Isn’t it nice to read that someone shares your opinion? And especially when that person articulates it more eloquently than you do?

Rachel Hutton, restaurant critic for City Pages, recently lauded two historic bank buildings that have been wonderfully restored as restaurants (“Five Signs the Minneapolis Restaurant Scene is Growing,” City Pages, December 30, 2008). BANK and Max, located within blocks of each other in downtown Minneapolis, are housed in “gorgeous, impeccably restored historic bank building[s]“–the former Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank and the Security/Midland Savings Bank, respectively. Although I have not yet dined at Max, I will vouch for the beauty, elegance, and deliciousness of BANK. (I recommend the blueberry mojitos.) And, as the site of the Preservation Alliance’s first sneak-peek fundraiser in 2007, the rehabilitated F&M Bank (now the Westin Minneapolis) is near and dear to all our hearts. Hutton mentions several other Twin Cities-area restaurants in her list of successful preservation projects (read about them in the section entitled “Restaurants reclaim historic spaces“) and concludes that “a restaurant’s primary function is to feed us, but it doesn’t hurt the city to have them as partners in historic preservation.” Now that is a phrase I can sink my teeth into.

As it turns out, all of the Midwestern chefs nominated for this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards run restaurants that are located in historic buildings–Tim McKee of La Belle Vie, Isaac Becker of 112 Eatery, Alex Roberts of Restaurant Alma, and Lenny Russo of Heartland. The Midwestern nominee for Outstanding Restaurant, Lucia’s, is in a historic building in Uptown Minneapolis. Is this just coincidence? Or does food actually taste better in a space that is aromatic with history?

I’m no foodie, as my family will attest, but I have had a few recent fine-dining experiences worth noting, many of those in restaurants that would qualify as historic landmarks in and of themselves. The Hubbell House in Mantorville, for example, has been serving “superb cuisine since 1854,” and the sandwich I had there in October as a guest of the Mantorville Restoration Association was as good as sandwiches get. The Pickwick, in Duluth, has been in operation since 1914 and was a 2007 James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award winner. Another one of my favorites is the Sherwood Forest, at the Grand View Lodge near Nisswa, which has the coolest stone fireplace I’ve ever seen.

We do low-brow, too. A family favorite is Carbone’s, at Randolph and Davern in Saint Paul, which serves old-timey flat pizza with décor that would be considered retro if it wasn’t 100% original. My husband grew up in Northfield and every once in a while has to satisfy his craving for a Fullback burger at the Quarterback Club. This summer I got my first taste of Conny’s Creamy Cone, another Saint Paul institution at Dale and Maryland. Too bad it is closed for the winter, because a peanut butter-dipped cone sounds pretty good right about now.

Please let me know about the historic restaurants in your neck of the woods so I can visit them while I’m out in the field. You can e-mail me at PAMfieldnotes@gmail.com

In my (limited) spare time, I have been reading The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History by David Charles Stone. I turned to this book several months ago, when I was preparing to give a presentation at a symposium on historic cemeteries that was held at the Hennepin History Museum on November 22. Stone’s text addresses the placement and design of cemeteries in relation to the expansion of our urban areas and changing perceptions of death. Call me morbid or downright strange, but the book was so interesting that I renewed it twice from the library, and even racked up a few dollars in overdue fines. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone. . . .)

The Main Gates at Layman's/Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, Minneapolis. Photograph by Doug Ohman, Pioneer Photography.

My presentation at the cemetery symposium was geared towards providing the context for understanding why cemeteries are important historic places. Layman’s/Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, at the corner of Cedar Avenue South and East Lake Street in Minneapolis, is on the Alliance’s 2008 list of the Ten Most Endangered Minnesota Historic Places and we received a few odd looks and comments when its endangered status was announced. The cemetery is, in fact, the only Minnesota cemetery listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and it is also a designated Minneapolis Landmark. Founded in 1853 on land donated by the Layman Family, Pioneers and Soldiers cemetery contains 20,000 graves on twenty-seven acres. It is now owned by the City of Minneapolis but, since the cemetery lacks a perpetual maintenance fund, the grounds, monuments, and wrought-iron fencing that surrounds the site are in dire need of care.

A non-profit organization, Friends of the Cemetery, was founded in 2005 to bring awareness to the significance of the site and its urgent needs for restoration. This volunteer group sponsors special events such as annual Memorial Day celebrations, talks, and tours. The Minneapolis Department of Planning and Economic Development (CPED) also has been diligent in pursuing grant funding to help restore the cemetery. Recently, the city received a $100,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to begin restoration work on the fence.

Snow-covered monuments at Layman's/Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. Photograph by Doug Ohman, Pioneer Photography.

The folks in attendance at the historic cemetery symposium were a small, but enthusiastic, lot. Through conversation with them and in my own reading and research, I have gained a new appreciation and interest in cemetery preservation. Hopefully a few of you will take notice of the historic cemeteries in your communities or, at the very least, check out The Last Great Necessity. (For those of you in Saint Paul, it will be back in circulation at the library sometime tomorrow.)

In mid-December, I traveled to Dassel, a small town of around 1,200 people about an hour’s drive west of the Twin Cities. Dassel is home to the Universal Laboratories Building, which was built in 1937 and was recently rehabilitated by the city and the Dassel Area Historical Society as a museum and community center.

A little background info:
The laboratory was constructed to process yeast but at the same time the lab director, Lester Peel, began to collect rye that had been infected with ergot. Ergot, for others of you who do not have a degree in pharmaceuticals or plant pathology, is a toxic fungus that has been used medicinally since the 16th century (and also happens to be a critical ingredient in the manufacture of L.S.D.). Ergot had previously been imported by U.S. pharmaceutical firms, but Peel hired local workers–mostly women–to separate the raw ergot from the grain. As World War II advanced, the drugs derived from ergot, which were used to suppress internal bleeding and to treat “bomb shock,” were in high demand. This local industry thrived for several decades and the laboratory was in use until the mid-1970s.

Several years ago, the City of Dassel and the Dassel Area Historical Society undertook renovation of the vacant Universal Laboratories building as a community center and museum. Permanent exhibits in the large, multi-level space tell the ergot story and the history of Dassel. In keeping with the pharmaceutical theme, the museum includes an installation of the interior from Peterson’s Pharmacy in downtown Dassel, complete with original bottles, labels, and even the soda fountain stools.

Two years ago, the adaptive reuse of the Universal Laboratories Building was selected for inclusion in Minnesota Saved!, a traveling exhibit that commemorated the Preservation Alliance’s twenty-fifth anniversary. A panel of distinguished architects, historians, and preservationists chose 25 projects in Minnesota that have significantly revitalized their communities through historic preservation. While the selected projects represented only a fraction of successful projects statewide, they were, in many cases, early examples of adaptive reuse and economic development stimulus. The banner display has been sitting forlorn and neglected in the Alliance office since the conclusion of the exhibit, so we have decided to return the individual banners to the communities that made them possible.

I attended the Dassel City Council’s December 15 meeting to present the banner and to give the community a big pat on the back for their excellent work in preserving a unique and culturally valuable building. My visit was timely, as Dassel’s incoming mayor, Mike Scanlon, was present at the same meeting to suggest eliminating the City’s funding for the Dassel Area Historical Society. While local budgets are tight all over the state, disinvesting in historical resources–which are magnets for heritage tourism and can spur additional economic development–is a misguided approach.

Dassel was a historic town worth visiting, even on a dark, frigid night in mid-December. I will be traveling there again later this month to talk with members of the historical society about the opportunities that preservation can present for the development and revitalization of the community. This time I will be visiting during daylight hours, so I plan for my next post about Dassel to include a photograph of the darling Mushroom Building. (Intrigued? Be sure to check back later!)

Welcome to Field Notes, the blog of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. As the Field Representative for the Alliance, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, I will be using this space to report on my travels and activities throughout the state. I hope to cover local issues, initiatives, opportunities, and ideas that will help and inspire you to work towards preserving the historic places in your community. From time to time I may ask you for your feedback, but you’re always welcome to comment on the blog, emerging issues, or other preservation concerns at PAMfieldnotes@gmail.com Happy reading!