The mural, which consists of several pieces of art made using brick and depicting early settlers and Native Americans, was the work of Artist Gordon Dingman. The mural, titled “Life Sketches: New Ulm in the 1850’s”, stands in the alleyway next to 16 North Minnesota Street, attached to Lola’s. In an essay he wrote about the mural, Dingman wrote there were several reasons to work on the project.

“My involvement began when some forgotten person asked me if I would be willing to do a large-scale project for the city of New Ulm,” he wrote. “My response was probably, ‘Sure, why not?’ New Ulm was the town where I was born and I had recently married Jill Marti. Beyond these personal reasons was my interest in the early history of the Minnesota River Valley.”

Dingman’s work on the project began in late 1972, brainstorming ideas for the project and how to complete it. He wrote the location, then known as the south wall of the Pink’s building, was chosen because it was the south barricade during the battles of New Ulm in 1862.

Originally, the plan was for the mural to be housed in a green space.

Photo submitted by Brown County Historical Society: Artemisa Wagner sits next to some of the original sketches for one of the brick mural pieces. Artist Gordon Dingman began work on the project in late 1972, and eventually designed six separate pieces of artwork.

“The vision for this area was to put a glass roof over the passageways and glass walls at each end,” Dingman wrote. “Hook the area up with the cities heating system and have a year-round glassed-in green zone.”

For Dingman, the project represented a larger social issue. One lost after the skirmishes of 1862, before which was a much more pleasant time.

“I felt a real need to show another side of human intercultural relationships,” Dingman wrote. “It was my understanding that from 1852 to 62, the German settlers and the Santee Sioux had lived in relative harmony along the Minnesota River Valley and on the frontier. It was this racial and cultural openness that had real meaning to me.”

Dingman wrote the images chosen to be represented in the mural included a woman feeding geese, a woman separating curd to make cheese, a Sioux warrior, a Native American woman cooking, a collective image that featured two boys with a draft horse and their boss, and a Native American man in settler clothes sawing a log.

Local Historian Denny Warta was one of the fundraisers for the project. He said a brickyard in Springfield baked the brick for the murals. One of the ways they marketed the project while fundraising was a brick for a dollar. Every dollar donated equated to a brick that would be used for the project.

Photo submitted by Brown County Historical Society: Two workers look over a pile of bricks to be used for the project. Approximately 50,000 bricks were used to make the mural.

Warta said around 50,000 bricks were used in the project. In today’s money that would be $360,000. Of the funding, he said most of the funding came from area businesses. In the current day, Warta believes some steps can be taken to ensure the mural continues.

“The mural itself is in fine shape but the wall behind it is cracking in many ways,” he said. “Maybe something to draw more attention to is to illuminate it at night, at least for several hours. I don’t think there would be any objection from people down here. If it was properly done, it wouldn’t be an eyesore.”

Warta said some of his most fond memories surrounding the mural come from the incredulous responses he would receive when he told people about the project and the brick-for-a-dollar fundraising.

“The comments of some people,” Warta said. “‘How can you do that?’ I’d explain to them asking for dollars what this will be. ‘How can that be?’ Because it is so unique to take raw clay, carve it, bake it, and paste it together on a wall.”

Currently, the mural is partially obscured by Lola’s food truck parked in the alleyway. Brown County Historical Society Research Librarian Darla Gebhard said she is worried this has reduced visibility of the mural.

Photo submitted by Brown County Historical Society: Workers put together a brick mural symbolizing Native American-settler relations before the US-Dakota war. The mural, completed in 1973, is now partially obscured by a Lola’s food truck.

“It makes it difficult to gather a group of people on a tour to look at it and study it because it just simply isn’t as visible as it could be,” she said. “Perhaps that’ll change in the future, but there are lots of historic sites that disappear over time or become underutilized. That happens over and over and over again.”

Warta and Gebhard agreed the mural is unlike anything they’ve seen in their travels and experiences. Gebhard said that given New Ulm’s emphasis on tourism and historical preservation, the ability to fully see and experience this mural unobstructed is paramount.

“If you’re going to promote yourself with tourism and downtown walking tours, then you have to be very vigilant to preserve the things that are unique,” she said. The murals are a very, very unique type of art. It’s different than looking at the freestanding markers that you have which tell you the story. This is something you have to look at.”