New Ulm working to keep Hermann the German standing tall

NEW ULM, MINN. – For more than a century, Hermann the German has looked out over New Ulm from his hill atop the Minnesota River Valley, his copper sword piercing the sky.

But beneath the 28-foot-tall statue of the ancient Cheruscan chieftain is an aging base — a large pedestal with columns that sits atop a small museum damaged by water over the last 128 years. Leaks and falling plaster led to the 2018 closure of an interpretive center on the ground level and in time could destroy the structure from the inside out, city officials said.

Now New Ulm, a city that loves to showcase its German heritage, faces a monumental choice: either repair the base crumbling under Hermann’s feet or take it all apart and rebuild new.

The Hermann Monument is a symbol of the community’s German heritage as well as a tourist attraction that tens of thousands of visitors climb each year. At 102 feet, the structure and statue completed in 1897 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A yearly festival at Hermann Heights Park features German fare such as bratwurst, pretzels and beer.

“We need to continue to have Hermann on the hill,” said City Councilor Thomas Schmitz during discussions about the project, which could cost $10 million to $14 million and take years.

The ground-floor building has had structural problems almost since the beginning. Studies found the building and the columned pedestal above it — which visitors climb to get to the base of the statue for a panoramic view of the valley — has “significant evidence of water damage.”

Inspectors saw water leaking down the building’s central stone column and pooling at its base. That single column is crucial to the structural integrity of the monument, with no redundancy if it fails, according to a 2024 study by MacDonald & Mack Architects.

“They thought it was going to be a solution, but it turned out to be the opposite,” Schmitz said.

That failed repair led to many of the current problems, city officials said. In core samples, engineers found “evidence of extreme deterioration” and “numerous cracks in the weathered stone foundation.”

In 2018, the city shut down the interpretive center in the building. Schmitz, who was parks and recreation director at the time, said the city didn’t want anyone hit by falling plaster.

New Ulm officials have put a lot of time and money into considering whether to repair or replace the monument, Schmitz and other city officials said.

Repairing the structure would maintain the monument’s character. Reconstruction would involve taking the structure apart, seeing what’s salvageable and rebuilding it with new materials.

“Repairing and replacing each brick and putting them back was going to cost more money and more time than deconstruction and reconstruction,” Schmitz said.

Reconstruction would also let engineers properly install water barriers, the 2024 study said.

Minnesota’s State Historic Preservation Office recommends reconstruction over repair, a rarity for the agency. But it said the choice was “appropriate in this situation due to the extreme conditions” at the monument.

The agency’s blessing is crucial for the city’s bid for state and federal grants to save Hermann.

Whatever they decide, the statue will remain on view, city officials said. The plan is to remove Hermann from the top of the monument and put him somewhere accessible, City Manager Chris Dalton said.

MacDonald & Mack Architects is expected to finish its estimate of the cost of disassembling and reconstructing the monument in eight weeks. City officials will use that estimate to petition private donors and state and federal lawmakers for funding.

For residents like Joey Schugel, who grew up in New Ulm, the Hermann monument has been a constant presence, and it’s important to keep the statue on firm footing.

“I hope we get to have Hermann Monument around for another 128 years,” said Schugel, now the city’s parks and recreation director, “to be able to show off to New Ulm’s heritage and tradition.”