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Hermantown leaders discuss reconstruction of historic house damaged in plane crash

Oct 04, 2022 09:09AM ● By Content Editor
Photo: A home was damaged in a Hermantown plane crash. (Northern News Now)

By Briggs LeSavage - Northern News Now - October 4, 2022

Hermantown city leaders are discussing what to do after a historic home was damaged in a plane crash Saturday night.

Sadly, three people on board the plane died in the crash. The two homeowners, who were sleeping at the time, were not injured.

The home suffered serious damage.

The home was part of the Duluth Homestead Project, also known as the Jackson Project, which began in the 1930′s under the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“The building of the Jackson homes is one of those key central moments in our history,” Joe Wicklund, community director for the city of Hermantown, said. “There is certainly a limited about of them.”

The home, along with more than 80 others, was built just outside of the Duluth city limits.

The purpose was simple, to build modern yet inexpensive homes to relieve the shortage of affordable housing in the area during the Great Depression.

The history behind these houses run deep, especially for Delaine Carlson, whose mother-in-law was the original owner of the home.

“I’ve has a lot of Christmas times in there and these houses are built very well,” Delaine Carlson, daughter-in-law to the orginial home owner, said.

These houses were affordable and manageable for families in the 1930′s.

They are known to be the kick start of a new era for the Hermantown community.

“Without the Jackson houses that brought 180 kids into the community, we wouldn’t have a Hermantown school,” Carlson said.

However, this home’s uniqueness makes it difficult to repair.

The rare “buff brick color” and lack of current funding from the Jackson Project makes full reconstruction harder than imagined.

Especially when the damage is extensive, and since the home is on a register of historic places, it’s largely up to the city of Hermantown to decide what comes next

“Anytime there is damage or significant changeover in one of those, we want to be really sensitive to that because that’s a history you can’t replace,” Wicklund said.

Joe Wicklund, the community director of the city of Hermantown, said the history behind these homes is important to the town.

They want to be able to restore it to its original glory, but the ability to do so will be difficult.

“When you think about the full scope of what is possible and the reality of what we are dealing with at this minute, it’s tough to imagine, you know what it could look like after the fact,” Wicklund said. “The damage is so significant right now.”

They don’t plan to make any decisions until after the investigation into the crash is complete.


To read this original story and more news, follow this link to the Northern News Now website.


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