TCLF Applauds Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission’s Support for Nomination to List the Hiawatha Golf Course in the National Register of Historic Places
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
National Register nomination next goes to the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office on Feb. 7
Washington, D.C. (January 17, 2023) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) applauds the City of Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission’s resolution this evening supporting the nomination for listing the Hiawatha Golf Course in the National Register of Historic Places. On March 1, 2022, TCLF stated it believed Hiawatha was National Register eligible when it designated the site a Landslide nationally significant cultural landscape that was threatened because of plans to reduce the historic eighteen-hole course, which is significant to African Americans, to nine holes. At that time, TCLF recommended that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) “retain a consultant who meets the Secretary of the Interior’s (SOI) Standards for Historian/Architectural Historian to undertake a more in-depth assessment of the landscape’s integrity and significance.” The MPRB did not do so. Instead, the Minneapolis-based Bronze Foundation commissioned the nomination, undertaken by Hess Roise and Company, a Minneapolis-based historical consulting firm.
“We’re pleased that the threatened Hiawatha Golf Course is one step closer to being listing in the National Register of Historic Places, an action we first called for on March 1, 2022,” said TCLF President & CEO, Charles A. Birnbaum. “This nomination includes important information about Hiawatha’s historical and cultural significance that we believe is essential to any decision-making process about the course’s future. Moreover, it informs the conversation about Hiawatha’s future stewardship by providing a deeper understanding of its unique cultural value while also placing it within a greater regional and national historical context.”
The National Register nomination will next be reviewed by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office on February 7. Assuming passage at the state level, the nomination would then go to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., which makes a listing decision within 45 days of receipt of the nomination.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 with a mission of “connecting people to places.” TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
TCLF has also created a What’s Out There Twin Cities Cultural Landscapes Guide, an ever-growing digital guide that currently features 70 sites in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
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