The City of New Ulm is taking the next step on the eventual reconstruction of Hermann Monument. For years, the city has been working to repair or renovate the Hermann Monument. The current plan is to dismantle, salvage and reconstruct the monument. Tuesday, the city council directed staff to pursue documents detialing the process and cost of dismantlign and reconstructing the monument.

NEW ULM – The City of New Ulm will move forward with securing documents detailing a plan for the disassembling, salvaging and reconstruction of Hermann Monument.

During a Tuesday city council work session, Park and Recreation Director Joey Schugel provided the council with an update on Hermann Monument restoration.

For years, the city has been working to repair or renovate the Hermann Monument. Water infiltration has created structural problems and undermined the monument’s integrity. In 2019, the city conducted an assessment of the monument and confirmed there were substantial structural issues with the monument. This led to discussions with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) regarding the reconstruction of the monument.

The plan is to remove the Hermann and lion statues from the monument then start disassembling the monument dome and base piece-by-piece. Along the way, the deconstruction crew would determine how much of the monument could be salvaged for the rebuild and determine how the monument was constructed to rebuild it.

Schugel said the city has been working with MacDonald & Mack Architects to create a proposal and detailed cost estimate for the dismantling and reconstruction of the monument. The cost for MacDonald & Mack to create the document is $103,000.

The city has been putting funds away for the Hermann reconstruction project. At the end of 2025, there will be $400,000 in the fund.

In February, the city estimated the deconstruction of the monument at around $2 million and another $8-$12 million to reconstruct it.

Schugel said there has been other discussions about how to proceed with fixing the monument. One method would be to simply demo the monument based and rebuild with no effort to salvage original materials.

Schugel said this route would be overall cheaper, but New Ulm would not be able to access any potential Legacy Grant funding from the state. The city would need to rely entirely on private funding.

Mayor Kathleen Backer supported going forward with acquiring the dismantle, salvage and rebuild documents. She believed it was a necessary to have a chance at other funding sources.

“Having worked in historical preservation for nearly 40 years, I do know a study like this is a prerequisite for a lot of funding opportunities,” Backer said.

Backer asked if the Minnesota State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO) was in support of the dismantle, salvage and rebuild method.

Schugel confirmed SHPO stated they supported that method. In addition, SHPO was aware not everything could be salvaged from the original monument.

Backer asked how this plan would impact Hermann’s National Registry of Historic Places status.

Schugel said no matter which route the city takes, Hermann will go off the registry during reconstruction. The city will need to reapply for National Registry status after it is complete.

Councilor David Christian said he was concerned very little of Hermann monument could be salvaged.

New Ulm Building Official Ellwood Zabel agree that much of the stone and masonry would likely not be salvageable. He believed it was possible the steel columns could be repurposed.

Christian asked how much the city could potentially get from Legacy funds.

Schugel said there is no guarantee the city would get Legacy money, but the maximum award is $10 million with a local match of $1 million.

Council President Andrea Boettger supported acquiring the proposal documents from MacDonald & Mack.

“I see this as another step up these stairs we have to go,” Boettger said. “The only way to keep this project going is to keep going through each gate.”

Boettger felt the documents were necessary to give the city more information on how to proceed to the next step.

It was the council’s consent for staff to proceed with acquiring a proposal and detailed cost estimate for the dismantle and reconstruction of the monument.