A board will decide in May if an early 20th-century Lake Minnetonka barn will be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
The State Review Board will consider the Noerenberg Estate barn — one of five places being considered. The others are the Ely State Theatre, Worthington Band Shell, Nobles County War Memorial Building in Worthington and New Ulm High School. If approved, the nominations will be sent to the National Park Service to review.
The barn is one of few original buildings on the 73-acre estate, started in 1890 by Grain Belt Brewery founder Fredrich Noerenberg. It was built between 1910 and 1912.
"The barn is plainly distinctive not just for Orono [and] Lake Minnetonka, but for Minnesota," said Denis Gardner, National Register historian with the Minnesota Historical Society. "There used to be lots of these so-called gentleman's estates; a lot of wealthy families from Minneapolis used to go out there. There's none left that retain their historical significance."
KELLY SMITH
