OUR STORIES

Preservation is really about possibility. We often talk about historic places in terms of what they have been: who built them, what happened there, and why they mattered. But increasingly, at Rethos, we are asking another question: What could this place become next?

The most troubling part of the Lakeshore Arms debate with the Council is how quickly preservation was framed as being in conflict with housing. That framing may be politically convenient, but here it was deeply misleading. Lakeshore Arms is not vacant land. It is already housing.

At this Drinking in History, Rethos Executive Director Heidi Swank and Ari Fields, a member of the Walnut Steps Advisory Committee, will explore the Walnut Street Steps as more than infrastructure.

It is therefore understandable that the American public has reacted strongly to the demolition of the historic East Wing and to the proposed design for the yet-to-be-constructed East Wing ballroom expansion.

We began with a board–staff lunch, giving everyone time to connect informally before settling in for our annual Board Retreat at Landmark Center. The day concluded with our Annual Meeting, attended by additional guests from our community, alongside the full Board of Directors and staff.

The Walnut Street Steps project will be included among the City of Saint Paul’s priorities for the 2026 state capital bonding request—an important step forward in making rehabilitation possible.

In moments of heightened civic tension around immigration and belonging, Rethos is grounding the conversation in place: how communities form, endure, and adapt over time. Riverside Plaza offers a powerful lens for that reflection. Riverside Plaza: Cedar-Riverside’s Legacy of Community, History, and Resilience The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis is one of the Twin Cities’ most storied and distinctive places: a crossroads of culture, home, and community life shaped