TCLF Hails Minnesota State Historic Preservation Review Board’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 Dep. State Historic Preservation Officer Before Proceeding to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. (February 7, 2023) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) hails the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Review Board's vote 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.” TCLF reiterated this in its February 3, 2023, letter to the State Historic Preservation Office. 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. The nomination was previously approved by the Minneapolis Historic Preservation Commission on January 17, 2023, by a vote to eight to zero.
“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 nomination now goes to the Minnesota Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. It would then proceed to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., which is expected to make 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.
# # #