University of Minnesota, Morris

University of Minnesota, Morris, Minnesota

University of Minnesota (Website)

Historic Preservation Plan: A Plan for Landscape & Buildings (PDF) 16MB

The University of Minnesota, Morris, is a small, highly selective liberal arts college that dates from the late nineteenth century, when it was a Native American boarding school operated by the Sisters of Mercy. The site subsequently became the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station, and is today the best-preserved remnant of the University of Minnesota's system of regional agricultural boarding high schools. Funding will allow the university to create a preservation plan for its 42–acre historic district.

University of Minnesota received a Getty grant in 2003 for $180,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Funding allows the university to create a preservation plan for its new historic district.

Historic Designation: Alumnae nomination of a 42-acre area led to 2003 listing on the National Register of Historic Places: West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District.

Architecture by Clarence H. Johnston, Sr., Bernard J. Hein, and university staff including Roy Lund; landscaping by Arthur Nichols as part of Morell and Nichols, along with university staff John Anderson, Les Lindor, and Wesley Gray

The 165-acre University of Minnesota, Morris, is a small, highly selective liberal arts college that dates from the late nineteenth century, when it was a Native American boarding school operated by the Sisters of Mercy. The site, subsequently the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station, is today the best-preserved remnant of the University of Minnesota's system of regional agricultural boarding high schools.

Planning Process Used

• Impetus from alumnus involved in earlier master planning project
• Conducted historical research on campus facilities and life
• Interviewed past facilities staff
• Surveyed the campus and assessed results according to NPS/Secretary’s criteria to
  • Identify character-defining features and
  • Produce recommendations of work to be undertaken and to be avoided
• Specifics of landscape survey include spatial organization, topography, vegetation, circulation, water features, structures/furnishings, and adjacent areas (e.g., native prairie), resulting in discussion of 15 distinct Landscape Treatment Zones within the Campus Historic District
• Discussion and recommendations for 18 buildings within the Campus Historic District
  • Guidelines for treatment of historic building materials
  • Condition assessment and treatment recommendations for individual buildings, stressing reference to historic photos and plans
• List of recommended plant materials
• List of native biota
• Student-created and –built projects: searchable photo database; inventory of trees
• Historic preservation layers added to Plant Services’ CAD files
• Historic preservation page added to university web site

Outcomes: Products

• Oral histories / interviews of past facilities staff
• Expansion of the university archive collection
• Species lists and photographs documenting historic campus plantings and native biota
• Identification of 15 Landscape Treatment Zones within the Campus Historic District
• Historic preservation layers added to Plant Services’ CAD files
• Historic preservation page added to university web site
• Creation of a searchable format for a student-built, searchable photo database and a student-created inventory of trees

Outcomes: Plans

• Report’s use as a counterpart to institution-wide study from 1998, University of Minnesota Preservation Plan
• Integrating the report into a revised Campus Master Plan
• Historic preservation layers added to Plant Services’ CAD files
• Priority of material in this report (and replacement of master text) should standards in this report conflict with the 2002 study, UMM Exterior Design Standards
• Ongoing accessibility to the form via permanent exhibit in Student Center and school web site
• Integration of findings and primary research into educational programs, e.g., internships and undergraduate history
• Acknowledgment of the report as a conscious response to Minnesota’s Sustainable Building Guidelines

Outcomes: Policies and Practices

• Report vetting by several university offices and approval by the Board of Regents
• Cover design includes student’s architectural drawing
• Report team composition including a University advisory committee, with student and student activities representatives
• 2007 Minnesota Preservation Award has notation that consequences of the plan include incorporation of “campus history into student coursework, making the plan an integral part of the college’s famed liberal arts education”
• Historic preservation layers added to Plant Services’ CAD files

Unique Features

• Treatment recommendations for each building accompanied by a simplified map showing that building’s location in the Campus Historic District
• Discussion of engaging alumnae as contractors for the project
• Plan awarded 2007 Minnesota Preservation Award by the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, with notation that consequences of the plan include:
• • Renovation of the Seed House
  • Expansion of Imholte Hall
  • Preservation via tuckpointing of Spooner and Camden Halls
  • Restoration of landscape features such as the windbreaks and elm boulevards
• Incorporation of “campus history into student coursework, making the plan an integral part of the college’s famed liberal arts education.”

Advisors

The project was led by university staff (listed below) and included a university advisory committee with student and student activities representatives.

Lowell Rasmussen, Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Physical Plant and Master Planning, Chuck Koncker, and James Litsheim,