Two Historic Decorah Women Highlighted in National Listing

The Mott Building, now Impact Coffee

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has included Diderikke Brandt and Bertha Mott on its "1,000 Places Where Women Made History" website.  The nominations were submitted by the Decorah Historic Preservation Commission.

Bertha (Christen) Mott is significant for the founding of Mott's department store, where she was the first woman executive of a large retail center in Decorah. The Mott building, now Impact Coffee, has recently been restored back to Mott's 1925 renovation designed by local architect Charles Altfillisch.

Diderikke (Ottesen) Brandt is associated with the 1867 Brandt Parsonage, now the Luther College Campus House, where Brandt served during the college's founding years as mother, mentor, and teacher to the students of Luther College. The Brandt Parsonage is Luther College's oldest existing building and substantially retains its original historic character.

To read the full entries and see the accompanying photos, visit https://savingplaces.org/where-women-made-history#.XlQbKY7Yqlc and select "Iowa" as the state.