City of Bowlus Raising Funds to Save Their Historic 1937 Village Hall

Over the weekend I had to make a trip up to Long Prairie, and took the route through Bowlus. I had to stop at Jordie's Trailside Cafe, and as I drove down the road towards the restaurant, I noticed a big sign outside of the village hall.

The sign read:

Help us preserve the old Bowlus fire hall. Our goal $55,000.

After my stop at Jordie's, I pulled over to investigate the fire hall further. I love old buildings and had to see what the city was trying to save.

The stone village hall was built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration which was an employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest years of the Great Depression. It put over 8 million Americans to work over the course of eight years. This Village Hall was actually named in 1939 as one of the most outstanding construction jobs in the state made by the WPA.

I did some digging online and found that this endeavor to save the building was started in 2016, and I found a group on Facebook called "Friends of the Firehall" that detailed the plan for the building. The goal is to turn the restored space into an exhibit about the history of Bowlus and its fire department.

If you are interested in donating to the cause, here is a link to do so at. I love seeing small towns in our area work together to save the buildings that built the town.