The Heritage Preservation Commission was created to help the city of Maplewood with its overall historic preservation goals. These goals include supporting the protection of the city's heritage by preserving, protecting, conserving, and wisely using the significant historical, cultural, architectural, or archaeological objects, structures, buildings, sites in the city.
The Maplewood area has a rich and interesting history - from the railroad shops at Gladstone to the farms along Carver, to the post-war housing boom. In 2014, historians from Thomas Zahn and Associates conducted a historic context study for the city.
The historic context study was funded by a grant from the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.