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MNDOT HISTORIC ROADSIDE DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES INVENTORY SH-ERC-028 CS 7101 Babcock Memorial Park (District Engineer), G. G. Gladman (Engineer of Survey and Design), C. L. Methuen (Assistant Construction Engineer), J. T. Ellison (Chief Engineer), and S. Rex Green (Engineer of Lands and Right-Of-Way). Between 1946 and 1948, the highway department constructed a rustic footbridge of heavy square timbers in Babcock Memorial Park, according to the Biennia/ Report of the Commissioner of Highways of Minnesota from Ju/y 9, 9946 to June 30, 9948 (1948:55). It is not clear where this bridge was located. It may have replaced the original timber footbridge across the drainage ditch near the southern end of the site. The Geological Society of Minnesota erected a marker in the park in 1953. `The geological marker was a metal plaque attached to a dolomite pedestal. The marker was removed fairly recently. (See marker text at the end of this document.) Babcock Memorial Park was named to commemorate Charles M. Babcock (1871-1936), who served as Minnesota's first Commissioner of Highways from 1917 to 1933 and who initiated the "Babcock Plan," which established the state trunk highway system. (See Additional Background Information at the end of this document.) ^ PREVIOUS SHPO REVIEWS A Section 106 review was conducted in 1998 in preparation for a Mn/DOT project to construct a new geological marker at the Babcock Memorial Park (SHPO Rev #98-1869). The review occurred while this Mn/DOT Historic Roadside Development Structures Inventory was underway, and a draft version of the inventory form was submitted to the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) as part of the review. In a letter to Allyson Brooks (Mn/DOT), dated April 27, 1998, Britta L. Bloomberg (MHS) concurred with Inventory's recommendation that the property is not eligible for the National Register (Bloomberg 1998). The documents that chronicle this Section 106 review contain a few items of correspondence. ^ STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Babcock Memorial Park, builf in 1938-1939, is a Rustic style roadside parking area with a complex site design. Babcock is one of only seven properties in this inventory that retain stone picnic tables and one of only eight properties that retain council rings. ~ Babcock is an example of the roadside development work of prominent landscape architect. A. R. Nichols. It is one of a group of Depression-era sites that represent the MHD's earliest roadside development facilities, and is one of 19 properties in the inventory that were built by the NYA in partnership with the MHD. This property has been evaluated within the historic context "Roadside Development on Minnesota Trunk Highways, 1920-1960." It is recommended that, despite the factors listed above, Babcock Memorial Park DOES NOT MEET National Register eligibility criteria due to loss of integrity. The study found that, while some structures (such as the council rings and stone picnic tables) are relatively unaltered, the property has lost many site elements and its overall landscape design has been altered considerably. 5