WASHINGTON, D.C. - C. Berg's Hotel in downtown Sleepy Eye and the Gaylord City Park were recently named to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.
Nearly three years ago, Sleepy Eye Area Foundation (SEAF) Executive Director Judy Beech testified before the Minnesota House and Legacy Funds committees late at night - on March 16, 2009 in St. Paul - about the historical significance of the building.
Her persistence paid off.
"Isn't it great? Now we can apply for big (state Legacy) grants. ...We need some big money to tuck point, repair exterior windows, secure the rear of the building and make sure the roof is sound," Beech said.
"(Roseville Historical Consultant) Dan Hoisington worked on the application for us. He's good," she said.
Sleepy Eye City Manager Mark Kober said the building is eligible, and SEAF will apply for a $225,000 state Legacy grant application that is due June 1. Grant results will be announced in late June.
"Hoisington and Willmar architect Richard P. Engan will look at our grant application before we e-mail it out. ...Another grant would give us a solid building shell, making it attractive for a developer to come in and take over. ... We hope to get continued support. ... Getting on the National Register is a good sign," Kober said.
Built in 1899, the former hotel was designed by New Ulm architect Hermann Amme. It reflected the late Queen Anne commercial style with heavy Kasota stone sills and a central arched stone entry, according to the National Register registration form.
"The C. Berg Hotel is locally significant under National Register Criterion A for its association to the broad patterns of our history in the area of commerce," read a narrative description on the building prepared by Hoisington.
The statement said the three-story hotel - advertised as the only first class hotel in the city - accommodated travelers with a dining room that served as an informal community center, hosting civic and social organizations.
The original design of the hotel's first floor included a porch and kitchen in the back, saloon and dining room behind a parlor and office. Exterior front balconies were built on the second and third floors, above the main entrance.
In January 2010, the SEAF received a $3,000 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grant to hire a historian to complete hotel research and documentation in preparation for NRHP nomination.
In July 2010, SEAF got a $7,000 state historical and cultural grant to write a historic structure grant to guide future hotel restoration.
Last October, several dozen people toured the Berg Hotel and learned how historically significant the building was, according to Hoisington.
"You have a great downtown and the Berg Hotel anchored it for decades," he said.
Hoisington said with National Historical Register Designation, the hotel could be developed with help from state Legacy grants plus federal and state tax credits.
Engan said the hotel was structurally sound.
Gaylord City Park
Around the turn of the century, Gaylord City Park, aka "The Grove," hosted a Fourth of July picnic that included speeches, athletic events, a hot air balloon ascension, fireworks and dancing.
The park now includes a pavilion, 1916 dance hall built by local contractor Charles Guetschoff and the Gaylord Cornet Band, a 1940 band shell, two picnic shelters, civic monuments, a WPA-era bridge and culvert.
Dances, concerts and other large gatherings were housed in the pavilion that is now occasionally used for roller-skating.
Traveling circus acts in the park decades ago featured trapeze artists, animals, clowns and sideshows including "Australian Knife Throwers," according to the nomination.
The Veterans Memorial was erected in 2000 with financial support from American Legion Post 433 and local civic organizations.
Many trees were planted in the park that offers lake views, a baseball park and included a concrete boat dock built by the WPA in 1940.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
