More About This Project

Background: After the advent of automobile tourism in the 1910s, state and federal governments began to fund projects for wayside rest areas. Many were built in the 1930s by Works Progress Administration crews. Eventually, the structures and sites started to show their age. In 2008, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) began an effort to update 20 historic roadside property treatment reports and produce 12 sets of construction documents for restoration of National Register eligible properties.

Project: Since this initial collection, MMA has been working with MnDOT to restore over 50 historic sites since 2008. The collection ranges from state entry markers, overlooks, commemorative markers, and roadside parking areas. These properties are complex and varied, each one having its own unique issues. The structures ranged from dry-laid granite walls at Camp Ripley to limestone walls and overlooks at Ft. Beauharnois and Lake City.

The project team, including qualified historic masons, has restored these structures through repointing with appropriate mortar, removing damaged or non-historic stone with new stone shaped to match the historic, and selective dismantling and rebuilding with matching historic configurations.