For almost 30 years, the towering pole displaying the Stars and Stripes outside Richfield's American Legion was a monument visible up and down Portland Avenue. Ninety feet tall and weighing in at a couple of tons, it had been rescued from old Metropolitan Stadium after it closed in 1981.
Later this fall, it will fly the U.S. flag at a new home: the Minnesota Twins' new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis.
For the Twins, the nearly 50-year-old flagpole will provide a highly visible link to the team's past as the tallest of a trio of poles on Target Plaza, the main entrance to the stadium.
But giving up the giant flagpole was not an easy decision for the Minneapolis/Richfield American Legion Post 435, the largest post in Minnesota. Commander Craig Deneen said the post's 2,200 members had mixed feelings.
"It was a point of pride for us," he said. "There was a lot of opposition to [giving it up]. ... It was kind of a landmark in that part of Richfield."
In the end, the appeal of reestablishing the baseball tie -- along with some carrots the Twins offered in the form of a new flagpole and $10,000 for the post's baseball team -- won members over. "It's kind of a win-win situation all the way around," Deneen said.
Deneen said that after Met Stadium closed, someone at the post heard that the flagpole was available. He said the post paid $150 for the 100-foot steel pole, which was cut off at its base at the old stadium.
The huge pole was moved from Bloomington to Richfield at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning by two slow-moving trucks.
