Minnehaha Academy prepares to reopen school destroyed by explosion

Nearly two years after a gas explosion tore apart Minnehaha Academy and killed two staff members, work to repair and rebuild the Minneapolis school is nearing an end.

Construction crews will spend the summer putting the finishing touches on the private school's upper campus, readying it for the start of the new school year in August. Staff members have already had a sneak preview of the building, which was designed to provide plenty of natural light and views of the nearby Mississippi River.

Donna Harris, the school's president, said the new building includes several features that incorporate Minnehaha Academy's long history, and are designed to provide a warm, welcoming environment for students and staff members.

In a central indoor commons area, topped with a skylight, workers recently planted two black olive trees. A platform built around the trees includes materials taken from the school's original 1913 building. Above the trees, the roof is held up by beams signed by current and former students and staff members.

"The beams suggest strength, and that's what our school has been about for over a century: a strong community of faith and relationships and collaboration and support," Harris said.

After the August 2017 explosion, students from the upper campus spent two years in a temporary space, a former college campus in Mendota Heights. But in late August, the school's approximately 380 high school students will be back in Minneapolis. For most, it will be the first time attending classes in that location. But the incoming seniors, who were freshmen in the year before the explosion, will be returning to a familiar place.

At the school's graduation ceremony, held this month, seniors received their own piece of school history: a brick from the original school building.

"We wanted them to have a memento of the place where they received their education," Harris said.

School officials plan to hold a "unity walk" between Minnehaha's middle and upper school campuses before the school year begins. Opening ceremonies will also include another big event: the opening of three time capsules discovered inside the school, including one that's more than a century old.

Erin Golden • 612-673-4790