Document - Historical Society Minutes - Historical Society Meeting Minutes - 5/5/2015MEETING NOTES/MINUTES
EAGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TUESDAY
May 5, 2015
3:40 p.m. – 2nd Floor Conference Room
Members present: Chair Mary Ellen Voracek, Vice-Chair Kim Hazel, Millie Gagnac, Kenneth
Morrison, Ted Ringberg and Dawn Simpson. Also present was Communication Coordinator
Joanna Foote.
MEETING MINUTES
The minutes from April 7, 2015 were approved and accepted by all members present.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUSINESS
1914 Town Hall Building Reconstruction
Communications Coordinator Foote noted the pre-bid conference was held at the Town Hall on
April 23, 2015, there were seven vendors. The bid opening is Thursday, May 7 at 2:00 p.m. At the
May 19th Council meeting the bid will be awarded for a June 1st construction start date and
September 30 completion date.
Foote noted typically an open house is held at the OTH in late September- early October, but
with the construction would have to be in the late October at the earliest. However, since the
building will now be well heated it can be comfortable in colder months. At the August meeting
the group can determine a date for the open house/grand re-opening event.
Foote noted the architects provided bid alternatives for items such as the cedar shake roof (vs.
newer shingles) and historic glass. Bidders will provide cost estimates for these items within
their bids. Additional add-ons, not included in the contractor bids would need to be
accomplished through a fundraising effort. Foote touched on three add-on items that would be
considered a higher priority; those were air conditioning, parking lot improvements and
additional exterior lighting. Of higher need, should the former Fire Admin building be sold would
be an out building with bathroom, sink and storage.
Foote noted at tonight’s Listening Session City Administrator Osberg will ask the City Council if
they are comfortable with the City convening residents or business representatives who have
expressed an interest in fundraising. Foote will report back to the group next month.
Town Hall Displays Assembly
Foote introduced the item noting she has a series of photos pre-fire to say this is what we had
and what items looked like in the Town Hall. The group went through the photos and created
the following priority list (not in priority order):
1) School Display
2) First Ladies of Eagan
3) Farming
4) DesLauriers - Three Generations
5) Trinity/Lone Oak
6) City Flags
7) Last Dairy Farm
8) Inside Town Hall
9) Plat Maps
Look for: Vote “Yes” sign and DesLauriers Family lineage
Need to scan all remaining images in high quality before we do anything more with them.
Ted Ringberg brought a schematic of “History Trail” that could be used to design the display
layout within the building. The group discussed its pleasure with the idea and considered the
flow. It could begin with Native American presence or even the prehistoric tree remains and end
with the construction of the first City Hall adding the following items:
• Stove
• 2-3 benches
• Government related t items in booths at back
• Photos on glass of Herb Polzine and August Rahn and crowd in Old Town Hall
Workshop meeting dates:
• Tuesday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. - Former Fire Admin
• Tuesday, May 19 at 3:30 p.m. – City Hall basement
Police 50th Anniversary
The Eagan Police Department will hold its 50th Anniversary celebration on Thursday, May 14th,
2015, at the Municipal Center Campus from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. As part of the commemoration,
Foote wrote another article in the May/June Experience Eagan (following the story in the
March/April issue) which featured Roger Slater.
Streets Alive Event
The committee discussed Streets Alive: The Cedar Grove Experience Event which will be held
Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Eagan Outlets Parkway near the new
Outlets Mall. Foote asked the group,
a) if they wanted to participate,
b) are they available to participate, and
c) if we participate what type of thing do we want to do?
Member Simpson was concerned about too many events and suggested doing something on a
smaller scale. Member Ringberg already talked to a few musicians that are interested in
participating. Foote suggested serving hand cranked ice cream at the event. It was suggested
to include in booth - signs, timeline and date for the open house. Also include information on
the Old Town Hall progress and information on the print and take orders. Over the next couple
of weeks, Foote would like to know what the group will need for the event.
Foote noted there is $700 in the budget for events, and $300 for photo reproduction and
framing. She can pull together budget items that can be used for events: bookmarks,
postcards, and pencils.
DCHS Update
In Jansen’s absence, Foote provided an update about the Dakota County Historical Society
(DCHS). DCHS has a new exhibit at the Lawshe Museum entitled “History Calling” which tells
the story of communications from the telephone to modern day. The DCHS is hosting a
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on May 16th for all 2014 volunteers at the Leduc Historic State
as well as those at the Lawshe Museum.
Other
Foote received an email from a young man who lived in Eagan his whole live (23 years), and had
some questions about the one-room school that sat near the present Northview Elementary
School. He indicated he might attend an EHS meeting in the future.
Also noted was a request that was received from a person in Holland who lived in a small village
where they have a Memorial to service people that were killed during WWII. His family adopted
a soldier name of Herman Goers that was from Eagan, Minnesota. Foote remembered the name
and looked up the name Goers in the “Lone Oak Years” book and there was a photo of a soldier
and his bride who married while he was home on leave. It was “their soldier.” We scanned the
information and sent it to him. Within minutes we saw a Twitter post thanking us thanking us.
This marks perhaps the first international correspondence the Eagan Historical Society has had.
NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 3:30 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.