HOMER, Minn. – The burghers of Homer, who number 180, will be voting March 12 on whether to spend $395,000 to restore the 103-year-old town hall or to spend $295,000 to build a new one. Put another way, the choice is $2,100 per capita or $1,600. The town, at the east outskirts of Winona, has been divided on the issue since the Town Board decided in 2023 to raze the current town hall, which earlier was a school house. Beleaguered by protests, the Board decided to hold a plebiscite. To accommodate what’s expected to be large turnout, the vote will be 8-1/2 miles away at a Witoka banquet hall. To antiquarian Jeanne Nelson, it’s not a matter of money. The issue, she said, is that the former school house is “a living monument” to Homer’s role in opening up Minnesota Territory to new settlement. Nelson noted that the town hall is within walking distance of the Bunnell House, built in 1857, and the Homer United Methodist Church, built in 1858.
Memories. Generations of Homer kids did their schooling here. Homer kids now are bused to Winona.