Steve Trimble, Marking Minnesota’S Sesquicentennial: Four New Books Mary Lethert Wingerd

Growing Up in St. Paul Random Recollections of Grace Flandrau Page 12

Fall 2008 Volume 43, Number 3

Pith, Heart, and Nerve Truman M. Smith: From Banker to Market Gardener Barry L. and Joan Miller Cotter —Page 3

An engraved portrait of Truman M. Smith from about 1857 by the Rawdon, Wright & Hatch Company. Engraving courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY Executive Director Priscilla Farnham Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 43, Number 3 Fall 2008 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY the mission statement of the ramsey county historical society BOARD OF DIRECTORS adopted by the board of directors on December 20, 2007: W. Andrew Boss The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations Past President J. Scott Hutton to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program President of presenting, publishing and preserving. Thomas H. Boyd First Vice President Paul A. Verret Second Vice President C O N T E N T S Joan Higinbotham Secretary 3 Pith, Heart,and Nerve Carolyn J. Brusseau Truman M. Smith: From Banker to Market Gardener Treasurer Norlin Boyum, Julie Brady, Anne Cowie, Barry L. and Joan Miller Cotter Nancy Randall Dana, Charlton Dietz, Joanne A. Englund, William Frels, Howard 12 Growing Up in St. Paul Guthmann, John Holman, Judith Frost Lewis, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. Nichol­son, Marla Random Recollections of Grace Flandrau Ordway, Marvin J. Pertzik, Jay Pfaender, Horace Blair Flandrau Klein Ralph Thrane, Richard Wilhoit. George A. Mairs 16 “Mr. Livingston . . . Had the Tenth” Richard T. Murphy Sr. Directors Emeriti An Episode in Minnesota Railroad Building EDITORIAL BOARD John M. Lindley Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, John Diers, Thomas H. Boyd, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. 24 Minnesota at 150 Nicholson, Paul D. Nelson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, G. Richard Slade, Steve Trimble, Marking Minnesota’s Sesquicentennial: Four New Books Mary Lethert Wingerd. Steve Trimble HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Olivia I. Dodge, William Fallon, William Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Finney, Robert S. Hess, George Latimer, Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl. and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Jan Parker, chair Commissioner Tony Bennett Commissioner Toni Carter A Message from the Editorial Board Commissioner Jim McDonough Commissioner Rafael Ortega Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt oday’s headlines blare news of bank failures and foreclosure notices. But in October 1857, Commissioner Janice Rettman Twhen New York banks failed, there were no federal bailouts and no financial “safety nets”: Patrick H. O’Connor, interim manager, eighty percent of St. Paul businesses went under. Truman Smith, who had pinned his hopes on Ramsey County fervent land speculation in the young frontier town, lost his bank and later, his house. In this issue, Barry L. and Joan Miller Cotter tell Smith’s harrowing story. But stay tuned for a future Ramsey County History is published quarterly by the Ramsey County Historical Society, issue of our magazine, in which Smith “reinvents” his career. And check out Minnesota Public 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Radio’s website at mpr.org, where the archives (search “Truman Smith”) contain Dan Olson’s Paul, Minn. 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in July 2008 report on the Panic of 1857, based in part on the Cotters’s research. U.S.A. Copy­right © 2008, Ram­sey County Also in this issue: John Lindley’s look at Crawford Livingston’s role in railroad financing in Historical­ Society.­ ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. No part of this publica- the 1880s; a personal story of Blair Klein’s 1950s road trip with his aunt, writer Grace Flandrau, tion may be reprinted or otherwise repro- in her green Packard sedan; and Steve Trimble’s review of four books celebrating 150 years of duced without written permission from the Minnesota statehood. publisher. The Society assumes no respon- sibility for state­ments made by contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; ­e-mail address admin@ Anne Cowie, rchs.com.; web site address www.rchs.com Chair, Editorial Board

2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Minnesota at 150 Marking Minnesota’s Sesquicentennial: Four New Books

Steve Trimble ou might expect that people living in the capital of Minnesota Territory Atkins clearly does some experiment- in 1858 would have been in a celebratory mood when they heard that the ing with those sources and their presen- state had officially been admitted to the Union. After all, in early 1858 tation of information. For instance, she Y tells the story of the 1848 frontier Minne- the St. Paul newspapers had been publishing lengthy columns containing the sota in the form of a play with imagined congressional debates over the bill to make Minnesota the thirty-second state. dialogue. Her play includes scenes set at Oddly, when President James Buchanan signed the statehood bill into law, there Henry Sibley’s house at Mendota, a St. were only brief mentions in the local journals. Historian J. Fletcher Williams, Paul tavern, the kitchen of the house be- the gregarious chronicler of early St. Paul history, noted just how matter-of-fact longing to John and Ann North on Nicol- residents were when he wrote that “on May 14 the papers announced that the let Island, and the camp of Dakota leader Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta (Little Crow) and others state was admitted, but no demonstrations were made over the event.” in Mendota. Another chapter takes a look at the Campbells, a mixed-blood family One hundred and fifty years later, there whose experiences illustrate differ- seems to be a greater interest in the state’s ent world views during the frontier era. official origin. There are numerous local Later on in the book, Αtkins examines celebrations and exhibits acknowledging how individual Campbell descendants, Minnesota’s 150th anniversary of state- in the wake of the 1862 Dakota Conflict, hood and local publishers have supplied made different choices of self-definition us with plenty of reading material. At by presenting themselves as either white least four new books covering the history or Indian. of the state mark the sesquicentennial. In a chapter titled “The Look of the Each has its own approach and is primar- 1920s,” Atkins once again takes an un- ily written for different audiences. This usual approach. Instead of a traditional review introduces each book, explains its narrative, she presents thirty images from stated goals, and assesses the individual that decade and discusses the art of pho- strengths and weaknesses of each of the tography as it displayed the men behind sesquicentennial books. the lens as well as the people, places, and content that can be seen in each of these Annette Atkins, Creating Minnesota: A photographs. History from the Inside Out (St. Paul: The book includes ample discussion Minnesota Historical Society Press, of how historians work. Atkins’s ap- 2007; $27.95). proach is to take a look at some tiny item, failures—­‘from the inside out.’” In doing such as oranges appearing in a Christ- Creating Minnesota recently received the so, Atkins does not presume that “the im- mas photo from 1898, and then exam- top award from the American Associa- portant things” happened elsewhere, “but ine how railroads linked Minnesota to tion for State and Local History. It also that important things happen here, in this national consumer markets. Her method received a Minnesota Book Award. An- place and this time and to and through of moving from a St. Paul family’s holi- nette Atkins, its author, is a social histo- the agency of these people.” In short, her day cele­bration seen in this photo to the rian who teaches at St. John’s University book seeks to “identify who holds the much larger world of consumers’ demand and the College of St Benedict. In the story-making power in the state at any across the nation for fresh fruit even in the preface, she states that the book’s goal given time,” primarily those who got the winter works very well. The book lacks, is “to understand the nature of people’s attention and often appeared on center however, an in-depth look at how the rail- lives and choices, their opportunities stage. Consequently in each chapter she roads affected Minnesota in other ways. and limitations, their pubic and secret asks “What’s the story here?” and “What Consequently this vignette is one of the lives, their roles, their safety nets, their are the best sources for telling it?” few times ­Atkins addresses the impact

24 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY of transportation on our state. A third ex- considerable detail on politics, particu- ample of this micro-macro technique ap- larly in the twentieth century, and how pears in Atkins’s last chapter. Here she different groups and parties had a moral uses the creation of a walleye quesadilla view behind their attitudes and actions. at a north woods restaurant as a means for Throughout the book there is an empha- a thoughtful discussion of the increasing sis on the changes in the political climate diversity of the population of the North and the values that affected Minnesotans’ Star state. attitudes and actions. Keillor’s emphasis Creating Minnesota is a strong, well- on politics and morality to the exclu- researched book that makes readers do a sion of other possible explanations of lot of thinking about Minnesota history what forces, conditions, or factors have and how it is best uncovered. There are shaped Minnesota over the years is one of a few minor weaknesses. While Atkins’s sity, stresses that this volume is “an in- the few weaknesses of this book. On the citations at the back of the book are a terpretation” rather than an attempt at a other hand, some readers may welcome treasure trove of sources, interesting in- comprehensive history and only covers Keillor’s willingness to discuss Minne- formation, and considerable material the people and events needed to illustrate sota’s rich political heritage and the many for future research, the sidebar items on his themes. As a result, he chooses not to colorful party leaders who played such a most pages are sometimes annoying or begin with Native American history in central role in the state’s history. distracting. The frontier stage play does Minnesota. One of the biggest changes over time not work all that well and the chapter on “The history of an American state in Minnesota, according to Keillor, was the Twenties is a little confusing because has a plot,” Keillor writes. Then he asks, the end of our state’s unique political the featured photos are all reproduced on “does the state succeed or fail in forming culture and the gradual “nationalization” unnumbered pages. Hence the attentive a society and governing it, in doing what of the state’s politics through the ef- reader can have trouble matching them to the American Founders intended that a forts of both Republican Harold Stassen the specifics of her narrative. state should do?” To set the stage, the au- and Democrat Hubert Humphrey. As he At the end of her book, Atkins sums thor closely examines the sort of society puts it, circumstances change “through everything up by writing that the “new promoted by the Northwest Ordinance, the virtual world.” The state of Minne- Minnesota, like the walleye quesadilla, stating that the land surveys sought “to sota now has “less power to shape its brings together the customs and tradi- create societies of religious, educated, own identity than the state that entered tions of Europeans, American Indians, self-governing, land-owning, and pros- the Union in 1858.” Consequently, the Latin Americans, and others. Minnesota perous settlers.” “long-term effects of technological rev- has been made more interesting, more Throughout his book, Keillor keeps re- olutions upon a state’s identity, and on imaginative, and a bit spicier. It’s a good turning to this basic theme and to analyz- what exactly statehood still meant, were thing.” ing what happened to this vision over the yet to be determined.” next 150 years. He takes time to discuss Steven J. Keillor, Shaping Minnesota’s in depth how the geography of Minnesota Karal Ann, Marling, Minnesota Hail to Thee: A Sesquicentennial History (Afton Identity: 150 Years of State History and then the railroads shaped the state Historical Society Press, 2008; $28.00). (Lakeville, Minn.: Pogo Press, 2007; into several different zones, thereby cre- $17.95). ating a variety of economies and cultures Marling, a University of Minnesota pro- On the surface, Shaping Minnesota’s that were sometimes the source of inter- fessor of American Studies and Art His- Identity is primarily a traditional history, nal conflict. Some of those areas became tory, starts her sesquicentennial history covering the state’s story chronologically, ethnic “enclaves,” often among German with the story of the state seal and other but it does have its own unique approach. immigrants, something which was not symbols from wild rice to the blueberry In his introduction, Keillor, an adjunct anticipated by the Founders. muffin. There is also a look at the ori- professor of history at Bethel Univer- Shaping Minnesota’s Identity contains gins of the term “Gopher State” and the

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 25 state song that provided the to the change that has always volume’s title. defined the state’s collective Her book then becomes ­culture.” chronological in its narrative, The major strength of the at least for its first half. Early book, which the introduction chapters introduce Native calls “a celebratory history,” is American cultures, explorers, its production. It is lavishly il- the fur trade, and the famous lustrated with many images, in- Runestone. Attention is given cluding oil paintings and three- to the impact of Ft. Snelling, dimensional objects, reproduced which signaled the start of Min- in full color. Many readers, nesota as “an American place,” including the book’s intended St. Anthony Falls, the transition from Paul’s Penumbra Theater over the years. audience of upper elementary and sec- territory to statehood, the Civil War and Here and elsewhere in this book, Marling ondary school students, will undoubt- Dakota Conflict, the changes wrought tends to offer opinions without support- edly like this visually stunning means of by railroads, and the importance of tim- ing information. telling Minnesota’s story. While teachers ber, flour, and iron for the state’s devel- A chapter titled “Modern Minnesota” will understandably appreciate this color- opment. These initial sections do pro- does touch on a few events, including the ful presentation of state history, they may vide some substantive information, but creation during World War I of the Min- find the list of classroom activities that starting with Chapter Six, which is titled nesota Commission of Public Safety, is included at the back of the book even “Celebrating, Competing, Defining,” the but there is no coverage of the impact of more helpful when they have to present chronological approach is abandoned the Great Depression on the state, other Minnesota history to a classroom of to- for a series of loosely arranged themes. than a reference to the 1934 Minneapolis day’s students. One theme, for example, details how Trucker’s Strike. There is no explanation of World War II and its impact on our Minnesota celebrations help highlight Kate Roberts, Minnesota 150: The the state’s history. Unfortunately, almost state other than a brief acknowledgment People, Places, and Things that Shape all of the examples Marling identifies that the war happened. Instead, Marling’s Our State, (St. Paul: Minnesota His- are from the Twin Cities. There were the focus is on Betty Crocker, suburbia, mall torical Society Press, 2007; $19.95). 1883 galas when the Northern Pacific shopping, politics, the singer and artist Railroad reached the Pacific coast, the known as Prince, the Minnesota Twins Minnesota 150 is a companion book to a State Fair, including butter sculpture, and the World Series, and modern indus- major new exhibit at the Minnesota His- and a short piece on the Mayo Clinic. try. Taking a phrase from a 1973 Time tory Center in St. Paul. Authored by Kate One of the weaknesses of the volume magazine cover story titled “The Good Roberts, the Senior Exhibits Director at is its too-limited treatment of people and Life in Minnesota,” Marling concludes the Minnesota Historical Society, this events in the twentieth century. In these that for the most part the state in the twen- exhibit was created through the partici- later chapters, Marling quickly whisks tieth century was a “textbook illustration pation of public nominators who offered by many major events and even eras. The of the good life.” people, places, and things that they felt section called “A Thing of Beauty” starts This book’s final chapter offers some had changed Minnesota. Several local with the story of the current State Capitol speculation about Minnesota’s future. historians, Minnesota Historical Society and then abruptly wanders through the One of Marling’s summary statements staff members, and other outside advi- topics of Minnesota art, literature, and concludes that: “Minnesota—the idea sors sifted through 2,760 nominations to architecture with brief accounts of the of Minnesota—is as fragile as a wisp of whittle down the list to 150 items. Thus hardscrabble lives experienced by resi- smoke from a Native American camp- this sesquicentennial book uses those key dents of Bohemian Flats in Minneapolis fire. What Minnesotans are, what Min- 150 people, places, and things to extend and the significant artistic contributions nesotans aspire to be, must be nurtured, the exhibit beyond the walls of the His- of the playwrights and actors who led St. treasured, and they must be committed tory Center.

26 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Roberts’s preface states that Hmong community. the goal of those who selected Minnesota 150 is not an in- the 150 topics was a final group depth history. Readers can skip with “a broad distribution around from topic to topic in across time, across subject mat- whatever order they prefer, ter, and across the state, with reading what seems to be in- subjects that could be developed teresting and discover fascinat- into lively, thought-provoking ing information about Minne- exhibit elements.” Each suc- sota’s heritage. The publisher cessful nominator, writes Rob- undoubtedly hopes readers will erts, “needed to convince us also decide to visit the exhibit that the chosen topic truly had at the History Center. There is a promoted change.” Using one or useful section at the end of the two pages of well-written narra- book that offers sources of fur- variety of approaches that community tive for each topic, accompanied by 200 ther information on each of the selections. leaders used in dealing with urban im- photographs, the book examines different As Kate Roberts writes in the preface, migration, poverty, social hygiene, child- places, events and people who, as the title “the topics provide a glimpse into what states, shape Minnesota. rearing practices, and education in the was on the minds of Minnesota history- Thus Minnesota 150 examines “how twentieth century. And although most minded people in the years leading up to such intangibles as personal judgment, consumers in Minnesota admire Wal- our state’s ­sesquicentennial.” political culture, and popular taste can ter H. Deubener’s invention of handles If J. Fletcher Williams were alive shape our view of the past.” The topics, for shopping bags that made carrying today, he might be surprised at the number arranged alphabetically, go from “Ameri- groceries much easier, was this really a of events and publications celebrating the can Indian Movement” to “Theodore landmark change? Arguably, some of the 150th birthday of Minnesota statehood. Wirth.” The result is an interesting mix people who made the list of 150 could His own work was a chronicle of St. Paul’s that includes Harriet Bishop, Floyd B. have been chosen with more care. Some early history and he would probably also Olson, the Mayo Clinic, Sinclair Lewis, of those who were selected definitely had be amazed by the diversity of approaches Bob Dylan, Patty Berg, and the 1980 an effect on the state’s development; oth- to Minnesota history represented by these Olympic Hockey Team. ers, however, are famous, but their major four books that were produced for our One weakness of Minnesota 150 is contributions, which apparently justified sesquicentennial. All of the authors took that it turns out to be mostly a “celebra- their selection to the list, really happened different approaches and readers may tory history.” There are very few contro- outside of Minnesota and thus had less of want to dip into each of them before pick- versial topics. In addition some of the an impact in shaping our state. ing their own favorites. All of these books choices could have been presented more Ramsey County readers will be es- have different strengths and weaknesses, effectively. One topic, for example, cov- pecially interested in choices from their but each one is a valuable addition to our ers the origins and development of the local area. Selections include obvious libraries and convincingly demonstrates Phyllis Wheatley and Hallie Q. Brown ones, such as novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, just how much good writing is available Community Centers in Minneapolis railroad baron James J. Hill, photogra- today about Minnesota history. and St. Paul, respectively. Few histori- pher Gordon Parks, sculptor Paul Man- ans would disagree with the selection of ship, and Minnesota Mining and Manu- Steve Trimble is an independent historian these two institutions, but the failure to facturing (3M). Less well-known, but and author who has written several articles acknowledge the contributions of other just as interesting, inclusions on the list for Ramsey County History and serves on community centers, such as Neighbor- of 150 are Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc, the RCHS Editorial Board. Turner Publish- hood House and the Christ Child Center a dance group from the West Side, and ing (Nashville, Tenn.) has just released his in St. Paul and Pillsbury House in Min- Xang Vang, whose large-scale garden- book Historic Photos of St. Paul, which is neapolis, skirts an examination of the ing projects have positively impacted the available at the RCHS offices.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 27 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. Postage Published by the Ramsey County Historical Society PAID St. Paul, MN 323 Landmark Center Permit #3989 75 West Fifth Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102

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An 1857 wood engraving from Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion of the Fuller House and the Truman M. Smith Bank in St. Paul. Engraving courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. See Barry and Joan Miller Cotter’s article on page 3.