Blue Earth artist Ross Pollard unveiled the plaque that commemorates the history of the building that is now the Blue Earth City Hall during the first council meeting in the new City Hall.

Blue Earth’s new City Hall received the gift of history at the City Council meeting Monday night, delivered in the form of a commemorative plaque celebrating the building’s rich history as a bank and community cornerstone. Commissioned by Vi Anne Traynor, this plaque tells the story of the building’s history alongside a portrait of her grandfather, Karl Orlano (K.O.) Sattre, president of the Blue Earth State Bank, and a recreation of the building itself.

The text on the plaque’s engraving reads as follows:

“The red brick building on the corner of 7th and Moore, home to Blue Earth city government since 2025, was built in 1969 as an investment in the future of Blue Earth.

Under the leadership of President Karl Orlano (K.O.) Sattre (1892-1976), the Georgian Colonial structure was originally designed as the new home of the Blue Earth State Bank. Chartered in 1905, the locally owned bank operated continuously from its Main Street location for most of the 20th century. The Blue Earth State Bank was a home-owned bank focused on serving the needs of local residents, farms and businesses. It predated the era of corporate banking.

Recognized beyond the city for his banking acumen, Mr. Sattre was elected president of the Minnesota Bankers Association, served on the executive committee of the American Bankers Association and was named State Banking Commissioner by Governor Luther Youngdahl. Locally, he was active in many community organizations and served as chairman of the committee that led the development of St Luke’s Lutheran Care Center. His proudest accomplishment, however, was the construction of the building that now houses the municipal offices of the City of Blue Earth, his hometown.”

The idea behind this plaque started as a memorial to K.O. Sattre and his contributions to the city of Blue Earth, conceptualized and initiated by all four of his surviving grandchildren: Vi Anne Traynor, Karelyn Kark Lacher, David Sattre Kark, and Beth Christensen.

Traynor’s family grew up in Blue Earth back when the Blue Earth State Bank was still located at its original site on Main Street, where it remained for 65 years before its current location was constructed in 1969. This new location, at the corner of Seventh and Moore, is where it would remain for 10 more years of operation before being sold to the first of several privately-owned banks which would take up residence in the building in the following years. Wells Fargo was the last bank to occupy the building, eventually abandoning it and leaving the space vacant prior to its purchase and remodeling to serve as the new City Hall.

“We wanted to make sure people knew the building wasn’t built by a corporation, but by someone who cared for the community and its people,” says Vi Traynor. “Wells Fargo left the building with somewhat of a bad reputation, and we didn’t want that past to taint the history of a building which has served the Blue Earth community faithfully for so long.”

Along with Sattre’s contributions to Blue Earth, his legacy and dedication to community service is also present at St. Olaf College in Northfield. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award of St. Olaf College in 1966, and he and his wife are memorialized in the Karl Orlano and Ovidia Berg Sattre Scholarship, which is one of many endowed scholarships at St. Olaf. This scholarship’s purpose is to assist women  preparing for service occupations, such as teaching, social work and the ministry.

“My grandfather was a firm believer in women’s education, and dedicated that scholarship in memory of his beloved wife so that women could continue to pursue jobs in service, just as she did,” says Traynor.

Traynor commissioned the plaque on behalf of her family from local artist Ross Pollard, whose beautiful bronze plaques are well-known decorations found in several locations around Blue Earth: Foundation Park, the fairgrounds, the Blue Earth Historical Society, and the courthouse. Pollard is also well known for his work with plaster, which is his primary artistic medium for sculpture.

The process for creating the plaque started in Pollard’s studio, where reference drawings and photos were consulted while sculpting two separate bas reliefs – clay models set on glass to provide a flat background – of Sattre and the building. Once completed, the bas reliefs were then cast in plaster, assembled along with the text into a complete model of the plaque, and then cast again in rubber before being shipped off for its final casting in bronze.

“The foundry I worked with for this project was Casting Creations of Minnesota, based out of Huron Lake,” Pollard explained. “Once they received my rubber mold, they first made a cast using my mold out of wax. They then took that wax mold and coated it in a layer of ceramic, which was heated in their kiln to melt out the wax and leave the hollow mold behind – a process known as “lost-wax casting.” Finally, the ceramic mold was filled with molten bronze for the final casting, and the ceramic broken away after it cooled to reveal the finished plaque.”

Overall, the plaque’s construction took about four months from start to finish. The total cost for the plaque’s production was around $1,000, including the fees for professional casting, the engraving of the plaque’s base, and supplies for sculpting the mold.

“There’s actually a typo on the current version of the plaque,” Pollard confided. “K.O.’s name is misspelled as “Orlando” – it should be spelled Orlano. We’re working on getting that fixed before the plaque goes up.”

Traynor and Pollard were both present at Monday night’s City Council meeting, where the plaque was officially unveiled to the public and presented to the council as a gift for the newly-opened City Hall.