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!)
Comments Closed