If you’re looking for a great downtown event this week, stop in the Downtown Northfield, MN Post Office on Wednesday, November 2nd, and wish it a Happy (Historic) Birthday.

Then, later in the month, join the Public Forum on the City of Northfield Streetscape Task Force’s “Gateways” Project.  It’s Monday, November 21st, 5:oo to 7:00 p.m., location to be determined.

One of the NDDC’s founders, Bardwell Smith, is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Asian Studies at Carleton College.  The organization has always had at least one board member from each of the colleges.  In addition, the NDDC has conducted annual outreach campaigns during major college events such as New Student Week, Family Weekend, Commencement Weekend, Reunion Weekend, and Homecoming Weekend.  Each year, the college presidents have been the NDDC’s guests at a Downtown Forum.  Finally, the organization has led or participated in many community projects that were powered by Carleton and/or St. Olaf College students.

The  NDDC’s relationship with Carleton and St. Olaf has not been solely focused on marketing the downtown to the college communities.  The organization has looked to the colleges for ideas and leadership, as well as time, talent, and “tithes”.  Increasingly, the NDDC has sought input from the colleges’ employees and students for clues in predicting and building downtown Northfield’s economic future.

The writers of Northfield’s 2006 Comprehensive Economic Development Plan confirmed the NDDC’s long-standing strategy.  Among the tactics cited in the plan were engaging the leadership of the colleges, connecting with current and former students, and reaching out to alumni entrepreneurs.  The NDDC has always been and will continue to be a leader within the local economic development community for these initiatives of college-community collaboration.

About two years ago, at the suggestion of St. Olaf College President David Anderson, and later with the added support of Carleton College President Steve Poskanzer, the NDDC began meeting regularly with key players at the colleges.  The goal was to broaden and deepen college-community collaborations for mutual benefit.

One of the new initiatives that this group developed was alumni entrepreneur recruitment.  In addition to promoting downtown Northfield as a marketplace, we wanted to promote it as a business location, particularly to the graduates of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges. We introduced the concept for the first time at this year’s Homecoming Weekends.

It was just the “beta test” for a new tactic in this larger strategy.  Already, there are proposed changes to both the message and method.  However, we got it out there, as evidenced by this photo.

Photo courtesy of Griff Wigley.

The City of Northfield had announced that assisting private parties with property protection in non-emergency situations is #6 on a list of 9 items in its Emergency Protocol for flooding.  In response, the NDDC staff posted background information and met with a number of building and business owners who had suffered greatly during the most recent flood to learn of their preparations.

We found that property owners had been researching strategies and tactics from flood-threatened communities along the Red and Minnesota Rivers.  In fact, informally led by Kurt Larson of Larson’s Printing, they’d come together with a plan (and materials) to prepare and store sandbags.  They said that they could use some help implementing their plan.

When NDDC President (and St. Olaf College Dean of Students) Greg Kneser heard of this need, he offered to send the word out to St. Olaf College students.  On Friday, March 18th, the Oles descended on the west side of the river and filled and hauled sandbags with the building owners.  Greg can be seen tying off a bag at the right.

Hopefully, the cool, dry weather will last long enough to avoid another flood.  If not, thanks, in part, to Greg and his Oles, the Westsiders are a little more prepared.

The City of Northfield has announced that assisting private parties with property protection in non-emergency situations is #6 on a list of 9 items in its Emergency Protocol for flooding. City staff have conducted several public information meetings about flood preparation and posted links to a number of resources on the City’s website, Community Resources for Flood Preparedness.

There is information about what to do before a flood and what to do after a flood, but we wanted to highlight the BEFORE THE FLOOD information. Here are some of the highlights.

• Memo to Property Owners (PDF)
• Resource Vendor List (PDF)
• CodeRed Fact Sheet (PDF)
• Sandbagging Fact Sheet (PDF file)

The Resource Vendor List has contact information for companies that sell sandbags and companies that sell sand. There are a number of Minnesota communities that have already begun filling sandbags. We think it’s not too early for Northfielders to begin this work as well.  The Sandbagging Fact Sheet shows how to fill bags, where to place them after filling and how to structure a proper wall of sandbags SO THAT IT HOLDS.

In addition to the City’s website, we recommend checking out the information found at http://www.northfield.org/flood. This site is the place for volunteers to make themselves known and for those in need of volunteers to request assistance.

If you haven’t yet started preparing for a spring flood, we recommend that you begin today!



“This is everyone’s opportunity to respond to what comes out of the design charrette. We need to know the public’s response [to the ideas] in order to move forward appropriately” according to Steering Committee Chair, Rob Martin. Nearly thirty-five business and community leaders have been invited to meet Friday morning to help determine the physical and economic feasibility of relocating and preserving the depot, to identify potential uses of the relocated depot, and to develop a plan for potentially incorporating the depot into the phased development of the “Q Block” – the site preferred by STND.

Save the Northfield Depot is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organized to rescue and restore the historic depot building in Northfield. Nearly 50 volunteers work towards this goal by sharing the historical significance with the community and identifying a new location, owner(s), and user(s) in order to retain an important part of Northfield’s heritage. STND began as a project initiated by Northfield in Bloom in 2008. It is comprised of an eight-member steering committee, project manager and five sub-committees.

For more information please go to www.northfielddepot.org or contact Rob Martin at 645-7579.

Regular readers of this site know that the state-wide Main Street Program was recently reborn in Minnesota and that the NDDC played a role in the restorative efforts.  Historic commercial districts in Greater Minnesota have faced many challenges in recent years and the time is right for another ally in this important work.

Minnesota Main Street, like the NDDC, will work in the Four Points of the National Trust’s Main Street Program.  All of us believe that a comprehensive approach to economic vitality is most likely to succeed.

The announcement of the program’s rebirth was Sauk Centre, scene of Sinclair Lewis’ “Main Street”.  It seems only appropriate that Northfield is the site of the group’s planning session.

Downtown Stakeholders, YOU ARE ALL INVITED…

…to an Open House, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 4 to 6 p.m., at the Archer House River Inn.

The owners and workers are making improvements at the Archer House and they want to share their progress with you.  Help celebrate the new lobby and public areas as well as renovated Suites and Conference Room.

Hors d’ oeuvres, Wine, and Beer will be provided, all at the Archer House River Inn, 212 Division Street, in historic, scenic, authentic downtown Northfield, Minnesota.

For more information, see: www.archerhouse.com or call 507-645-5661/800-247-2235.

The message was clear: since 2000, commercial property taxes have increased by double-digit percentages every year. Most building owners have seen their taxes increase by over 200 percent in the past seven years.

During this same period of time, rental rates have remained flat or, in many cases, have even declined. As a result, each year there are fewer dollars available for basic maintenance, much less money for building improvements.

Representative Bly introduced H. F. No. 2129 at the Property and Local Sales Tax Committee yesterday. It was successfully and unanimously moved to the Tax Division for further consideration.

Senator Kevin Dahle will be introducing the senate version of the bill, S. F. 1912 on Wednesday. The NDDC will be at the legislature again, supporting this effort.

We thank Representative Bly and Senator Dahle for moving forward on this important issue for downtown Northfield.

The sign was installed by Fredrickson Outdoor Advertising. The company is based in Northfield and the same competent and courteous organization that erected the previous Historic Northfield Sign. The sign is part of a State of Minnesota program, administered by the (truly) helpful folks from MNDoT down in Rochester.

In addition to Fredrickson Outdoor Advertising and MNDoT Rochester, the NDDC would like to thank the Northfield Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Northfield Economic Development Authority for their support of this exciting project.

The SHPO’s conference is the largest gathering of Minnesota’s preservation community each year and attracts historians, architects, planners, public officials, property owners, preservation commission members and citizen advocates from around state. The PAM’s awards are given to 15 special projects from across the state representing excellence in a wide variety of preservation disciplines.

The conference acknowledges the qualities of Northfield’s historic heart: its authentic and vital downtown. Several of the conference seminars explore the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, an approach followed by the NDDC since its conception in 1999.

The attendees will occasionally step out of the classroom for some real-life exploration, including a “Downtown Northfield Field Session”. So be sure to welcome them to our authentic, historic, vital, and determined downtown.