Document - Historical Society Minutes - Minutes - 9/2/2003
Eagan Historical Society Minutes
of September 2, 2003 Meeting
A meeting of the Eagan Historical Society was held on Tuesday, September 2,
2003, in the Community Room at Eagan City Hall. A work session began at 1:30 p.m.
followed by a regular meeting at 3:40 p.m. Present at the meeting were Gin Knight,
Dan Kahnke, Bea Blomquist, Martin DesLauries, Kim Hazel and staff member Joanna
Foote.
Approve August 5, 2003 Minutes
DesLauriers made a motion to approve the minutes of the August 5, 2003
Historical Society meeting; Blomquist seconded with all members voting in favor.
Historical Society Business
Formalize Remaining Plans for September 21, Open House
Committee members discussed plans for the September 21 Open House. A meeting is
scheduled for September 9 at 10:00 a.m. to finalize displays. Members agreed that the
milk producer’s photo should be brought up at the Open House.
Update Regarding House(s) Project
Former Sanford Property— Yankee Doodle Road
Martin DesLauriers informed the group that his father, Louis DesLauriers had grown up
in this home which was built for his father, William DesLauriers, in 1912 by Mr.
Letendre.
DesLauriers stated that after his Grandparents gave up the home, a family which had a
“dog-handling” business moved into the home and let animals run freely inside. He
believes that the inside was nearly entirely destroyed and that nothing of its historic
nature now remains.
In his opinion, there are several other properties within Eagan that would be better
candidates for preservation, particularly if the structures were to remain on their original
farm sites. He stated that he felt any of these structures lost a great deal of their historic
value once moved off of their original sites. Those structures included:
1. The Rheinhold Rahn farm on Lexington Ave. across from the post office. (now
Steineger Excavation) The home and out-buildings retain their historic character
and have been well preserved on the original farmstead.
2. Chapdelaine home on Highway 149 south of “Stark’s” near Chapel Lane,
probably built in 1800s. It is a large white 2-story home. He thought that this
property may likely back up to Bur Oaks Park.
3. Anna Boesel home near Cliff Lake Townhomes/Cliff Lake Center at Blackhawk
Road and Cliff lake Drive. This beautiful brick home is on its original site (now
located within townhome community) and is very well preserved and maintained.
Martin did not know what the arrangement was regarding the home but he
believed that Mrs. Boesel likely has some agreement with the developer to live
out her life in the home.
4. The former District 11 school house at the corner of Lexington and Lone Oak
Road which is currently for sale (as of 9/5/03 –it is also marked for sale as
“commercial”) This structure has been used as a home over the past many years
so is no longer historically accurate on the interior but the exterior is much the
same as when it was built.
5. Rahn home on Rahn Road near Diffley Road. Exterior (at least-he has not
recently seen the interior) is still historically accurate.
The group agreed that the homes all lose some historical value once relocated but also
agreed that it would be good to have some sort of plan or program in place should
historic properties become available. As it stands currently, the City, nor to the groups
knowledge, the County has no such preservation program or funding in place. It was
noted that Beth Wielde, Parks Research Coordinator has a background in Historic
Preservation and her advice may be sought regarding the potential for development of
this type of program.
Update on History Group @ Community Center
A meeting is scheduled for September 15 in the Lone Oak Room with seniors from the
Center who have an interest in history. Members are encouraged to attend to determine
if there are ways in which the two groups might work together or compliment one
another’s efforts.
Contacts for Trinity Lone Oak Church Photo
Foote mentioned that it had been brought to her attention that Trinity Lone Oak Church
had many historical records which might be of interest to this Historical Society group
and stated that the group may wish to consider contacting that church and other Eagan
churches to determine whether the have information and or historical data which would
be worth preserving by the Historical Society.
Consider Acquisition of Flat File
Foote mentioned that a flat file might be of value to the group for storage of oversized
maps, etc. She has contacted the City Engineering Department only to find that they
have gotten rid of several of this type of file within the past few years and no longer
have any. She will contact Dakota County to determine if they have such a file and
will research other options for obtaining such a file.
Discuss Work Session Dates for September/October
Future dates for Historical Society work session are as follows:
Open House Discussion: Sept 21 from 11:00 - 2:00 @ Old Town Hall
Regular Meeting: October 7 @ 3:30 p.m.
Knight made a motion to reserve an historic display of ten most endangered historical
sites being offered by the MN Historic Preservation Society. The motion was approved
by acclamation of all members present.
Adjournment
Blomquist made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:40 p.m. All members voted in
favor.