St. Paul Grain Elevator on the Rise
By Hannah Lepow | Online Only | July 30, 2008
St. Paul's Head House
Credit: Historic St. Paul
Things are looking up for a waterfront grain elevator complex in St. Paul, Minn. When construction bids for the 1917 Harvest States Head House and Sack House were opened last week, city officials and preservationists celebrated the official beginning of a $2 million project that has been in the works for a decade.
Now abandoned, the buildings were the first farmer-owned grain elevator cooperative in the Midwest and are the last of their kind on the Mississippi River.
The sack house, originally used to package grain, will be converted into a picnic site with an interpretive center about the buildings' history. The head house will be stabilized for possible reuse.
"This is a project that interprets our industrial past," says Bonnie McDonald, executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, which placed the buildings on its Ten Most Endangered list in 2003. "It's going to explain why our heritage is so important."
The project evolved from a 2003 design competition run by the St. Paul Riverfront Corporation. "We received entries from 37 different states and five foreign countries," says Gregory Page, the corporation's director of special projects.
St. Paul-based development group ADRZ submitted the winning design: a restaurant and interpretive center. (The current plan, however, does not include a restaurant.)
According to Page, the center's exhibit will feature several large murals depicting the history of the farmer's cooperative movement. Visitors to the sack house will be able to see into the head house, where grain was stored.
With eyes on the upcoming Republican National Convention in St. Paul, the city is eager to sparkle. St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority will choose one of the six bids shortly; construction is expected to start in August. The site should be open to the public in the spring of 2009.
Carol Carey, executive director of Historic St. Paul, believes that all river lovers will appreciate the restoration. "It will give people a neat new way to experience the river while also learning about its importance in St. Paul's navigational history along the Mississippi," she says.
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Comments
Submitted by riverrat at: November 1, 2008
I appreciate the historical value of this building, but it sure is ugly and it is costing a fortune to just paint it up. Wouldn't it have been better to just tear it down and put up a plaque talking about the historical significance?