Owatonna Field Trip

 

Minnesota's only state-run orphanage (1886 - 1945) is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

Inside the museum there are three halls of artifacts and one of the cottages is open to give a glimpse of where and how the children lived.

 

 

Outside is a walking tour of the grounds and the cemetery where most of the children were buried with only a number as a marker.  In recent years, community members have gone back and made grave stones and markers to match names to those numbers.

 

 

 

Built from 1906-1908, the National Farmers' Bank is widely recognized as one of the premier pieces of "Prairie School Architecture" in America.

 

 

The most famous of all Louis Sullivan's banks, it is considered "a jewel box of the prairie", featuring gold leaf arches, stained glass windows, and nouveau baroque art designs. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and was commemorated on a United States postage stamp in 1981.

 

 

The city is full of great buildings like this one.

 

 

There is plenty of what some would call progress.  We thought this looked like the house trying to hold its ground in UP.

 

 

Coming back home through the cities, Dancer snapped this picture of the skyline.  It doesn't show well on here but, it was rather surreal with the setting sun illuminating the buildings.