Sometimes, the mission is a staircase. A coalition of historic preservationists, parks advocates and private and public partners have banded together to launch an unusual fundraising campaign. The goal is to someday reopen St. Paul’s embattled Walnut Street stairway. The 170-step outdoor stairway connects historic Summit Avenue by the James J. Hill House — the former home of the 19th century railroad magnate — to Irvine Avenue below, but the stairs were officially taken offline in October 2020 after being deemed unsafe by the city following the collapse of a sizable section of a south brick retaining wall. On Tuesday, nonprofit historic preservation consultants Rethos, the St. Paul Parks Conservancy, the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation and officials with St. Paul Public Works jointly announced the start of a multi-year fundraising and community history campaign to get the stairway reopened. The partners plan to convene a small advisory committee by next spring. The committee will focus on collecting community stories and history related to the steps, while “identifying ways to integrate the stairway into the city’s broader network of parks and public spaces,” reads an announcement from the campaign. Part of the crumbling brick retaining wall bordering a large residential property owned by the Nicholson family first collapsed in 2004, triggering a legal dispute between the city and the family over who would cover repair costs. The city issued the Nicholsons a citation in 2008 and the wall was fixed, but the question of who would pay for ongoing upkeep remained unresolved. In 2013, Richard and Nancy Nicholson agreed to pay the city $82,000 toward $183,000 in maintenance costs, on the condition that the city maintain the public stairway and retain ownership of part of the brick wall. Around October 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, a section of the south brick wall collapsed, and the steps have been offline ever since. Storytelling sessions and an advisory committee Better days could be ahead. Led by Rethos as fiscal sponsor, lead fundraiser and project facilitator, project partners announced Tuesday they plan to host storytelling sessions and work with local historians and archives to “uncover the stairway’s rich history and its connections to surrounding landmarks” while exploring potential “integration with nearby parks and recreational spaces.” The St. Paul Parks Conservancy will help identify and secure grants. Heidi Swank, executive director of Rethos, said some of St. Paul’s earliest laborers worked on the large houses along Summit Avenue and likely used the steps to quite literally descend toward their home neighborhoods, by what’s now Interstate 35E. Some of those stories may yet be salvageable. “We can’t say for sure, but that’s what we want to learn. Everybody knows the stories at the top of the stairs, but we think there’s some really interesting stories at the bottom of the stairs,” Swank said. “Historically, highways have not always been built with the most foresight, but looking at the impact of the way the highway was put through there is important.” Capturing that history will be key toward applying for state and private preservation grants, she said. Swank said a full restoration of the Walnut Street staircase would likely cost at least $9 million, putting it out of reach of neighborhood fundraising efforts. “There’s some other options the city has laid out,” she said. “I get that people want to see the stairs exactly as they were first laid out, but I want to be realistic. To put in a metal staircase, and arrest the decay below it is like $6 million, and that estimate was from a couple years ago.” Community members interested in learning more about the project or applying to join the advisory committee can visit the Rethos website at Rethos.org.