Meetings of the Newport Historic Preservation Committee are cancelled until further notice.
The news comers as the City’s longtime preservation consultant, Robert Vogel, passed away recently.
Vogel was head of the Newport Historical Preservation Committee, earning a Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Minnesota in 1980 after post-graduate work at Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1978. He earned his bachelors in geography and history from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 1975.
Vogel’s professional experience after graduation included being “Principal Pathfinder with CRM LLC (Robert C. Vogel and Associates) at Spring Grove, MN, as well as preservation planner or consultant for the cities (by order of service) of Cottage Grove, Newport, Farmington, Edina, and Chatfield Minnesota. Additionally, he was Vice President and Senior Historian of Bear Creek Archaeology Inc. at Decorah, Iowa from 1989 - 1998.
Currently working at Newport, the city remembered Vogel in a post to its website.
“The City of Newport mourns the passing of long-time preservation consultant Robert ‘Bob’ Vogel,” it said in a post. “He as a fixture in Minnesota’s historic preservation community. Bob’s contributions to preserving Newport’s history were immense. He led our historic preservation committee since its creation over 30 years ago, developed management plans for our historic buildings, developed a Newport Heritage Landmark program, conducted a historic resources survey and inventory, gave numerous talks at the Newport Library, and and placed historical markers and signage throughout the City. He happened our efforts to conserve Newport’s history today and into the future. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Vogel family during this difficult time.”
Also serving as historic preservation in Cottage Grove from 1983 to 2002 and board chair of the Washington County Historical Society, Vogel left behind a large body of historical research work, including a Cottage Grove Comprehensive Cultural Resource Management Plan, for which he served as principal investigator. The plan traces Cottage Grove’s history in a typewritten fashion with visual maps, from early days to the suburban present.
During his life Vogel had professional associations with the Association of Iowa Archaeologist, Louisiana Historical Association, National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Organization of American Historians, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, and Society for Industrial Archaeology.
The author of over 40 peer-reviewed monographs, journal articles, chapters in books, and book reviews, Vogel worked on over 50 government agency preservation plans as well as historical structure reports, and was involved in numerous HABS/HAER/HALS documentation studies, making numerous local designations, National Register nominations and determinations of eligibility during his research work. This included over 200 National Register of Historic Places multiple property documentation forms.
A short summary of research work completed by Vogel with regards to Cottage Grove includes the following:
• “Survey of Historic Landscapes in Cottage Grove, Minnesota (published in 1991 by the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation),
• Cottage Grove History: A Palimpsest (published in 1997 by the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation)
• Perspectives in Cottage Grove History: The Mississippi River in Cottage Grove History. Down by Grey Cloud (published in 1989 in Issue Five of Perspective of Cottage Grove by the Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission).
• Survey of Ancient Native American Earthworks at the Lower Grey Cloud Island Locality in the City of Cottage Grove Minnesota (1991), and
• Grey Cloud Townsite (21WA48), Lower Grey Cloud Island, City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota (1996).
“I came to archaeology as a historian and geographer,” Vogel told an audience at Caledonia Wisconsin back in 2011. Thanks to his work, the residents of South Washington County upriver from there have a basis from which to better know their past.