Rondo Neighborhood Historic Field Survey

From mid-March to early April, people in safety vests marked with Hess Roise will be walking around the Rondo neighborhood and surrounding area taking notes and photos for a historic field survey. These people are architectural historians hired by MnDOT to document architectural details on buildings in and around the Rondo neighborhood. They will do their work from the sidewalks and streets. They will not enter any homes or other properties.

MnDOT’s Cultural Resources Unit (CRU) is leading this historic field survey. CRU is a unit from the Office of Environmental Stewardship. The unit has professional historians and archaeologists that review Federal Highway Administration funded projects throughout Minnesota, like Rethinking I-94. CRU staff identify historic places and work with the project team to avoid or minimize any harm to historic properties. CRU has contracted with Hess, Roise and Company to help with this historic field survey.

Purpose of historic field surveys

Federal laws require agencies to consider historic properties for any project using federal funds. You can learn more about this regulation by reviewing A Citizen’s Guide to Section 106 Review. For Rethinking I-94, MnDOT needs to know where the historic properties are along I-94 before working to avoid impacts. Historians identified the Rondo neighborhood as an area that needs more study due to its unique history and the major impacts the construction of I-94 had on the community in the 1960s. The information collected during the historic field survey will help guide the development of alternatives for I-94.

What to expect

A historic field survey includes research and fieldwork to identify a community’s historic resources. For the past couple of years, CRU has researched neighborhoods and themes found along the I-94 corridor. Through this research, CRU developed the Rethinking I-94 Community Histories. Fieldwork is the next step in the process.

Architectural historians will walk the Rondo neighborhood and surrounding area and take notes and pictures of architectural details of the buildings. They will be wearing safety vests marked with Hess Roise and will be carrying tablets to take notes and cameras to take pictures of historic details on houses and buildings. They will do this work from sidewalks and streets. They will not enter homes or other properties.

The survey is expected to take several weeks from mid-March to early April to complete.

Information for community partners and residents

Reconnect Rondo, the Rondo Roundtable, the Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, and Saint Paul public services have all been informed of the historic field survey. MnDOT staff are mailing postcards to residents in the Rondo neighborhood and are hanging posters at community locations to raise awareness of the field survey.

Next steps

Architectural historians will use the information they gather during this historic field survey to further develop a historic context, or a history of the neighborhood, for the area. The historic context will help us determine if the neighborhood is potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Understanding the neighborhood better will also help CRU staff inform the Rethinking I-94 process as alternatives are being evaluated.

MnDOT will not list properties on the National Register during this process. If you are interested in listing your own house or building, contact the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. For local designation information, contact the Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission.

Contacts

For more information, contact Katie Haun Schuring with MnDOT's Cultural Resources Unit at katherine.haun-schuring@state.mn.us or 612-834-1195.