By Mary Mergenthal
The free, monthly St. Anthony Park history series resumes at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church with Erin Hanafin Berg discussing the policies, procedures and possibilities of historic designation and preservation.
Berg is deputy director at RETHOS, a nonprofit based in the Landmark Center, working nationally for the use of old buildings and sites. Currently, she oversees legislative initiatives and works to provide information and resources to local and state elected officials, staff and community members about effective policies pertaining to building reuse, affordable housing, job creation, sustainability and economic revitalization.
Born in St. Paul, Hanafin Berg lives near Como Park; her father, grandparents and great-grandparents were longtime residents of St. Anthony Park and she is a member of SAP Lutheran Church. She earned a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Oregon and has more than two decades of professional experience in all aspects of preservation practice.
St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2242 Como Ave., is sponsoring the monthly history series. After the lecture and questions, treats will be served in the church’s narthex.
Kristin Anderson, the founder and usual presenter at the history series, will lead walking tours of St. Anthony Park this summer at times and dates to be determined. If you wish to be informed of details closer to summer, please send your email address to mary.mergenthal@gmail.com, if you have not already signed up.
Those unable to attend in person, can get the live Zoom link from mary.mergenthal@gmail.com. The lectures are not being taped on YouTube.
Mary Mergenthal is a longtime resident of St. Anthony Park and the former editor of the Park Bugle.
Photo cutline: The Old Muskego Church sits [now] at the edge of the Luther Seminary
campus. It was constructed of oak logs with walnut furnishings; [it was one of] the
first Norwegian Lutheran church[es] built in the United States. It was
moved here from Wind Lake, Wis., [in 1904]. It is a National Historic Register
property, first listed in 1975. Muskego Church, 1934. Library of
Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS MINN,62-SAIPA,1-2.
The building pictured in the Bugle is what Muskego looked like in the 1930s. The siding was in place immediately after the move from Wisconsin, and it was left on the building for decades.
You can see the northwest corner of 1419 Grantham in the left background of the published photo, and you can see the M. O. Bockman house (demolished for the Zvago project) in the background at the right.
Here is a link to a 1939 photo in the Luther Seminary archives collection:
https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/lsm:39#
Here is a link to the Historic American Buildings Survey photos (1934) at the Library of Congress.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.mn0025.photos/
The building in the photo does not resemble the Old Muskego Church on Luther’s campus. Possibly the wrong photo was submitted for the article.