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8/6/2019 Country Courier - 06/03/2011 - page 1
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y Rin Porter
Now that the county has sold bonds to
ance the remodeling of the Historic
ourthouse in Long Prairie, the project will be
derway in June. Requests for bids for the
modeling work have been published and
ds were due May 10. The county board
ends to open them May 12 at 2 PM and
ake the awards May 17. Contegrity
onstruction Managers of Little Falls has
en hired to oversee the project. County
ficials will work together to serve as the
neral contractor.
At the end of April and beginning of May,
cal contractors were invited to tour the
ilding and gather information to help them
epare their bids. All building trades will beeded: electricians, plumbers, carpenters,
ment workers, etc.
The Blade took a tour of the building with
ounty Administrator Nate Burkett. We were
le to learn which original parts of the
ourthouse will be retained and which parts
ll go. The goal of the project is to keep as
uch of the original building as possible, but
cause there have been so many remodel-
g projects in the past, a lot of the original
sign of the building is already gone.
The current interior wall paneling, paint,
rpet, ceiling tiles, and shelf systems of the
ilding were probably installed in the 1970s
d 1980s, although the dates are not cer-
n. Green shag carpet, painted paneling
eets, white acoustical ceiling tile, andadorned shelving are found in some com-
bination in almost every space on all three
floors. Many rooms have multiple layers of
wall covering, as revealed through holes
made in the walls by architects or engineers
hired by the county to evaluate the building.
Parts of the building that will be kept and
refurbished or restored include the yellow
brick walls wherever they can be uncovered,
woodwork from the third floor courtroom, the
terrazzo floors and stairways, some of the
built-in wood cabinetry, the wood banisters,
the MacNeale & Urban safe, one of the four
vault rooms manufactured by Diebold Safe &
Lock Company of Canton, Ohio, the metal
doors of all the vault rooms, the courtroom
ceiling, and possibly the stone framing of the
original window openings.We did not see the “fine, seasoned oak
floors” that were described by the writer for
The Long Prairie Leader in his Nov. 21, 1883,
article about the new courthouse. We saw
terrazzo floors, cement floors, and floors cov-
ered with carpet. Perhaps when the carpet is
removed, there will be rooms that still have
the original oak floors.
The yellow brick used to build the Historic
Courthouse came from a brickyard in
Clarissa. The Blade is looking for that brick-
yard to see what remains. It is not known if
the exact color of the brick could be matched
with clay from another location to repair dam-
aged bricks during the interior remodeling
project.
The four vault rooms are probably uniquein Central Minnesota. They were manufac-
tured by the Diebold Safe and Lock
Company, incorporated in 1876, formerly the
Diebold Bahmann Company founded in 1859
by Charles Diebold of Cincinnati
(http://antiques.lovetoknow.com). The com-
ServingServing TTodd Countyodd County, MN, MN June is DairJune is Dair y Monthy Month
VOLUME 20; NUMBER 9 - FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2011 CIRCULATION 10,000 - FREE
Remodeling of HistoricCourthouse starts in June
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Now that the county has sold bonds to finance the remodeling of the Historic Courthouse in Long
Prairie, the project will be underway in June.
By state park standards, Lindbergh State Park, is small, just 570 acres,
but acre-for-acre it is one of the most beautiful parks in the state.
Lindbergh State Park may be small,
but it’s big on beauty
Continued on page 16
By Sue Farmer
The birds are back.
With every step along the wooded hik-
ing trails of Charles A. Lindbergh State
Park near Little Falls, I hear bird songs.
Skiing through these same woods last
winter revealed only silence. On this lus-
cious spring day with the temperature in
the mid 70’s and a clear blue sky over-
head, the air is resplendent with the
sweet sounds of returning migrators, war-
blers, finches, bluebirds and robins,Year-round residents, the black-capped
chickadees, nuthatches and sparrows
join the chorus.
One of the singers raises his voice
above all others, an American redstart.
How can such a petite bird create such a
big sound? The striking little bird is black
with orange-red markings on his sides,
tail and wings. He is flitting through the
mixed hardwood forest along the east
bank of Pike Creek, putting on a light
show every time he flaps his wings. When
the bird alights on a tree branch, it lifts its
head and sings. The bird is known to be
hyperactive, but he pauses long enough
for me to click the shutter, once.
By state park standards, LindberghState Park, is small, just 570 acres, but
acre-for-acre it is one of the most beauti-
ful parks in the state. Pike Creek runs
through the middle of the park. The creek
is still warbling its song of spring as it
dashes from the wetland it drains to the
mighty Mississippi. The rhythmic sound of
fast-moving water over rocks is the per-
fect accompaniment for the chirping birds.
A strong breeze ruffling the fledgling lumi-
nescent green leaves of the aspen com-
pletes nature’s opus to spring.
The park is named for Charles A.
Lindbergh, Sr., a former Minnesota
Congressman, who owned a farm/sum-
mer home just southeast of Little Falls on
the bank of the Mississippi. Famed avia-
tor Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. spent hisgrowing up years on the farm and also
managed it for two years prior to heading
off to college and world-wide fame as the
first person (1927) to fly an airplane solo
from the United States to France. In
1931, the Lindbergh family donated the
farm house and 110 acres to the state as
a memorial to the senior Lindbergh. More
acres were added to the park over the
years. While the history is interesting and
I’m sure it would be fun to tour the farm
house and see the exhibits in the visitor
center, all I really care about is the park’s
wild side and that it saves a diverse natu-
ral area for birds, mammals and reptiles,
that is is a great place to hike and ski and
that it is a nice, close-to-home respitefrom a complicated world.
I start my hike on the west bank of
Pike Creek just down the hill from the
parking area/picnic grounds. It is here I
begin my search to find the perfect large-
Continued on page 16
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