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Being a native of Rushford, Minn., we had a similar situation. We had an old dilapidated two-story depot sitting on abandoned railroad tracks next to our fire station. A lot of people wanted to tear it down, but luckily my father, Alton Morken, an antique collector and local historian, saw the potential of saving a big part of our history and formed a group. They got the rights for pull-tabs at our local municipal liquor store for a few years, among other fundraisers, and restored it. Today it’s the hub of the Root River bike trail, half used by the DNR and the other half as a Rushford Museum.
People talk about opening up the view of the river — folks, you can’t see the river unless you’re standing on the levee system itself. As far as making more green space, we have Lake Park, Windom Park and Central Park just to name a few, plus without moving the tracks, which are said to cost millions, it’s a moot point. If you’ve ever boated on the river, you know that all the action is on the riverside of the levee, not the tracks side.
People want the Wilkie gone for some hidden reason from the public. They say there aren’t any plans, but I’ve read in the Winona Post, July 22 issue, the mayor commenting about the new four-lane bridge expansion. Quoting the article, he says, “I’ve got developers looking at certain areas down there (near the river) who don’t want to do anything until they know either.” He’s referring to the Wilkie area.
There is something brewing. They say we just would like to keep it open and people will flock to the cement area, just like the Third Street Plaza brought the masses to downtown — look how well that worked.
Don’t be afraid of those bloated city repair estimates, those are government figures. We all know how cost effective they are. We’re talking about a private endeavor here with volunteers and donations, you’ll be amazed how much lower the final tally will be.
I say restore the symbol of our summer celebration and embrace it, cherish it, let the tourists enjoy it, stain the riverside of the levee, power wash the stone walls and invite the river traffic in.
As far as its survivability, a couple of suggestions: Make the first floor a heritage museum, what better place or symbolic building than the Wilkie, or put a small bar on the main floor where river traffic will stop for a cold one, play a pool game, buy some pull tabs, maybe get a pizza a couple hundred yards to the left or sandwich and some ice cream 50 yards to the right? Rent out the second floor grand salon for wedding receptions at the going rate. What, $200 to $500 a night? Multiply that by eight Fridays and Saturdays a month for seven or eight months a year, that’s some real money for continuous maintenance.
It can be saved — or we can just tear it down, remove the no-wake zone area so people can just cruise on by. Without it symbolizing our river town heritage, along with the prior razed structures in our past, we can’t continue claiming to be “Winona — The River City.”
Bruce Morken lives in Winona.
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Steamboat Days existed long before the Levee and the Un-Boat wrote on Aug 14, 2007 7:48 AM: