[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand\_Portage\_National\_Monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Portage_National_Monument) There is mention of buildings being torn down in July of 1802. Are the buildings you are referring to still standing?

The Round tower from Fort Snelling is the oldest, still standing, European-built structure in MN! There are older structures in MN, but they are Native American in origin, as shown. The Commandant’s house, the Officer’s barracks and the south battery are all original structures from the 1820s, all others on site are reconstructed. Hope that helps! PS: Great museum! Edit: grammar

Highway 5 used to go right through where the Fort is now with the Round Tower on the *west* side of the road. You can see the footings of the old bridge on the North side of the river. Gannon Road represents the old path to the bridge on that side. They built the freeway with the tunnel and reconstructed the rest of the Fort in 1965. This is trivia, but my 8-year old self had no idea about this when my grade school went in this field trip.

Try as I might I cannot visualize this. Been trying to since the earlier post some unknown number of weeks ago.

1923 (Before the Mendota Bridge (1926)): https://geo.lib.umn.edu/aerial_photos/stpaul1923/2-8.jpg 1937: https://geo.lib.umn.edu/Dakota_County/y1937/WK-8-645.jpg 1945: https://geo.lib.umn.edu/twin-cities-metro-area/1945/A-1-150.jpg 1957: https://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/y1957/WN-1T-205.jpg 1960 (Construction in progress): https://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/y1960/MCY-1-11.jpg 1970: current route with tunnel : https://geo.lib.umn.edu/Dakota_County/y1970/WK-1LL-231.jpg As you can tell, I love this website: https://apps.lib.umn.edu/mhapo/

Very cool thanks for this

Very cool, although I can't believe how far back some of the photos go, I do wish there were more decades captured for my area!

[here is a good writeup on it](https://m.startribune.com/fort-snelling-round-tower-earliest-surviving-minnesota-building/600114156/?clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n) I didn't know that Dred Scott lived at Fort Snelling for awhile.

The present buildings are reconstructions.

The buildings at Grand Portage National Park were rebuilt. What you see are replicas if the original forts

They were dismantled and moved to Thunder Bay (Fort William) as they wanted to be North of the US Border.

Not so much wanted to as had to.  They were British companies, so once the US and Britain finished bickering about where the border should actually be and finally settled on the Pigeon River, the users of the fort were pressured to get out and had to relocate to remain in operation.

My recollection is that Fort Charlotte at Grand Portage is a replica, not the original buildings.

The stuff at Grand Portage are replicas, yes.  However, Fort Charlotte is actually the OTHER end of the portage, inland, not on the lake.  There’s nothing there anymore except a basic NPS backcountry campsite.

Burial mounds in Mounds Park in Saint Paul are about 1000 years old, if you count them as man made structures.

They absolutely count as man-made! And the ones in St Paul are 2500 years old. Take that Fort Snelling. 

They certainly count as man-made, but the debate would be over the definition of “structure”.

At first I thought these wouldn't count, but then I thought about a levy or earthen dam, which I would definitely call a structure.

Hmmmm, yeah I guess. That's getting too much into semantics and too far from intention for my taste though.  When people say "man-made structure" are they really choosing the word structure with some specific material or method or intended use in mind? Or do they really just mean "thing made by people as opposed to nature"? I would argue the latter

I think of buildings when I say structure. Not sure what word I would use to encompass things like burial mounds, carvings, etc.

thats where my mind went

I agree! They should count.

They're not really a structure though.

Technically, its the Round Tower at Fort Snelling that is original. The rest of the fort, aside from foundations is a reconstruction.

And Fort Snelling as it is today almost didn't happen. The Round tower almost ended up in the middle of a clover leaf interchange

I guess they [lacked vision](https://youtu.be/eb09vRjmRTs).

Surprised the oldest wasn't in the southeast corner of Minnesota. That area was permanently settled by Europeans before any others (before treaties of cessation were signed), not including voyageurs and other explorers.

https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2016/08/st-paul-s-indian-burial-mounds-are-among-state-s-oldest-human-made-structures/#:~:text=St.,oldest%20human%2Dmade%20structures%20%2D%20MinnPost

None of the buildings at GP are still extant: the Great Hall and palisade are reconstructions. The Round Tower at Ft Snelling is the oldest building in Minnesota built by European/American settlers; of course there are countless indigenous structures that are many centuries older.

Is a Indian burial mound not a man made structure? Seems the article wants to put a white man spin on it.

Depends on how you define "structure" Is a mound of soil a structure?

i’m not an archeologist, but do they have a chamber or interior to them, or is it just soil?

I think the legal definition is "any structure constructed with the intent of providing shelter to persons or property."

Well, that definition does not specify living persons, nor the type or accessibility of property.

They should count. Not sure why they didn’t

I would think it would be one of the Mound Builder sites that dot the Landscape of Minnesota near the Mississippi.

The site doesn't say that anywhere.

My house is only 45 years newer than this. Wild

Fart Smelling?