Many Voices, One State
Building the next 50 years of the Minnesota Humanities Center
The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) is engaged in a Capital Campaign to raise $3.5 million to preserve and repair our home, an architectural landmark near Lake Phalen in St. Paul. This building provides a critical foundation that supports our statewide programs and impact.
Built in 1924 as the schoolhouse for the original Gillette Children’s Hospital campus, our building maintains an important place in the community as a center of healing and education. It serves as the heart of operations for our statewide programs and staff, and it’s home to a full-service Event Center that hosts 350 meetings and 10,000 people a year. The Event Center primarily serves nonprofits and government agencies, providing an affordable gathering space for these organizations to build and strengthen their missions and work.
Designed by locally-renowned architect Clarence H. Johnston, the building has many significant and unique decorative features, including delightful carved tiles and elaborate plaster sculptures. Learn more about this landmark which is on the local register of historic places. Because of its status, the building can’t be demolished. If MHC were not housed here, it would likely once again stand vacant and fall into disrepair which would be a detriment to the local community.
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The Need
The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) is engaged in a Capital Campaign to raise $3.5 million to preserve and repair our home, an architectural landmark near Lake Phalen in St. Paul. This building provides a critical foundation that supports our statewide programs and impact.
Built in 1924 as the schoolhouse for the original Gillette Children’s Hospital campus, our building maintains an important place in the community as a center of healing and education. It serves as the heart of operations for our statewide programs and staff, and it’s home to a full-service Event Center that hosts 350 meetings and 10,000 people a year. The Event Center primarily serves nonprofits and government agencies, providing an affordable gathering space for these organizations to build and strengthen their missions and work.
Designed by locally-renowned architect Clarence H. Johnston, the building has many significant and unique decorative features, including delightful carved tiles and elaborate plaster sculptures. Learn more about this landmark which is on the local register of historic places. Because of its status, the building can’t be demolished. If MHC were not housed here, it would likely once again stand vacant and fall into disrepair which would be a detriment to the local community.
We are deeply grateful to the following foundations and government agencies for their generous support of our building’s restoration:
- City of St. Paul Neighborhood STAR Program
- F.R. Bigelow Foundation
- Hardenbergh Foundation
- Katherine B. Andersen Fund of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
- Mardag Foundation
- National Endowment for the Humanities: Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grant
- The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
- State of Minnesota Bonding Appropriation
