Historic Contexts Study and Phase II Inventory (Downtown Elk River) 2022

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Chapter I Elk River Historic Contexts and Phase II Inventory Introduction This two-part study was commissioned by the Elk River Heritage Preservation Commission and the Elk River Housing and Redevelopment Authority in 2002. It was conducted by Carole Zellie of Landscape Research. The results of the contexts study will provide a framework for long-range heritage preservation planning in the community. The Phase II inventory will assist in current planning for downtown development. Report Organization Chapter I of the draft Historic Resources Study includes six Elk River historic contexts that analyze the historical and architectural development of the community. The contexts begin with permanent Euro-American settlement in the 1850s and extend to about 1950. Chapter II contains the results of the intensive survey of the downtown commercial area and an inventory map. Methods The research was based on a variety of materials including published histories such as N.H. Winchell's History of the Upper Mississippi Valley (1881), Edward Robinson's Early Economic Conditions and the Development of Agriculture in Minnesota (1915), historic maps, photos and aerial views, local newspapers, and federal census records. The files of the Sherburne County Historical Society provided much information compiled by local historians over the past eighty years. In addition to the Sherburne County Historical Society archives, the Minnesota Historical Society collections were a primary source of information. The City of Elk River also supplied information including base maps. Of interest for future research are various manuscript collections at the Minnesota Historical Society related to early Elk River families. They include the papers of Ard Godfrey, John Q. A. Nickerson, W.H. Houlton, and Charles Babcock. A general windshield survey of the City of Elk River accompanied the development of the historic contexts. Fieldwork in the commercial district included an inventory of historic properties within an area bounded by the Mississippi River at the west, Highway 10 at the east and south, and Quincy Street at the north. The study was conducted in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Historic Contexts Defined Historic contexts are part of the foundation for preservation planning, and assist in making decisions about planning, identification, evaluation, registration, and treatment of historic properties! Historic contexts provide a framework with which to evaluate the historic, architectural, and landscape architectural significance of inventoried properties. A property can be significant within one or more historic contexts. Properties grouped