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Aerial photos provided by MA,c~HUF~
<br /> .. ;~. The 101-acre Krueger Tree Farm, about'three miles west of
<br /> the St. Croix River, was mostly surrounded by other farm
<br />1991 fields in 1991, although grading had been done in the area
<br /> that would become a Target-Cub Foods shopping complex,
<br /> across Hwy. 36. The home of Al and Elaine Krueger and
<br />their fields of trees were in the 64 acres along Hwy. 36. They and all of the pre-
<br />vious owners had preserved the 37-acre woods in the southern portion of the
<br />property.
<br />
<br />Decreasing farm acres
<br />Here, county by county, are the
<br />number of farm acres that were
<br />lost to suburban development
<br />between 1990 and 1996 in 14
<br />counties that generally are
<br />recognized as being part of the
<br />metro area.
<br /> Scott ~.
<br /> Hennepin ~
<br /> Anoka ~
<br /> Polk (Wis.) ~
<br />St. Croix (Wis.) ~
<br /> Dakota ~
<br /> Washington ~
<br /> Carver ~
<br /> Sherburne ~
<br /> Isanti ~
<br /> Wright ~
<br /> Chisago · 3,838
<br /> Pierce (Wis.) I :L709
<br /> Ramsey I ::L558
<br /> Total: ......... ;. &S~,T&5 acres
<br /> Source: Minnesota and Wisconsin
<br /> Revenue Depadments.
<br />
<br />partment expanded Hwy. 36 to a
<br />four-lane divided highway. The
<br />old road became the frontage
<br />road, which was torn up this
<br />summer to make room for anoth-
<br />er expansion of Hwy. 36 and for
<br />an expanded Hwy. 5.
<br /> The Kruegers knew their trees
<br />were more expensive, but they
<br />gave their customers service.
<br /> They wrapped the trees for
<br />people and tied them to the tops
<br />of their cars. They gave Tootsie
<br />Rolls to the children and tree or-
<br />naments to the parents -- small
<br />wooden birds one year, glass rein-
<br />deer another.
<br /> Nell remembers the hard work
<br />of taking care of the trees during
<br />the summer, "shearing" them with
<br />machete-like knives as they grew
<br />so they'd be the right shape at
<br />Christmas. "It was so tedious,
<br />dealing with the heat and the deer
<br />flies," he said. "Christmas was the
<br />high point."
<br />
<br /> Tree traditions
<br /> Christnms was \vhen
<br /> everybody came home
<br /> and the friends who had
<br /> grown up with the Krue-
<br /> gets came back for the
<br />
<br /> By '1996, the farm had been sold and sewer and water
<br />1996 lines had been run through the property to the new
<br /> Stillwater Area High School (1), permitting the construction
<br /> of streets and 77 homesites in the 37-acre woods (2) and
<br />to the Wal-Mart Store (3). The lines were also extended to the area where a
<br />Menards store (4) is currently under construction and to where a Rainbow
<br />Foods store and a strip mall complex (5) are being built. The Target-Cub Foods
<br />complex (6) north of Hwy. 36 in Stillwater had been operating for two years.
<br />
<br /> Westward expansion by S. tillwater, Oak Park Heights
<br /> As the population has increased, Stillwater and Oak Park Heights have steadily
<br />. moved their city limits westward through annexation.
<br /> · Stillwater will absorb 1,800 acres of Stiliwater Township by the year 2010. It can
<br /> go no farther west than Manning Road, the boundary for the city of Grant. T~e last
<br /> parcel to be annexed will be the lO0~acre Bergmann Garden Center, the family-run
<br /> farm whose annexation may be an echo of the urbanization of the Krueger Tree Farm
<br /> a mile away. But a city official said the Bergmann farm will not be annexed until the
<br /> family is ready to stop farming:
<br /> · Oak Park Heights can expand no farther westthan Manning Road, the boundary
<br /> for the city of Lake Bmo. Neighbors are fighting over a proposal that Oak Park
<br /> Heights annex 235 acres of Baytown Township between Hwy. 5 and the Lake Elmo
<br /> city limits. Eight landowners who control three quarters of the land want sewer and
<br /> water service, but 24 other owners want to preserve what is left of their rural '
<br /> neighborhood. Baytown Township also opposes the annexation and wants instead to
<br /> merge with Lake Elmo.
<br />
<br /> Stillwater
<br /> expansion
<br /> land
<br />
<br />MINNESOTA
<br />
<br />~' ~!,U Sfillwater Twp.. ~.,
<br />
<br />Grant
<br />
<br />Lake Elmo Twp.
<br />
<br />235 acres
<br />in dispute
<br />
<br />Oak Park Hts.
<br />
<br />Star Tribune graphic
<br />
<br />was starting to kill the trees closest
<br />to the road. Development was
<br />coming closer from Stillwater and
<br />from St. Paul.
<br /> ' Elaine said she cringed the da~
<br />she saw the farmhouse on 'the
<br />other side of Hwy. 36 being
<br />burned down for a new devel-
<br />opment.
<br /> "That was a really bad day for
<br />me. I knew ours would be next."
<br />That farm eventually became the
<br />site of a new Target and Cub
<br />Foods complex.
<br /> The Kruegers said the bell
<br />started tolling on their farm when
<br />the Stilhvater area school board
<br />decided in the late 1980s that a
<br />
<br />pie a day," Elaine said. And they
<br />didn't get just ham sandwiches --
<br />they got ham dinners.
<br /> In the 1980s the Kruegers began
<br />selling trees for hmdscaping in
<br />housing developments, com-
<br />mercial areas and new golf
<br />courses. The Kruegers' trees are
<br />everywhere. They line some of the
<br />streets in Stillwater. They are in
<br />Woodbury at the Wedgewood Golf
<br />Club. "And there are six right
<br />there," A1 said, pointing to a line of
<br />Colorado spruce in front of the
<br />house across the street from their
<br />new home in Stillwater.
<br /> Their tree farm became more
<br />and more popular as more and
<br />
<br /> new high school was
<br />............................................................................. ' needed because of all of
<br />The Kruegers "didn't know what to the people moving to
<br /> central Washington
<br />do .... They didn't want to fight county.
<br /> By 1990, school district
<br />the school.' officials were analyzing
<br />
<br />annual tree sale. Some
<br />who started working four properties. The Still-
<br />there when they were in -- Lee Ronning, Land Stewardsh~Project water Township Board
<br />grade school .returned .............................................................................. told them they couldn't
<br />every year right through have the favored site. So
<br />
<br />more people moved to the area,
<br />built houses, played golf and cel-
<br />ebrated Christmas. In 1988, they
<br />made a profit for the first time.
<br />Their business had nearly dou-
<br />bled since 1980.
<br /> The traffic on Hxw. 36 also had
<br />increased dramatically. Commut-
<br />ers were moving to Wisconsin and
<br />using HWY. 36 and the Stillwater
<br />bridge to get there. The exhaust
<br />from the passing cars and trucks
<br />
<br />by lune of that year, they were
<br />talking to lawyers for Violet Kern,
<br />the widow of Oscar (Bud) Kern
<br />and owner of 130 acres of land
<br />that was part of his great-grand-
<br />father George Kern's homestead.
<br /> "It was a matter of the school
<br />wanting that area," Violet Kern
<br />said. "I had the land and had to
<br />decide what to do with it. My hus-
<br />band always said it wasn't going to
<br />stay a farm forever, so I decided to
<br />
<br />college.
<br /> People were promoted through
<br />the ranks. They started by direct-
<br />ing cars to parking spots in the lot.
<br />Then they became "branch man-
<br />agers'' -- Al laughed -- in charge
<br />of cleaning up the branches. Some
<br />operated the machine that baled
<br />the trees into compact netting.
<br />Others were sales people. Others
<br />handed out the Tootsie Rolls.
<br /> "We fed them all, 30, 35 pco-
<br />
<br />subdivide. I figured my husband
<br />would be proud to know that part
<br />of the farm went for education
<br />purposes."
<br /> David Wettergren, the receptly
<br />retired school superintendent,'
<br />said the Kern property was choice
<br />because the price of $1.3 million
<br />was right, the highway system
<br />around it was good and the loca-
<br />tion was almost exactly in the
<br />middle of the district.
<br /> By July 1990, the district had an
<br />option to buy the Kern property,
<br />and it had a problem. The only
<br />way it could get essential sewer
<br />and water lines to the site was to
<br />have Oak Park Heights annex the
<br />400 acres between the existing city
<br />limits and the proposed school
<br />site.
<br /> But the city would not annex
<br /> the land unless the property own-
<br /> ers filed a petition with the Min-
<br /> nesota Municipal Board to seek
<br /> the annexation. Violet Kern, of
<br /> course, agreed. So did Elmer
<br /> Haase, who owned the land east of
<br /> the Kruegers.
<br />
<br /> Couldn't fight the school
<br /> That left the Kruegers. The un-
<br /> derground lines would run right
<br /> throUgh the middle of their farm.
<br /> Elaine remembers feeling "boxed
<br /> in" because she thought .if they
<br /> didn't agree to sign, the right-of-
<br /> way for the underground pipes
<br /> would be taken by eminent do-
<br /> main. So they signed.
<br /> Lee Ronning of the Land Stew-
<br /> ardship Project (LSP), a farm
<br /> preservation group, who talked to
<br /> the Kruegers about that time,
<br /> said: "They were bewildered.
<br /> They didn't know what to do."
<br /> The Kruegers, she said, "are
<br /> the kind of people you think of
<br /> when you think of good, hard-
<br /> working people. These wonderful,
<br /> kind people wanted to be good
<br /> members of the community.
<br /> They didn't want to fight the
<br /> school."
<br /> With the land across HWY. 36
<br /> already cleared for development,
<br /> the Kruegers and everyone else
<br /> knew that development would
<br /> follow the sewer and water lines
<br /> out to the school.
<br /> They were right. ^ Wal-Mart
<br /> store was built in 1992, when the
<br /> first sewer lines were put in, on
<br /> what had been the Haase farm.
<br /> Across Hwy. 36, construction
<br /> started on the Target and Cub
<br /> Foods complex in 1993. The city's
<br /> new water tower to serve the de-
<br /> veloping area was built on one
<br /> acre in a corner of the Kruegers'
<br /> land.
<br /> Seeing all that coming, A1 and
<br /> Elaine Krueger had to' decide
<br /> what to do.
<br /> As long as they operated the
<br /> tree farm, they would be protected
<br /> from increased property taxes and
<br /> assessments caused by de-
<br /> velopment. But if they sold, stay, I0
<br /> years later, they would have had to
<br />
<br /> Turn to TREES on A7
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