Saving Fort Snelling's Upper Bluff

First published in 2010 in "Exceptional Places," a newsletter of the National Park Service's Midwest Region Division of Cultural Resources, by Dena Sanford. It describes the situation at that time.

Fort Snelling, Department of Dakota, Building 18 (HABS No. MN-88-H). Library of Congress.

On the Upper Bluff of Fort Snelling National Historic Landmark in Minnesota, stately yellow-brick buildings, their formality worn by makeshift stabilization, faced an overgrown former parade ground. Across it stood red-brick officers' houses in a range of late 19th-century styles, showing the same effects of scarce money and little use. For a decade, government agencies, preservation groups and individuals had searched for ways to bring the grounds back to life.

What looked like abandonment was in fact the start of a revival.

Stabilizing the buildings

Under a qualified historical architect, "Sentence to Serve" crews, made up of sentenced, court-ordered, nonviolent offenders who gained construction training, patched roofs, shored up failing rafters, repaired soffits, fascias, gutters and downspouts, protected deteriorated masonry, secured windows and regraded around the buildings. In a few years, 28 buildings were stabilized.

Many partners were involved: Hennepin County, the DNR, the State of Minnesota, the National Park Service's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and Midwest Regional Office, the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, among others.

A fort surrounded by a city

Fort Snelling once stood alone on a commanding bluff above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. After it was decommissioned in 1946, parcels went to other agencies: the Veterans Administration and the Army, Air Force and Navy Reserves own land to the north and west. By the time of writing the fort was hemmed in by Minneapolis and St. Paul and cut by two highways. An early 20th-century airfield there, home to the first federally recognized Air National Guard unit, had grown into Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and a light rail line to downtown Minneapolis crossed the property. The Upper Bluff, the last unincorporated part of Hennepin County, offered tempting development opportunities.

Planning for reuse

• An interagency group of stakeholders and landholders met to work out development strategies across the many owners, explored redevelopment models, and worked to revise use restrictions in the deed that transferred the land from the federal government. Tribes with cultural ties to the area were consulted.
• The Boy Scouts' Northern Star Council was rehabilitating the former hippodrome as a base camp.
• A master plan was being drawn up for the Upper Bluff and the area around the light rail stop.
• The Minnesota Air and Space Museum hoped to build a museum and education center near the airport, including rehabilitating some historic fort buildings.

The fort's long story

Fort Snelling played a long and significant part in the U.S. Army's growth from a small frontier force in the 1820s into a major modern army in the 20th century, and the site changed with it. The original stone "Old Fort Snelling," built in the 1820s, was demolished by the turn of the 20th century and reconstructed by the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1950s. The Upper Bluff was built in the late 19th century to support the Department of the Dakota and later served Army induction needs in the early 20th century. By the time the fort became a National Historic Landmark in 1960, many buildings were already gone; after decommissioning, agencies found new uses for many others and tore some down. At the time of writing, the roughly 300-acre landmark stood ready for another chapter of use and reuse.

Sources

• National Park Service, "Fort Snelling: A Confluence of Plans": https://www.nps.gov/articles/fort-snelling-a-confluence-of-plans.htm
• The article drew on NPS files; the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Things Looking Up for Fort Snelling Post," June 7, 2010; and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered" listings, 2008 update.