Mitchell Hamline School of Law Mitchell Hamline Open Access

Faculty Scholarship

1997 Hiram F. Stevens and the Founding of the St. Paul College of Law Douglas R. Heidenreich Mitchell Hamline School of Law, [email protected]

Publication Information 15:3 William Mitchell Magazine, summer (1997)

Repository Citation Heidenreich, Douglas R., "Hiram F. Stevens and the Founding of the St. Paul College of Law" (1997). Faculty Scholarship. Paper 119. http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch/119

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hiram F. Stevens and the Founding of the St. Paul College of Law

Abstract The t.S Paul College of Law, one of William Mitchell College of Law's predecessor institutions, was established by five attorneys in 1900. Especially prominent among these attorneys was Hiram F. Stevens (1852-1904), who served as the first dean and was also a legislator, teacher, scholar, popular orator, and a founding member of the American Bar Association.

Keywords Hiram F. Stevens, St. Paul College of Law, legal education, American Bar Association

Disciplines Legal Education | Legal History

This article is available at Mitchell Hamline Open Access: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/facsch/119 named had been the muddy flats where Pierre "Pig's appears from the college's faculty and board about Eye" Parrant, described in one history of the city as 1917, following unsuccessful negotiations for a the "lawless fellow ... who felt the chief end of man merger of the college with the University of was to drink and sell whisky," had settled at the Minnesota Law School. mouth of Fountain Cave following his expulsion from Moses E. Clapp, a graduate of the University of the nearby Fort Snelling Military Reservation. Wisconsin Law School and a former Minnesota and the founding Indeed, there must have been still living in St. Paul attorney general, while remaining for 10 years a at least a few people who had witnessed the erection member of the board and for 13 a nominal faculty of the in 1841 of Father member, seems never Galtier's tiny log chapel STATE OF MINNESOTA, S[]PBEME COURT. to have taught a class that would give its name at the college. The ink to the river-landing was barely dry on the community, previously incorporation docu­ known as Pig's Eye, in ments when he was grudging recognition of chosen in 1901 to fill By Douglas R. Heidenreich The college's first Catalog and Announcement says its most notorious, the unexpired U.S. the school was created as a result of a meeting of a though not illustri- Senate term of the N NOVEMBER 23, 1900, five distinguished committee of Ramsey County lawyers, called together ous, denizen. renowned Cushman K. St. Paul lawyers signed a document that in the spring of 1899 by the president of the Ramsey The incorporators Davis, who had died created, out of nothing, a night law school. County Bar Association. The lawyers saw the need for of the college and in office. In its first century, the law school would a night law school that would serve working students members of its first Although the produce politicians, trial lawyers, office in St. Paul. board of trustees were 1901-02 catalog called lawyers, judges, business executives and, From that larger group came the five founding Hiram F. Stevens, dean; him a "Special like all law schools, a small collection of fathers. A faculty of about a dozen lawyers and judges, Ambrose Tighe, trea­ Lecturer," thereafter rogues. The graduates of the law school including several members of the original larger group, surer; Clarence W. Halbert, secretary; Thomas D. Clapp's name appeared on the list of faculty with the profoundly influenced the course of history, came together to begin teaching in the college. The O'Brien; and Moses E. Clapp. designation "Course omitted because of absence." It not only of the Twin Cities and Minnesota but, to catalog said classes would be held "on the top floor of Halbert, a graduate of the Yale Law School and, was never suggested he would be present to teach a some degree, the nation. the Court House," a fortress-like stone building occu­ at 25, the youngest, in addition to teaching agency course. Clapp, the independent-minded "Black The St. Paul College of Law, soon to be desig­ pying the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth, and law, served as the college's secretary and acted as its Eagle," was, following a colorful Senate career, nated "The Lawyers Law School," was to be a root Wabasha and Cedar streets, since replaced by the pre­ representative at professional meetings and in nego­ defeated by Frank B. Kellogg in the primary election to which would be grafted, 56 years later, the sent Ramsey County Courthouse. The facilities, thanks tiations of various sorts. He appears to have been the of 1916. He remained in Washington Minneapolis-Minnesota College of Law, successor to to the cooperation of the Ramsey County board, were most active in the affairs of the college beginning four evening law schools in made available to the college free of charge. about 1904, and he dis- WILLIAM MITCHELL Minneapolis, each with its The first catalog also noted: COLLEGE OF LAW own rich history. "The Faculty gathered together The course of study form a corps of able and experienced TOP: On April 4, 1901, at the new St. Paul instructors, who are inspired by love of the Minnesota Supreme Court College of Law was to their profession and not lucrative gain. certified that the St. Paul be three years in length. It is their aim to create a school where College of Law met statutory requirements for its Students who had studied at quality of instruction and not numbers, graduates to be admitted other law schools could gain where merit and not influences, may be to practice without taking a advanced standing and enter as second-year stu­ the controlling elements." bar exam. LEFT: Members dents. Similarly, students who had pursued, perhaps RKING FOR A nonprofit corpo­ of the class of 1902 were in a law office, "a course of studies equivalent" to ration with no capital or property the first graduates of the law school. Dean Hiram F. the work offered in the first year at the St. Paul and offering a course to about College of Law, could be admitted to advanced Stevens is in the center. 20 students, each of whom presumably Author Heidenreich says standing upon passing the first-year exams. Anyone paid tuition of $60 per year, the first fac­ Raymond A. Jackson, to the with a high-school diploma or equivalent education ulty indeed must have been inspired by immediate left of Stevens, would be eligible to attend. All classes would begin love of the profession rather than any "seems to have been at 7:30 p.m. and last for one and one-half hours. prospect of "lucrative gain." The five admitted twice." Tuition would be $60 per year. founders were all listed as faculty mem­ bers. With one exception, all taught for several years. Prof. Douglas R. Heidenreich, '61, joined the William They were remarkable men. At least two Mitchell faculty in 1963 and served as dean 1964-75. held law degrees from distinguished uni­ He teaches commercial transactions, contracts, nego­ tiable instruments, and professional responsibility, versities. Four were well established; one and contributes regularly to Bench & Bar of Minnesota, was a young lawyer of promise. All had Hennepin Lawyer, and law reviews. Prof. Heidenreich won the respect of the residents of the is researching and writing a centennial history of young but rapidly growing city in what was William Mitchell College of Law and its predecessors hardly more than a frontier society. and will contribute several articles on the law school's Only two generations before the founding history to WILLIAM MITCHELL magazine. FIRST GRADUATING cLASS of the college, the city for which it had been aT. PAUL COLLE8E,.,>2 Of LAW

2 WILLIAM MITCHELL SUMMER 1997 3 for the rest of his profes­ "a considerable reputation never served on active sionallife and he died there as a lawyer," he helped to military duty, he spoke in 1929. found the Vermont Bar on at least two occa­ Thomas D. O'Brien, proba­ Association and served as its first secretary. It was a sions with great fervor bly the sole Democrat in the group, was a member pattern he would repeat a few years later in to Memorial Day gath­ of a remarkable family of lawyers and public ser­ Minnesota. erings of veterans who vants. Born to Irish immigrants on Lake Superior's The young Stevens was one of six members of a had served as Union Madeline Island, he came as a small child with his Vermont delegation that met with about 90 repre­ soldiers in the Civil family, first to St. Anthony, then to St. Paul, where, sentatives of other states on a late summer's day in War. In 1902, the as a young man, he read law and was admitted to 1878 at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to create the Ameri­ University of Vermont practice at the age of 21. His exceptional career can Bar Association (ABA). Although he remained Alumni Association included a term as Ramsey County attorney and a in ABA listings as a member from Vermont for two asked him to deliver brief stint on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He more years, Stevens was in Minnesota in late 1879. an oration, and the taught corporations and Minnesota practice at the By 1880 he had been admitted to the Minnesota bar institution bestowed St. Paul College of Law and was the last of the and had formed the St. Paul law firm of Warner, upon him the hon­ founding fathers on the board of trustees, serving Stevens and Lawrence, which was to become, at orary degree of doctor until his death in 1936. O'Brien served as well as least in the eyes of the St. Paul Dispatch, "one of the of laws. the dean of the St. Thomas School of Law during its leading firms at the bar of Ramsey County." During many of brief existence, from 1923 to about 1933. In 1880, no ABA member claimed Minnesota as these years of busy law Ambrose Tighe taught "Elementary Law," munici­ home. In 1881, Hiram Stevens was the ABA's sole practice and service pal corporations and, for a time, insurance law and Minnesota member. By 1882, 17 Minnesota lawyers, ABOVE: The council chambers of the old city-county courthouse in St. Paul. The first in the Legislature, served as the college's first treasurer. He held including the eminent General John B. Sanborn, catalog of the St. Paul College of Law said classes would be held on the "top floor" of the Stevens lectured at the B.A. and M.A. degrees from Yale University were members. Stevens remained active in the orga­ courthouse. It's not known exactly which rooms the law school used. RIGHT: In 1904 the relatively new law and he had taught Roman history and law nization and for several years was chairman of its city-county joint committee that supervised the courthouse addressed a complaint that school at the Univer­ there before moving to Minnesota. He, General Council, a representative body that appar­ the law school paid no rent. The committee decided the school's no-rent use of space was justified - and the college relocated a year or so later. BOTTOM: A news story in the sity of Minnesota. like his fellow trustee Hiram Stevens, ently functioned essentially as a nominating St. Paul Pioneer Press described the St. Paul College of Law's first commencement. From 1892 to 1900, attended the law school at Columbia committee. Stevens was called College (now University), but seems Stevens seems to have enjoyed an almost immedi­ chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Although he a Lecturer on the Law of Real Property. The not to have taken a degree there. ate success in his St. Paul law practice, perhaps in did not run in 1900, he continued to be active in University's law faculty in the late 19th century con­ Tighe was an acknowledged expert part because he liked people and wanted them to Republican politics and to work for the improve­ sisted largely of part-time in local government. He served as a like him. His longtime law partner, John D. ment of the law. In 1901 he became chairman of a lecturers, many of them emi- ;'\~, member of St. Paul's Charter Commis­ O'Brien - brother to Thomas D. O'Brien, Stevens's commission "to revise, codify, and nent jurists or practitioners. sion and later, while serving in the fellow founder of the law school - later reported annotate the public statutes of this It is not clear, how­ Minnesota House of Representatives, that Stevens had, during his first winter in St. Paul, state." ··ever, how often the shepherded through the Legislature several carefully studied the city directory to "become thor­ Stevens continued to promote lecturers lectured. important bills relating to municipal govern­ oughly acquainted with the social and commercial professional organizations. Robert A. Stein, ment. An active member of the Minnesota State Bar conditions about him." John O'Brien said that Replicating his Vermont experi­ in his history of the Association, he was its president in 1920. Stevens "manifested sincere affection and good will" ence, he became the first niversity of Minne­ Hiram Fairchild Stevens, perhaps the most distin­ towards his fellow citizens and "evinced almost a Secretary of the new Minnesota sota Law School, guished of the founding fathers, was an eminent childish desire to enjoy their good will in return, and State Bar Association (MSBA) notes that in 1894 lawyer, sometime legislator, teacher, scholar, and a to know of their good will." in 1893. In 1895, he was its some students were » - popular orator. The son of a prominent Vermont TEVENS IMMERSED HIMSELF in the profes­ vice-president. When the organi­ rol..! (f;. 1'.,1 c.".... . 'said to. be angry ft-«' 1"'Qr ... It:'!, t'h: I. 1:1.," '.11. *"'--tI. doctor of the same name, Stevens had graduated sional and public life of his adopted city and zation had become moribund at 1~,\I;¥~~,f~"~~~~;~Vlnal ~~~;~-.~~ u because some of the from the law school at Columbia College. It was ~J "AIJ<'.~~:~~ r.. ~ ~c~!~:c.~ • ~ . lId . h 1 Sstate. By 1886 he had been admitted to the the tum of the century, Hiram F. r~'~~' ~t>o;, l>":ill~,"";. ;",,:,,~;; emment ecturers iste 1ll t e cata og were Stevens to whom the group looked for leadership United States Supreme Court, where he was later to Stevens and a few other promi­ >I, In •• J~~::;;' j,"';' .;.;:~~ requently absent. Dean Stein quotes from a and direction. They chose him to be the first dean of If"" • .. ' .... n 'of I\¥ JllI'ft~~",. argue two cases. When, in 1887, a vacancy arose on nent lawyers breathed new life "'''''L1411,. ,.:~~••• !IoJ.r "'nr hA"{'Io r"" b~".:"." ~w Irrst ...cf4Q ,,<>. newspaper story that includes Stevens's name the college. ",~ • .., OU~n~"" .r:. Pf':I/tf ..~i"" '.,a.c .... r.· • l' t fIt 't 11 d" . b the Minnesota Supreme Court, the St. Paul Dispatch into it. He became MSBA pres­ ;~~i.~ •• ,.;::;...~. "!::,, "',~ ~;'. "t"::: 1ll a IS 0 ec urers I ca e conspICUOUS y Born in St. Albans, Vermont, in 1852, Stevens urged, albeit unsuccessfully, Stevens's appointment ident in 1901. ". ... ,.U~ !!: ltd no> .~".:;;; '-••1... their absence." The story suggested that stu- :;~~~.llJ4l ';:~:I flo,. -<"'«4~~~ ~.J was at an early age compelled, by the death of his to that bench. The Dispatch, acknowledging that In like fashion, when .~\~.~ ~~: ". ...~~ dents at the law school rarely if ever saw the (f~::;S~~~;'rn ~~~:;: .-..s::.:.~kr d' d d . h father, to work to help support his three younger Stevens was yet a young man, called him a lawyer of in 1887 the Ramsey County ~::-.t"h •• ', rl'.;.f;~';,( ~~ '.~~~;:;. ~~~ ote JU ges an practitIoners w ose names siblings. At 14 he worked as a clerk in a store. "prime ability," who ranked "among the foremost of Bar Association needed reor­ l«t"i:,';'';t'"'·,,,,,. nr ,:. I." • •" ...... : appeared in the list of faculty members. ::~~:~ ~;:~o) r.:;;:; h-; Eventually he was able to attend the University of his profession." ganizing, Stevens and a few !'::';"~"!r' . .,,;, ~:':.~ Whatever the truth of the accusation, Stevens Vermont while working on a farm and teaching Stevens served one term in the Minnesota House others revived it as the ~b. ~.t;L. :~ f~":~r"""'"~~ :~: stopped lecturing at the state law school about school. Although he earned no degree there, by the :: 'I>:>'l~~"~:;;"'-:'''''>;~h ~~ '!;~;~:,~h. 1900 and, for the next four years, devoted his of Representatives, from 1888 to 1890. Although St. Paul Bar Association. It d'~·';:;;'~~.'~l:1 ~,h~(t.~! .. t:~,,; ~o~ time he was 22, he had read law in the New York retained that name ";'hc '""",,,I " ...... 'Up. pedagogical efforts to the new St. Paul College of only a freshman legislator, he was chosen chairman D'Ja}.'::,'·W fJb.~.. tr:Q,·:'~:l« t~:- offices of Judge John K. Porter and had graduated of the Judiciary Committee. Among the bills he is until 1898, when the pre­ ~ ( ...... :."'"",~".t>J !=- Tar. ..h...... Law. Apparently serious about developing a good 6 ~ ~ ... ' no ~JI';~.. "'. 1 from the law school at Columbia. credited with promoting were those resulting in the sent Ramsey County Bar o _ 701 '. "'''. 1 aw school, he in 1902 obtained admission for the

Following his admission to the Vermont bar, he Q duct .. ' 11' '0'1." state's first mechanics lien law, a law requiring sani­ Association was formed. C3~ g:l:l1o....,~~ ~"mt., ~;~r.. ~ko ",,;t .\Ir~ St. Paul College of Law in the newly-formed cr ~.h .o\i"~a~ ~t rob. cfua a.."'~' A' t' f Am' L S h 1 b practiced for a busy five years in his hometown of tary inspection of factories, and a law requiring store Throughout those ~ It" ••• 1J<;.i" J~~~,<.'~:':.:!~ l!;.'~"'; ship that was to be short-lived. ~ :.::~~~~~~I~~~:~ ~~; ~::: Clary of New York and plunged into his profession In 1890, Stevens switched to the state Senate, a popular speaker at o l< ...... ",:,;.~ ... Ctul... a'... ~~· "n.... . Stevens attended the annual 1902 and 1903 fa .JoIo.:.:I·m"M rhlhn k«nr.(1('r Ja(kl!cr' I ~i- ;:;f' at the state and national level. While soon attaining where he served for ten years, part of that time as patriotic and other public ~ :J~v'l Pb!lilpi;, ~... .,:.; l<. Pto,,,- ~ .. meetings of the organization as the St. Paul ~"a::;:JtMdl~ g.!O •• fl!ll,,~fj~~na R,,,,,I.- events. Though he had .~:~~~~i .. aU'''''r(~tn:'!:: E~:'''k'V"",,4 Ar.4N (I':.~~;;' .. 4 WILLIAM MITCHELL -- SUMMER 1997 5 College's representative. of instruction are approved as In 1902, he participated in being in accordance with the a vigorous debate about the terms" of the legislation. desirability of including On June 16, 1902, the minutes of the court "Elementary Law" in the law school curriculum. The note that Raymond A. Jackson "came into court this St. Paul College carried a course with that title in its day and presenting his Diploma from the St. Paul curriculum for several years, and Stevens, while College of Law of St. Paul Minnesota" and, having modestly disclaiming any deep understanding of the demonstrated that he met the other modest require­ issue, favored the retention of the subject in the ments for admission to the bar, was admitted to first-year curriculum. practice, thus apparently becoming the first of the No representative attended AALS meetings college's graduates to take advantage of the diploma in 1904 or 1905. Clarence Halbert, the college's sec­ privilege - admission without examination. retary, appeared on the college's behalf in 1906 and A few days later, the entire 20-member graduating again in 1907. After that, nobody represented the class of 1902 was admitted under a similar order of St. Paul College of Law at the meetings. In 1910 the the court. That list included the name of Jackson, association accepted "with regret" the St. Paul who thus seems to have been admitted twice. College's resignation. EATH SNATCHED STEVENS AWAY on Although in the early 1920s the college had some March 9, 1904. Stevens, who had been in discussion with AALS officials about the pos­ apparent good health, was stricken by an intesti- sibility of becoming a member, nothing then nal blockage. He underwent surgery, got an came of the idea. In 1982, William Mitchell infection - not uncommon in those days - and College of Law, the St. Paul College's succes­ quickly died. Thus ended an illustrious career of sor, sought and was granted membership in service to the profession, legal education, and to the organization. the public. Stevens was known as an expert in real Local newspapers mourned his loss. One called property law, the subject on which he had his death "a particularly sad event." The newspapers lectured at the University of Minnesota carried glowing tributes to Stevens's personal char­ Law Department in the late 19th century. acter as well as to his professional skill. The St. Paul A member of several law firms during his Pioneer Press observed that Stevens had succeeded years of practice, he also represented for "notably as an instructor and interpreter of law." some years the St. Paul Title Insurance Hiram F. Stevens to page 22 and Trust Company. Many of his appel­ late cases involved issues relating to claims against or title to real prop- erty. He seems often to have been called upon to participate in the appeal even though he had not tried the case. His classroom teaching at the St. Paul College of Law focused on real property. He appeared as dean of the college before the Minnesota Supreme Court to present a petition seeking to have the school certified as meeting statutory requirements so that its graduates could be admitted to practice without taking a bar exam. The legislation said that in order to qualify, a law school had to offer a course of study of at least three years in "the principles and practice of law under the tuition of a corps of not less [sic] than ten competent and experienced instructors in active attendance upon such college." In spite of the fact that the St. Paul College candidly acknowledged in its published catalog that "no member of the faculty devotes his entire time to the school and there are no professional teachers among them," the Supreme Court, on April 4, 1901, issued an order certifYing that "the St. Paul College of Law, its corps of instructors and course

ABOVE: Stevens's obituary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press described him as a "Foremost Member of the Bar, Educator, Author and Orator." RIGHT: The city-county courthouse was the first home of the St. Paul College of Law. It was demolished in the 1930s.

6 WILLIAM MITCHELL Hiram F. Stevens from page 6 Paul College of Law described Stevens work - completed and published two The Ramsey County District Court as an ideal dean who was "truly the years after his death - was to be his adjourned on the afternoon of the young man's friend." largest and last scholarly effort. The two­ funeral "in respect to the memory of the Stevens's body was returned to volume work, interleaved with steel-plate deceased." Federal and state judges, St. Albans, Vermont, for burial. His etchings of portraits of many of Minne­ famous lawyers, law students and "a widow seems to have returned to the sota's famous lawyers, contains general large gathering of relatives and friends" East, for her name does not appear in historical information about the bench filled St. Paul's Episcopal Church "to city directories thereafter. and bar of Minnesota from territorial overflowing" for the funeral service. Thus ended the 24-year, shining times and biographical sketches of the The Minnesota Historical Society, of Minnesota career of Hiram F. Stevens. state's lawyers and judges. The frontis­ which Stevens had been a member, sent He devoted his life to the betterment of piece is a portrait of Associate Justice a delegation led by General John B. his adopted city and state, and the William Mitchell of the Minnesota Sanborn. Other organizations sent dele­ impact of his law practice, his legislative Supreme Court. gates, and there were even "several rep­ accomplishments, and his teaching William Mitchell College of Law, resentative citizens from Minneapolis." remain with us today. Stevens's most enduring legacy, contin­ The pallbearers included Halbert and At the time of his death, Dean Stevens ues nearly one hundred years later to Armand Albrecht, who had for some was working on a volume of historical enrich the state, the profession, and soci­ years been Stevens's law partner. biography of Minnesota lawyers, History ety with the men and women who have At a special memorial session of the of the Bench and Bar of Minnesota. He been able, through the foresight of district court following Stevens's death, had previously written several articles Stevens and the other founding fathers, one alumnus of the four-year-old St. about the history of the bench and bar of to become lawyers and to take their Ramsey County, and his lectures on real places among the leaders of the bench property had been published, but this and bar. I!lll 22 WILLIAM MITCHELL