Thank you to everyone who participated in our April event series, Brick by Brick: Building Community Development Through History. You helped make it a great success. The series of three programs (aka “Bricks”) focused on the role history can and should play in community development. Each of the Bricks featured an impressive slate of panelists speaking about the importance of history to creating and maintaining healthy communities.
The first program in the series, Brick One – Funding the Upkeep of Existing Buildings: The Little Falls Redevelopment Program, featured Greg Zylka, Mayor of Little Falls; Carol Anderson, Executive Director, Morrison County Community Development; Jon Radermacher, City Administrator of Little Falls; and Mary Ippel, Partner at Taft Law.
Brick Two – Tax Incentives for History: The Importance of Historic Tax Credits featured Natascha Wiener, Historical Architect with the State Historic Preservation Office; Ethan Boote, Real Estate Manager for Rethos: Places Reimagined; Shannon Wiger, Principal for Spring Hill Capital; and Erin Hanafin Berg, Policy/Deputy Director for Rethos: Places Reimagined.
Panelists for the final Brick in the series, Brick Three – History Is Infrastructure: The Role of History in Community Development, included Todd Holman, Coordinator of the Camp Ripley Sentinel Landscape Project; Melissa Wenzel, Built Environment Sustainability Administrator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; King Banaian, Dean of the School of Public Affairs at St. Cloud State University; and Morrison County Historical Society (MCHS) Executive Director, Mary Warner.
A special thanks to Amy Piekarski, Program Coordinator at Sourcewell, for moderating the events and providing the online platform, and to Ashley Zidon, Project Manager for the Statewide Mutimodal Transportation Plan at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Ashley, formerly at Sourcewell, played a critical role in helping us create the series. Amy and Ashley, we could not have done it without you! Ann Marie Johnson, Preservationist at the Morrison County Historical Society, was the critical driver in organizing the series and arranging for panelists. The series would not have happened without her considerable work. Other assistance came from Phoebe Ward, Minnesota Fellow for the City of Little Falls, and Grace Duxbury, MCHS Museum Assistant.
Thank you especially to our members, volunteers and donors. Your support allows MCHS to provide programs like these as we work to fulfill our mission of preserving and sharing the history of Morrison County. Thank You!
For more information on the series, including slide presentations, visit our page dedicated to Brick by Brick: https://morrisoncountyhistory.org/?page_id=8770.
We are processing videos of the series, which we will upload as soon as they are ready. Links to the videos will be found on the Brick by Brick page.