The Minnesota State Historic Preservation Review Board on Feb. 7 voted to support the nomination to place the Minneapolis, Minn. golf course in the historic registry. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) praised the board’s vote. TCLF in 2022 stated it believed the course was eligible for this designation due its significance to African American golfers and felt the site was threatened due to plans to reduce the course from 18 holes to 9 holes. The nomination now goes to the Minnesota Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer.

The Minnesota State Historic Preservation Review Board on Feb. 7 voted to support the nomination for listing the Hiawatha Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minn. in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) praised the board’s vote. On March 1, 2022, TCLF stated it believed Hiawatha was eligible for this designation due its significance to African American golfers and felt the site was threatened due to plans to reduce the course from 18 holes to 9 holes. The foundation previously said Hiawatha was the first golf course in the upper Midwest to admit African American golfers in the late 1930s.

In March 2022, TCLF recommended that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) “retain a consultant who meets the Secretary of the Interior’s (SOI) Standards for Historian/Architectural Historian to undertake a more in-depth assessment of the landscape’s integrity and significance.”

TCLF reiterated this recommendation in its Feb. 3, 2023, letter to the State Historic Preservation Office. The MPRB did not do so. Instead, the Minneapolis-based Bronze Foundation commissioned the nomination, undertaken by Hess Roise, and Company, a Minneapolis-based historical consulting firm. The nomination was previously approved by the Minneapolis Historic Preservation Commission on Jan. 17, 2023.

“We’re pleased that the threatened Hiawatha Golf Course is one step closer to being [a] listing in the National Register of Historic Places, an action we first called for on March 1, 2022,” said TCLF President & CEO, Charles A. Birnbaum. “This nomination includes important information about Hiawatha’s historical and cultural significance that we believe is essential to any decision-making process about the course’s future. Moreover, it informs the conversation about Hiawatha’s future stewardship by providing a deeper understanding of its unique cultural value while also placing it within a greater regional and national historical context.”

The nomination now goes to the Minnesota Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. It would then proceed to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., which is expected to make a listing decision within 45 days of receipt of the nomination.