Bend of the River Million Tree Project

Lately I've been helping coordinate the Bend of the River Million Tree Project. Historic preservation and reforestation go side-by-side. — TPH

What one community can do to fight global warming

Mankato’s proposed urban re-forestation program is a necessary part of community-wide planning for the year 2020

by Thomas P. Hagen

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.”

When Joyce Kilmer wrote these lines at the beginning of the 20th century he didn’t know the half of it. Trees are more than just lovely assets that increase property values. They are producers of oxygen, providers of shade and cooling in the summer, wind breaks in the winter, absorbers of excess ground moisture preventing excess runoff, and most importantly, absorbers of vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning the carbon dioxide into biomass. It has been estimated that seven mature trees absorb the carbon produced by an average adult American in a year. A Minnesota study in the March-April 2006 edition of the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer reported that the 200,000 public trees in Minneapolis alone provide total benefits to the city each year of $24.9 million in energy savings, carbon emission reductions, air pollution abatement, storm water management, aesthetics and enhanced property values. When costs associated with tree planting and management are subtracted, the benefit citywide was still $79 per tree per year for a whopping total of $15.7 million annually.

The best way to control global warming is to curb emissions, but the second best is to create carbon sinks — places in the environment where free carbon dioxide can be fixed by removal from the air. Trees are expert at this, producing beneficial oxygen as a by-product. (Remember the carbon cycle from high school biology?)

Mankato could fix many thousands of tons of carbon dioxide through re-forestation of our hillsides; parks, river and stream sides; highway medians and roadsides; and backyards and boulevards at a minimal cost. Native species tree seedlings are available cheaply each spring. Using community service groups, boy and girl scout troops, FFA chapters, along with adopt a hillside/roadside type programs, in two weeks every spring replanting could be quickly accomplished. Pest species that feed on seedlings (read deer) would need to be controlled, especially in the early years of young tree development. Once trees take root and begin to grow, the need for mowing ditches and hillsides vanishes saving both fuel and labor costs. As the trees mature many years in the future they will furnish biomass that can be utilized as an alternate renewable fuel source as fossil fuels become scarce.

Practiced region-wide, this effort will produce spectacular results for us all: A tree-lined river, shaded walks, sound buffering and the hiding of now ugly on and off ramps and interchanges, wildlife habitat and the enhancement of the natural look of the spectacular Minnesota River valley.

Steal away at midnight
If you fear someone will see,
And out along the highway
Dig a hole and plant a tree.

Plant them in the medians
Of roadways, or near parking lots.
On boulevards, in alleyways,
In short, on every vacant spot.
Do not give up but persevere!
Your flag, each branch and leaf unfurled.
Your shovel high, a war declare
Of green upon the treeless world!

On preserving Minnesota's historical buildings

We've made too many mistakes in the past; let's not make them again

by Thomas P. Hagen

Mankato, Minnesota, unlike other settlements founded in the 1850’s had every natural resource necessary to 19th century success. The Minnesota River had exposed one of the finest deposits of limestone in America. Glaciers had deposited vast amounts of sand and gravel as well as clay suitable for the making of brick. To the north and east of Mankato was the great hardwood forest, furnishing fuel and lumber, and to the west stretched prairies rich with wildlife.

The architecture of the Mankato area was a natural outgrowth of the bounty of its resources. The earliest log houses gave way to structures of stone and brick. Quarries at the north end of Front Street turned out tons of building material each day, and along the river stood kilns to burn some of the stone into lime. The earliest stone buildings were made in a style called rubble masonry and there were scores of them, but only a few remain. The best preserved of these is the Chapman House (1856) in Le Hillier.

Several cut and split stone buildings were erected in the late 19th century and still stand including the Federal Post Office and the First Presbyterian Church, but the treasure of the city was the Blue Earth County Court House. Built in 1887, it was considered to be one of the finest county court houses in the upper mid-west until the interior was gutted in the early 1970’s.

Stone continued to be used for foundations and trim, but eventually Mankato became a city more of brick than of stone. A large number of working class brick homes can still be found on the north end of Mankato, but it was the south end that would sport brick mansions like the Hubbard house (built in 1871), the Roland Patterson house (demolished in 1965), the General Widel house (demolished in 1973), and the Brett mansion (demolished in 1974).

Mankato’s commercial district followed the railroad and hugged the river. The brick Saulpaugh Hotel (demolished in 1970) had elegant Palladian ballroom windows looking out over the Minnesota River. Across the street was the Greek revival style Salet’s department store (demolished in 1970). From this hub of activity at Front and Main, the city stretched north to the stone quarry and south to the slough now occupied by Mankato West High School. The red brick Purrington and Flint pavers in the street mirrored the brick of the buildings lining Front Street. The buildings proclaimed the prosperity of the commercial ventures they contained.

In the early sixties, the first commercial structures jumped the river valley on to the hilltop along Madison Avenue. In an attempt to halt the deterioration of the old central business district the city turned to urban renewal. Under city administrator Bill Basset regional landmarks disappeared. The destruction was wholesale. The State Historical Society said of Mankato in the late 80’s that Mankato had lost more of its architectural heritage than any other city in the state. Pictures speak more eloquently than any list of what was lost.

What replaced the older structures was pitiful by comparison. Most buildings erected since urban renewal are completely unremarkable and without distinction. Notable exceptions to these bland and downright ugly structures are the chapel on the Bethany Lutheran College using native limestone carved in relief by local artist, Tom Miller, and the attempt to match the new Civic Center to the art deco architecture of the Ellerby Building.

The architectural carnage continued into the 90’s. Recent examples of destruction include the old Standard Oil building, the First National Bank (one of the two finest renaissance revival buildings in the state) the Odd Fellow’s Building, and the Schmidt Mansion.

Those who settled Mankato built many of their buildings as a legacy for future generations; an embodiment of their vision of the community, and those buildings became city landmarks and monuments. It is this architectural legacy that makes a city memorable. But they are not valuable only as nostalgic reminders. The structures of the past are essential in order to have a future; for how do we convince the next generation that anything they might create has value when they can see by our actions that we value nothing that has gone before? Destroying the past to build the future diminishes both.

Now, for the first time in forty years an attempt is being made to preserve the city’s remaining landmarks. The citizen’s group, 20/20 has emphasized the need to encourage individual preservation efforts and is asking for the establishment of a heritage preservation commission. We need a commitment, however, to better design in the future as well.

We have never lacked local talent or local materials. What has been lacking was the vision and will to use them. As citizens we need to renew our commitment to both preservation and to the future by building new structures with attention to detail and the quality to last; and by utilizing our local resources, both human and natural, to create distinctiveness. The talent is here. The financial resources have always been here. And the Minnesota stone and clay unique to this area still lie just beneath our feet.