By the 1920s, the Mayowood estate, owned by Dr. Charlie Mayo and his wife Edith, covered 3,000 acres and included a man-made lake, gardens, a wildlife preserve, a horse track, nine active farms, and numerous other buildings and landscape elements. At the heart of the estate was the Mayo family’s residence, a forty-room house designed [...]
Several older buildings in downtown Willmar have fallen into disrepair and now face foreclosure. The Lakeland Hotel, which has been determined eligible for listing in the National Register, was nominated to the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places list this year along with the nearby Habicht’s Department Store and a former drug store next to the [...]
The Kawishiwi Field Laboratory site was established in 1910 for the Superior National Forest Half Way Ranger District. Over the years, the site has served as a base for a variety of research organizations who have studied subjects such as water and air quality, forest ecology, and mammalian wildlife. The US Forest Service took over [...]
This grand 1880s Romanesque Revival-style building, originally constructed as a residence for a missionary training school, symbolizes a series of preservation victories. Johnston Hall faced several periods of vacancy between owners, and even a previous demolition threat. Faribault residents have repeatedly staved off these threats and have found creative reuse solutions. In 1986, a reuse [...]
In 1920, the City of Elk River carried out a complex waterworks project for the rapidly growing community, which included digging a 300 foot artesian well, developing a system of waterlines to hydrants throughout the city, and constructing a pump house. The Jackson Street Water Tower stands just north of Hwy 10 as an icon [...]
Situated in the middle of the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis, Howe Elementary School served the community from 1927 until 2005, when it was closed due to dwindling student numbers in the neighborhood. Minneapolis Public Schools sought development proposals several times since the school’s closure, but summarily rejected many options for reuse of the structure, including [...]
Originally built for Montgomery Wards in the 1930s, this three-story building in downtown Willmar was home to Habicht’s department store for over forty years. After Habicht’s closed in the 1990s, the building was remodeled into street level offices with two floors of subsistence housing above. The brick structure is sound, but the current owners and [...]
In 1913, the Ford Motor Company built two assembly plants—one in each city—to supply Twin Cities area Ford dealerships. Although assembly operations ceased at the St. Paul location less than a decade after opening, the building was used as a Ford sales and service center for many years to follow. By 1937 the structure was [...]
During the nineteenth century, state-sponsored treatment of the mentally ill grew considerably, and asylum buildings and treatment centers were built in large numbers across the US. Construction on the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center began in 1888, and accepted its first patients in 1906. Providing care for thousands of patients for over 100 years, the [...]
Since 1937, the Dredge William A. Thompson has kept the Mississippi River navigable by maintaining channel widths and depths. This large vessel measures 267 feet in length, was operated by nearly 70 crew members, and was originally propelled by 650 HP engines. As the last of its kind, the Dredge Thompson was decommissioned when new [...]
