On March 7, the city of Minneapolis voted to accept $75,000 from the National Park Service to continue documenting the history and contribution of Black people to the city.
The effort, which is a part of the Minneapolis African American Historic Context Study, will culminate with the city and its contractors researching the history of 25 local places. The project is also funded in part by a $67,500 Legacy Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society. The $75,000 will be used primarily to choose three of these places to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“This study will help us recognize and celebrate African Americans within the history of Minneapolis. It will also help guide historic preservation planning in Minneapolis related to the city’s African American history,” said city spokesperson Casper Hill.
The study stems from the city’s passage of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, the city’s blueprint for 2040 that is required by the Metropolitan Council and is currently being held up in court. The plan includes policies to promote and uphold the city’s history and culture, particularly traditionally underrepresented communities.
Work on the historic context study began in 2021 after the city received a $50,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The grant allowed the city to learn more about how Black people experience the city. A report published in 2022, dedicated to the late MSR Community Editor Mel Reeves, identified people, places, and periods crucial to establishing the Black community in the Twin Cities.
From what the city learned, it identified 200 places to study to determine their significance to the history of the Black community in Minneapolis. The list includes apartment buildings designed by Black architects Jay W. Tyson and Lorenzo D. Williams, George Floyd Square, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder building, the house of W. Harry Davis, the house on Snelling Avenue that was filmed in Prince’s “Purple Rain,” Mixed Blood Theater in Cedar-Riverside, and North Regional Library.
From here, the city, through community engagement, will choose 25 sites from the list of 200 places to study its history. After the study is complete, the city will choose three properties from the 25 to nominate to the National Register of Historic Places.
Listing a place on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) recognizes its importance to the nation’s history, especially as the country approaches its 250th birthday in 2026. A place listed on the NRHP makes its owner eligible for state and federal tax credits to restore and maintain it. Places on the register that have been restored with tax credits include the Pillsbury A-Mill. Other listings include the Hiawatha Golf Course, the Hosmer Library, and the Arthur and Edith Lee House at 46th and Columbus Ave.
The National Park Service outlines four different criteria for nominees to consider before they list a place:
- Is the place more or less 50 years old or over, and does it still look like it did in the past? Or if it’s less than 50 years old, is it “exceptionally” important?
- Is the place associated with important events, activities, developments, or people?
- Is the place the subject of an architectural, landscape, or engineering achievement?
- Can the place yield information about our past through archaeology?
The city would ask permission from the property owner to study and nominate a place for the National Register. However, just because a place is listed on the National Register does not prevent its demolition or destruction. Two previously listed places that were destroyed in recent years include the Nicollet Hotel and the First Church of Christ, Scientist on 15th Street, both in downtown Minneapolis.
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