02/08/2022 - Eagan Historical SocietyEagan Historical Society
Meeting Notes February 8, 2022
Meeting started at 11:05 in the Eagan Room of Eagan City Hall.
Members present Lynae Gieseke, Lori Tripp, Pat Geagan, Kim Hazel, Dawn
Simpson, Mike Scott, Karen Mackey, Leslie Chudnoff, Joanna Foote, Mary Ellen
Voracek.
Karen passed out papers that itemized Dakota County Library resources that
highlight Eagan’s history.
The library has a new microfilm reader.
Lynae will research Eagan High School yearbooks for the library’s collection.
Mary Ellen brought up having a May open house at the Old Town Hall. It was
decided that the open house would be Sunday May 22 from 11:00 AM until 2:00
PM. The May meeting will be spent on cleaning the Old Town Hall. Joanna will
get the information in the next edition of the city newsletter. Joanna said that the
Webmaster is now Colin Soderstrom, and his position is split between I.T. and
Communications.
For future reference, the cut off to submit articles/announcements to the city
newsletter is the 15th of the month before publication. So, the 15th of February,
April, June, August, October, December.
Joanna will prepare contact list and distribute it before she retires.
Joanna stated that the City of Eagan’s planning department has been involved with
the purchase of Starks Halfway House by Kwik Trip. Past buildings have been torn
down. The current building will be torn down. Pat would like to go through the
building before it is torn down. ? said that EHS has all photos from Starks. It was
mentioned that Starks has been a “Travelers Rest” for its entire history. Discussion
about a possible historical marker at Kwik Trip if there is an appropriate location
and they are willing. Kwik Trip hasn’t been good about responding to city
planners, so maybe they won’t respond to EHS. Joanna suggested that someone
should check their website for historical references at other Kwik Trip locations.
Mary Ellen said that the auction company would have taken pictures of the auction
items and perhaps they would share their photos with EHS. Mike went by Starks
after the meeting and the building was empty, but he was able to get a couple of
menus for EHS.
Vikings Lake – small area set aside for the City of Eagan to create a park. It is 11
acres in the Southeast Corner of the property and is mostly swamp and unbuildable
land. It was dedicated to the city in June 2021. Pat wanted to know if it was near
the stone wall left from the Ames Mansion but that is the opposite corner of the
Vikings Property from the new park. Park names that were at the top of the list are
Du Nord Park, Nordic Park, Touchdown Park, Northland Park, and O’Neill Park.
Polzin Park was mentioned and decided that should be close to city hall. The city
council could decide a different name, which they did at their workshop. The
Eagan City Council is naming the park Norse Park.
Joanna provided an information sheet about EHS history and questions for its
history that she provided at a meeting with Assistant City Administrator Dianne
Miller and Communications Director Joe Ellickson. Miller has been selected to be
Eagan’s next City Administrator in June 2022. That led to a discussion about
EHS’s future and that we as a group should meet and decide how we as a group
want to move forward so we could then set up a meeting with Miller. Meeting of
EHS and what our organization should look like going forward was set for
February 23 from 11:00-1:00 in the Eagan Room at city hall. Ideas were what EHS
needs from the city, what the city needs from EHS, what we provide to the city and
emphasize our value. Members that thought they could make the meeting were
Lori, Pat, Lynae, Mary Ellen, Leslie, and Mike. Joanna will reserve the room.
Lynae mentioned that Dianne will need to be added to The First Ladies Display at
the Old Town Hall.
Lori mentioned that when Joanna mentioned that the files were at Eagan, they were
the electronic files because the paper files were not in the basement. We learned
that the paper files were still at Mid America and need to be picked up. I did offer
to go and get them. Joanna called them after the meeting, and they said that they
would deliver them to city hall. EHS will have access to Laserfiche within a week.
Template is available to label files which Lori, Leslie, and Lynae have offered to
do. All old city records are scanned including property records, old minutes, EHS,
etc.
Lori brought up that she would like members to pursue the program ideas that Ted
Ringberg had proposed at a previous meeting and having the records would allow
us to do that. Once the research was done on various projects, we could create
short informational pieces.
At a previous meeting Lori and Pat were going to contact Trinity Lone Oak Church
to get their historical documents for EHS. Lori updated the group that the Pastor at
Trinity Lone Oak Church wouldn’t return our phone calls. Pat did call someone he
knew that was a member of the church, but that person was overwhelmed with
caring for his wife. If that person found anything he would contact Pat. Joanna said
that Don Holtz might have Trinity Lone Oak Church information and she will get
the contact information.
At a previous meeting Kim said we should document how Covid affected the City
of Eagan. Lori did contact the Police Chief and he provided notes about how Covid
affected the PD. Joanna said that she hasn’t been authorized to write about how
Covid affected city hall.
Lori has scanned Pat Geagan’s scrapbook from when he was Eagan’s Police Chief
from 1989-1999.
Lori updated that the EHS basement office is a mess from the remodeling and must
be cleaned.
Lori said she will start scanning Margo Danner’s scrapbooks on the community
center and the senior center this week.
Joanna will reserve the Eagan Room for the March 8th meeting from 11:00-1:00.
Meeting ended at 1:10 PM.
Next meeting is Wednesday, February 23, 2022 from 11:00AM until 1:00 PM in
the Eagan Room.
Respectfully submitted by Lori Tripp