Morell Nichols papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: N79

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The collection is composed of original landscape architectural drawings, financial records (income tax returns, bank books, contracts), specifications, photographs and a small amount of correspondence. Included are landscaping plans for numerous colleges and universities of the Midwest, such as Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota), University of Minnesota-Crookston, University of Minnesota-St. Paul, and the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. There are also many plans for Morgan Park, an industrial residential development near Duluth, designed as a company town for U.S. Steel and Wire Co. (1914); Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery (Minneapolis) (1927-29); the State Capitol approach and grounds; and many industries, corporations, and private residences.

The collection also contains many volumes of surveyor's notebooks maintained by the firm throughout the years of its activity.

Dates

Creation: circa 1913-1960

Language of Materials

English

Restrictions on Access

The collection is open and available to the public. Advance notice is requested.

Restrictions on Use

There are no restrictions on the use of materials in this collection. Copies may be requested if the condition of the originals warrants it.

Biographical & Historical Note

Arthur Nichols and Anthony Morell began their partnership in 1909. Nichols, born in Springfield, Massachusetts on April 15, 1881, was the first graduate in landscape architecture from MIT (1902). He worked in the office of New York landscape engineer Charles W. Leavitt for seven years (1902-1909) before coming to Minnesota. While working with Morell, Nichols served as a consulting landscape architect for the University of Minnesota (1912-1944), the Minnesota Highway Department (1930-1940), and the Minnesota State Parks Department (1950-1960). He designed the site plan for the Capitol Approach in St. Paul (1944), the University of Minnesota's Northrop Mall, Cambridge and Willmar (Minnesota) State Hospital grounds, and numerous colleges in the area, including St. Catherine's (St. Paul) and the University of Minnesota's Duluth campus. Nichols retired in 1953 and died in Rochester, Minnesota, on January 23, 1970.

Morell was born in France as Anthony Urbanski and migrated to New York about 1904. He worked for Charles Leavitt as a landscape architect, where he met Arthur Nichols. The two men moved to Minneapolis and started their firm in 1910. In the 1920s, Morell served on the Minneapolis Planning Commission in the formulation of zoning ordinances and as secretary of the commission. He died in Minneapolis on October 7, 1924.

The firm became known as Nason, Law, Wehrman, and Knight after both of the original partners left the office. In 2004 the practice exists as Sanders, Wacker and Bergly, Inc..