Located on a bluff above the Mississippi River, the University of Minnesota is a land-grant institution founded in 1851, when Minnesota was still a territory. We will experience two National Register-districts on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis east bank campus.
The Old Campus Historic District is based on a design by H.W.S. Cleveland; its buildings represent a proliferation of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century architectural styles. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the district consists of the 13 oldest buildings on the Minneapolis campus, as well as two statues, a memorial fence and gate, and a fountain.
The Northrop Mall Historic District, a distinguished campus plan envisioned by Cass Gilbert and detailed by Morell and Nichols, is the largest Beaux-Arts campus in the state. The Northrop Mall Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
This tour is ADA accessible.
Tour guide Laura Weber is the former editor of Minnesota History, the quarterly of the Minnesota Historical Society. She is a U of M graduate and also worked there for 20 years. She’s led similar tours for a number of groups, including the Society of Architectural Historians and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.