Grant could help city add history
Published Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thanks to a $7,500 grant and matching local funds, Fergus Falls may one day add to its entries in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Fergus Falls city council on Monday approved an agreement with the Minnesota Historical Society for the completion of a historic context study, which would identify local sites eligible for national recognition.
“There are several potential historic districts we could have on the National Register,” said Chris Schuelke, director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society and a member of the Fergus Falls Heritage Preservation Commission.
“But to get a district registered you need to do a lot of work beforehand and that’s the purpose of a historic context study.”
Funding the project is a $7,500 grant from the Minnesota Historical Society and $7,555 from the city and the Preservation Commission. Those dollars will be used to hire a consultant who will research various buildings in the area, said Gordon Hydukovich, community development director. The money also covers administrative, accounting and binding and copying costs, among other expenses.
“When you get done (with the study),” Hydukovich said, “you have a full picture of the age of each building.”
Nationally recognized sites are good not only for tourism, but for economic development, Hydukovich said. That’s because investors interested in developing a site could qualify for a historic preservation tax credit, making the property that much more appealing. Registering the Montana Feed Mill, for example, could be good for riverfront development.
It will still be a couple of months before the project is off the ground, Hydukovich said, though the city will need to submit a preliminary list of researched sites to the Minnesota Historical Society by November. The entire study must be complete by May 2009.
Downtown Fergus Falls is one of the areas that could qualify as a historic district, Schuelke said.
Current Fergus Falls sites on the National Register of Historic Places include the Regional Treatment Center, City Hall, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy and the county courthouse. The Fergus Falls Heritage Preservation Commission also has a separate list of locally-recognized sites.
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