National Register of Historic Places listings in Dakota County, Minnesota

Location of Dakota County in Minnesota

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Dakota County, Minnesota. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. Dakota County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, bounded on the northeast side by the Upper Mississippi River and on the northwest by the Minnesota River. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in an online map.

Dakota County's historic sites convey the county's significant historical trends, including the settlement at Mendota, the homes of well-heeled residents of Hastings, the ethnic gathering places in South Saint Paul, and other sites related to life on the prairie, including religion, education, transportation, commerce, and the business of farming.

There are 35 properties and districts listed on the National Register in the county. A supplementary list includes three additional sites that were formerly listed on the National Register.

This National Park Service list is complete through NPS recent listings posted May 27, 2016.

History

Dakota County

The earliest European settlement occurred on what is now Picnic Island, in 1819, where Colonel Henry Leavenworth built a stockade fort called "St. Peter's Cantonment" or "New Hope;" there materials were assembled for the construction of Fort Snelling, to be built on the bluff on the north side of the Minnesota River. Permanent settlement on the island was impossible due to annual flooding.

Mendota

The next significant white settlement occurred in the area known as St. Peters, now Mendota, where Alexis Bailey built some log buildings to trade in furs in 1826. Henry Hastings Sibley built the first stone house in Minnesota there in 1836, overlooking Fort Snelling across the river. Sibley was a partner in the American Fur Company, and considerable fur trade occurred at Mendota, where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers converge. By the time Minnesota achieved statehood in 1858, power and influence had shifted from Mendota, across the rivers to Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Hastings

By this time and continuing into the 20th century, the hub of activity in the county was in Hastings, the county seat, and a focal point of transportation, communication, and commerce. Hastings is critically located on the Mississippi River at the confluence of the St. Croix River and on the Vermillion River, which provided ample water power. Commercial interests built substantial wealth among the businessmen who dealt in lumber, milling, and railroads as the county residents depended on them to sell their agricultural products and to provide the goods needed for a growing economy and rising standard of living.

South Saint Paul

Into the early twentieth century, the stockyards and meat-packing plants in South Saint Paul became historically significant, as they were the largest stockyards in the world; this is where ranchers in the vast countryside to the west brought their livestock for shipping to the hungry populations of St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans, downstream. These plants were worked by new immigrants from Romania, Serbia, and other Eastern European countries.

Current listings

	Name on the Register	Image	Date listed	Location	City or town	Description
1	Daniel F. Akin House		December 31, 1979 (#79001223)	19185 Akin Road	Farmington	1856 limestone Italianate farmhouse of a progressive farmer and observer for the United States Weather Bureau.
2	Christiania Lutheran Free Church		May 28, 2010 (#10000301)	26690 Highview Ave.	Eureka Township	1877 Carpenter Gothic church built by a Norwegian congregation, notable for its role in the denominationalism of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United States.
3	Church of Saint Mary's-Catholic		December 31, 1979 (#79001233)	8433 239th Street East	New Trier	1909 church associated the German immigrants who almost exclusively populated southeastern Dakota County beginning in 1854.
4	Church of the Advent		December 31, 1979 (#79001225)	412 Oak Street	Farmington	Small 1872 Carpenter Gothic church built under Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, adapted from Richard Upjohn's published designs for rural churches.
5	Dakota County Courthouse		July 21, 1978 (#78003069)	101 4th Street East	Hastings	1871 Italian Villa style courthouse with a dome added in a 1912 renovation. Now Hastings City Hall.
6	District No. 72 School		December 31, 1979 (#79001236)	321st Street West and Cornell Avenue	Waterford Township	1882 rural frame schoolhouse.
7	East Second Street Commercial Historic District		July 31, 1978 (#78003070)	East Second Street	Hastings	A downtown historic district consisting of 35 commercial buildings built between 1860 and 1900.
8	Ignatius Eckert House		July 21, 1978 (#78003071)	724 Ashland Street	Hastings	Exemplary Italian Villa house with cupola, built in Nininger in the early 1850s and moved to Hastings in 1857.
9	Exchange Bank Building		December 31, 1979 (#79001226)	344 3rd Street	Farmington	1880 brick Italianate commercial building with limestone trim.
10	Fasbender Clinic		December 31, 1979 (#79001228)	801 Pine Street	Hastings	1959 brick medical clinic with an enveloping copper roof, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
11	First Presbyterian Church, Hastings		July 7, 1995 (#95000822)	602 Vermillion Street	Hastings	1881 Romanesque Revival church designed by Charles N. Daniels, remodelled by Harry Wild Jones after a 1907 fire.
12	Fort Snelling		October 15, 1966 (#66000401)	Picnic Island	Fort Snelling	Military complex established in 1819 and in use till 1946, instrumental in the development of the Upper Midwest and in the transition of the U.S. Army from a small frontier force into a major army. Primarily in Hennepin County.
13	Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge		December 1, 1978 (#78001534)	State Highway 55	Mendota	4,119-foot (1,255 m) bridge constructed 1925–26, noted for its sophisticated design and original status as the world's longest continuous concrete arch bridge. Extends into Hennepin County.
14	Reuben Freeman House		December 31, 1979 (#79001231)	9091 Inver Grove Trail	Inver Grove Heights	1875 vernacular house with eight gables, built of coursed fieldstone collected on-site.
15	Good Templars Hall		December 31, 1979 (#79001234)	124th Street East (original address of building) Current coordinates are	Nininger	1858 Greek Revival meeting hall built by a chapter of the Independent Order of Good Templars. The building was moved to Little Log House Pioneer Village in 2005.
16	Hastings Foundry-Star Iron Works		December 31, 1979 (#79001229)	707 East 1st Street	Hastings	1859 industrial building—one of the oldest remaining in the state—which produced the first steam engine built in Minnesota.
17	Hastings Methodist Episcopal Church		June 7, 1978 (#78001531)	719 Vermillion Street	Hastings	1862 church—oldest in Hastings—built in an eclectic mix of Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate architecture.
18	Holz Family Farmstead		May 24, 2007 (#07000459)	4665 Manor Drive	Eagan	1893 farmstead preserving structures from two generations of operation.
19	Byron Howes House		June 15, 1978 (#78001529)	718 Vermillion Street	Hastings	1868 Italianate house of a notable banker and civil servant.
20	Rudolph Latto House		May 23, 1978 (#78001530)	620 Ramsey Street	Hastings	House built 1880–81, noted for its transitional Italianate/Eastlake architecture. Now a bed and breakfast inn.
21	William G. LeDuc House		June 22, 1970 (#70000292)	1629 Vermillion Street	Hastings	1865 Gothic Revival house based on a pattern by Andrew Jackson Downing. Now a Dakota County Historical Society museum and event venue.
22	MacDonald-Todd House		December 31, 1979 (#79001230)	309 West 7th Street	Hastings	1857 Greek Revival house owned by two successive newspaper editors, A. W. MacDonald and Irving Todd. Todd had the building moved from Nininger to Hastings in 1866.
23	Mendota Historic District		June 22, 1970 (#70000293)	Roughly bounded by government lot 2, State Highway 55, Sibley Highway., D Street, and Minnesota River	Mendota	1830s–1850s locus of region's first white settlement, featuring the 1853 St. Peter's church—Minnesota's oldest continually operating church—and the Sibley House Historic Site, which comprises Henry Hastings Sibley's 1836 house, Jean-Baptiste Faribault's 1836 house/hotel, Hypolite Dupuis's 1854 house, and trade buildings of the American Fur Company.
24	Minneapolis Saint Paul Rochester & Dubuque Electric Traction Company Depot		December 31, 1979 (#79001222)	County Highway 5 at 155th Street	Burnsville	1910 railway shelter on the Dan Patch Line, serving small farmers in Burnsville who brought onions and other produce to Minneapolis for sale and later commuters who found work in the Twin Cities.
25	Emil J. Oberhoffer House		December 31, 1979 (#79001232)	17020 Judicial Road West	Lakeville	1918 Prairie School summer home designed by Paul Haugen of Purcell & Elmslie for Emil Oberhoffer, first conductor of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.
26	Ramsey Mill and Old Mill Park		July 15, 1998 (#98000872)	18th Street and Vermillion River	Hastings	Ruins of Alexander Ramsey's 1856 gristmill, in a 1925 park.
27	Saint Stefan's Romanian Orthodox Church		May 19, 2004 (#04000461)	350 5th Avenue North	South St. Paul	1924 domed stucco church built for a Romanian immigrant congregation.
28	Serbian Home		March 26, 1992 (#92000257)	404 3rd Avenue South	South St. Paul	1923 brick social hall for Serbian immigrants, many of whom worked in the local meatpacking industry. Now a museum and cultural center.
29	Henry H. Sibley House		January 10, 1972 (#72000676)	Willow Street	Mendota	1836 limestone house of Henry Hastings Sibley, district manager of the American Fur Company who would go on to be first state governor of Minnesota. Now part of a Minnesota Historical Society site.
30	Stockyards Exchange		March 7, 1979 (#79001235)	200 North Concord Street	South St. Paul	1887 brick Richardsonian Romanesque headquarters of Minnesota's significant meat packing industry, designed by Charles A. Reed.
31	Thompson-Fasbender House		May 22, 1978 (#78001532)	649 3rd Street West	Hastings	1880 brick Second Empire house.
32	VanDyke-Libby House		October 2, 1978 (#78001533)	612 Vermillion Street	Hastings	1867 brick Second Empire house.
33	Waterford Bridge		August 26, 2010 (#10000580)	Canada Ave. over Cannon River	Waterford Township	1909 camelback through truss bridge.
34	George W. Wentworth House		December 31, 1979 (#79001237)	1575 Oakdale Avenue	West St. Paul	1887 brick Queen Anne house of a founder of West St. Paul.
35	West Second Street Residential Historic District		July 31, 1978 (#78003072)	West Second Street	Hastings	District containing 13 architecturally significant homes built between 1857 and 1890.

Former listings

	Name on the Register	Image	Date listed	Date removed	Location	City or town	Summary
1	Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot	Upload image	December 31, 1979 (#79001224)	May 15, 1987	400 2nd St.	Farmington	1894 depot, demolished in 1984 as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad went into bankruptcy.
2	Horticulture Building	Upload image	December 31, 1979 (#79001227)	March 15, 1993	County Highway 74	Farmington vicinity	Exemplary 1918 county fair hall. Demolished in 1988 due to structural deficiencies but its octagonal dome has been preserved as a gazebo.
3	Jacob Marthaler House	Upload image	October 27, 1988 (#88002136)	January 10, 1994	1746 Oakdale Avenue	West St. Paul	1863 Federal house of a founder of West St. Paul. Demolished by owner in 1993.

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Minnesota
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Minnesota

External links

• Minnesota National Register Properties Database—Minnesota Historical Society
• Historic Sites—Dakota County Historical Society
• A list of the above sites, with street addresses and other information, is available at Dakota County, MN listing of National Register of Historic Places.Com, a private site serving up NRHP information.