" to live in cottages, an advancement from the
dormitory mode of orphan housing.
However, none of the cottages were ever built. After
1906 the resident population began to decline. The area
around the orphanage, Washburn Park, had become
a well developed and prosperous area, making the
institution out of place with the environs it helped to
create. With increasingly
declining
resident
population came financial shortcomings, and the
orphanage closed in 1929 and was demolished in the
same year. Shortly before being torn down, a
newspaper article described the building as:
"an old-fashioned four story brick building. Rooms
are large, ceilings high, furnishings of
the vintage of the nineteenth century and its general
characteristics those of orphans'
homes so often portrayed in fiction. "
Continued on page 6, column 1
5
PRESERVATION MATTERS
Homeward Bound continued from page 5
When various religious organizations
became
established, social care for the disadvantaged became
one of their most noble causes. Catholic, Jewish and
various Protestant
groups built orphanages,
sometimes as part of elderly care and special need
children facilities. Little Falls, Belle Plaine, Willmar,
Tyler and other towns were'sites of orphanages.
The leadership
of certain religious
persons
occasionally resulted in founding of children's' homes.
Sister Annette Relf, an Episcopal deaconess, organized
Sheltering Arms in Minneapolis, then started the
Church Home For Babies in the Cedar Riverside area
of Minneapolis. The objective of that home was to
"prevent mothers from giving away their babies, by
providing a home within their income, allowing them
to see their children often, thereby keeping up the
parental love."
Anecdotal remarks by many former orphanage
residents about their orphanage life are generally
positive. Typical of these might be Millie Hoffman,
who became orphaned in the 1920s along with her five
brothers and sisters when her mother died and her
father was unable to care for his young family. From
her farm home in Warroad, Millie was sent to
Sheltering Arms, an orphanage on West River Road
south of Lake Street in Minneapolis, and one of her
sisters went to the orphanage in Owatonna. She says
she was well cared for, received a comfortable
upbringing and a good education.
Today, a small stone edifice, the Holy Innocents
Chapel, dating back to the 1884 founding, is the sole
remaining building on the site, a companion piece to
the newly-built Beckettwood.
Many other orphanages in Minnesota closed in the
1930s due to the so-called modem trend to foster home
placement which was considered to be better suited
to provide more specialized and more home-like care.
Also in the 1930s, the government began to provide
financial assistance to single parent mothers.
Sheltering Arms shifted its purpose in 1942 when it
joined with Saint Barnabas Hospital to develop the
Sister Kenny technique
for the treatment
of
poliomyelitis. Many of these children's' homes became
institutions for mentally retarded children or elderly
care facilities, as the organizations who governed them
sought to shift their mission in accordance with
changing social needs.
Robert Roscoe
Contributions to this article came from: Susan Roth,
Minnesota Historical Society, The Goodhue County
Historical Society; The Sheltering Arms Foundation
Sheltering Arms was another
orphanage facility started by Sister
Relf. In 1882 Relf, with a gift of $32
from a Brainerd Sunday school,
opened what has been called the
first home for orphaned
and
destitute children in the state,
housing six children. In 1884
Sheltering Arms was built on a 125
acre site along West River Road on
the grounds
that
is now
Beckettwood,
a retirement
community. With help from a
prominent historical figure in 19th
. century Minnesota history, Bishop
Whipple, as well as Sister Relf's
creative fundraising, Sheltering
Arms expanded to house over 70
children, in the process becoming
an exemplary model for other such
facilities.
Sheltering Arms Dining Room
Photo
6
Preservation
Alliance
by
Minnesota
Historical
of Minnesota
Society
FEBRUARY
1995
YMCA RENOVATION
COMPLETED
After many years of delays and more than a decade
of redevelopment plans for the block on which it
stands, the old Minneapolis Central Young Mens'
Christian Association building at 36 South Ninth
Street has been fully renovated into apartments and
is now known as the LaSalle. The YMCA
renovation is the final phase of the redeveloped
block which also included the renovation of the
State Theater around the corner. An opening
reception was held in December for the building,
now providing 121 apartments.
The downtown YMCA building was completed in
1919 and designed in the Late Gothic Revival style
by the Minneapolis
architectural
firm of Long,
Lamoreaux, and Long. Formed in 1909 from the firm
of Long & Long, it was the successor firm of Long &
Kees. The Chicago architectural firm of Shattuck &
Hussey (hired throughout the country for YMCA
building designs) were associate architects on the
project. The building replaced the previous building
completed in 1890 at the comer of LaSalle Avenue and
South Tenth Street. Construction continued despite
World War I, and returning soldiers were the concern
for a completed building. The building originally had
numerous facilities, including a bowling alley. Rental
rooms occupied the upper floors.
Redevelopment of the block was first proposed in 1979
when the YMCA wanted to build a new facility next
the old one. The original scheme did not come to
fruition, but the present new YMCA facility and the
LaSalle Plaza project was begun in 1984.
Photo
by
Franklin
Haws Jr.
In partnership with Arnold Development for the $7.2
million renovation that began in April 1994 was
Lawrence Harmon and Kathy McKenna. The general
contractor was Kraus Anderson, and the architect was
Architectural Forum, Inc. Although not yet officially
listed in the National Register, Federal tax credits for
historic rehabilitation were used, and the renovation
plans were subject to Department of the Interior
regulations
including
the replaced windows.
Although of the interior had been rehabilitated over
the years, several original features were retained and
restored. There are two original fireplaces and some
original woodwork. The entrance foyer with marble
was restored.
Scott Brown
The present LaSalle building project was announced
in 1988. Original plans were for the old YMCA to be
renovated for office space, but there was a glut of office
space at the time. The YMCA sold the building to the
developers Palmer Group and Beta West Properties,
Inc. The MCDA got involved in May 1989 so that tax
increment financing could be used. Beta West in turn
sold the building to Arnold Development.
The seven story rear portion (of minor architectural
importance)
of the building was demolished in
January 1990 in order to allow construction of the
LaSalle Plaza office building, which now abuts the
remaining twelve story portion of the old YMCA.
The YMCA moved out of the old building and into
their new one in November 1990. In September of the
following year, Beta West had the building cleaned
and tuckpointed in order to entice a buyer. The present
renovation was announced in January 1993.
P.O. Box 582804 Minneapolis, MN 55458-2804
Photo
by
Franklin
Haws Jr.
7
PRESERVATION
MATTERS
WHEN MINNESOTA SENT A KNUTE TO WASHINGTON
followed by election to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1882 where he served three terms,
then declined re-election. During this time Nelson also
served as a member of the Board of Regents of the
University of Minnesota.
Nelson returned to Alexandria to practice law, but
four years later in1892, he was unanimously
nominated at the Republican candidate for governor,
followed by his election in November of that year,
followed by re-election two
years later. In 1895 Nelson was
elected by the Minnesota
Legislature
to the United
States Senate where he served
for twenty-six years.
Knute Nelson
One of Minnesota's most influential political figures
in the last part of the nineteenth century and early
twentieth century was Knute Nelson, who served as
a Minnesota State Senator, Representative in the
United States Congress, Governor of Minnesota, and
United States Senator.
One of Minnesota's most influential political figures,
Knute Nelson's half-century of public service at the
Minnesota State Capitol and in Washington influenced
this state during its greatest period of growth in the
decades before arid after the turn of the century.
Nelson's record of public service has been scribed in
pages of Minnesota history, and his house in
Alexandria, now 123 years old, is a physical
testament to his significance.
Senator
Knute
Nelson's
legislative achievements are
numerous,
serving
on
congressional
committees
such as Indian Affairs, Pension Committee,
Committee on Commerce, Committee on Public
Lands, and the Committee on Agriculture. He drafted
and organized legislation for the formation of the
Department of Commerce and Labor. Nelson was the
first Scandinavian to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
Senator Nelson was known 'for his progressive mind,
advocating a governmental system of food and meat
inspection, and worked to establish federal income tax
legislation.
He supported
the progressive
administration of President Theodore Roosevelt by his
legislative working to enact laws favored by the
president.
. Continued on page
11
A Norwegian immigrant and Civil War veteran,
Nelson came to the village of Alexandria in 1871 to
homestead 120 acres of land. A year later he built
an L-shaped house, which received an addition in
1915. Having previously served two years in the
WisconsinState Assembly, Nelson first public office
was Douglas County Attorney from 1872 to 1875.
He spent four years in the Minnesota Senate,
Knute Nelson House,
Alexandria, Douglas County
photo courtesy of the
Minnesota historical Society
8
Preservation
Alliance
of Minnesota
FEBRUARY
Preservation
Attitudes
A tour of the state capitol and a small-town
community center. Two seemingly unrelated topics
that got me thinking about public architecture.
On tour at the capitol a visitor asks how much is being
spent by the state to restore the Quadriga golden
statue from the front of the building then expresses
outrage at the money not being spent to help the less
fortunate.
Later that day, a scan of the hometown newspaper
reveals that in planning for a new community center
the city council has decided against hiring an architect
to design it, for fear the cost will be too high, and is
now enlisting the services of a pole barn manufacturer
to both design and build the structure.
How much our attitude toward the role of public
architecture in society has changed since 1905 when
this state built a new capitol building and that small
town saw the construction
of a new county
courthouse.
Today we express outrage at a few thousand dollars
being spent to restore to its original splendor one of
just the handful of sculptures of its kind left in the
country. And city council members, afraid to face the
wrath of their citizenry, look for the cheapest, not the
best, way to build a community landmark. Thank
goodness those that came before us had a view of the
world that extended beyond the next election cycle.
State capitol architect Cass Gilbert told the workers
who built the building he wanted them to construct
something that would last 500 years. Today, public
architecture gives us buildings we will be lucky to
P.O. Box 582804 Minneapolis, MN 55458-2804
1995
have last 30 years. Which then is, in fact, the real
bargain? The bargain for the Gingriched, Limbaughed
taxpayers who express displeasure at the government
picking their pockets and taking their hard-earned
money? The building designed for the ages, providing
civic pride and a place for all people to gather for
generations to come is clearly a better investment than
one which will need to be replaced by the next
generation.
Public architecture today is a micrcosm of what is
wrong with our modem society. Too much time is
now spent focusing on the short-term; the tomorrow
not the next year. Anyone with control over public
money today who would express desire to spend it
with a view 500 years into the future would be
laughed out of a job. How far we have fallen in 90
years.
In the same way our couch potato society channel
surfs through 200 cable stations while racking up
billions of dollars in national debt seeking immediate
gratification, we build our public buildings the
cheapest, easiest way possible with no eye toward the
quality of life of future generations. Not until we make
decisions as a society with that eye toward the future
will we ensure that quality of life and the gratefulness
of those who come after us.
Rod Richter
YOUR PRESENCE IS
REQUESTED
The Preservation
Alliance of
Minnesota, hoping to extend its
streak of successful fundraisers,
asks you to mark your calendar
for Tuesday, March 28 for your
chance to meet Richard Moe,
president of the National Trust
for Historic Preservation. The
event will be early evening. The
exact location, time, and other
embellished
details will be
announced
in the March
Preservation Matters newsletter.
Proceeds
will benefit
the
Preservation
Alliance
of
Minnesota.
9
PRESERVATION MATTERS
Buckman Hotel continued from page 1
finishing stages of rehabilitating the Buckman and the
nearby Little Falls Fire Station, creating 27 apartments
in both buildings.
The Buckman's original first floor dining room will
regain its former use, revised by requirements for this
type of facility. A new-construction ground floor link
will connect the rear sections of both structures.
Michael Bums Architecture of Moorhead is the project
architect.
'
This project will provide a double benefit to this
Morrison County farming community: two underutilized mainstreet buildings that are significant
elements in the town's history will help local
revitalization. And this type of building re-use for
retirement age citizens meets a growing market.
Kristofer
Layon, Preservation
Development
Coordinator for Metro Plains, listed the financing
firm. The nearby Fire Station was designed by Max
Buetow and Phillip Bettenberg, Saint Paul architects
who were to develop productive and long-lasting
practices.
But that ardent bricklayer isn't the only person in Little
Falls promoting the city's architectural assets. City
officials some time ago looked for a means to revitalize
Little Falls' downtown commercial core, and among
their development objectives was the formation of a
downtown commercial historic district. In July of 1994
the National Park Service conferred designation on the
37 building area along First Street, noting its high
concentration
of contributing
brick structures,
constructed of red and yellow local brick and trimmed
with granite from nearby Saint Cloud quarries. The
significance of these buildings is their role in forming
the growth of Little Falls' rising economy in this
central Minnesota region.
Larissa Rippley, Development Coordinator for Metro
Plains, credited Rich Carlson, City Manager, and
Susan Haugen, Economic Development Specialist,
for their insight in seeing historic designation as a
framework for augmenting economic revitalization.
"They were very supportive all the way," Rippley
commented, " They saw the Buckman's location in
the heart of the district at the comer of the city's two
main streets as instrumental in establishing a base
for further revitalization."
The city is now encouraging storefront restoration
in the historic district.
Buckman Hotel, circa 1904
Photo from Morrison
County
Historical
Society
Back to the bricklayer - there is a story often told
among bricklayers
of a person visiting a
construction site, walking up to a mason and asking
what he is doing. "Laying bricks," was the reply.
Asking a second bricklayer, the answer was"
helping construct a building." When the third
bricklayer was asked the question, he said, "I am
building peoples' dreams."
Robert Roscoe
instruments that were bundled together into a total
fund: Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) 515
mortgage, FmHA rental assistance program, a Little
Falls-based Affordable Housing Grant, a Small Cities
Grant (administered
by the State of Minnesota
Department of Trade and Economic Development),
and historic tax credits.
The Buckman Hotel was built in 1892, its name coming
from Clarence Buckman, noted legislator from Little
Falls who served the Sixth Congressional District in
the United States Congress for many years, succeeded
by Charles Lindbergh Sr. The hotel was designed by
Tourtillotte and Triplett, a Little Falls architectural
10
Preservation
Alliance
of Minnesota
FEBRUARY
1995
Knute continued from page 8
According to the National Register Form prepared for
the Minnesota Historical Society, his work benefiting
Minnesota was appropriations
for many public
buildings, reconstruction of upper Mississippi River
reservoirs as well as many other legislative actions.
Most important to the formation of the physical
character of the state we now live in today has been
Nelson's conservation and reclamation legislation
authorizing the state to acquire land for public use and
forestry.
The Knute Nelson House, with its original and later
construction,
consists of a 2 1/2 story structure
cruciform in plan with a steep gabled roof. Window
surrounds and porch columns and brackets are of
Italianate style. The steep pitched roof with cross
gables and strongly vertical windows give a Gothic
architectural influence. Nelson, who died in 1923,
willed his house to the American Lutheran Church for
use to serve the elderly. In the 1940s the house's
interior was remodeled
to meet elderly care
requirements, but did not alter original Italianate
woodwork.
Victorian House For Sale
House For Sale: 3045 Second Avenue South;
adjacent to Healy Block Historic District,
Minneapolis;
needs much work; very
reasonable terms. Contact David Piehl,
phone 612-824-1792 or Keith Miller, 621827-4907
In 1985, a planned expansion of the facility threatened
the historic house, but an activated community sent
letters to the local newspaper and petitions to city
government; the demolition was thwarted; although
the house was moved several hundred feet to another
location on the Nelson property. The Douglas County
Historical Society now occupies the house.
Robert Roscoe
Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
Membership Application
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11
PRESERVATION MATTERS
Last month's Where is it/ the Nininger Town Hall, is
the only structure left in the once wanna-be metropolis
of Nininger, the unrealized
dream of Igantius
Donnelly located just outside the northwestern edge
of Hastings. Donnelly promoted Nininger in the 1850's
as the next great city to be built on the banks of the
Mississippi that would rival any city between both
coasts. The financial panic of 1857 stopped this nascent
city in its tracks, augmented by the prodigious growth
of nearby Hastings. Most of Nininger's few buildings
faded away; a few residences were moved to Hastings
(414-16 W. 2nd Street).
This 1858 structure is a fine representative of the Greek
Revival style that influenced the Minnesota Territory's
first permanent buildings.
Of the many people lured by Donnelly from as far
away as New York was Levi Countryman, whose
daughter Gratia later became the legendary director
of the Minneapolis
Public Library system
WHERE IS IT?
Minnesota properties
listed on the National Register,
with photographs supplied by the
Minnesota Historical Society
throughout the early twentieth century. Her recent
biography - Gratia Countryman; Her Life, Her Loves
and Her Library - is a local publication that has
received popular acclaim.
This Month's Where is it: if there is no liberal union
among politicians in the State Capitol these days, then
Where is it?
Preservation Matters is a monthly publication of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, a non-profit membership organization. Editor
is Robert Roscoe; Writers are Rolf Anderson, Charlene Roise, Robert Roscoe, Rod Richter, Scott Brown, Nancy Esslinger and Jody
Keppers; Layout and artwork by Thomas Zahn; Illustration by Franklin Haws Jr.; Distribution by Tom Holman.
Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
Post Office Box 582804
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55458-2804
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12