American Legion Building, Moorhead, MN - WPA Projects on Waymarking.com

According to The Living New Deal the first American Legion Post No. 21 was started and completed in 1936. The building was designed by Allen Meinecke and George Carter, and Nels Melvey was the contractor in charge of the project.

According to the Clay County Historical Society (CCHS), it's Head Archivist and the July/August 2001 CCHS Newsletter the Melvin E. Hearl American Legion Post No. 21 building was built in 1936. In August of 1935 the federal government, hoping to help provide relief during the depression, offered to fund project in Clay County. The Melvin Hearl American Legion offered to put up the required local matching funds, as long as they received a long term lease to use the new building as a meeting hall.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) authorized Moorhead’s project, as long as most of the funds went not to material but labor, putting local men to work to support their families and bolster the local economy.

George Carter and Allen Meinecke, a pair of young Moorhead architects got the nod to design the building and oversee the project. To follow WPA the mandate to hire as many men as possible and keep material costs down the architects convinced some Sabin farmers to donate tons of field stone they had picked from their fields. Meinecke and Carter then taught workers the old art of cutting blocks from stones. Workers did not have to cut stones to a set size, as long as the blocks had square edges they could be set in the walls so the wall come out equal. As often happens with history, another source (Historical Map Works) tells a different story, citing field notes as saying "A local Moorhead contractor, Nels Melvey, directed the workers and demonstrated the stonecutting technique"

The Clay County Historical Societies Newsletter says this about the process; “The Federal Government provided goggles for eye protection, a blacksmith, and a forge. The smith was kept busy making and sharpening chisels. He made the chisels from discarded automobile axles which provided the hardest steel available.”
The officials at the WPA hired the two architects to design similar buildings across Minnesota because field stone concept fit with putting as many men to work as they could.

The building was finished in May and on 13 May, 1936 a cornerstone and time capsule was set by WPA officials and local dignitaries. The American Legion Hall had a reflecting pond in the front and a small zoo in the back. The reflecting pond was filled in with dirt shortly after construction was finished, there were concerns someone might fall in. For a time an artillery piece sat where the water feature had been. The zoo consisted of a circular brick cage with bars. People could also look down into the enclosure as the cage was built into the side of a hill. A bear, deer and other animals have been held in the pen.

The WPA cornerstone is located on the south face of the southeast corner of the building.

Link to another website highlighting this building's history: (visit link)

Project type: Government building (non-park) Date built or created: 1936 Location: On the banks of the Red River of the North City: Moorhead Condition: Pristine condition Website for additional information: [Web Link]

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