Irvine Park in 1854: Its Homes and the People Who Once Lived There See article on page 20 Spring, 2004 Volume 39, Number 1 ‘High and Dry on a Sandstone Cliff’ St. Paul and the Year of the Chicago and Rock Island’s Great Railroad }Excursion —Page 4 This postcard dated 1909 shows St. Paul’s Lower Landing where the Great Railroad Excursion came ashore 150 years ago. From historian Robert J. Stumm’s collection and used with his permission. See articles beginning on page 4 and page 20. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Farnham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz RAMSEY COUNTY Volume 39, Number 1 Spring, 2004 HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS James A. Russell THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Chair ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN JULY 2OO3: Marlene Marschall The Ramsey County Historical Society shall discover, collect, President George A. Mairs preserve and interpret the history of the county for the general public, First Vice President recreate the historical context in which we live and work, and make W. Andrew Boss available the historical resources of the county. The Society’s major Second Vice President Judith Frost Lewis responsibility is its stewardship over this history. Secretary J. Scott Hutton Treasurer Duke Addicks, Charles L. Bathke, W. An­ CONTENTS drew Boss, Norlin Boyum, Joseph Camp­ 3 Letters bell, Norbert Conzemius, Anne Cowie, Charlton Dietz, Charlotte H. Drake, Joanne 4 ‘High and Dry on a Sandstone Cliff’ A. Englund, Robert F. Garland, Howard St. Paul and the Year of the Great Railroad Excursion Guthmann, Joan Higinbotham, Scott Hut­ ton, Judith Frost Lewis, John M. Lindley, Steve Trimble George A. Mairs, Marlene Marschall, Laurie Murphy, Richard Nicholson, Marla Ordway, 20 Irvine Park in 1854: Its Homes and the Marvin J. Pertzik, Penny Harris Reynen, People Who Lived There 150 Years Ago David Thune, Glenn Wiessner, Richard Wil- hoit, Laurie Zenner, Ronald J. Zweber. Robert J. Stumm Richard T. Murphy, Sr. 24 A Quilt and a Diary: The Story of the Little Girl Director Emeritus Who Rode an Orphan Train to a New Home EDITORIAL BOARD Ann Zemke John M. Lindley, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas 27 Growing Up in St. Paul H. Boyd, Mark Eisenschenk, Tom Kelley, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. Nicholson, Paul D. Nelson, Mechanic Arts—An Imposing ‘Melting Pot’ David Riehle, C. Richard Slade, Steve Trimble, High School that Drew Minorities Together Mary Lethert Wingerd. Bernice Fisher HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD 30 Books Elmer L. Andersen, Olivia I. Dodge, Charlton Dietz, William Finney, William Fallon, Robert S. Hess, D. W. “Don” Larson, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from George Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Robert Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr. Mirick, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. Wozniak. RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS A Message from the Editorial Board Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, chairman Commissioner Susan Haigh amsey Country Historical Society is celebrating two major events this spring. The first Commissioner Tony Bennett Ris the sesquicentennial of the Great Railroad Excursion in June of 1854 that heralded the Commissioner Rafael Ortega completion of the railroad to the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois, and the opening up of Commissioner Janice Rettman the trans-Mississippi west to settlement. In the lead article in this issue, historian Steve Trimble Commissioner Jan Wiessner deftly reports what the historical record tells us about St. Paul in 1854. Then Robert Stumm, an David Twa, manager, Ramsey County avid collector of historic postcards, takes us on a tour of present-day homes in Irvine Park that Ramsey County History is published quarterly have their origins in the era of the Grand Excursion and explains what those buildings tell us by the Ramsey County Historical Society, about the people who lived in them. 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. This issue of Ramsey County History completes forty years of unbroken publication. Begun Paul, Minn. 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in in 1964 under the editorship of its founder, Virginia Brainard Kunz, our magazine has won two U.S.A. Copyright, 2004, Ramsey County His­ awards for excellence from the American Association for State and Local History. Ramsey torical Society. ISSN Number 0485-9758. A ll County History has also demonstrated that local history, especially when it concerns the history rights reserved. No part of this publication of Ramsey County and St. Paul, can be a rich source of materials for authors, historians, and read­ may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced ers. Given the pleasure and enlightenment that this magazine has provided to all who have read without written permission from the pub­ it over the years, we thank the many authors who have contributed the fruits of their research and lish e r. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Fax 651- writing to RCHS. In addition Virginia Kunz deserves special thanks for her sterling editorship of 223-8539; e-mail address [email protected].; this history magazine for the past forty years. web site address www.rchs.com John Lindley, Chair, Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Irvine Park in 1854: Its Homes and the People Who Once Lived There 150 Years Ago Robert J. Stumm The Grand Excursion of 2004 com­ viving structure, the memorates one of the seminal events in the Symonds house. Situated history of St. Paul. Like any important an­ at the eastern edge of niversary, it evokes an ingrained longing to the park, this deceptively reconnect with the past. This longing is not large frame structure was surprising in a city that takes great pride in built in 1850 by Charles its historic architecture. The most tangible Symonds on a site on link remaining that we have to that long- Ryan, between Chestnut ago steamboat odyssey, (known in its time and Eagle streets, and fac­ as the Great Railroad Excursion), is the ing the Mississippi River. remarkable collection of pioneer homes An enterprising Scottish that in 1854 clustered around Irvine Park immigrant skilled in Shown on its original setting in this photo from an 1860s pan­ and are still standing. Others might exist, the art of scale-making, orama, Charles Symond’s house (center) then faced the river. but the houses in the Irvine Park district Symonds was St. Paul’s A ll images with this article are from the Minnesota Historical are representative of a part of St. Paul first ice dealer. He sold Society collections. that might well have been seen by those this house in 1883 and excursionists who set foot at the Lower three decades later it was Steamboat Landing a century-and-a-half moved to its present site. ago. Carefully preserved, they exist today Its style is vernacular with elements of the a uniquely hybrid structure that has re­ as the core of the Irvine Park National His­ Federal style. Resting on a stone founda­ tained much of its architectural integrity. toric District, the city’s first such historic tion, this two-story house has a three-bay district, which was created in 1973. façade, a gabled roof, an end-wall porch, Stilwell-Hankey House The Irvine Park neighborhood actu­ and an entrance flanked by sidelights. As 310 Sherman Street ally dates from 1849, the year Minnesota part of the renaissance of the Irvine Park Next is the Stilwell-Hankey House with became a territory when pioneers John district, the house was meticulously re­ a decidedly different story. Located at the Irvine and Henry Rice donated land for stored and modernized in the mid-1970s west end of the neighborhood and now parks now named for them. At the time, the and, like many of the larger houses in this the only home on its block, this house fledgling community had two steamboat district, recast as a duplex. was built in 1853 by Hiram Stilwell, landings, one at the foot of Jackson Street a master carpenter. It was originally a in what is now Lowertown in downtown The Wright-Pendergast petite Italianate residence, but its ap­ St. Paul and known variously as the Lower House pearance was drastically altered in 1885 Landing or Lambert’s Landing. The other 223 Walnut Street by its second owner, Frank Hankey, who steamboat landing, upriver at the foot of Next on a tour of Irvine Park is the installed a front bay and built a large rear Chestnut Street near present-day Seven Wright-Pendergast House sitting majesti­ addition. After a succession of owners, Comers, was known as the Upper Landing. cally on the bluff overlooking the river. it was enlarged again in 1915 and it be­ The neighborhood was then called Upper The original version of the house was built came, over the passage of time, a rental Town and was clustered around its own in 1851 by Isaac P. Wright, a carpenter who property. Restored in the 1980s to its business and residential district. dabbled in local politics. It was at the time present pristine condition, the Stilwell- This article, arranged as a tour of the an ordinary box-like structure devoid of Hankey house features a beautifully Irvine Park neighborhood, describes its ornamentation, and Wright’s descendants crafted enclosed porch, a low pitched hip early homes, their owners, and their pas­ lived there until 1906 when James Joseph roof, and an interior distinguished by its sage through the past 100 years. Pendergast purchased it. He added a large handmade hardwood flooring. front with fluted columns that transformed The Symonds House the small house into a modestly-scaled, The Matheis House 234 Ryan Avenue southern-style mansion.