Nerstrand City Hall

Nerstrand City Hall
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Main St., Nerstrand, Minnesota
Coordinates:	44°20′30″N 93°4′5″W / 44.34167°N 93.06806°W / 44.34167; -93.06806Coordinates: 44°20′30″N 93°4′5″W / 44.34167°N 93.06806°W / 44.34167; -93.06806
Area:	less than one acre
Built:	1908
Architect:	Thori, Alban, & Fisher
Governing body:	Private
MPS:	Rice County MRA
NRHP Reference#:	82003024[1]
Added to NRHP:	April 06, 1982

Nerstrand City Hall is a historic city hall building in Nerstrand, Minnesota. The structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on April 6, 1982.^[2]

Structure

Nerstrand City Hall is a two story red brick building located in the small community of Nerstrand in Rice County. Located on the south side of Main Street, it is the most architecturally distinctive building in the community.^[3]

Designed by the St. Paul firm of Thori, Alban, & Fisher, it was constructed in 1908. It features a symmetrical facade and is capped by a wood cornice with modillion blocks and a central bell tower. The central bay features a double doorway framed by brick pilaster strips and dentillated wood cornice. The main door is flanked by large two part windows with stone sills and headers. A large stone bearing the words "CITY HALL" separates the door from three rectilinear windows in the second story bay; these are flanked by small oval windows. The open bell tower shelters a bell and features a dentillated cornice and domed roof capped by a flagpole. Spherical finials flank the bell tower at the corners of the building.^[3]

History and significance

The city of Nerstrand traces its history to the 1870s, but the town was not platted until the Chicago Great Western Railway reached the area in 1885. It incorporated in 1897.^[3] The area surrounding Nerstrand and Wheeling Township were formed from a close-knit Norwegian American community.^[4] The turn of the century was a period of maturation for Rice County, characterized by various civic improvements, city halls, water systems, etc. Nerstrand's first city hall, built at the time of incorporation, proved too small within a few years. A lot was purchased for the new building in 1907 and it was finished the following year.^[3]

The ground floor of Nerstrand's City Hall originally housed city offices, fire equipment and a jail; and a large community room occupies the second floor. A new fire station was built adjacent to the structure in the 1980s. At the time the building was listed on the NRHP, it was being used as the public library.^[3]

The building is significant for its association with Nerstrand's early growth as well as being one of Rice County's best examples of the municipal buildings that were constructed in the first decades of the twentieth century. It reflects a period of increased civic-mindedness and prosperity.^[3]

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ Nord, Mary Ann (2003). The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 0-87351-448-3. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form, February 1981; copy accessed from Nerstrand City Hall file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.
4. ^ Thorstein Veblen Farmstead, House, Section 12, Wheeling Township, Nerstrand vicinity, Rice, MN, Library of Congress, Accessed December 13, 2010.