Little Falls is not the only city fighting to save the home of Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous aviator who made the first solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927 who put the city on the map.
The Minnesota Historical Society announced last week that it plans layoffs and closing three historic sites July 1, including the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site, because of expected state budget cuts and the recession.
The announcement of the closure did not sit well with the community.
Famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's boyhood home could become a state budget casualty.
The Little Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau Tuesday started a Blue Letter Campaign. The tourism bureau has been making blue letters available to residents who can send them to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Al Doty, DFL-Royalton and Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. The letters ask that the officials work to keep the home open and highlight the site's impact on Little Falls.
Little Falls Mayor Cathy VanRisseghem, who also is the city's tourism director, said Wednesday the response to help keep the Lindbergh home has been unbelievable. VanRisseghem said she has been getting e-mails and phone calls from several Minnesota cities, including Willmar and the Twin Cities, concerned with the closing of the Lindbergh home. VanRisseghem said they've also received much support from as far away as LeBourtet, France, Little Falls sister city.
VanRisseghem said community members and business people have been requesting the letters and the tourism bureau has sent out more than a thousand letters. The goal is to send 5,000 letters.
"We have people walking door-to-door to hand out letters and we have tons of volunteers," said VanRisseghem. "This is how strongly people feel about the Lindbergh site. This site is a major draw to our area and we need to keep it open. If it would close it 'd be a loss to our history and heritage."
VanRisseghem said the letters must be at the state Capitol by Friday. She said the community wants legislators to know how much people support that the Lindbergh home stays open before they approve the state budget.
Anyone who would like to help with the effort to keep the Lindbergh site open can call the tourism bureau at (320) 632-6847 or Larry Sharon of the Friends of Lindbergh Heritage at (320) 749-2649.
The Lindbergh site includes a house that has a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, the aircraft that "Lucky Lindy" flew for 33-1/2 hours when he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone by plane. A brief movie provides an overview of the life of the aviator who later became an active environmentalist. The home features the original family furnishings and artifacts and there are guided tours that recount boyhood stories that Lindbergh shared with the Minnesota Historical Society before his death in 1974.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
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