Recollections of Cathedral Hill a Glimpse of Old St
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The St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing Kristin Mapel Bloomberg and Leah S. McLaughlin —Page 10 Winter 2010 Volume 44, Number 4 Recollections of Cathedral Hill A Glimpse of Old St. Paul from an Up-and-Down Duplex on Holly Avenue Mary Reichardt —Page 3 One of the distinguishing features of the up-and-down duplex at 444 Holly Avenue in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood is its spacious front porches that encourage conversation and reminiscing about old St. Paul on warm summer days. Photo courtesy of Mary Reichardt. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY Executive Director Priscilla Farnham Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 44, Number 4 Winter 2010 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: Thomas H. Boyd The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations President Paul A. Verret to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program First Vice President of presenting, publishing and preserving. Joan Higinbotham Second Vice President Julie Brady C O N T E N T S Secretary Carolyn J. Brusseau Treasurer 3 Recollections of Cathedral Hill A Glimpse of Old St. Paul from an Up-and-Down Norlin Boyum, Anne Cowie, Nancy Randall Dana, Cheryl Dickson, Charlton Duplex on Holly Avenue Dietz, Joanne A. Englund, William Frels, Howard Guthmann, John Holman, Mary Reichardt Kenneth R. Johnson, Elizabeth M. Kiernat, Rev. Kevin M. McDonough, Susan McNeely, 10 Part and Parcel of a Great Cause Debra Mitts Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Richard H. Nicholson, Marla Ordway, Jay The St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hearing Pfaender, Jeffrey Slack, Ralph Thrane, Richard Wilhoit. Kristen Mapel Bloomberg Directors Emeriti and Leah S. McLaughlin W. Andrew Boss George A. Mairs 19 Growing Up in St. Paul Richard T. Murphy Sr. The CCC, Flying Hands, and the Armistice Day Blizzard EDITORIAL BOARD Norman C. Horton Sr. Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas H. Boyd, John Diers, John Milton, Debra Mitts Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, 23 Book Reviews Paul D. Nelson, Richard H. Nicholson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, G. Richard Slade, Steve Trimble, Mary Lethert Wingerd. Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. William Fallon, William Finney, Robert S. and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Hess, George Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl. RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Jan Parker, chair A Message from the Editorial Board Commissioner Tony Bennett Commissioner Toni Carter Commissioner Jim McDonough ometimes, reading history fuels our imaginations. This issue contains some great Commissioner Rafael Ortega Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt Smoments that we can conjure up in the comfort of our armchairs. Kristin Mapel Commissioner Janice Rettman Bloomberg and Leah McLaughlin’s history of the St. Paul Society for the Hard of Hear- Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, ing lets us join in when a hard-of-hearing person went to the movies in St. Paul and, Ramsey County thanks to technology pushed by the Society, could for the first time “hear with ease the Ramsey County History is published quarterly slightest whisper . the baby’s gurgle, the villain’s chuckle.” We are there, too, when by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Norm Horton inched along drifted roads during the Armistice Day Blizzard to get home Paul, MN 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in to fill the oil heater for his family, after working his shift at the Ford plant. And we share U.S.A. Copy right © 2010, Ram sey County His torical So ciety. ISSN Number 0485-9758. Mary Reichardt’s thrill when, on purchasing her house on Holly Avenue, she received a All rights reserved. No part of this publica- postcard from the Dow family, the house’s longtime former owners, opening up a rich tion may be reprinted or otherwise repro- duced without written permission from the vein of family and neighborhood history. Join us to read these stories, and contact our publisher. The Society assumes no respon- editor if you have your own to share. sibility for state ments made by contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: admin@ Anne Cowie, Chair, Editorial Board rchs.com; web site address: www.rchs.com 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Recollections of Cathedral Hill A Glimpse of Old St. Paul from an Up-and-Down Duplex on Holly Avenue Mary Reichardt ’ve always been fascinated by house history. I confess that I half believe in Deed records show that, while still liv- Edgar Allan Poe’s theory in “The Fall of the House of Usher” that houses ing in Staples in 1910, Allen and Mary are sentient, although I hope I never find an ominous fissure presaging di- Jane purchased the Holly lot for $3,000 I from Mrs. Edna R. Ogden and daughters saster in mine. After years of restoring and researching a St. Paul Midway- area Edith H. Ogden and Virginia Ogden Kelly. bungalow, the time was right for my move across town to historic Cathedral Edna Ogden, then living out of state, was Hill, an area in which I’d always wanted to live. I settled into a newly created the widow of Henry S. Ogden of the well- condo, one of three, in a 1913 home at 444 Holly Avenue. Once the initial shock known Ogden, Merrill, and Greer dry of displacement subsided and I had a handle on decorating, I was ready to start goods store, located at Sibley and Sixth digging into the home’s history. Imagine my surprise when just at that time a streets. According to the St. Paul build- postcard appeared in my mailbox with the greeting “Dear Person.” Lucky me! ing permit, cost of the home’s construc- House history came knocking in the person of George Dow Sr. and his family. tion was estimated at $8,000, a royal sum at the time. One of the later homes con- George’s daughter, Liz Dow, wrote the enues. The Holly house was built as an structed on this part of Holly, the frame postcard.1 Her father had grown up in this up- and- down duplex: Allen and Mary two- story home was built in a modified Arts and Crafts “transitional” style with house, she stated, and her paternal great- Jane Sovereign resided downstairs while overhanging eaves decorated with cor- grandparents had built it. George Dow Flora and her new husband, Harry L. was now in his 90s; would it be possible bels. Two open front porches, one up and Dow, moved in upstairs. The 1930 census to let him stop by some time? Would it! one down, span the width of house and The Dows have now visited a number notes that the younger couple paid Mary are supported by heavy square pillars. of times, Liz and I have become friends, Jane Sovereign, by then a widow, a rent The two residences in the duplex were and best of all I have enjoyed the charm- of $50.00 per year. built exactly alike, with three bedrooms ing and still exuberant George Dow and heard his fascinating stories. The early history of this house is worth telling, with fascinating characters and rich ties to St. Paul’s history. The Sovereigns Build a Home George Dow Sr.’s grandfather, Allen John Sovereign, was a railroad man, a divi- sion superintendent for Northern Pacific Railroad. According to family lore, he had a private railroad car, complete with a butler, in which the family traveled around the country. Originally located in Staples (where Sovereign Hall is named for him), he moved his family— wife Mary Jane and daughter Flora—to St. Paul in 1913 where he built a grand home for them at the corner of Arundel Street and Holly Avenue. He also purchased Looking west along Holly Avenue between Arundel and Mackubin streets about 1900. The several investment homes in the area, church spire in the background marks the location of the church that George Dow recalls from one on Goodrich and one on Laurel av- his youth while living on this street. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 3 and one bathroom each. A mirrored built- Vivid still in George’s memory, as in buffet and bookcases graced the din- might be expected from a teenage boy, are ing and living rooms. Craftsman-inspired the madcap antics of Olsen and Johnson, stained glass was also featured in the din- a vaudeville act from the 1930s that was ing room windows and leaded art glass in a sensation throughout the Midwest and the living room windows. Although some whose motto was “anything can happen modifications have been made over the and it probably will.” In 1938, Olsen and years, most notably turning the former Johnson staged their most sensational unused attic space into a third condo unit, revue, Hellzapoppin’, during which the the home still retains many of its original audience was pelted with eggs and ba- features and, from the outside, looks es- nanas and then, with the house lights off, sentially the same as when it was built. George Dow signs autographs for admirers rubber snakes and spiders. Another favor- Allen Sovereign died just a few years outside Broadway's Imperial Theatre in 2003. ite at the Shubert were its talent shows, after moving into the home, but Mary Photo courtesy of Liz Dow.