So You Want to Research a Local Building!
Follow the steps outlined here to track down the exact location of your building, along with the date it was built, the architect or builder, and other serendipitous information, like who lived there. Here are some big-picture guides to get you started. You should also take a look at the Designed Environment page for suggested books, journals, and other resources on local architectural history.
- Drafting a House HistoryA handy guide from the Northwest Architectural Archives that thoroughly covers the process of researching a house's history.
- Building and Site Preservation at Minnesota History CenterThis page of links about historic preservation in Minnesota includes a guide to researching property history.
- Resources at the Minneapolis History CollectionAmid the images, manuscripts, and other documents you can access at this valuable site is a guide to researching Minneapolis buildings.
- Saint Paul Public LibraryFounded in 1857, the capital city's library system has 13 locations. For historical research, the George Latimer Central Library in downtown Saint Paul has many on-site resources, including the city directories, where you can look up a house by address in, say, 1923, and find the names and occupations of the ordinary folks who lived in it. The library's Saint Paul Collection provides digital access to 1890s and 1920s atlases and plat maps, along with information about historic buildings, including images.
What About an Augsburg Building?
If you've chosen an Augsburg building as the focus of a project, that's wonderful!
You can use all the resources on this page ― but here are a few more Augsburg-specific ideas.
- Street addresses change over the years. Buildings get torn down, and the new ones built on their site may not have the same number. Furthermore, even street names aren't set in stone; on some early maps of Minneapolis, what we call 22nd Avenue South is “Elm Street.” So you might have to do some extra plat-map searching in the Augsburg blocks to find the right street address to plug into your building-permit search. For Augsburg buildings that are still with us, look at the campus map at http://www.augsburg.edu/about/map/ , and scroll down for addresses, e.g. "720 22nd Ave South" for Christensen Center. For those that have been demolished (and maybe replaced by new buildings), you will have to dig around a bit.
- For Augsburg as for other institutions, the city's Building Permit Index Cards (see below) can be somewhat, let's say, chaotic. Rather than maintaining a separate index card for each address, it is the practice to jumble all the campus buildings together on a single card, but not consistently. Persevere and you will eventually be rewarded.
- When it comes to images, the Augsburg Archives is a treasure-trove for online photographs of campus buildings. Go to the Archives’ Buildings page to search for downloadable images by building name, from Anderson Music Hall (built in 1978) to West Hall (built in 1874, torn down in 1948).
“Sepia Photograph of Old Main (1872–1848), circa 1872.”
Augsburg University Archives. https://archives.augsburg.edu/buildings
1. Nail Down the Address
Human beings have devised many ways over the years of describing where exactly, on the globe that is Planet Earth, a building is located. One of them is a street address; another is a so-called “legal address,” with a Property Identification Number that pinpoints the lot, block, and area. When you look up a building permit in Step 2, just knowing “the Smith house” or “Memorial Hall” is not going to cut it. These resources will help you get what you need.
- Find an Address on Google MapsYes, Google Maps are great for giving directions, but did you know this tool can give you street addresses too? Just enter the neighborhood you're looking for into the search bar, like downtown Minneapolis, zoom in a little or a lot, and then right-click on the place for which you want an address. From the dropdown list, pick What's here?, and Google will give you the address.
- Minneapolis Sanborn Maps at the Library of CongressThe Sanborn company published detailed maps of 12,000 U.S. cities and towns ― including Minneapolis ― for about 100 years, starting in 1866. Originally created for fire-insurance companies who needed to know, say, how many wooden structures were on a particular property, they are invaluable to today's historians. The maps, drawn at a scale of 50 feet to the inch, document changes in building and property use over decades. The Library of Congress is in the process of digitizing the whole collection of maps; this link will take you to the Minneapolis section.
- Saint Paul Collection at the Saint Paul Public LibraryThe Saint Paul Collection at the Saint Paul Public Library provides a wealth of sources on the city's history, both in person (in the downtown Central Library) and online. City directories from 1856 to 1922 can be digitally accessed here, as well as street atlases (detailed plat books) from the 1890s, and aerial photographs from the 1920s.
- John R. Borchert Map LibraryThe John R. Borchert Map Library, one of the largest of its kind in the country, serves the University of Minnesota community and the State of Minnesota, including the general public. They are physically based in Wilson Library, a five-minute walk from Augsburg's campus. Walk-in service is available ― check their hours first ― but appointments are required for in-depth research. For digital access, try the UMedia Archive link, which includes a collection of Minneapolis and Saint Paul maps and atlases.
- Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC)Get to know about Minneapolis culture and historic buildings, including 160 landmark sites and 15 historic districts. Search Minneapolis landmarks by address, neighborhood, architect, and more.
- Ramsey County Property MapA GIS map of properties in Ramsey County, which includes layers for historical aerial views, property records, and more.
- Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online (MHAPO)These digitized aerial photographs from all over the state of Minnesota ― 113,000 of them, organized by location and year taken ― are a great way to clarify changing land use through the decades. Zoom in and click on the dots!
2. Look Up the Building Permit
One of the Building Permit Index Cards for the Augsburg campus, showing the building permit pulled in 1901 for the construction of Old Main: permit number B-47979.
From the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
If it was built in Minneapolis after 1884, or in Saint Paul after 1883, there's a permit for it on file with a lot of information on it you can use to create a building history. Every time a building was constructed, plumbed, plastered, electrified, or demolished, the contractor or owner had to pull a permit and pay the city to inspect the work. Those permits were saved, and you can see them ― after a bit of digging.
- Minneapolis Building Permit Index CardsFrom the Hennepin County Library (formerly Minneapolis Public Library), thousands of images of the original Minneapolis building-permit index cards, which recorded the city-approved (“permitted”) work performed on Minneapolis houses and building from 1884 to 1972. These cards record much interesting and useful information about the history of a house or building, including original construction, additions, alterations, and repair work. Plug your address into the search box on the upper right. The results should include cards with that range of addresses. Click on the image that best fits your address, then scroll through the cards with the arrows; there may be several cards for a single property, and addresses change over the years. Note that you have to enter the street address in a particular order to get results ― e.g. “725 21st Ave S.” You can also download a PDF guide to interpreting a permit card from this site.
What's the Code?
Here is the full list for interpreting codes in the Minneapolis permits. Look especially for "B" (building, i.e. construction), "I" (demolition), and "E" (moving ― yes, houses were routinely moved from one address to another up to the early part of the 20th century, and sometimes even later).
- A – Building Permits (within the city's "Fire Zone")
- B – Building Permits (outside the city's "Fire Zone")
- C – Elevator
- D – Plumbing
- E – Moving
- F – Electric
- G – Steam & Hot Water
- H – Signs
- I – Wrecking
- J – Billboards
- K – Plastering
- L – Lathing
- M – Gas Burner
- N – Oil Burner
- O – Stokers
- P – Mechanical Warm Air (Forced Air)
- Q – Gravity Warm Air
- X – Street Use
- Saint Paul Building Permits at the Ramsey County Historical SocietyThe Ramsey County Historical Society is the repository for Saint Paul's building permits from 1883 to 1975. The collection is in two parts: index cards for building permits organized alphabetically by street address, and the permits themselves, arranged chronologically by permit number. You have to physically go to the RCHS Research Center (in downtown Saint Paul's Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th Street) to see them. Once you have tracked down a permit number via the index cards, a $5 fee is charged for viewing a permit, and there is a per-page cost for photocopying.
- Minneapolis Public Service Center KioskThe Minneapolis Development Review's Public Service Center, located at 250 S. 4th St. in downtown Minneapolis (kitty-corner from City Hall), offers a walk-in kiosk where you can look up Minneapolis property records, including building permits. You will need the building-permit number, which you can get from Permit Index Cards ― either on-site, or online at the Minneapolis History Collection.
- Northwest Architectural ArchivesLocated just a short walk away from the Augsburg campus in the Andersen Library of the University of Minnesota, this archive contains records from Minnesota architects, including Purcell, Buffington, Lundie, and many more. You must arrange an appointment before your visit ― there is nothing to browse there, and no walk-in service. Finding Aids contain biographical information and a guide to the collection and are available online. See the Using the Archives page for additional information.
3. Find a Newspaper Report
One great strategy to sort out building use is to search by address ― or building name, if you have it ― in old local newspapers. Buildings deemed important at the time will often have their groundbreaking or completion chronicled in the news; small-town or neighborhood papers might do the same for houses. They might also report when a new store opens, or there's a fire on the site, or some other building-changing event. It is not always easy to get digital access to newspapers published before the 1990s, but here are some places to start.
- Chronicling America at loc.gov ― Minnesota NewspapersChronicling America is a Library of Congress Website that offers information about historic newspapers, along with select digitized newspaper pages. This ongoing effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database, permanently maintained at the Library of Congress, is still being developed. This link takes you to digitized newspapers with “Minnesota” in the title. You can also go to the LOC Newspaper Directory to enter your own title search.
- Minnesota Digital Newspaper HubThe Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub provides access to Minnesota newspapers, including geographically and culturally diverse ones, published between 1856 and today ― with pre-1922 articles available on the Web. Because of copyright restrictions, you have to go to the Minnesota History Center Library, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., Saint Paul, to read newspaper content that's newer than that. Warning: this site can be slow!
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers at the University of Minnesota's Wilson LibraryLindell Library no longer has access to ProQuest Historical Newspapers, a national digital newspaper archive ― too expensive! But a short walk over to the Wilson Library on the University of Minnesota's West Bank, officially 309 19th Avenue S., gives you access to this and other university databases there. You have to sign in at the service desk (bring a photo ID) to get up to two hours of computer time per day. Once on a Wilson computer, go to their A-Z Database list to find ProQuest Historical Newspapers. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is fully searchable there from 1867 to 2001.
Is Your Building a Landmark?
Getting on the state or national Historic Register is a big deal for a building ― kind of like an architectural Academy Awards. If your building has been so designated, there is a wealth of information available to you about its history and design. These sites open the doors to that information.
- Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC)Get to know about Minneapolis culture and historic buildings, including 160 landmark sites and 15 historic districts. Search Minneapolis landmarks by address, neighborhood, architect, and more.
- Saint Paul Heritage Preservation CommissionThe Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) was created in 1976 to protect and promote the heritage of the city of Saint Paul. It serves as an advisory body to the Mayor and the City Council on municipal heritage preservation matters, working with property owners to ensure that the history of the community can be enjoyed for years to come. Scroll down the page for the agendas of recent meetings, often with specific addresses of the buildings discussed.
- State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)Are you researching a registered historic property, or part of a national historic landmark? Find out more about Minnesota historic preservation here.
4. Find Historic Images
Hall, Henry Benbrooke. 1979. “Cedar Avenue Near Riverside.”
Minnesota Historical Society. https://search.mnhs.org/
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a historic photograph of your building will save you a lot of writing. Searching at the sites below can yield images of thousands of buildings, including ordinary houses, that you can use in your paper or presentation. Note that many of these pictures are under copyright; to access high-quality digital images from the Minnesota Historical Society, for example, you need to purchase them. (For more about looking for pictures, see our Finding Images page; for documenting them, see Citation Help for Images.)
- Images of Buildings at the Minnesota Historical SocietyThe state historical society's digital collections. Here, you can limit by year, type of image (say, Photographs), and place (say, Minneapolis, or specific counties), and check the “digital image” option. Use the Search Term box to enter the name of a building or its street address ― or just the street name, like “Riverside Ave.”
- Minnesota ReflectionsMinnesota Reflections is a treasure trove of resources pertaining to Minnesota history. You'll find more than 52,000 images and documents from nearly 200 cultural heritage organizations across the state.
- Ramsey County Historical SocietyThe independent, nonprofit Ramsey County Historical Society, representing one of the three oldest counties in Minnesota, has more than 6,000 images online; go to their online collections database to jump in. Keyword searches by street names are a good way to start.
- Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online (MHAPO)These digitized aerial photographs from all over the state of Minnesota ― 113,000 of them, organized by location and year taken ― are a great way to clarify changing land use through the decades. Zoom in and click on the dots!
5. Research Residents, Architects, Builders
Finding out who lived in your building, or what businesses occupied it over the years, is half the fun! Dig deeper into the story, including more about the people who designed and/or built it, with these links.
Residents and Builders
Historic city directories, published yearly, are organized both by address and by residents' names. Look up your property's address to find out who lived there in a particular year, and what they did for a living. Or, if you know the name of your builder or architect, look them up and find out where they lived and worked.
- Minneapolis City Directories at Hennepin County LibraryA collection, browseable online, of Minneapolis city directories from 1859 to 1931.
- City Directories at Saint Paul Public LibraryBusiness and residential directories for the capital city from 1856 to the 1980s.
Architects
Minnesota architects get their due at these sites.
- American Institute of Architects (Minneapolis)Get inspiration from licensed architects, including “digital previews” from their award-winning magazine, Architecture MN.
- Northwest Architectural ArchivesLocated just a short walk away from the Augsburg campus in the Andersen Library of the University of Minnesota, this archive contains records from Minnesota architects, including Purcell, Buffington, Lundie, and many more. You must arrange an appointment before your visit ― there is nothing to browse there, and no walk-in service. Finding Aids contain biographical information and a guide to the collection and are available online. See the Using the Archives page for additional information.
- Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC)Get to know about Minneapolis culture and historic buildings, including 160 landmark sites and 15 historic districts. Search Minneapolis landmarks by address, neighborhood, architect, and more.
Other Historical Information
State and county historical societies publish magazines that often feature buildings and the people who created them.
- Minnesota History MagazinePublished by the Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota History offers full online access (PDF downloads) to articles about local history. Look for the keyword search box, or use the “Index by Topic.” The magazine is also available online through Lindell Library's subscription to JSTOR.
- Hennepin History MagazineThe Hennepin History Museum has published a journal covering many aspects of the county's history since the 1940s. The magazine is available in print from the 1990s to the present at Lindell Library, and in digital form from 1941 on at Hennepin County Library. You can also go to the museum's library, 2303 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis, to read it from the beginning; check hennepinhistory.org for library hours.
6. Create Your Project
The rest is up to you!