'RAMSEY COUNTY

A Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society

Winter, 1994 Volume 28, Number 4 4 1 9 4 0

Ramsey County History awarded AASLH Certificate of Commendation. A Ninety-year Run Giesen’s: Costumers to St. Paul—1872-1970 Page4

A St. Paul Civic Opera Company production of “Martha” in 1934. Left to right are Mary Wigginton, Bill Lee and Antoinette (Tony) Bergquist. Giesen’s was the official costumer for the Civic Opera. See the article about Min­ nesota’s first commercial costume house beginning on page 4. Kenneth W. Wright photo from Walter Berg- quist’s collection. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Famham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz

Volume 28, Number 4 Winter, 1994 RAMSEY COUNTY H IST O R IC A L SO C IE T Y BOARD OF DIRECTORS William S. Fallon CONTENTS Chairman o f the Board Joanne Englund 3 L etters President John M. Lindley 4 Giesen’s: Costumers to St. Paul—1872-1970 First Vice President Virginia L. Martin James Russell Treasurer 1 6 Growing Up in St. Paul A Grandchild’s Journey into a Swedish Past Sidney P. Abramson, Arthur H. Baumeister, Jr., Thomas Boyd, Marshall Hatfield, John John W. Larson Harens, Liz Johnson, Judge Margaret M. Marrinan, Dr. Thomas B. Mega, Laurie 2 2 What’s Historic About This Site? Murphy, Richard T. Murphy, Sr., Thomond The House Peder Foss Built In New Brighton —1896 O’Brien, Eileen Roberts, Darrell Rooney, Evangeline Schroeder, Jane Thiele, Richard A. 2 3 Books, Etc. Wilhoit and Laurie Zenner. Too Hot, Went to Lake, by Peg Meier Reviewed by Liz Holum Johnson EDITORIAL BOARD James J. Hill House, by Craig Johnson John M. Lindley, chairman; Thomas H. Boyd, Thomas C. Buckley, Charlton Dietz, Thomas Reviewed by Thomas C. Buckley J. Kelley, Arthur McWatt, Laurie M. Murphy, Dr. Thomas B. Mega. The Treasure Hunt by Roger Barr Reviewed by Richard T. Murphy, Sr. HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Elmer L. Andersen, Coleman Bloomfield, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported Olivia I. Dodge, Charlton Dietz, William in part by a gift from Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen Finney, Clarence Frame, Otis Godfrey, Jr., in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr., and by a contribution Ronald Hachey, Reuel D. Harmon, Robert S. from Reuel D. Harmon. Hess, Ronald M. Hubbs, Fred T. Lanners, Jr., Don Larson, George Latimer, Lewis Lehr, David Marsden, Robert B. Mirick, Samuel H, Morgan, Marvin J. Pertzik, J. Jerome Plunkett, Peter S. Popovich, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. Wozniak.

RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Thirty Down and Many More to Go Commissioner Hal Norgard, chairman Commissioner Diane Ahrens Commissioner John Finley ith this issue, Ramsey County History has completed thirty years of Commissioner Ruby Hunt Commissioner Warren Schaber Wcontinuous publication. Founded in 1964 as a semi-annual magazine Commissioner Brenda Thomas published by the Ramsey County Historical Society, Ramsey County History Commissioner Richard Wedell moved to a quarterly publication schedule in 1990. Over the years, it has Terry Schütten, manager, Ramsey County. served as a substantial source of information about the history, people, busi­ Ramsey County History is published quarterly nesses, important events, architecture and historic sites, economics and by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 philanthropy of Ramsey County for both local and national researchers and Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, readers. Twice, in 1967 and 1993, Ramsey County History has won a certi­ Minn. 55102. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright, ficate of commendation from the American Association for State and Local 1994, Ramsey County Historical Society. ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. No History for its outstanding quality as a historical magazine. Much of the part of this publication may be reprinted or credit for its sustained excellence is due to the work of its founder and only otherwise reproduced without written permis­ editor since 1964, Virginia Brainard Kunz. sion from the publisher. The Society assumes -John M. Lindley, chairman, Editorial Board no responsibility for statements made by con­ tributors.

2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY A Ninety-year Run Giesen’s: Costumers to St. Paul’s Families and Festi

Virginia L. Martin

t. Paul could not have seemed like a hospitable place to start a rental cos­ ness looked like a natural niche for Martin. tume business in 1872. Streets were packed dirt; sidewalks, where they But if the niche belonged to anyone, it existed at all, rough planks; the landscape bleak and unsoftened by trees. turned out to be Olga Hilbert Giesen, the tall, slender, determined woman Martin ButS beneath the city’s rather barren exterior, small shoots of Western European married in 1904. After their marriage, culture, carefully nurtured by immigrants from the old world, had begun to poke Martin and Olga managed the business to­ through the new world soil. gether until his death in 1943. Giesen’s No group was more assiduous in tend­ en’s Costumers remained a distinctly St. continued to be a vital part of theater life in ing its cultural gardens than the German- Paul institution. Generations of school the Twin Cities under Olga’s management, Americans. They formed about one-third children tmdged up its well-worn stairs to until the demands of the business and her of the residents of the city and were the be fitted for class play costumes. Local col­ own ill health forced her to sell in 1960. largest single immigrant group in both lege theater directors obtained beautiful She died not long after. Its final owners Minnesota and St. Paul. They had scarcely and sometimes prized garments for the ci­ kept it afloat until 1970, just two years unpacked when they began organizing ty’s annual Christmas Pageant. The Ord- short of its 100th anniversary. singing societies, German language ways and the Hills rented its costumes for Few records exist to tell us much about newspapers and Turnvereins. Friends balls and parties. Marie Giesen and why she founded the gathered in each others’ homes to play in­ And for eighty-eight years, it was a dis­ business. (Just before it was dissolved in struments, sing and to talk about music. tinctly family institution. Marie Giesen March, 1971, all the records were inex­ Out of these informal gatherings emerged managed it until 1901, when she turned the plicably burned.) The primary local histo­ organizations such as the German Reading business over to Martin, the youngest of ries of the day do not mention the Giesen Society, the Schubert Club and the Mozart her four sons, a frail child whom Marie costume business, giving only the usual Club. had “kept close to her.” No doubt the busi- obligatory nod to Marie as wife of Peter Giesen’s Costumers, the first commer­ cial costume business in Minnesota, par­ ESTABLISHED IN 1872 THE LEADING WESTERN HOUSE alleled this evolution. Marie Dreis Giesen started it, after years of unpaid costuming MARTIN GIESEN for many of the operatic productions of COSTUMES groups such as the German Society. In 1872, a year in which interest in German Theatrical and Masquerade theater was especially marked, Marie Giesen launched her business with twenty- Costumes, Theatrical Wigs, two costumes, apparently confident that Make-Ups, Etc., of All Kinds the city had enough cultural and social ac­ tivity to sustain it. Marie Giesen probably never envi­ Always in stock: Masks, Wigs and Beards, sioned the eventual success of Giesen’s in its heyday under the management of her Gold and Silver Lace, Spangles, son Martin, and his wife Olga. It grew into Grease, Paints and Make-up Boxes, the largest costume house in the Midwest Complete Costumes for Popular and one of the ten largest in the country. It Operas, Cantatas and Oratorios. probably had a larger opera wardrobe than any costume house outside the “Big 3” in 418 N. Franklin Street ST. PAUL, MINN. the East—Eave’s in New York City, Brooke’s and Van Home in Philadelphia. Giesen ad in the 1905 St. Paul City Directory The little Dutch boy holding out his volu­ No matter how large and well-known it minous trousers became a familiar trademark. From the Ramsey County Historical So­ was in its halcyon years, however, Gies- ciety collections.

4 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY ti v a is - 1872-1970

and mother of their four sons. Marie and her parents had come to the United States in 1850 when she was four­ teen. Her father, Joseph Dreis, had been an artist in Cologne, decorating castle and church walls along the Moselle and the Rl^ine rivers with oil and watercolor paint­ ings. The Dreis family settled in Chicago for four years before moving on to St. Paul. In 1860, Marie married Peter, a fel­ low German emigre. Peter Giesen, a bookbinder who had won exclusive rights to bind West Publish­ ing Company books, had started the move­ ment resulting in the organization of the Mozart Club and the building of Mozart Hall, which he owned at the time of his death in 1915. Mozart Hall was a multipurpose build­ ing. On its ground floor was a bar with a separate entrance, a kitchen, and a rath­ skeller that served light lunches. On this floor also was a formal dining room where St. Paul around 1870, just before Marie and Peter Giesen started their rental costume business. This is a view of Seventh and Jackson Streets. Illingworth photo, Minnesota guests could listen to classical musicians as Historical Society. they dined. The third floor of Mozart Hall was one large room that could be used ei­ ther as a theater or a ballroom. It was here Giesen. Early exhibiting a good cos­ was ostracized from the family.) that some of the operatic productions, of­ tumer’s traits, Marie had begun saving the Marie Giesen founded the business not ten featuring “Papa” Giesen’s singing and costumes from the German Reading Socie­ out of a desire to succeed in the business Marie Giesen’s costumes, were dis­ ty and German Society productions to use world, said Louise Murphy - and the Gies- played.* from year to year. In 1872, she bought ens did not need m oney-but to provide a Apparently costuming as a hobby and twenty-two masquerade and theatrical service to the cultural community. It is this raising four sons were not occupations costumes and launched Giesen’s Cos­ sense of mission, almost of a calling, that enough for the small, energetic Marie tumers as a commercial enterprise. underlies the Giesen story. It is no surprise to learn that Marie Historical accounts sometimes attribute Giesen was disciplined, no-nonsense and the business to Peter Giesen, a logical as­ *Emil Oberhoffer may have been the most somewhat autocratic. Although she was sumption to make, since women, especial­ illustrious o f these musicians. Oberhoffer, tiny, she could strike fear into the hearts of ly of the middle and upper classes, did not German-bom and trained violinist, was her grown sons. “When she spoke, they usually establish businesses. For its first the first director o f the Minneapolis (now ran,” said her granddaughter, Louise Gies­ few years, Giesen’s was a modest enter­ Minnesota) Symphony Orchestra, in 1903. He had been stranded in St. Paul when the en Murphy, in an interview with the au­ prise. The first mention in the St. Paul City company he was touring with went broke. thor. A devout Roman Catholic and a Directory for 1879-80, folds it into the In straitened circumstances, he performed woman to whom family ties were impor­ bookbinding business in this spare ad: tant, Marie was, apart from her unortho­ in restaurants and bars, apparently in­ Giesen, Peter J., cluding the Mozart Hall dining room, and dox occupation, a conservative woman. Blank Books and Costumes started a music school. (When one of her sons married a maid, he

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 5 In 1882, for the first time, the city direc­ tory acknowledged Marie Giesen as owner of the business, located then at 37 West Third Street. It moved briefly to 316 Wabasha and then to Mozart Hall, 410-418 Franklin, now the site of a union headquarters building on Main Street. It remained there until 1928. Mrs. Giesen founded her business on facts as well as optimism. The quality and extensiveness of entertainment in St. Paul was higher than might be expected in a frontier town. As head of navigation on the Mississippi, St. Paul had a reputation as a health and pleasure resort in the early 1870s and attracted troupes from theatrical cities such as St. Louis during the summer months.* St. Paul also had a “genteel” and “aristocratic personality,” thanks in part to early settlement by officials of the old fur trading companies and other emigrants from the Eastern seaboard and from Eu­ rope. “Moral” questions besieged theater in Minneapolis long after they were settled in St. Paul where Sunday theater perfor­ mances had been the norm since 1871. Much early theater was provided by tour­ ing companies, although some stock com­ panies existed. Giesens’s drew other cus­ Peter and Marie Giesen. Peter, a bookbinder who won exclusive rights to bind West tomers from schools and amateur theater Publishing Company books, also helped organize Mozart Hall, which he owned at the and opera groups, and some business came time of his death in 1915. Minnesota Historical Society photo. from other events and celebrations that re­ quired costumes. Henry Villard, president of the Northern ing implements of their symbolic trades) mong the upper classes in these Pacific, a monosyllabic General Ulysses and such geographic entities as “Colum­ Aleisurely years of the late nineteenth S. Grant, and two delegations of distin­ bia,” “Germania,” “Britannia,” the cities of century, masquerade balls, costume par­ guished Germans and Englishmen. Bunt­ St. Paul and Portland, Oregon; and the ties, and even “costume lunches” were ing and flags hung from nearly every avail­ railroad itself in the form of “the goddess popular forms of diversion. Christmas able building surface, light pole, door and of the Northern Pacific,” were tableau brought demands for Giesen’s beautiful window. Decorated arches with different highlights. Santa Claus and Kris Kringle suits and themes sprang up all over downtown. Un­ The Winter Carnival, established in costumes for holiday pageants. der the Grand Triumphal Arch the celebra­ 1886, was St. Paul’s response to Eastern When the Northern Pacific Railroad tion reached its climax with speeches, pa­ charges that Minnesota’s winter was in­ completed its link between Minnesota and rade and a tableau. clement. City leaders decided to celebrate Montana in 1883 with the driving of the The tableau apparently was a triumph, the cold and snow in sports events, pa­ golden spike, St. Paul threw a spectacular if the sometimes overwrought prose of the rades, and the construction of an ice pal­ party heralding the waves of prosperity the newspaper accounts can be believed, ace. Mythic figures of winter and spring, railroad link would bring. President thanks in part to the skills of Marie Giesen light and dark, symbolically battled for su­ Chester A. Arthur attended, as well as and her “sewing women,” who had been periority in this festival. Royalty, float working “day and night” to complete the riders and other carnival participants had costumes, according to the St. Paul Pi­ to be costumed. One memorable year the *In 1872, thirty-six legitimate theater per­ oneer Press. “Flower-throwing maidens” horses drawing the sleigh of King Boreas formances were held in St. Paul and in the tossed flowers at distinguished guests. were led by six white “polar bears” and two next season, it was increased to fifty-two, Women were costumed to represent little polar bear cubs, one of whom was according to Frank Whiting’s history. manufacturing and agriculture (and carry­ young Martin Giesen, later owner of

6 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Giesen’s. chorus of the 1895 production of “Czar and most like a carpenter’s apron with pockets. There is no way of knowing to what ex­ Zimmerman” (“The Czar and the Work­ Her clothes were always shot through with tent the costume business contributed to men”), in which Peter and his son Adolph needles and pins, her graying hair pulled the Giesens’ comfortable state, but they had lead roles. The successful perfor­ back into a bun from which, in the course flourished. They were affluent enough that mance of this opera led Peter to form the of a busy day, strands would now and then Peter Giesen commissioned St. Paul ar­ Mozart Society. escape. chitect Albert Zschoke to design a home in Olga Hilbert and Martin Giesen com­ Although the gilt-lettered name on the the fashionable Dayton’s Bluff section of plemented one another. Their marriage door read Martin Giesen’s Costumers, it St. Paul, already home to a large commu­ nity of German-Americans. Completed in 1891, the three-story red stone Queen Anne house still stands, an imposing house on a hill overlooking the city. TheGiesens, including three of the four sons, moved in. However, they lived in the house for a rela­ tively short time for such an ambitious pro­ ject. In 1907, the Giesens sold the house and the family moved to a more modest house, closer to the business, at 184 Summit.*

oth business and family life were al­ Btering for the Giesens in the early 1900s. Marie was in her sixties. The sons were carving out their own careers as ac­ countants, bookbinders, clerks. Martin, less robust than the other sons, began to learn the costume business in earnest in the early 1900s; in 1901, he was its manager. In 1903, when she was sixty-seven, Marie The house Peter and Marie Giesen built in the fashionable Dayton’s Bluff neighbor­ turned over the business to Martin. This hood, home to a large community of St. Paul’s German-Americans. The house still decision might well have been precipitated stands. Photo from the author. by Martin’s forthcoming marriage to Olga Hilbert in 1904. Olga Hilbert was the daughter of was a happy one, no less because it was the was to Olga that knowledgeable theater Nicholas F. Hilbert, a civil engineer, and melding of two distinct personalities who people turned when they walked up the Louise K. Hilbert, and one of four children brought entirely different gifts to their un­ stairs to get costumes. Martin may have that included Otto, Emil and Emma (who ion and to the business that they operated helped bring in customers, but it was prob­ renamed herself Marguerite and then together. Martin Giesen, a gentleman and ably Olga Giesen who brought them back. Jane). The Hilbert and Giesen lives a “gentle, good old soul,” was handsome, She was a tall woman with a commanding crossed in more than one way. Olga and dapper, and always perfectly dressed. In presence. You always knew when she was Martin were both in the German Society one hand, he always held a cigar, made es­ in the room, Max Metzger, a musician pecially for him. He got on famously with with the St. Paul Opera Company and theater people and loved to get behind the founder of St. Paul’s Opera Workshop, *There would have been plenty o f room, counter and sell makeup and accessories. recalled. She looked so much like Eleanor even if they had all moved in with family He concentrated on men’s costumes and Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin and an entourage o f servants. The house formal wear- Giesen’s was the only place D. Roosevelt, that she could have played has an expansive, open, wrap-around that rented men’s tuxedos and morning the part in a movie, said Clarence Jacobson porch with classical columns, a solarium, coats at the time. He also handled all the (“Jake”), who worked for Giesen’s on and and a comer observation tower crowned financial aspects of the business and could off for about ten years beginning in the by an octagonal spire above an open, bel­ often be found at his stockbroker brother frylike observation porch. The first floor mid-1920s. alone is nearly 2,200 square feet. The Adolph’s office. Marie Giesen and her daughter-in-law house is large enough that, for a number of Olga Giesen had no interest in what she were alike in many ways. Although both years before its present owners bought and herself wore, at least when she was work­ had conservative facets to their personali­ began rehabilitating it, it was an apart­ ing. She usually wore long, dark dresses ties, they were unconventional enough to ment building with seventeen units. over which she wore an apron that was al­ found and manage a business. They were

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 7 hardworking, organized, efficient and dedicated women who seemed to consider theater and opera costuming a calling. They both tended to work behind the scenes, letting their husbands occupy cen­ ter stage.

lthough neither Martin nor Olga had Aformal training in theater, music or art, both grew up in homes where such cul­ tural activity was encouraged and ap­ preciated. Olga and Martin may have met when they were both singing in the Ger­ man Society Chorus. Martin grew up in a family in which everyone played a musical instrument and cultural events were part of ordinary family life. He graduated from Mechanic Arts High School in St. Paul. Olga did not go beyond eighth grade. Al­ though perhaps not formally schooled in the arts, she was no novice to either the arts or the business world: she had been a buyer of notions and trimmings for the St. Paul department store Field Schlick and Com­ pany. Martin and Olga learned about costum­ ing on the job and from Marie Giesen, from books and magazines, and through research in the St. Paul Public Library. They subscribed to theater magazines and had them bound and indexed them so they could readily put their hands on informa­ tion about almost any opera or play. They bought books - some of them valuable and expensive because of the engravings and illustrations-picturing dress from earlier eras. Their library represented a complete and detailed history of the American stage since the early 1900s. It was considered outstanding nationally, Louise Murphy remembered. “[Olga] broke into [the business] pretty well cold,” Jacobson said. “She made a The Northern Pacific’s Willard Arch in its 1883 celebration in St. Paul upon completion quick study of everything. . . . I don’t of its link between Minnesota and Montana. Marie Giesen and her “sewing women” think [Giesen’s] would have gone any­ worked day and night to complete the costumes. Minnesota Historical Society photo. where without her. . . . She was a per­ fectionist.” “She knew her costumes, she knew the­ another matter. “Mother couldn’t sew,” it, and sometimes she’d say, ‘No, I don’t ater, and she knew people,” said Mabel said Louise Murphy. When she wanted to like that as well as I like this.’ She had her Meta Frey, for thirty-four years head of create something new, “she would visual­ own way of doing things. the speech and theater department at the ize the costume she wanted, then draw a There is no question that Olga Giesen College of St. Catherine. “I found her a picture of it. Robbie [Minnie Robinson, was the dominant force in the Giesen busi­ great friend. She had a hearty laugh and her chief seamstress] would cut a pattern ness. Martin was quiet, although gregari­ she was good company. I was never and make that costume. Sometimes she ous and approachable, and content to let bored.” would costume a production much as a Olga “be the boss.” Pleasant and likable, Translating her ideas into costumes was magazine or book in their library depicted she could be stem, and was “quite positive

8 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY in what she was talking about,” said Jacob­ who takes a motoring holiday, the Giesens tume business. son. Louise Murphy called her mother often threw costume parties at home. Al­ “It was the place where my mother “Mrs. Take-Charge,” and Jacobson added, though they were not “society” people, worked. I didn’t like it,” she said flatly. But “Mrs. Giesen wasn’t one to let go of any­ Mrs. Lucius Ordway and others who she also found a few silver linings in the thing. . . . Nothing went on there with­ were, were occasional guests at the Giesen business, especially after she grew older. out her knowledge,” a trait he found ex­ home. Business and pleasure mixed when “Robbie [the seamstress] would always asperating until Olga learned to trust him guests included people like Leo Kopp and give me the fabric that was left over from to use his own judgment. Phil Fein from the St. Paul Civic Opera. making costumes . . . I always had the As with any family-owned business, Once, the entire cast of “The Miracle” best-looking doll clothes. I got all the silk the lines between business and home life joined them for dinner, devil and all, and satin and every once in a while there’d sometimes blurred. Martin and Olga lived Louise Murphy recalled. Bea Baxter, the be a maribou boa. . . . After I got older with the elder Giesens in the Summit Ave­ “home ec lady” on KSTP radio, and radio and went to school, . . . my friends nue house. Within walking distance, down announcer Brooks Henderson were fre­ were fascinated by [the business]-going the hill, was Mozart Hall and the Giesen quent guests at the Giesens, as were Clar­ in and trying on wigs and things like that.” business. Major events in the Giesen- ence Jacobson, their employee, and his It was a place to bring friends, to fantasize Hilbert family were often eerily paired, friend, Herb Gahagan, who later became a how one might look wearing a long green and this was true in 1915. Peter Giesen successful professional set designer. velvet gown and a blonde curly wig. died late that year, but not before he had a Despite the fact that Louise Murphy’s Almost immediately upon Martin and chance to meet his granddaughter, Louise childhood was spent in a well-populated Olga’s accession to the business, a new Marie, Martin and Olga’s only child, bom household of extended family, nannies and vigor appeared to take hold. A photograph in 1915 when Olga was thirty-five. maids, she grew up a lonely child. As a of a Dutch boy in wooden clogs holding out The younger Giesens lived with Marie youngster, she took a dim view of the cos­ his voluminous trousers became a familiar Giesen until 1923 when they bought a home of their own at 1540 Lincoln. Even then their extended family continued to be an integral part of their life. “My Grand­ mother Hilbert lived with us as long as I can remember,” said Louise Murphy. “When we moved from Grandma Giesen’s, there was much sadness, but we needed a house.”

he Giesen-Hilbert family was still Tvery much a part of the German- American cultural community that had helped spawn the costume business. When Max Metzger and his mother, Madie Metzger Ziegler, emigrated to St. Paul from Germany in 1932, they were quickly drawn into the community. The Metzgers were not only professional colleagues but frequent guests at Giesen parties. For years, German was the predomi­ nant language spoken in the Giesen house­ hold. Everyone spoke German to Grand­ ma Hilbert, and Louise Murphy (who spoke nothing but German until she was four or five) read the Volkseitung, a Ger­ man newspaper, to her grandmother. The Giesens had a maid, Lisa, who spoke only German, and later hired as maids young German twins who stayed with them for years. They were a sociable family and the house was often full of friends and family, music and laughter. Like the bus driver Olga and Martin Giesen after their wedding in 1904.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 9 trademark. The directory ads for several and sometimes the scene and act, and send years bore this legend: “The Leading them off in big slatted wooden crates lined Western Costume House”-no idle with newspaper (newsprint did not rub off boast-and “Established in 1872” ap­ in those days). Productions could be huge, peared above the business’s new name, and Giesen’s would sometimes ship eight Martin Giesen Costumers, followed by to ten crates for a single play. “It’s surprising how much stuff it takes Theatrical and Masquerade Costumes, to have a good costume house,” said Jacob­ Theatrical Wigs, Make-Ups, Etc., of All son, who should know. He discovered Kinds. Always in stock: Masks, Wigs and Giesen’s as a theater-struck teenager. For Beards, Gold and Silver Lace, Spangles, ten years on and off after graduating from Grease, Paints and Make-up boxes, Com­ high school in 1925, he worked for Gies­ plete Costumes for Popular Operas, Canta­ en’s. He helped Giesen’s move twice, from tas and Oratorios. Mozart Hall to Fourth and Market in 1928, It was “a wonderful magic place,” wrote and then from Fourth and Market to 207 Gareth Hiebert, in his “Oliver Towne” Midland Building at Sixth and Wabasha. column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “a And he helped Giesen’s take its first inven­ house of real make believe” despite its tory. He estimated that Giesen’s had utilitarian “warehouse” look softened only 25,000 to 30,000 costumes in stock in the by a few decorative welcoming touches: A mid-20s. Inventory was a long, hard tedi­ grinning clown that became the Giesen Olga Giesen in 1913. ous job because they had so many items. logo, a small doll dressed as a medieval herald in tights and tunic, and a huge mar­ lown costumes, costumes for Turkish ble and gilt rococo mirror at the head of the Charem dancers with see-through pan­ well-worn stairs to the second floor where taloons (undergarments came with them), Giesen’s sprawled over the entire floor. cowboy outfits, standard Halloween fare Here was the counter where Martin Giesen of gypsies, pirates and skeletons, red vel­ presided for nearly thirty-five years, jok­ vet and felt “Coca-Cola” Santa Claus and ing with customers, selling them makeup Kris Kringle suits trimmed with real rabbit and finding the correct tuxedo. fur, an Indian headdress made in Red On racks near the counter hung the Wing by a Native American (using real ea­ costumes that were going in and out that gle feathers, legal then), King Arthur, day. On the floor lay costumes, crates and Zulu tribesmen, Hebraic gowns, Cleo­ trunks all marked “Martin Giesen patra costumes, Cossack uniforms, Orien­ Costumers, St. Paul.” In a less romantic tal, biblical, Victorian, and European Me­ mood than in his earlier column, Hiebert dieval costumes, animal costumes with later described the shop as looking “a little cloth bodies and paper mache heads like a rummage sale all the time.” representing wolves, tigers, gophers, don­ Two or three salespersons were always keys, cats, elephants. on the floor, helping customers select the F. Scott Fitzgerald once rented a camel costume from Giesen’s for a party - he was right costume, selling makeup, taking and Louise and Olga. Both photographs are filling orders, checking costumes in and from Louise Giesen Murphy. the rear. (“Scott wrote a story about that out. Beyond the counter was a large room party. It opened in our shop,” said Olga where two or three seamstresses worked, Giesen.) chief among them, Minnie Robinson, a most mail orders, the local drama teacher “They had an enormous collection of mainstay of the business along with Jacob­ or stage director would take measurements footwear—cowboy boots, Venetian shoes, son and Georgiana D. Glaser, a clerk and and send them to Giesen’s, and the staff Puritan shoes and they would costume all-around assistant. would measure and match and alter and from head to toe . . . and from inside Giesen’s provided costumes by mail all modify costumes to characters, sizes and out,” said William (“Bill”) Sowden, one of over the country. “There wasn’t a day that colors when possible. “That man’s a the last owners of Giesen’s. Giesen’s also went by that Olga didn’t have three or four blond,” Olga Giesen would say. “He wants had enormous collections of beautiful wigs orders from outside St. Paul,” Metzger a blue coat, not a red coat.” for character parts, real hair wigs, wigs recalled. Giesen’s became the third largest The staff would pack up the costumes made of yak hair, imported wigs by fa­ mail order house in the United States, with accessories for each character, put­ mous [European] makers such as Hepp- sending costumes from Montana to Texas ting paper in between each full costume, ner, wigs for Santa Claus outfits, and white and hundreds of places in between. For labeling each with the character’s name “Marie Antoinette” wigs.

10 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Uniforms? Just name the war, said Jacobson. “We had loads of authentic Civil War uniforms,” and he told a story about one of them. One Memorial Day, the Civil War veterans were gathering for a parade in front of the Capitol. One old man walked into Giesen’s and said, “I’d like to march with the boys, but I haven’t a cap. I thought you might have one you could lend me. Olga Giesen had just recently gone to New York where she had purchased a con­ signment of twenty genuine Civil War caps. She showed the man to the case in which they were kept, picked one up and handed it to him to try on. He looked in­ side, was startled, and looked again. He knew the name stenciled inside the crown. Tears sprang to his eyes. “This is the cap of my old buddy in the war,” he said. Olga Giesen told him to keep it. Going to Giesen’s was “almost like go­ ing to a museum,” said Don Stolz, owner, director, producer and manager of the Old Log Theatre in Minnetonka. Olga Giesen had some costumes that were not really costumes, but authentic garments. “She had things that were old, old, old. . . . I always felt she had things hidden away that she would dig out if she thought there was a special reason for doing so.” “Giesen’s always had more ‘prizes’ than we did,” said Wayne E. Murphey, retired vice-president of NORCOSTCO (North­ padded, but many of them had real gold had belonged to Geraldine Farrar, the western Costume Company). Like many belting and other decorative work. “They Metropolitan Opera diva, “including a other American costume businesses, Gies­ wore like iron. We still had a few pieces long cape lavish with cut jewels that en’s had emerged from the traditions of the nearly 100 years later,” said Murphey. weighed a ton,” said Sowden. state-subsidized European, especially “Farrar was just a little thing,” Jacobson German, theater and opera houses. One here were a number of authentic gar­ recalled. “She was so small I don’t know costume NORCOSTCO bought before Tments in the Giesen collection: a how she could walk on the stage with it. Giesen’s folded still had the label indicat­ fourteenth-century Ming costume, au­ Mrs. Giesen prized that and seldom rented ing it had once belonged to the German thentic Mandarin gowns, said Sowden - it out.” Another memorable Farrar cos­ State Opera. Giesen’s also had enormous “beautiful pure silk, all gold embroidered, tume was a sea green silk chilfon Empire collections of European-made helmets and all silk embroidered, vivid, vivid greens style dress with a long green velvet train crowns. and reds and yellows and blues - blue upon that Louise Giesen Murphy once modeled “Many Giesen costumes came out of the blue”. There were Russian uniforms of at a National Costumers Convention. opera houses of Europe, because there Persian lamb fur, and “breathtaking” The Farrar costumes came into the were materials and braid and detail that I Colonial and French Empire collections. Giesen collection through another mem­ just don’t think Olga’s people had the ex­ “When I say collection, Fm not talking ber of the Giesen-Hilbert family, Jane Hil­ pertise, the skills, or the time to create,” about one or two or half a dozen bert, Olga’s sister. She had made her ca­ said Bill Sowden. Costumes in the early [costumes], but I’m talking in terms of thir­ reer on die other side of the theatrical cur­ twentieth century were “built,” padded, ty to sixty, or even more,” Sowden con­ tain on Broadway and knew Farrar. A tall, somewhat preshaped so that they almost tinued. There was a set of real brass armor beautiful, elegant woman, Jane was cut stood on their own. The singer or actor that Giesen’s never rented out, military from the same cloth as Olga. At a time stepped into the garment and little fitting uniforms and a costume the magician when most women were expected to mar­ was necessary. Not only were they heavily Blackstone had worn. Several costumes ry, stay home and raise their families, both

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 11 Olga and Jane cultivated demanding a job. She lied about her age and got a job careers. They were determined women, as a china buyer with the J. B. Hudson who seldom let the boundaries set by socie­ Company in Minneapolis, undoubtedly ty get in their way. impressing the people there with her ele­ Jane was seventeen and attending gance and bearing. Woman’s College near Baltimore, near the turn of the century, when she scandalized lga and Jane shared other traits be­ her family by going off alone to New York Osides determination and unconven­ City to break into theater. She wrote of that tionality. Neither was a particularly nur­ event: turing woman, said Louise Murphy and Louise’s daughters Mary Jane Murphy Dix That 17th summer I went to New York and and Patricia Murphy. Tante had a wonder­ got a job in the cast of “Runaway Girl.” It ful imagination and would spend hours opened and closed the same night in New playing “Mrs. Pumpernickel” and other Haven. But it led to a role with the darlings fantasy characters with Louise under of the [Flora Dora] Sextette that became a Grandma Giesen’s grand piano. by-word on the American stage. And still “Tante was the showman and Mother sends gray heads of today into happy medi­ was the behind-the-scenes person,” said tations upon the joys of their youth. Louise. Patricia Murphy remembered No doubt Hilbert determination as well Olga Giesen as being a “very orderly per­ as talent and beauty played an important son. She wasn’t cold and she was always part when Jane beat die odds and became glad to see us, but you always knew there one of the original members of the Flora was much business going on in her head. Dora Sextette on Broadway. She also per­ Tante was . . . the flighty one who formed on London, Berlin, and Paris would take you to Como Park in her red stages. Buick convertible with the white interior.” Jane led a glamorous life in New York, Another family member even more attending parties hosted by “Diamond Jim” closely allied with costuming was Emil Brady, very nearly marrying Jerome Hilbert, Olga’s brother. Martin and Olga Kern, driving to Harvard football games in had established Emil in Minneapolis Cos­ a horse and carriage. She knew Irving Ber­ tume in the Radio City Music Hall on lin, George M. Cohan and Ethel Barry­ LaSalle and Eighth Streets in the 1920s. more, and sent her niece autographed pic­ The Hilberts and Giesens might have tures of people like Sophie Tucker, in­ dominated the costume trade in the Twin scribed to Louise Marie. Jane had a Cities for years, but Hilbert was not a suc­ cessful businessman. He went bankrupt in longterm relationship with a New York Marie Giesen about the time she and Pe­ stockbroker, who, it turned out, was mar­ ter started their costume rental business. 1943 and Giesen’s absorbed what was left ried. Here is Jane’s account of meeting Minnesota Historical Society photo. of his stock-and Emil. He worked at him, as she recalled it for Gareth Hiebert: Giesen’s until Olga sold it in 1960. Although costume houses sometimes One night at the famed Racquet Club in New eight-carat amethyst. look “like rummage sales,” an underlying York I met a young man who persuaded me Jane never married, and after her return organization prevails. No doubt Martin to invest my life savings in the stock mar­ home in 1925, she helped care for her ill and Olga Giesen valued Clarence Jacob­ ket. . . . Well, actually, I never turned a mother Louise Hilbert. She moved in with son in part because of his ability to help cent of my $1,200 over to him . . . I got Olga and Martin, and had a room built up­ bring order into the complex costuming cold feet the next day, but he called to tell me stairs for herself. Always known within world. In helping with their inventory and he’d bought that much stock in my name on the family as “Tante,” the German word two of their moves, Jacobson created margin and I’d already made more than for aunt, Jane gave Martin $1,000 (a tidy miniature cardboard floor plans that $3,000 profit. . . . To make a long story sum then) so she always would have a showed each fixture and indicated where short, that $1,200 parlayed into $50,000 place to live. She performed with the every type of costume and accessory was and then I sold . . . And with $25,000 Wright-Huntington Players at the old to go. He also helped Giesen’s organize the took my mother from St. Paul to Europe and Schubert Theatre (now the World Theater stock so that every item had a label with a kept the rest. in downtown St. Paul) for one season. Al­ number. Hiebert added that she had at least one though she came back to St. Paul well off, Giesen’s huge stock came to it from a other souvenir from that financial coup: a thanks in part to her investments, she later variety of sources. A few garments, proba­ ring with an eight-carat diamond and an lost some of her money and decided to find bly only for display in later years, survived

12 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY from the earliest days of the business. Civic Opera staged “Carmen,” Giesen’s no, you’re not.’ I’d bring [the singers] up Others may have been brought to America provided 214 costumes, including some there and they’d give them full britches, by affluent German immigrants. Peter and worn originally by Geraldine Farrar when boots, the whole ball of wax.” Marie had brought back costumes from she sang the title role, and some newly Olga and Martin Gieser. were gener­ European trips, and Jane Hilbert, on her created. When the company did “Madame ous. “When Shipstads and Johnson were tours of the European stages, frequently Butterfly,” Olga had a friend living in starting out with their Ice Follies,” said bought costume items for the Giesens. Al­ Tokyo send her authentic and expensive Louise Murphy, “they came to Daddy and though Olga and Martin never went scarlet kimonos and a pair of delicately said, ‘We’re going to need costumes and abroad, when they did travel they were al­ embossed lady’s sandals. we have no money. Will you trust us?’ and ways on the lookout for costumes and ac­ Giesen’s was the official costumer for Daddy said ‘Sure.’ ” Martin and Olga lent cessories, said Louise Murphy. Olga the St. Paul Civic Opera, and Phil Fein was them the costumes and Shipstads and John­ bought authentic garments and accessories one of the Opera’s stage directors who son paid back every c e n t-“and of course in Los Angeles’ Chinatown when she and gave Olga a free hand, Max Metzger you know what success they went on to.” Martin went to Alaska and then traveled recalled. Olga and Martin, and Olga alone down the West Coast. She bought Indian after Martin’s death, attended all the com­ ax Metzger remembered that when­ garments and “gorgeous” feather head­ pany’s dress rehearsals. If Olga saw any­ Mever he consulted her about an op­ dresses during a trip. thing awry that she could not fix on the era workshop, Olga would ask what he had Olga Giesen prided herself on having scene, she would either send Martin back in his budget for costumes. “And I’d say, just about anything anyone wanted, and to the shop to get replacements, or she ‘Under $25 at the moment.’ ‘Don’t worry she bought things on the chance she might made notes and brought them over herself about it,’ she would say. ‘What do you someday need them. When the Strauss and the next day. need?’ And afterwards we’d get a bill and Warner hat people of St. Paul went out of Metzger remembered Olga in a heated maybe it would be $10. Sometimes she’d business, Olga bought plumes and discussion with a director over costume make barely enough to pay for the feathers, birds’ wings and birds’ heads that details at a dress rehearsal. The director drayage.” were used to adorn modish women’s hats. thought the costumes were fine exactly as No one was a bigger beneficiary of Olga Years later, Sowden recalled finding they were. Olga did not. The stage director and Martin’s generosity than the St. Paul this cache: “There were [milliners’] dove said, “I like them this way.” Olga said, Roman Catholic schools, high schools and wings and heads, walls lined with them “Well, I don’t, and they’re my costumes.” colleges, especially St. Joseph’s Academy that Olga had bought. That’s the kind of Metzger added: “I remember one time she and the College of St. Catherine, Louise multiples you’d find everywhere.” walked right down the aisle . . . and Murphy’s alma mater. Giesen’s always Despite their enormous stock, Giesen’s stopped a dress rehearsal,” not intimidated gave them substantial reductions in their had to create new costumes from time to in the slightest by the entire board of direc­ costume rental fees. time. Like most costume businesses, Gies­ tors attending the rehearsal. Olga Giesen applied that missionary en’s would make a masquerade costume Although Martin did most of the men’s zeal to the annual Christmas Chorale Pag­ only if they could profitably add it to their costumes, it was Olga who saw to it “that eant, held from about 1939 to 1979 on the stock. Jacobson remembered an “Indian” the jabot was the right lace and that the pin first or second Sunday in Advent to herald costume specially made for a well-known that went with the jabot was there-the de­ the Christmas season in St. Paul. Olga St. Paul sausage manufacturer who hosted tail was always hers,” said Louise Mur­ Giesen brought out prized costumes for a huge annual Halloween party. Made of phy. “Daddy would lay out the men’s stuff, this event that she seldom lent to anyone white flannel decorated with fringes and and then she would say, ‘Now you need else. beadwork, accompanied by a “great, big, such and such a shoe, such and such a pair For many St. Paulites, the pageant was beautiful Indian headdress,” it became a of stockings, and buckles for the knee a major holiday event. People often had to party favorite. pants.’ ” be turned away because the St. Paul Au­ The same criterion was not applied to “She spent a great deal of time select­ ditorium was filled to its 12,000 capacity. creating new opera and theater costumes, ing . . . the right thing, the right acces­ Its cast and choirs were drawn from Prot­ where a full production usually meant sories, everything,” said Stolz. “She al­ estant and Roman Catholic churches, pub­ making new costumes. That was invaria­ ways wondered what they were going to lic and parochial schools, businesses, col­ bly true when the St. Paul Civic Opera put on their feet.” leges, civic, fraternal, religious and secu­ Company, active between 1933 and 1957, “You didn’t wear your own black lar institutions in the area. * mounted its productions. For Giesen’s, it shoes,” said Metzger. “Sometimes I’d *One reason for the pageant’s success was come up and tell her we were doing an op­ was full circle back to its operatic roots. that the St. Paul Pioneer Press cospon­ Giesen’s supplied all the costumes, occa­ era workshop but we didn’t have much sored and subsidized it, in cooperation sionally-as with many costume shops- money, and I’d say, ‘I’m going to have the with the Women’s Institute. Bernard H. sub-renting an item from another Twin fellows wear their own dark pants, their Ridder, the newspaper publisher, and his Cities business or, more rarely, from a own shoes, their own shirt, and maybe I’ll wife, Agnes Ridder, took personal interest New York City house. When the St. Paul just rent uniform coats. ’ And she’d say, ‘Oh in it.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 13 train would be ablaze with light. “I tell you, hope to turn it over to our daughter it would be astounding,” said Sowden. Louise.” However, Louise had other ideas. She or Olga Giesen, the event, like the St. had intended to be a drama teacher, but FPaul Civic Opera productions, was a gave that up when she learned that she personal one. One year Mabel Meta Frey, would have to teach literature as well as di­ who always coordinated the tableau, told rect plays. At St. Catherine’s, she learned Olga she was considering giving up her about makeup, skills she put to use now work on the pageant. Olga admonished and then for Giesen’s. On one memorable her: “Do you realize that’s the only Christ­ occasion, she was hired to apply makeup to mas some people get?” Ms. Frey con­ the legs of costumed ice skaters for an ice tinued. show. The skaters stood on a table, rotat­ Long before the holiday season winds ing as required, as she stood on the floor. down in the Twin Cities, St. Paul Winter “All I saw for two hours was legs, legs, Carnival preparations have begun in ear­ legs,” she said. nest. For years, Giesen’s made the king’s Instead, Louise went into radio. Bea robe and the queen’s dress and robe and Baxter, of KSTP Radio, hired her for her many of the costumes for lesser royalty morning program. It was here that Louise and common folk. Costuming parade par­ met Bob Murphy, a well-known radio per­ ticipants for Minnesota’s January weather sonality, whom she married in 1941. Two was not easy, especially before lighter years later, in 1943, the National Broad­ weight “miracle fabrics” were invented. casting Company lured Murphy to Chica­ Heavy wool and sheer bulk kept out the go, where he became nationally known.* cold. Gowns for queens and princesses, as Geraldine Farrar, costumed for “Carmen,” well as every other kind of costume, had to ajor events seemed to happen in around 1910. Minnesota Historical Socie­ be made to go over big snowsuits and Mpairs in the Giesen-Hilbert family, ty photo. somehow still suggest sexiness and and it was true in 1943. In the same year glamour. that the Murphys moved to Chicago, Mar­ After the springtime demand for tin Giesen died after a two-year illness. He Giesen costumes literally shone in the costumes for school plays and formal wear was sixty-nine. tableau depicting the story of the birth of for proms, a slack time followed, inter­ Olga ran the business alone now. Wil­ Christ. Students from all four area rupted for a few weeks by the Minneapolis liam (“Bill”) Giesen, her nephew, the son colleges—Macalester, Hamline, the Col­ Aquatennial in July. In slow times, Jacob­ of Adolph Giesen, kept the company lege of St. Catherine and the College (now son and Georgiana Glaser would open up books. Emil Hilbert still worked for her, the University) of St. Thomas-played the drawers and shake out, brush and neatly but was frequently ill. At home, Jane Hil­ parts of Mary, Joseph and the angels; pas­ replace stock. bert was a mainstay for Olga, who con­ tors from local churches played the Wise While the costume business has its tinued to manage the business with her Men. The finale was so dazzling it brought glamorous moments, costumers and their usual flair, dedication, and meticulous­ tears to people’s eyes, Bill Sowden families also know about the sixteen-hour ness, but the business had begun to change recalled. days, the nights spent crating up costumes and she was getting older and somewhat Accompanied by Bizet’s “March of the until 1 or 2 a.m. so they can be shipped at frail. Then she became ill. Martin Giesen Three Kings,” the Wise Men, bearing gifts daybreak, the frenzied days and weeks Costumers was still elegant, but a little and followed by train-bearing pages, around Halloween when costume shop frayed and tired. would proceed slowly down the center employees seldom touch home base, the Although the St. Paul Civic Opera com­ aisle of the Auditorium. Their gowns were exhaustion of packing up all the costumes pany was neither frayed nor tired, it finally velvet, lined with silver, royal purple, and on the last night of a play’s run and getting succumbed in 1957 to the perpetual lack of scarlet satin, trimmed with ermine, silver them back to the shop—sometimes un­ funds. Virginia Hardin Olson, a singer and gold. Sometimes one of the kings wore packing them that same night. with the opera company, remembered that the cape that Geraldine Farrar had worn Louise Giesen Murphy knew about it. Olga was no longer replacing costumes in for her role in “Tosca.” Made of pure silver She helped out during summer school lame threads interspersed with gold thread breaks, when her parents were ill, or busi­ *Bob Murphy’s NBC shows included the sewn in scrolls and adorned with hand- ness was heavy. She followed family tradi­ “Bob and Kay Show, ” a noontime talk and sewn Bavarian diamond and sapphire crys­ tion by majoring in drama at the College of interview show, and the “Morris B. Sachs tals, this was one of the prized garments St. Catherine, but tradition stopped at the Amateur Hour. "He was the announcer for Olga seldom rented out. The powerful costume house door. “When we retire,” Alex Dreier on the morning news and for klieg lights would shine down, and the Olga said in a newspaper interview, “we Don McNeil’s popular “Breakfast Club."

14 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY the company’s last years. She turned away business because she could not handle it, said Wayne Murphey, and NORCOSTCO was the reluctant beneficiary. ‘Towards the end,” said Max Metzger, “we would tell [Olga] what we’d need, and she’d say, ‘You know where they are. Pick out what you need.’ The costumes were already in shambles.” Giesen’s had performed an important service in the cultural life of the communi­ ty. Olga wanted to see it continued, and she tried hard to get someone to take it over. She talked to Bob Murphy, but that would never have worked, according to Louise. “He didn’t have the patience.” She urged Jacobson to buy it, but by then he had a de­ gree in chemistry and had moved on to new challenges. Olga asked the youthful own- ers/managers of NORCOSTCO, J. Tho­ mas Scott, Sally Ross Dinsmore and Wayne Murphey, to buy her out, but the two groups couldn’t agree on inventory lists, price, and conditions. In 1960, Bob Murphy died unexpected­ ly, leaving Louise with nine children, the youngest of whom was a year-old toddler. Olga Giesen was already so ill that she couldn’t go to Chicago for the funeral. By that time, however, Olga had buyers for her business: Bill Sowden, Glyde Snyder, and Charles (“Chuck”) Meehan. Sowden was a mitten manufacturer, as well as a singer, dancer, comedian and comic pan- tomimist in the Twin Cities. Snyder was a theatrical promoter and founder of the fa­ mous Schiek’s Quartette. Meehan was Edward C. Hampe, King Boreas XI of the 1948 St. Paul Winter Carnival, in his royal director of the Edyth Bush Theatre in St. robes. For years, Giesen’s costumed Winter Carnival royalty. Kenneth Wright photo, Paul. Minnesota Historical Society. Sowden, Snyder and Meehan complet­ ed the purchase of Martin Giesen Cos­ tumers in September, 1960. Olga Giesen tion of German theatrical costume houses. of its 100th birthday, Johnson conceded sold reluctantly, said Sowden. “She loved The old methods had given way to faster failure. He held a three-day auction, Au­ [the business]-it was her life.” On and more efficient, almost mass produc­ gust 19-21,1970, in Stem Hall in the Civic November 1,1960, she died at the age of tion techniques. Basic garments were Center in St. Paul, and sold off 50,000 eighty-two. created that could be easily altered not only costumes, along with furniture, equip­ for size but for style and period. ment, and antiques. Tom Scott and Wayne robably no one could have sustained The new owners hoped to sustain the Murphey of NORCOSTCO bought some Pthe business as it had been. It and the museum part of it and fund a renaissance beautiful old “Coca-Cola” Santa Claus economy had changed. No one could have of the company, but it was impossible. In suits, but they found surprisingly little left continued to make only enough money to 1969, Homer H. Johnson, a former invest­ that was in good shape, at a reasonable “pay for the drayage.” No one could have ment manager, bought out Giesen’s, by price. continued to “build” elaborate costumes, then located at 389 St. Peter Street. Mee­ An ignoble end for a noble house, per­ one by one, often hand-decorated with lace han stayed on. Sowden salvaged some of haps. But perhaps not. Perhaps no indigni- and jewels, and stay in business. Giesen’s the Geraldine Farrar costumes and he and had emerged out of an earlier, lusher tradi­ Snyder left. In 1970, just two years short Giesen’s to page 22

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 15 What’s Historic About this Site?

The House Peder Foss Built— New Brighton, 1896

This is the fourteenth in a series o f arti­ cles on Ramsey County’s historic sites.

hen the Foss House, the home of its longtime resi­ dent, Peder Foss, was built Win 1896, New Brighton was a village of about 350 linked by rail to both St. Paul and Minneapolis. The land on which the house stands, although now within New Brighton’s city limits, was originally farmland, owned in 1874 and for the next twenty years by the Bowers family. In 1895 Josephine businessmen established the packing Brighton in rural Moundsview Town­ Bowers sold the land to Ingebor Foss plant to compete with the recently found­ ship. This attracted many new residents (later Ingebor Oleson), who may have ed stockyards at South St. Paul. Howev­ to the area. Gas and sewer connections been Peder Foss’s sister. The house was er, the competition of the South St. Paul were installed, bus service was estab­ built approximately a year later and by stockyards, as well as increasing com­ lished and roads were improved. 1898, an atlas of Ramsey County had la­ plaints by townspeople about air and wa­ But it was during the two decades after beled the property as belonging to Peder ter pollution caused the New Brighton World War II-fro m 1950 to 1970-that Foss. stockyards to retrench around 1900 and New Brighton experienced the growth Foss was born in 1858, the son of Ole eventually to close. that boosted its population from 2,200 to Foss, a Norwegian immigrant to Ramsey World War II brought a surge of more than 19,000. Today, the city re­ County. The Foss family owned the growth and business activity to the com­ mains largely a suburban community house until 1944, when it was sold to Es­ munity. In 1941 a large munitions plant linked to the greater Twin Cities area by ther Swanson. was built immediately north of New two Interstates-35E and 694. The house is historically and architec­ turally significant as the largest and most Giesen’s from page 15 Giesen’s Costumers had illuminated with intact Victorian house now standing their beautiful and impeccable costumes. within New Brighton and as the home for many years of a family who were early ty could tarnish the legacy left by Marie, Before becoming a technical writer settlers in the area. Important architec­ Martin, and Olga Giesen, Jacobson, nearly fifteen years ago, Virginia L. Mar­ tural details include the three-story round Georgiana Glaser, Minnie Robinson, tin worked for the Minnesota Historical comer turret with conical cap and finial and those who tried to carry on the busi­ Society for eight years. In the years since, and the three bullseye windows on the ness in the Giesen tradition. It was, for she has continued writing and editing turret’s third story. There is an open hundreds of thousands of people for historical articles and books. She wrote a porch with a pediment at the entrance, nearly 100 years, “a house of real make- history of Abdallah’s Candy Company supported by square columns, and an believe,” in which ordinary men and and edited books on Andrew Peterson, a open side porch. Decorative shingles women were transformed into Santa Scandia pioneer and horticulturist and cover the gable ends. Claus, a Polar bear, an Oriental King, on NORCOSTCO (Northwestern Cos­ New Brighton, in the 1890s, had Madame Butterfly, Norma, Earnest or tume Co.) o f Minneapolis. Two o f her grown from a community of farmers who Aida. And millions more, who may not family-based histories have been pub­ raised crops and cattle into a busy com­ even have known the name Giesen’s, lished in Hennepin County History. Her mercial center as the home of the Min­ were charmed, enlightened and enter­ article about the fifty-year-old culturally neapolis Stockyards and Packing Com­ tained by the parades and plays, operas diverse Rainbow Club is to be published pany. In 1887 a group of Minneapolis and oratorios, pageants and parties that in Mpls/St Paul in 1964.

22 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Ice Follies pair skaters Bess Ehrhardt and Roy Shipstad in 1938. They played later in the MGM movie, “Ice Follies of 1939.” When Shipstads and Johnson were just starting out, Martin and Olga Giesen loaned them their costumes. See article beginning on page 4. Minnesota Historical Society photo.

RoCoHoSo RAMSEY COUNTY- HISTORICAL-SOCIETY

Published by the Ramsey County Historical Society 323 Landmark Center 75 West Fifth Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102