Trunks

In the historic district of Little Falls, Minnesota, along the banks of the Mississippi River, stands Trunks — a 17-foot communal bench sculpture that weaves together the intertwined histories of two industries that quietly built a region.

At the heart of the piece is the story of the Burton Family, whose home stands in the background of the installation. As the timber industry brought workers to the area, the Burtons founded a clothing company to meet their needs — a relationship between logging and clothing that, in turn, fueled the growth of the Twin Cities metro. Yet like so many rural communities whose labor and resources powered urban prosperity, Little Falls has rarely received acknowledgment for that contribution. Trunks makes that argument in steel and wood, insisting the story be told.

The sculpture is constructed from stainless steel, steel, and ash tree trunks salvaged from fallen trees in nearby Foley, Minnesota — materials that carry the weight of the landscape and its working history. The circular bench invites the public to gather, rest, and sit inside a piece of that history, 90 miles north of the cities it helped build.

Commissioned by the Little Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, Trunks is a meditation on rural identity, industrial legacy, and the quiet, often overlooked foundations of regional wealth.