Legacy Amendment Supports $5,582,493 in Large Grants to History Organizations Throughout Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn (November 14, 2024) – The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is pleased to announce the newest recipients of 48 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Large Grants ($10,000 and more), totaling $5,582,493 in 29 counties.

Large grants are awarded annually to help nonprofits, educational organizations, government units, and federally recognized Tribes to preserve and share Minnesota history. This cycle of awards was approved by the MNHS Executive Council on October 17, 2024.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are made possible by the Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008. The Legacy Amendment supports efforts to preserve Minnesota land, water, and legacy, including Minnesota history and cultural heritage.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Large Grant Recipients
Recipients of large grants ($10,000 and more) from fiscal year 2024 are listed in alphabetical order below. Each project will preserve and enhance Minnesota’s cultural and historical resources. All grants are competitive and awarded according to program guidelines and criteria, as well as professional standards.

Beltrami County Historical Society, Bemidji, $49,261
To provide appropriate shelving and storage materials for museum collections.

Bird Island Cultural Centre, Bird Island, $137,447
To hire qualified professionals to repair infrastructure and restore interior and exterior structural elements of the Tinnes-Baker House, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Brown County, New Ulm, $269,088
To hire qualified professionals to restore the original windows of the New Ulm Post Office - Brown County Museum, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Caponi Art Park, Eagan, $12,710
To hire a qualified conservator to restore a significant sculpture in the museum’s collections.

Carleton College, Northfield, $49,935
To hire qualified professionals to complete the writing, editing, and design for a manuscript on the history of Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum.

Carver County Historical Society, Waconia, $80,236
To hire qualified professionals to produce a Cultural Landscape Report of the Historic Andrew Peterson Farmstead, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

City of Adams, Adams, $212,204
To hire qualified professionals to replace the roof and tuck-point the masonry of the First National Bank of Adams, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

City of Appleton, Appleton, $75,450
To develop a new website and related materials that enables better public access to the history of the Minnesota River Valley.

City of Hackensack, Hackensack, $305,952
To hire qualified professionals to do stabilization work on the Hackensack Conservation Building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

City of Hibbing, Hibbing, $106,000
To hire a qualified consultant to write an exhibit plan for the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine.

City of Mendota Heights, Mendota Heights, $60,000
To hire a qualified consultant to write an interpretive plan for Oheyawahi - Pilot Knob.

City of Moorhead, Moorhead, $62,579
To hire qualified technicians to install a security system to protect the collections from theft or vandalism.

City of Park Rapids, Park Rapids, $22,771
To design, produce, and install interpretive markers in the City of Park Rapids.

City of Stillwater, Stillwater, $30,000
To hire qualified professionals to establish a Local Historic District, and refresh a 1990s Neighborhood Inventory, for the Dutchtown Neighborhood (formerly known as Charlottenberg.)

City of Tower, Tower, $42,170
To hire qualified professionals to create assessment and design development documents including construction drawings and documents, photographs and the scope of work for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company Passenger Station, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

City of Wykoff, Wykoff, $44,000
To hire qualified professionals to stabilize the structure and replace and restore windows in Ed's Museum, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Dakota County, Hastings, $65,000
To hire a qualified consultant to write an interpretive concept design plan for the Vermillion River Greenway.

Diverse Emerging Music Organization, Minneapolis, $68,750
To hire professionals to complete development of the Minnesota Music Archive System that will document and preserve Minnesota’s rich musical history and culture.

Dodge County Historical Society, Mantorville, $183,410
To hire qualified professionals to repair roof, mortar, and window features at the 1860 Wasioja School, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

East Side Freedom Library, St. Paul, $199,290
To create a community-curated digital repository and initiate a pilot phase for digitizing four current collections with two community partners.

Ernest C. Oberholtzer Foundation, Rainy Lake, $178,390
To hire qualified professionals to create an Historic Structures Report and Cultural Landscape Report for the Ernest C. Oberholtzer Rainy Lake Islands Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Firefighter's Hall and Museum, Minneapolis, $89,717
To hire a qualified consultant to write an exhibit plan for a new exhibit at the Firefighter's Hall and Museum in Minneapolis.

First Congregational Church of Minnesota - United Church of Christ, Minneapolis, $96,000
To hire qualified professionals to rehabilitate the Decker Memorial window in the First Congregational Church of Minnesota UCC, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Cloquet, $49,000
To hire a tribal historian to research the history of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Nagaajiwanaang) in preparation for a future exhibit.

Friends of Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis, $92,000
To hire qualified professionals to prepare professional updates to the 2012 Historic Structure Report for Christ Church Lutheran, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Friends of Linden Hill, Inc., Little Falls, $272,500
To hire qualified professionals to repair or replace the siding and flashing on the exterior Barn, Carriage House and Greenhouse Link of the Weyerhaeuser, Charles A. and Musser, Richard Drew Houses, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fulda Heritage Society, Fulda, $170,000
To hire qualified professionals to repair the foundation, regrade site, and install an ADA ramp at the 1880 Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad Depot, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Germanic-American Institute, St. Paul, $235,000
To hire qualified professionals to create an accessible entrance for the George W. Gardner House, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, $75,500
To provide better organization of the community's archival collections, allowing for greater public access to historic resources.

Illusion Theater and School, Inc., Minneapolis, $19,900
To hire qualified consultants to research the history of Illusion Theater and School in preparation for a future documentary film.

Jasper Area Historical Society, Jasper, $49,650
To hire qualified professionals to design construction documents that illustrate construction work to rehabilitate the Poorbaugh Block, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Kandiyohi County Historical Society, Willmar, $115,076
To hire qualified professionals to repair the wood features, address degraded building additions and area wells in and around the Albert & Jennie Sperry House, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Lake County Historical Society, Two Harbors, $155,955
To hire qualified professionals to replace the roof and stabilize the chimney of the Duluth & Iron Range Company Depot, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Minneapolis American Indian Center, Minneapolis, $28,350
To hire qualified consultants to write an interpretive plan for the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

Minnesota Discovery Center, Chisholm, $99,517
To hire qualified consultants to fabricate and install an exhibit on geology in St. Louis County.

Minnesota State University, Mankato (Library Services), Mankato, $74,633
To hire qualified consultants to fabricate and install an exhibit around the Lincoln Statue at MSU Mankato that will include text focusing on Native American and African American perspectives.

Minnesota's Black Community Project, Minneapolis, $25,000
To complete a comprehensive documentary on the history of 21st century African Americans in Minnesota based on an earlier book project, Minnesota's Black Community in the 21st Century.

Nobles County Historical Society, Worthington, $281,177
To hire qualified consultants to fabricate and install an exhibit on immigration in Nobles County from the 1870s to the present.

Our Streets Minneapolis, Minneapolis, $34,630
To document in approximately 25 oral histories the history of how the Frogtown and Union Park neighborhoods in St. Paul have been affected by highway construction and urban city planning.

Pickwick Mill Inc., Winona, $95,120
To hire qualified professionals to restore 34 windows on the exterior of the Pickwick Mill, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Preserve Appleton's Heritage Inc., Appleton, $372,552
To hire qualified professionals to repair masonry, roof and foundation of the Appleton City Hall, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Ramsey County Historical Society, St. Paul, $165,471
To digitize approximately 2.5 million Ramsey County Assessor Field Cards from 1915-2007, allowing for greater public access to this historic resource.

Regents of the University of Minnesota (Glensheen), Minneapolis, $185,000
To hire qualified professionals to preserve exterior masonry at the Congdon, Chester and Clara, Estate (Glensheen), listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Rock County Historical Society, Luverne, $111,722
To improve collections care and management through proper shelving storage.

St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, Duluth, $53,880
To hire qualified professionals to produce construction documents for the roof, tower, and masonry restoration of the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Red Wing, $125,000
To hire qualified professionals to correct water intrusion, preserve interior finishes, and prevent deterioration of the Georgian Revival Residence at Tower View, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Woman's Club of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, $195,000
To hire qualified professionals to repair and modernize a passenger elevator at the Woman's Club of Minneapolis, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Turtle Lake Township, Bemidji, $60,500
To hire qualified professionals to carry out an archeological survey of the Buena Vista Archaeological District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

About Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants
The Minnesota Historical Society received a legislative appropriation of $36.981 million for the 2024-2025 biennium, including funding for the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage ( Legacy ) Grants: $8,677,000 for FY2024 and $7,035,000 for FY2025.

Grants are available for history and historic preservation projects in two funding tiers. Small grants of $10,000 or less are awarded quarterly. Large grants of more than $10,000 are offered once a year. The next large grant pre-application deadline is Summer 2025, pending legislative appropriations. All grants are administered through a competitive process using professional standards and criteria.

For more information on the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants program, including application deadlines, visit www.mnhs.org/preservation/legacy-grants. Applications are accepted only through the MNHS grants portal.

About the Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a non-profit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves, and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries, and collections, historic sites, educational programs, and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state’s stories, and connects people with history.