The Sherburne County Historical Society is pleased to announce that it has received a $9,999 Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant.

This funding will be used to complete a historic building condition assessment, by a historic architect, for the Herbert M. Fox House, a National Register of Historic Places building located on the oak savanna prairie grounds of the Sherburne History Center in Becker.

The building needs restoration and repair and a historic buildings condition assessment will provide information and a priority list to create a phased building rehabilitation plan in the future - according to National Register guidelines. The condition assessment will be completed by June 2026.

The Fox House has a unique building style of vertical wooden planks as its only means of support, which is unusual in Minnesota and may be the only example of this building method. There are no studs or corner posts to hold the building up. The vertical planks fit into an indentation in the sill and the flooring on the second floor is attached to the vertical planks. Windows and doors were cut and framed after the walls were built.

This farmhouse was in the oak savanna area of Santiago Township, Sherburne County, until the land was incorporated into the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in the 1960s. Because of impending flooding, the Fox House was slated for demolition until the unusual construction method was discovered. To save the house it needed to be moved elsewhere and an application for the National Register of Historic Places was approved in 1981. The house was moved to where the Sherburne County Historical Society building was located on the edge of the City of Becker, near U.S. Hwy. 10.

When the new Sherburne History Center building was constructed in 2005-2006, the Fox House was moved to the oak savanna portion of the property and a new application for the National Register of Historic Places was approved.

The Sherburne History Center is located at 10775 27th Avenue SE, Becker, MN 55308 and specializes in the history of Sherburne County through museum exhibitions, a reference library, an archives and a Legacy Trail with historic structures. It is open Tuesday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Sherburne History Center is also currently showing the award-winning exhibition: Life on the Edge. For more information contact the Sherburne History Center at www.sherburnehistorycenter.org or (763) 261-4433.

Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are administered by the Minnesota Historical Society based on the recommendations of its Historic Resources Advisory Committee, a volunteer citizen panel made up of representatives of local, county and statewide historical and cultural organizations across the state.

The grants program is made possible by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008. The Legacy Amendment supports efforts to preserve Minnesota land, water and legacy, including Minnesota history and cultural heritage.