Eagan plans restoration of historic Old Town Hall damaged by arson

Visitors to Eagan's historic Old Town Hall may once again stand in the booths where voters cast ballots in the early 1900s and touch the potbelly stove that heated the building during town board meetings.

Work to repair the city's Old Town Hall is expected to begin in June and be done by the end of September, two years after an arson fire damaged the building, which has been shuttered since.

The city has estimated that restoring the century-old structure will cost $290,000. Officials will have a better idea of the price May 7 after opening general contractors' bids for the project.

City staff spent three months developing plans for the Old Town Hall with project manager Mohagen Hansen Architectural Group of Wayzata, which is consulting with MacDonald & Mack Architects, a Minneapolis firm that specializes in preservation and restoration of historic properties. The City Council in March approved the plans and authorized advertising for bids.

The project will include repairs to the roof, windows and walls, and restoration of interior and exterior finishes of the Old Town Hall. Built in 1914, it was used for city meetings until 1965. The 1,040-square-foot building had been restored previously and served as a museum under the Eagan Historical Society's care.

While the focus is on restoring the building to its previous condition, other features, including air conditioning and an outbuilding with a bathroom, could be added if a community fund-raising effort goes forward, assistant city administrator Dianne Miller said.

Opening the Old Town Hall again aligns with one of the city's priorities, which calls for encouraging partnerships "that enhance the community's identity through public art, culture and historic preservation initiatives," Miller said. "Restoring Old Town Hall will ensure that our residents and visitors will be able to enjoy and learn about Eagan's past in a historic, engaging and hands-on environment for many years to come."

"From a historical perspective, the restoration is not trying to get every detail and every last screw head to be exactly as it would have been in 1914," Oliver said. "Instead it's to put it back so that it has the flavor that it originally had, salvaging as much of the original material as possible, at least in terms of the material that is visible to the visitor."

Changes made to the building through the years will remain, including several six-inch spikes hammered into a wall, Oliver said. The spikes held implements during a period when the Old Town Hall — its floor framing removed and front door replaced with a garage door — housed a city vehicle, possibly a snowplow.

"Things that have happened to the building since 1914 are considered by the Eagan Historical Society to be part of the building's history," Oliver said.

Despite the damage the fire inflicted, it also has revealed some original touches hidden under subsequent updates.

Among them is the 1914 interior paint scheme, which Oliver described as "a very earthen green color that would have been typical of the early teens and '20s." That color will replace the more modern sepia-toned paint now inside the building, and painters will work to replicate the visible brush marks and fabric texture of the original application.

"It's nice when you get to work on stuff that's a little bit outside the box, especially for things that people are emotionally attached to," Oliver said.