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HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE RIVERFRONT:
STILLWATER, Washington County, MINNESOTA
(Historic archeological, historic, and architectural resources)
Norene A. Roberts, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
HISTORICAL RESEARCH, INC.
and
John A. Fried
ASSOCIATED ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS, INC.
FOR THE
U. S . ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
ST. PAUL DISTRICT
1135 U. S. Post Office and Custom House
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Contract No. DACW37-84-M-1459
Submitted July 1985
Front cover illustration: Andreas' Atlas of Minnesota showing Stillwater in
1874
Back cover illustration: Aerial photograph of Stillwater's riverfront, March
1983
Figure 1: Stillwater looking north up Main Street
in 1874.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Period maps and List of Sites
Sources
-. Methodology
Historical Overview
Inventory of Sites
Page
1
after page 8
17
23
30
50
Assessment of Standing Structures, Structures Which Were
Significant to the History of Stillwater, and Sites with
Archeological Potential
Description and Assessment of Sites by Reaches, Alternatives,
and Impacts
Inventory of Impacted Sites by Alternatives
Conclusions and Recommendations
-,
List of Works Consulted
Appendix A: Freight House National Register nomination
Appendix B: Correspondence
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1: Stillwater looking north on Main Street, ca. 1874 i
Figure 2: Vicinity map 2
Figure 3: Survey area 3
Figure 4: Aerial view of downtown Stillwater, 1923 6
Figure 5: Period I map, 1843-1871 after page 8
Figure 6: Period I1 map, 1871-1898 after page 8
Figure 7: Period I11 map, 1898-1924 after page 8
Figure 8: Period IV map, 1924-1946 after page 8
Figure 9: Period V map, 1946-1984 after page 8
Figure 10: Ruger's Bird's Eye View of Stillwater, 1870 27
Figure 11: Rivertown Restorations, Inc. photographic survey map 29
Figure 12: Plat of Stillwater, 1848 31
Figure 13: Andreas' Altas engraving of Stillwater, 1874
Figure 14: North Main Street looking south, ca. 1880
Figure 15: Engraving of old State Prison and waterfront, ca. 1880
Figure 16: Northwest Thresher Company engraving, ca.. 1910
Figure 17: View from the top of Battle Hollow looking northeast,
ca. 1888
Figure 18: North Western Manufacturing & Car Co. and C. N. Nelson
sawmill. Sanborn map, 1884
Figure 19: Stillwater shore with barge construction, 1919
Figure 20: Architects drawing of Seymour, Sabin & Co.
complex, 1872
Figure 21: Stillwater landing, 1904
Figure 22: Stillwater looking north along the railroad tracks
before 1910
vii
-. Figure 23: Northwest Thresher Company warehouse. Sanborn, 1884 73
~. Figure 24: Stillwater looking south, ca. 1875 75
- 3 - - Figure 25: Sand bar, foot of Mulberry Street, 1914 81
Figure 26: View of Stillwater looking south from.the north
- I end of town, July 1, 1936 85
Figure 27: Stillwater Market Company grain elevator,
. . August 22, 1938
Figure 28: Union Improvement & Elevator Company mill and
elevator. Sanborn map, 1888 97
Figure 29: Isaac Staples Flour Mill & Elevator. Sanborn, 1891 98
Figure 30: Stillwater looking south from bluffs above Battle
Hollow, ca. 1875 100
Figure 31: Lumbermen's Exchange Building and Union Station.
Sanborn, 1904 102
Figure 32: Union Station, ca. 1885
.
Figure 33: Muller's Boat Livery, ca. 1906
. .
Figure 34: Minnesota Mercantile Company Building and
Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul freight depot.
I Sanborn, 1906. I 113
Figure 35: Old pontoon bridge, May 12, 1930 116
. . Figure 36: St. Croix riverfront at south end of what
became Lowell Park, ca. 1910
Figure 37: A steamboat at the Stillwater Levee, ca. 1927 127
Figure 38: Vicinity of E. Nelson and S. Main streets.
Sanborn, 1910.
Figure 39: Simonet Rug Co. factory, 1892 132
Figure 40: Railroad tracks along S. Main, September 12, 1936 137
Figure 41: Stillwater waterfront, vicinity of E. Nelson
and S. Main streets, ca. 1900
Figure 42: The steamer "G. B. Knapp" at Stillwater, ca. 1875 143
Figure 43: Hersey, Bean Company yards on S. Main. Sanborn, 1898. 146
Figure 44: Hersey, Bean Lumber Company, 1898 148
. , viii
-.
INTRODUCTION
The city of Stillwater, Minnesota has received a good deal of
, attention by professional historians and gifted amateurs over the
years. It has received so much scrutiny, in fact, that it might seem
impossible to add useful information to the historical record. This is
not so. Each new problem brings its particular point of view and
method. This study uncovered a diverse array of industrial activities
at the Stillwater riverfront. The study of these activities sheds
additional light on the history of Stillwater, and presents new
informtion to use in planning the future of the waterfront.
~ ~ PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The St. Paul District U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has been
studying the problem of flood control at Stillwater for some time.
Flooding at Stillwater is caused by high flows on the St. Croix River
I
and by backwater from high flows on the Mississippi River. These
conditions have occurred many times on the River at Stillwater. The
last damaging flood on the St. Croix occurred in 1965, but significant
floods occurred thirteen other times between 1944 and 1982.
Approximately 81 structures in Stillwater are subject to flooding
from high flows on the St. Croix River. Most of them are located along
Main and Water streets in downtown Stillwater and constitute the heart
of the business district. Floods in 1965 and 1969 would have caused
extensive damage to all these buildings if the city had not undertaken
an emergency flood fight. When the St. Croix River crested at 694.07
feet (19 feet above normal) on Easter Sunday, 1965, the downtown area
of Stillwater was saved by the mile-long "Teen Dike", built by
teenagers and inmates of the State Prison.
To try to solve the flooding problem in a more permanent way, the
Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is looking at a system of
earthen levees and concrete and folding floodwalls which would run on a
north-south axis east of Water Street parallel to and near the railroad
-----I.--- .I
...,A" I.. ..
VICINITY MAP @
Figure 2
SURVEY AREA MAP Q
Figure 3: Numbers correspond to sites (see list beginning on page 9)
' 1
tracks. These floodproofing structures would extend from near the
. .
Aiple Company barge terminal on the south to just above the Muller Boat -
Works, Inc. buildings on the north, a total of approximately 5,400
feet. In the area of Lowell Park, the permanent levee would be
replaced by an unobtrusive folding floodwall which would extend up to
the north end of Hooley's market parking lot. This folding wall would ..
be anchored into the gound, and would fold flat when not in use.
During floods, the wall would stand erect by means of metal struts on
the landward side and hold the water back. The virtue of a folding
wall would be that it would not interfere with sight lines or
activities around the Lowell Park area.
Like all other federal agencies, the Corps of Engineers is under
federal obligation to protect the cultural or man-made environment.
This obligation is embodied in the National Historic Preservation Act
of 1966 and subsequent related laws. These laws set forth federal
leadership in locating, inventorying, and protecting sites on federal
lands or in areas of federal construction activity. If warranted, such
sites are nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
Since proposed Corps plans in Stillwater call for constructing
flood protecting levees and floodwalls, and since the construction of
these structures would damage or destroy any existing below-surface
remains of buildings which once stood along the riverfront in
Stillwater, this preconstruction historical study has been commissioned
by the St. Paul District. It will be used in the planning stages of
any Corps construction along the riverfront in downtown Stillwater.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Historical Research, Inc. was hired to undertake a historical
reconstruction of Stillwater's riverfront from its settlement in 1843
to the present. The object of the research was to determine the
presence of possible historic archeological sites or structures below
ground and to study any remaining standing structures along the river-
front. As a result, it was necessary to identify every site in an area
extending from approximately Water Street on the west to the St. Croix
River on the east, and from just south of Walnut Street on the south to
approximately East Wilkins Street on the north. This is an area of
just over 5,000 feet stretching along the shore of Lake St. Croix (see
Figure 3 for a map of the survey area.).
1
This report was designed to serve several functions. The Corps
will use it as a planning tool to help meet its obligations to preserve
and protect our cultural heritage. It is also meant to be a scholarly
document to serve as a reference work for future studies. It is
designed as well to be used by city planners, park comissioners,
private developers of the riverfront area, or the Stillwater Heritage
Preservation Commission: in short, any agency or group with an interest
in the riverfront. The information in this report would, for example,
provide a useful reference source if Stillwater citizens were
interested in developing a interpretive industrial park by exposing
some of the existing ruins of former buildings.
I Since the study was a historic reconstruction, buildings which
were razed years ago were given the same scrutiny as buidings which are
still standing. Information on 117 sites was located. For each site
(be it a building, a bridge, or a site as large as Lowell Park), this
study uncovered as much information as could be located on physical
description, function, structural features, date of construction and
destruction, location, and shifts to different uses. The study began
in July 1984 and research was completed in January 1985.
This report summarizes these findings, and it states which sites
are important to the history of Stillwater. It identifies the one
building in the study area already on the National Register, the
Freight House, and suggests that the Interstate Bridge, with its
unusual lift section, is potentially eligible for National Register
listing. The background research material consists of four looseleaf
notebooks with specific site information on each site. Any mention of
the sites located during the research is included in the notebooks:
references in articles, books, city directories, newspapers, general
Figure 4: Aerial view of downtown Stillwater in 1923 looking northwest. The
long rectangular building parallel to the tracks is now the Freight House
Restaurant. To the north of it are two large brick buildings on either side of
Chestnut Street: the Minnesota Mercantile building and the Lumbermen's Exchange.
In the lower left corner are the Woodward Elevator and the two buildings of the
Stillwater Gas and Electric Light Company.
histories, and maps and photographs. These notebooks will be curated
in the Washington County files of the Minnesota Historical Society's
State Historic Preservation Office at the Ft. Snelling History Center. .
The report also includes five period maps showing the location of
buildings in the study area and the shifting used of the riverfront
over time from 1843 to the present. The master maps from which the
report maps were made are also in the State Historic Preservation
Office.
The report is organized in the following way: At the beginning of
the report are the five period maps keyed to site numbers, followed by
a list and brief description of the 117 sites located during the study.
The next section discusses the principal sources used in the research
stage. Other sources may be found in the List of Works Consulted at
the back of the report. This is followed by a description of the
methods used in conducting the study. A general historical overview is
then presented laying out the broad patterns of activities in
Stillwater along the riverfront for the period under study. The next
section of the report is the Inventory of Sites which details
site-specific . . informationand a states a recommendation on each site.
The next section, for Corps management and planning purposes, presents
and discusses the sites and analyzes the impacts of various
construction alternatives and location options which the Corps is
examining along the riverfront. Some general conclusions and
recommendations end the report.
PERIOD MAPS
and
LIST OF SITES,
I - PERIOD 1
I[UvAcATm DURING THE PERIOD ((U VACATED DURING THE PERIOD 1 =\., REMOVED DURING THE PERIOD I
KEY
ROADS: FA EXISTING AT THE END
OF THE PERIOD
In
RAILROADS: EXISTING AT ME END
OF THE PERIOD
I
PLATFORMS: rq EXISTING AT THE END.
OF THE PERIOD
-1
PERIOD 3
RAILROADS: EXISTING AT THE END PLATFORMS: hy EXISTING AT THE END OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD
VACATED DURING THE PERIOD VACATED DURING THE PERIOD -. -
PERIOD 4
RAILROADS: EXISTING AT THE END PLATFORMS: h-q EXISTING AT THE END.
OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD
'. REMOVED DURING THE PERIOD
m cob CC) dmco m mm a aco
EXISTING AT THE END RAILROADS: EXISTING AT THE END PLATFORMS: hv\d EXISTING AT THE END.
OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD
VACATED DURING THE PERIOD '. (I REMOVED DURING THE PERIOD
EXISTING AT THE END OF THE PERIOD OF THE PERIOD BEGINNING OF THE
PERIOD AND IN 1984
KEY TO THE PERIOD MAPS 1. BOARDING HOUSE & SHED. Built by Seymour, Sabin & Co. before 1884. Razed ca. 1902. Northwest Thresher Co. FOUNDRY & CASTINGS STORAGE. 1-1/2 story brick. Built in 1902. Rebuilt ca. 1917. Razed 1940-46. Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. FOUNDRY & BLACKSMITH SHOP. 1 story brick, no basement. Built between 1891 & 1898. Rebuilt
by the Northwest Thresher Co., Inc. in ca. 1902 as a forge. Razed
after 1930.
STEAM DRY KILN. 1 story frame, basement & platform. Built by the
C.N. Nelson Co. in ca. 1878. Razed 1896.
Seymour, Sabin & Co. MACHINE SHOPS. 3 story frame, ironclad,
with stone basement. Built ca. 1874. Razed ca. 1946.
BOILER HOUSE COMPLEX. 1-1/2 story brick w/60' (later 120' ) brick
chimney. Included well, boat house, power house, & shed. Built
by Seymour, Sabin & Co. in ca. 1875 or ca. 1882. From 1902 to ca.
1910, was Twin City Rapid Transit Co. power house. Razed ca. 1920.
DRY KILN & HORSE SHED. 1 story frame, no foundations. Built by
the Northwest Thresher Co. in ca. 1902. Razed ca. 1907.
C. N. Nelson & Co. SAWMILL. 2 story frame w/l-1/2 story brick
engine & pump house, 60' chimney & frame platform on piles. Built
by Seymour, Sabin & Co. in 1873. Sold to C. N. Nelson & Co. in
1878. Razed ca. 1889.
9. PAINT SHOP. 1 story frame. Built by the St. Paul & Duluth
Railroad Co., ca. 1902.
10. M. Rumely Co. WHEEL SHOP & TESTING ROOM. 1 story frame,
ironclad. Built in ca. 1902. Razed after 1924.
11. Johnson & McHale. MILL. 2-1/2 story frame. Built 1856. Razed
ca. 1875.
12. Seymour, Sabin & Co. MAIN OFFICE & STORAGE. 2 story frame
w/basement & brick vault. Built between ca. 1875 & 1882. Razed
ca. 1930-40.
13. Stillwater Fire Dept. HOSE HOUSE. 1 story frame. Built cam
1898. Razed ca. 1924.
14. Seymour, Sabin & Co. CASTINGS STORAGE, OFFICE & COAL SHEDS. 1
story frame. Built ca. 1875. Razed ca. 1896.
15. Minn. Highway Dept. GARAGE. Built ca. 1940. Still standing.
16. PAINT STORAGE SHEDS. 1 story frame. Built by the Minnesota ~.
Thresher Manufacturing Co. ca. 1887. Razed ca. 1907.
17. BOAT HOUSES. Built ca. 1945, 1950, and ca. 1965 by Muller Boat
Works. Still Standing.
18. Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. WAREHOUSE. 3 story & 2
story frame. Built ca. 1887. Razed ca. 1917.
19. SAND SHED. 1 story frame. Built by the St. Paul & Duluth
Railroad Co. Built ca. 1884. Razed ca. 1910.
20. Midland Cooperative, Inc. FILLING STATION. Built in 1959. Still
standing.
21. Northwestern Manufacturing & Car Co. WAREHOUSE. 2 story frame w/ . . brick facade, frame inclined platforms, & basement. Built ca.
1884. Razed ca. 1930.
22. RIVER BANK. Wood piles, lumber yard (C. N. Nelson & Co.
Sawmill). Later, barge building & munitions stocking (Twin City
Forge & Foundry). Currently, boat storage & building (Muller Boat
Works).
23. Northwest Thresher Co. ENGINE WAREHOUSE. 1 story frame, 30'.
Built in 1902. Razed 1940-46.
24. Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. RAILROAD TRESTLE TRACKS over
inlet. Inlet dates back to pre-railroad period (1852-701, and led
toward Staples Mill on North Main Street. Tracks were built on
trestles and bridges 20 feet above low water level. Currently
used as a marina by Muller Boat Works, Inc. No record of use by
earlier boats. Used as log boom (wooden piles).
25. COAL SHED CLUSTER. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1902. Razed ca.
1910.
26. Stillwater Street Railway Co. ELECTRIC. POWER HOUSE. 1 story
frame, metalclad, wldynamos & engines. Built ca. 1890. J. N.
Bronson Foundry & Machine Shop ca. 1897. Razed ca. 1910.
27. Northern Pacific ENGINE/ROUNDHOUSE. 1 story frame. Built ca.
1909. Ra'zed after 1961.
28. Northern Pacific TURNTABLE. Concrete & steel. Built ca. 1900.
Torn out after 1946.
29. Northern Pacific SCALES. ca. 1902-10.
30. Northern Pacific OIL HOUSE, REPAIR SHOP & TOOL HOUSE. 1 story
frame. Ca. 1902.
31. Muller Boat ' Works. BOAT HOUSE. 1-112 story frame. Built ca .
1938. Still standing.
32. SAND BAR. At foot of Mulberry. This area was the mouth of
Brown's Creek CANAL used by John McKusick to run his mill on the
east side of Main Street. The canal later became part of the
city's sewer system. There may be remains of the old sewers and
outlets here and at the foot of other streets.
33. TOOL HOUSE & COAL BIN. 1 story frame. Built by St. Paul & Duluth
Railroad Co. before 1884. Razed 1884-88.
34. WATER TOWER. Metal structure. Built by St. Paul & Duluth
Railroad Co. ca. 1888. Razed ca. 1900.
35. TURNTABLE. St. Paql & Duluth Railroad Co. Built in 1888. Torn
out ca. 1900.
36. ROUNDHOUSE. St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. 1 story frame
w/platform. Built in 1888. Razed in 1897.
37. Standard Oil Co. SHED & TANKS. 1 story frame, concrete platform
under tanks. Built ca. 1921; Razed after 1961.
38. COAL SHED. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1902-24. Razed after 1961.
39. J. J. Kilty & Son Oil Co. SHEDS & TANKS. 1 story frame
wlconcrete base. Built before 1924. Razed after 1961.
40. Standard Oil Co. SHED & TANKS. 1 story frame. Built ca.
1898-1904. Moved ca. 1910-24. Razed after 1924.
41. SAND FURNACE & SHED. 1 story frame & 1 story brick. Built ca.
1870-1882. Razed ca. 1884-88.
42. BRICK SHEDS. 7 staggered, 1 story frame. Built ca. 1870-82.
Razed ca. 1884-88.
43. BOILER HOUSE. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1870-82. Razed ca.
1884-88.
44. STANDARD OIL CO. WAGON SHED. Built ca. 1910-1924. 1 story frame.
45. Bartles Minnesota Oil CO. SHEDS & TANKS. 1 story ironclad frame
& 1 story concrete block. Built before 1924. Razed after 1961.
46. STOCK YARDS. Construction unknown. In use 1902-1924.
47. HAM) CAR SHED. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1910. Razed ca. 1924.
48. COAL SHED ADDITIONS. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1923. -Razed ca.
1961.
49. Union Elevator & Feed Mill OFFICE. 1 story frame wlbasement &
platform. Built ca. 1877. Moved ca. 1884. Razed ca. 1898.
Union Elevator & Feel Mill WAREHOUSE. 1 story frame. Built ca.
1890. Burned, July 1898.
Union ELEVATOR & FEED MILL. 3 stories, 110', 4 stories frame. 2
stories brick wlbasement & platforms connecting wlplatforms of
#60. Elevator built by the Union Improvement & Elevator Co. in
1871. Leased to St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. in 1877. Sold to
Isaac Staples in 1880. Burned, July 1898.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. MOVABLE TRUCK TRAMWAY.
Construction unknown. Built ca. 1870. Razed ca. 1884-88.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. CAR SHOPS. 1 story frame.
Built ca. 1870. Razed ca. 1884-88.
John O'Brien ELEVATOR. 70 foot frame elevator clad in corrugated
iron. Built in 1898. Became Loftus-Hubbard Elevator, Equity
Market Co., and Stillwater Market Elevator. Razed ca.1942.
Minnesota Mercantile Co. WAREHOUSE ANNEX. 1 story ironclad
frame. Built ca. 1904-10. Razed ca. 1946-54.
Minnesota Mercantile Co. WAREHOUSE. 2 story frame, ironclad,
basement, wlwooden platform link to #57. Built ca. 1898-1902.
Razed ca. 1961.
St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. FREIGHT DEPOT. 1 story brick
w/platform. Built ca. 1891. Razed after 1961.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. TURNTABLE. 'Built ca. 1870.
Moved ca. 1888-91. Tom out ca. 1891-98.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. ROUNDHOUSE. 2 story frame.
Built ca. 1870. Razed ca. 1888-91.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. FREIGHT DEPOT & STEAMBOAT
WING. 1-112 story wlbasement & plat forms. Inclined plat forms
& drives connected with wharf. Built in 1871. Razed ca. 1900.
Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. PASSENGER DEPOT. 1 story frame
w/platform. Built ca. 1870. Moved ca. 1878-82. Razed ca. 1890.
Express OFFICES, Surveyor General's offices & FUR WAREHOUSE. 2
story frame wlplanked walk, platforms & stairs. Built before
1870. Moved ca. 1874-1882. Razed ca. 1884-88.
Municipal PAVIUON. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1918. Remodeled
1937, 1956 & 1984.
Hooley's MARKET. Built in 1960. Still standing.
65. Union STATION. 2 to 3-112 story stone wlplatforms & sheds. Built
in 1887 by the Stillwater Depot & Transfer Co. Razed in February
~. 1960.
66. Lowell PARK. See 1/86. This section of the park was the dump for
businesses in the area. A marina included Muller's BOAT LIVERY
from ca. 1884 to ca. 1930.
67. WHARF. Planked. Built before 1875. Filled ca. 1886. .
68. UNIDENTIFIED BUILDINGS ALONG S. WATER STREET. 1-112 story frame
at site of Hooley's Market ca. 1870. 1 & 2 story frame at site of
Union Depot ca. 1870. 2 1-112 story sheds at foot of Myrtle
Street.
69. LUMBERMEN'S EXCHANGE BUILDING. 3 story brick wlbasement. Built
in 1890. Housed Post Office and American Express office. Still
standing.
70. August V. Linden SALOON. 1-112 story frame. Built ca. 1870s.
Razed ca. 1884.
71. HAY & FEED STORE. 1 story corrugated iron clad frame. Built ca.
1891-96. Razed ca. 1907-10.
72. Stillwater Feed Mill Co. FLOUR & FEED MILL.. 3 story ironclad
frame w/l story brick engine house. Built by hews Brothers &
Muller Co. in 1894. Stillwater Feel Mill Co. 1896 to ca. 1899.
Razed ca. 1904.
73. MINNESOTA MERCANTILE CO. BUILDING. 4 and 5 story brick and frame
-. wlbasement. Built in 1888. Razed ca. 1969.
~, 74. Rhiner ICE HOUSEIBARN. 2 story frame. Built 1871. Razed ca.
.. 1884-87.
75. INTERSTATE BRIDGE. Built in 1930. Still standing.
76. PONTOON BRIDGE. Pilings & wood. Built in 1876. Partially
rebuilt in 1904. Torn out in 1930.
77. Lime & cement WAREHOUSE. 1-112 story ironclad frame. Built ca.
1896. Razed ca:1907-10.
78. Captain H. B. Elder OFFICE. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1884-88.
Razed ca. 1896.
79. UNIDENTIFIED BUILDINGS AT THE FOOT OF CHESTNUT STREET. In the
1860s and 70s at the foot of Chestnut Street & near the corner of
Water Street (then Stimpson Alley) and Chestnut, there were
residences and business buildings.. Names associated with the
area are: E. Welton, Harness Shop; R. M. Coles, Real Estate
Agent; J. T. Hildebrandt, Merchant Taylor, residence & business;
79., cont. John Glomer, resident; Fred Baker, resident; Peter J.
Decker, resident; and Peter Gilbert, resident.
80. Captain H. B. Elder LIMEHOUSE. 1 story frame. Buf lt in 1884.
Razed ca. 1896.
81. DWELLING. 1-1/2 story frame. Built ca. 1870-74. Saloon on first
floor ca. 1884. Incorporated into the Home Hotel. Razed ca. 1888.
82. Ellis Rhiner RESIDENCE . 2-1/2 story frame. Built ca. 1870-74.
Moved in 1887. Incorporated as Home HOTEL in 1887. Razed ca.
1888.
83. Torinus, Staples & Co WARMOUSE. 2 story stone (later w/brick
facade). Built in 1871. Incorporated into Minnesota Mercantile
Co. Bldg. in 1888. Razed ca. 1969.
84. Heavy storage WAREHOUSE. 2 story brick & stone w/basement &
covered frame skyway across Water Street. Built ca. 1882. Razed
ca/ 196i.
85. UNIDENTIFIED BUILDINGS ALONG S. WATER STREET. Built before 1870.
In 1860s along Water Street. In addition to Bronson & Cover (site
941, Rhiner House (site 82) and Torinus & Staples warehouse (site
83), there were 3 sheds and 1 house, all razed before 1882.
86. Lowell PARK. Started ca. 1918. Major improvements in 1927 &
1937. Still existing.
87. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co. PASSENGER & FREIGHT
DEPOT. 1 story brick w/basement & platform. Built in 1883.
Still standing.
88. City HORSE SHED. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1897. Razed ca.
1907-10.
89. City LEVEE. Stone & concrete. Work began ca. 1875. Levee wall
built in 1909. Carriage way & steps replaced by roadway & paved
levee in 1913. Incorporated as Lowell Park ca. 1918. In 1860s,
Durant & Wheeler Boat Works (and later Muller Boat Works) used
this area.
90. City ENGINE HOUSE. Ironclad frame. Built ca. 1891-98. Razed ca.
1924.
91. Park RESTROOMS. 1 story brick. Built in 1984. Still standing.
92. City LIFT STATION. 1 story brick. Built in 1960. Still standing.
93. City PUMP HOUSE. Brick & stone. Built in 1886. Rebuilt in
1916. Razed ca. 1960.
94. Bronson & Cover WAREHOUSE. 2-1/2 story frame wlbasement. Built
ca. 1866. Moved in 1883 and ca. 1886. A.T. Jecks Warehouse ca.
1888-1900. Sash factory ca. 1900-03. Simonet Rug Co. factory
from 1903-33. Razed 1933.
95. Muller Brothers BOAT HOUSE. 1 story frame. Built in 1873. Added
to in 1875 & 1880. Razed in 1884.
96. CAR WASH Built ca. 1960. Scheduled to be razed in 1985.
97. Woodward ELEVATOR. 50', ironclad frame. Built by the Woodward
Elevator Co. in 1898. Minnesota Flour Mill Co., 1900-08. Big
DPamond Milling Co., 1909-ll:-Commander Elevator Co., 1919-61.
Still standing.
98. Stillwater Gas & Electric Light Co. SUBSTATION. 2 story brick.
Built in 1907. Still Standing.
99. Stillwater Gas & Electric Light Co. GAS PLANT. 2 story brick.
Built in 1904. Still standing.
100. Stillwater FLOUR MILL. 5 story frame wlstone basement & 1 story
brick wlbasement. 120' brick chimney. Built in 1877-78. Burned,
1897.
101. Stillwater Flour Mill WARMOUSE. 2 story frame w/platform. Built
ca. 1878-82. Razed ca. 1896.
102. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Onraha Railroad Co. COAL SHED. 1
story frame. Built ca. 1910. Bluff City Lumber, 1926-73. Razed
ca. 1973.
103. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha R.R. Co. FREIGHT DEPOT. 1
story brick. Built ca. 1882. Razed in 1973.
,104. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Onraha Railroad Co. CAR REPAIR
SHOP. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1884. Razed ca. 1910-24.
105. UNIDENTIFIED BUILDINGS ALONG SOUTH MAIN STREET. Pre-1870 cluster
on South Main St. near East Nelson St.. One 1-112 story building
appears to have been at the river's edge.
106. St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Railroad Co. FREIGHT DEPOT.
2 story frame, built on posts in 1871-72. Razed ca. 1890.
107. St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Railroad Co. PASSENGER
DEPOT. Frame, one story. Built 1871-72. Razed ca. 1883.
108. RAILROAD TRESTLES, BRIDGES, AND PLATFORMS. On posts. Built
1871-72. Torn out 1935.
109. Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul, & Omaha Railroad Co. SCALES.
Built ca. 1888. Torn out ca. 1900.
110. Hersey & Bean SHINGLE SHED. 1 story frame. Built ca. 1888.
Razed ca. 1904.
111. Hersey & Bean BLACKSMITH & WOOD SHOP. 1 story frame wlforge.
Built ca. 1877. Razed ca. 1884-88.
112. Hersey & Bean BOARDING HOUSE. 3 story frame. Built ca. 1870.
Razed ca. 1912.
113. Hersey & Bean shed. 2 story frame. Built ca. 1884. Razed ca.
1891.
114. Hersey-& Bean WAREHOUSE. 1 story frame on posts. Built ca.
1870. Razed ca. 1888-91.
115. Hersey & Bean STORE & OFFICE. 2-112 story frame wlbasement, 2
story wlbasement, and 1-112 story w/brick vault. Built in 1877.
Razed ca. 1932.
116. Hersey & Bean HORSE SHEDS. Two 1 story frame buildings. Built
ca. 1870. Razed after 1924.
117. St. Croix TERMINAL BARGE CO. BUILDING. Built in 1958. Now
operated by Mple Towing. Area used by St Croix Barge since ca.
1927-28. Still standing.
- 3 SOURCES
. .
In a study where the exact location of all buildings in a given
area is of primary importance, old maps and photographs are essential.
research tools. To establish the historical significance of each
structure requires extensive work in written sources. Because
Stillwater is the "Birthplace of Minnesota", written sources are
numerous. Its proximity to the Twin Cities accounts in part for the
volume of written sources. Its reputation as an early and important
lumbering depot, and its ready access to river and (later) rail
transportation are also important historical trends which have resulted
in much historical writing.
The largest collections of Stillwater material are found in the
Minnesota Room of the Stillwater Publdc Library, the Stillwater
Department of Public Works, the Building Inspector's Office in the
Stillwater Municipal Building, and the Minnesota Historical Society.
The Minnesota Room of the Stillwater Public Library, under the
direction of Sue Collins, contains an excellent run of Stillwater city
directories from 1876 to the present, several scrapbooks of newspaper
clippings on Stillwater affairs, three cabinets of file folders
containing material on Stillwater, and the John Runk historical
photograph collection.
The Department of Public Works and the Building Inspector's Office
contain City Engineer's maps, railroad maps, and sewer maps dating from
the late 1860s to the present. These maps were an invaluable aid in
reconstructing the physical history of the Stillwater waterfront.
Older city permits are not available, but a new system of city permits
has been faithfully kept by the Building Inspector's Office since the
1960s. This office also has original plans and blueprints of
Stillwater buildings reaching back over 50 years. The foresight of
Stillwater city officials in saving these valuable sources was of great
assistance to this study.
The Minnesota Historical Society has a great deal of material on
Stillwater. The best sources there are the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
covering the period 1884-1924 in the Map Room, the John Runk photo
collection and the Stillwater and Washington County files in the
Audio-Visual Department, and the Northern Pacific Railway Co. Papers in
the Division of Archives and Manuscripts.
Two potential repositories of Stillwater material were especially
disappointing. Although Stillwater was part of Wisconsin Territory
from its beginnings in 1843-4 until 1848, the archives and library of
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison had almost no
material on Stillwater. Another disappointment was the Murphy Library
of the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, which has a large and
impressive special collection of photographs and materials relating to
steamboating on the Upper Mississippi River. The Stillwater material
housed there, however, is derived from sources that are readily
available in the Twin Cities.
Other important sources and contacts pertaining to the study area
include Jack Shelton, Stillwater's Director of Public Works, who
retired in January, 1985; Charles Quinn, a former records controller at
Northern States Power Company, who provided access to the Consumers
Power Co. records of the Stillwater gas and electric buildings (now
known as the Brick Alley); and John Wickre of the archives staff of the
Minnesota Historical Society's Division of Archives and Manuscripts,
who helped with access to the papers of the Northern Pacific and St.
Paul and Duluth railway companies.
Books
Several general histories of Stillwater and Washington County have
been written over the last 100 years. The most valuable are W.H.C.
Folsom's Fifty Years in the Northwest (1888) and History of Washington
County and the St. Croix Valley (1881). Written in the German
tradition of particular scholarship and recording, both books include
specific references to Stillwater businesses and businessmen not
mentioned elsewhere. Both also contain contemporary accounts of
nineteenth century manufacturers. Based on a check against other
contemporary and later sources, they are remarkably accurate. Their
comments on the people connected with various industries were
particularly useful for this study.
Augustus Easton's History of the St. Croix Valley (1909) picks up
-, where the two books referred to above leave off. In combination, the
three books add much to the story told by the various maps and
photographs from the period 1884-1910.
Monographs on particular aspects of Stillwater history were very
useful. On lumbering, Agnes Larson's History of the White Pine
Industry (1949) is a seminal study, full of detail. It is, however,
written from a statewide perspective. On railroads, Presser's Rails to
the North Star (1966) and Meeks' M.A. Thesis, "The ~rowkh of Minnesota
Railroads 1857-1957", were essential reference sources. Ray Merritt's
Creativity, Conflict and Controversy: A History of the St. Paul
District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1979) contains an interesting
account of the problems caused in the nineteenth century by the St.
Croix's dual use for navigation and lumbering.
Periodicals and Newspapers
One of the most important sources for this study was short
articles in scattered periodicals. In the main, the periodicals were
available .in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society. The MHS
Collections contained two valuable articles and papers on lumbering by
Durant (1905) and Folsom (1901). Agnes Larson's excellent 1937 article
on Stillwater lumbering in Minnesota History, and Lucille Kane's 1952
article on the Hersey, Staples Company in the Business Historical
Society Bulletin were also useful.
Kroon and Salmore's 1978 recollections about Twin City Forge and
Foundry was transcribed in Historical Whisperings, the newsletter of
the Washington County Historical Society. This publication is
available in the.Stillwater Public Library. William A. Mitchell's 1882
piece on Stillwater industries appeared in Wood and Iron, a trade
magazine for lumbermen and heavy equipment manufacturers. The
Mississippi Valley Lumberman, a periodical devoted to the lumber
industry, yielded several early references to Stillwater mills. First
published in 1876, the early issues of this magazine were good
sources. The focus of the publication soon shifted to regional and
national lumbering news. So by the mid-1880s specific mention of
Stillwater lumbering was rare.
When city directories and historic maps contained inadequate
information, newspapers often provided small but important items on
Stillwater businesses. The Stillwater Messenger and St. Croix Union
covered the period 1850-70. The Stillwater Gazette covered the last
100 years. And the Stillwater Post covered the 1920s.
During the late 1840s and 1850s, the Twin Cities newspapers ran
articles on Stillwater. The St. Anthony Express, the St. Paul
Minnesota Pioneer, and the Weekly Minnesotan were useful for general
descriptions of the city. These newspapers are not, however, indexed,
so they must be scanned a page at a time by the researcher.
Newspaper searches are immensely time-consuming, and the time
limit on this study precluded the reading of 140 years of newspapers.
Newspaper searches were, however, valuable when information could not
be gathered from more accessible sources. For the very early period of
Stillwater's history, 1843-60, a short cut to locating articles on
Stillwater was the Willoughby Babcock Newspaper Transcripts in the
Minnesota Historical Society archives. Babcock not only transcribed
articles into typescript, but indexed various early newspapers articles
by subject matter. The Babcock Collection is a useful research tool
for the territorial period of Minnesota history.
Maps and Drawings
Well over half of the sources consulted for this report were maps
and drawings found at the Minnesota Historical Society or the
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Fire insurance maps of Stillwater drawn by the Sanborn Map Company
of New York were available for the years i884, 1888, 1891, 1898, 1904,
'1910, 1924, and 1924 updated to 1961. They are located in the
Minnesota Historical Society Map Room, except for the 1924 updated to
1961 atlas, which is housed in the Stillwater office of the Director of
Public Works.
Sanborn atlases show building address and exact location, types of
construction materials used, roofing material, number of stories,
locations of windows, cornices, locations of outbuildings, building
use, and sometimes even their dates of construction. Changes in
building size and use can be determined over time by consulting the
Sanborn atlases.
A wide variety of other maps from the period 1848-1946 were also
used, especially for the years 1848-84 before the first Sanborn maps
were available. The earliest maps were the Wilson Plat of Stillwater
(1848) which showed the pre-1852 shoreline; the mid-1850s Carter map.
showing the post-1852 shoreline and the location of the early steamboat
landing; the ca. 1870 Stillwater and St. Paul Railroad Co. map showing
the earliest mills, railroad tracks, and depots; and the 1874 Andreas'
Atlas of Minnesota map showing railroad related structures, the Union
Elevator, and She construction of buildings out over the riverbank.
These maps are on file in the Stillwater Department of Public Works or
at the Minnesota Historical Society.
The bulk of the other maps used are at the Public Works
Department. These include various plat maps from the period 1870-90,
city sewer maps, and railroad yard maps. Maps and correspondence on
specific areas of the riverfront or particular buildings are located in
I the Northern Pacific Railway Company Papers at Archives and
Manuscripts, Minnesota Historical Society, and in the records of
Northern State Power Company in Minneapolis. The NP Papers have some
material on the early St. Paul and Duluth Railroad properties in
Stillwater. The "Omaha" Railway Company and "Milwaukee Road" papers at
the Milwaukee Public Museum may contain additional maps, but the
collection was unavailable for study while it is being recatalogued and
indexed.
Photographs and Illustrations
Stillwater is particularly fortunate to have received the
attention of John Runk, a local photographer who spent his life
photographing Stillwater's business and other activities between 1899
and his death in 1964. Runk donated some of his glass plates to the
Stillwater Public Library in the 1930s and, eventually, a full set of
copies was also housed in the Audio-Visual Department of the Minnesota
Historical Society. Since the study area was largely industrial, the
Runk photos were often the best available record to reconstruct the
uses of the riverfront.
Two sources of engravings supplemented the early maps for the
period 1870-74: Alfred T. Andreas' Atlas of Minnesota (1874) had
engravings of the Hersey, Bean mill and the Seymour, Sabin Co.
buildings. Since the Andreas' atlas was done on a subscription basis,
the engravings are very accurate descriptions of the companies who
subscribed. Ruger's 1870 Birds' Eye View engraving of Stillwater shows
the entire riverfront from an imaginary position over Houlton,
Wisconsin looking west. Ruger published other, similar views of early
Mi~esota towns. Like the Andreas' atlas, the Ruger views were sold on
subscription to local people and businesses interested in seeing their
homes and businesses in the engravings. If these early engravings were
not accurate they simply did not sell.
METHODOLOGY
The research techniques used for this study were determined by the
Scope of Work. The task was to research all structures built from
approximately Water Street to the shore from first settlement to the
present. To do this, a beginning date of 1843 was chosen for first
settlement.
There were three major concerns: 1) identifying and studying both
standing structures and previous ones which had been razed many years
ago; 2) determining exact locations for all structures; 3) and
1
accurately mapping them in their present or most probable former
locations.
To identify the universe of possible structures, all the maps
available for Stillwater were located. Most of these were found in the
Stillwater city offices, in the Minnesota Historical Society library
and archives, and in the Washington County Court House. The earliest
, map found was the plat of Stillwater drawn in 1848 (Wilson: 1848). The
I
latest useful map dated from 1946. The best maps for determining
owner, use, address, construction materials, and possibillty of
subsurface remains were the Sanborn fire insurance maps. Atlases of
colored sheets drawn by'the Sanborn Company were originally used by
fire insurers to spread insurance risks, but they have left a valuable
building record for historians. Eight Sanborn maps were available for
Stillwater for various years from 1884 to 1961.
Initially, 30 major sites were identified along the riverfront for
the time period 1848-1984. Major sites were all large industrial
buildings, railroad-related structures, Lowell Park, and any structures
connected with wharfs, levees, or railroad trestles and bridges. An
initial study map was drawn for the major sites, and research was
continued on the minor structures. Any industrial area has many small
wood frame structures such as railroad scales, small coal sheds, and
other small buildings impossible to identify with any accuracy. This
was the case in Stillwater and was not an' initial concern. In-depth
historical research was begun on the major sites, which began to turn up
information on the smaller buildings, as well.
A second study map was prepared to include every building
appearing on the Sanborns. From this, all buildings were placed on a
preliminary base map to represent building activity and areas of high
concentrations of buildings. The base map, in turn, helped define the
bracket dates for the five separate period maps which would best show
buildings and building activity with the minimum overlap of sites and
information. The preliminary base map, then, assisted in determining
the final period maps (after p. 8) which appear in this report. The
five period maps were drawn on mylar to the same scale as the aerial
photographic maps provided by the Corps.
The process of determining the bracket dates for the five period
maps in this report was one of successive approximations and
refinement. One hundred seventeen (117) sites were discovered in the
study area. As the research progressed, their dates of construction
and demolition were pieced together. This information was charted on a
time line stretching from 1843 to the present. The sites began to
group themselves into concentrated periods of building construction,
demolition, or stability. . The years from 1884 to1924 were.'
particularly complete because these were the dates during which Sanborn
Insurance Maps were available showing all buildings-in the study area.
As dates -for the specific sites were determined, so were dates of
important benchmarks in the history of Stillwater. For example, the
steamboating era in Stillwater began to close in 1870-1872 with the
opening of the railroad era. Correspondingly, a burst of activity and
construction accompanied the coming of the rails. The date 1871, then,
seemed a fitting terminal date for Period I (which could be thought of
as the steamboat or pre-railroad era). Similarly, for Period 11, the
years 1870 to 1898 roughly represented the flowering of the lumbering
activity along the riverfront in Stillwater. The year 1898 was also
the death date of Isaac Staples, Stillwater's great lumber baron.
Periodizing the maps for the twentieth century was more of a
convenience. In general, the bracket dates chosen for periods 111, IVY
and V were determined largely by the construction and demolition
activities along the riverfront. The dates 1924 and 1946 did not
represent actual important historical watersheds in the history of
Stillwater. In fact, the lumbering activity did not peter out until
around 1912. And the closing of the Twin City Forge in 1930 ended the
last major manufacturing interest along the riverfront. Thus, in
looking at important eras in Stillwater history, a case could be made
to have used the dates 1912 and 1930 for the periodization, but the
physical fate of building stock along the riverfront did not justify
doing so. In truth, few new buildings were constructed along the
I riverfront after 1900. Of the new buildings constructed several were
associated with oil and gasoline reflecting the coming of the
automobile and the beginning of the demise of the railroads. The
buildings constructed after 1900 replaced earlier buildings on previous
sites. The years during the 19308, '408, '508, and early '60s were
years of relative quiet on the riverfront. There were small spurts of
activity on the riverfront but no major activity. Thus, the year 1946
was used so that the century could be divided into pre-and post-WWII
., eras.
The historic research methods used for each site differed in no
I
respect from those used in conducting intensive National Register
surveys on standing structures. The only difference in this study was
that buildings no longer standing were treated to the same scrutiny as
standing structures. For each site, records were combed for historic
photographs, maps, and city directory entries to reconstruct the
building dates, alterations to the site, ownership, and names
associated with the buildings. Architectural drawings were .found for
five sites: #27, 57, 93, 98, and 99.
The mapping and research went hand in hand. The ideal situation
would have been to find a map for each year from 1843 to the present
1
showing every building in the study area. The research task was to
find historic photographs and written or manuscript sources for every
building in the study area. The ideal situation rarely occurs and did
not in the Stillwater study. Maps found produced gaps: the period
before 1882, the period between 1924-1961 being the two worst ones.
Information for the gaps in the available maps was.pieced together from
. , city permits, from city directory searches. for any references to
activities or names and addresses in the study area, from censuses,
from early photographs and engravings, and from newspapers. In the
case of the John Runk photographs, the originals in the Stillwater
Public Library were checked against the copies at the Audio Visual
department of the Minnesota Historical Society and the maps to
cross-check the accuracy of the dates on the photos.
Take the example of the period before 1882. There were three
early maps for 1856, 1876 and 1882 showing a few of the actual
buildings in the study area. The next best earlier document was the
1870 Bird's Eye View of Stillwater (Ruger: 1870). This engraving
(Figure 10) showed buildings in the study area not on any existing maps
as well as early buildings which appeared on later maps. Thus, it was
fairly easy to determine the approximate locations of buildings shown
on the 1870 lithograph which were razed by 1876 and 1882. To find out
what the early pre-1880 buildings were in the study area, we went to
several written sources. One source was the 1876-77 Stillwater city
directory the earliest one available for the city (Barrett: 1876-77).
Some of the buildings in the 1870 lithograph were listed in the 1876
directory as being situated on Stimpson's Alley (later changed to Water
Street), but had no address in 1876. These became likely candidates
for separate site listings in our inventory. Another source was the
territorial census of 1857, which was used to determine the historical
information on the Johnson and McHale mill. The only other mention of
the mill was a passing reference in an early newspaper. Thus the city
directories and newspapers were used primarily to flesh out information
not available on the maps. Similarly, to document dates and owners of
buildings in the study area from 1924 to the present, current owners
were interviewed, the later Polk Company city directories were
consulted, or the permits in the building inspector's office were
checked.
The use of certain terms in the Inventory of Sites and Assessment
sections of this report under "archeological potential" is crucial to
an understanding of the assessment of sites. This report nrakes a
distinction between a "site"' and a "structure". A "site" is the
location of an event or historic occupation or activity, such as the
Figure 10: Ruger's 1870 Bird's Eye View of Stillwater shows many of the
early buildings along the shore with remarkable accuracy. On the left of
the engraving up against the bluffs is the area known as "Slab Alley". Here
the workers employed by the Hersey, Bean mills lived. The state prison can
be seen at the right enclosed by stone walls.
Battle Hollow site of the Dakota-Ojibway skirmish or the location of
the former Nelson sawmill. "Site" in this report does not contain a
structure, whether standing, ruined or vanished. "Structure", on the
other hand, is used in this report to signify a work made up of
interdependent and interrelated parts in a a definite pattern of
organization. Thus, "structure" is used to signify the remains (below
or above ground) of a railroad trestle, the intact foundation of a
building which has been razed, or a building still standing, such as
Hooley's Market.
The Inventory of Sites section describes the archeological
potential of the 117 sites and structures found during the course of
this study. For each site or structure, the author lists the presence
of real or presumed structures belowground, in cases where the
structures have been razed. Thus, where "None" or "Small" is the
assesment of archeological potential, the author wishes to convey the 1
notion that no or few physical remnants of a structure exist or
survived. This is not, strictly speaking, the conventional use of the
I
term "archeological potential" in archeology circles. The term usually
signifies the information that can be gained from excavation of the
remains, and not from other sources (written or graphic). In the case
of the Stillwater riverfront, the body of written and graphic
information is enormous, as this study indicates. So nothing would be
1
gained from archeological excavations which would add significantly to
what is already known about the area. This report has strived to fully
use the written and graphic records of the uses of the riverfront.
Archeological excavations might yield cultural material from any and
all parts of the study area because the riverfront has been subjected
to many and intense human activities over the past 140 years. In this
sense, the entire area has potential to yield cultural materials, but
it is unlikely that the informtion so gathered would justify the
expense or add significantly to the historical record. To simplify
this dilema, the assessment of archeological potential, as used in
this report, is confined to the question of whether structures may
remain below ground.
Figure 11: The shaded area indicates the limits of the Rivertown Restoration,
Inc. photographic survey of Stillwater buildings.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Stillwater, the county seat of Washington County, was founded in
1843, but the area was long used by the Dakota and Ojibway Indians for
hundreds of years before that. By the 18308, the St. Croix Valley was
"a sort of neutral territory" between the Dakota and Ojibway. Neither
nation lingered in the area long for fear of being taken by surprise by
the other, but both used the River and its tributaries. According to
an early account, there were painted rocks with glyphs a short distance
above Stillwater until the building of the St. Croix Boom company over
100 years ago blasted the rocks and obliterated the site . The Indian
rock painters and the age of the glyphs are unknown. Another Indian
story set at Stillwater involved Dakota and Ojibway chiefs fighting in
one-to-one combat on Zion's Hill near the center of present-day
Stillwater to settle a long war between the tribes (Warner and Foote
1881 : 496-7).
Close to the shore of Stillwater today was the site of a
19th-century battle between the two tribes. On July 3, 1839, in the
ravine where the old State Prison stood (across from Site 551, thirty
Ojibway and their families camped for the night on a return trip from
Ft. Snelling. They were surprised at dawn by eighty Dakota warriors.
Twenty-one Ojibway were killed while their women and children tried to
escape in canoes across the river. The site of the Indian battle
became known as Battle Hollow (Wolfe 1867: 377).
The Indians were removed from the Stillwater area by the two
Treaties of 1837, which were ratified by the United States in 1838. By
these treaties, the Dakota and Ojibway ceded the large delta between
the St. Croix and the Mississippi rivers northward to parts of
present-day Crow Wing, Aitken, and Pine counties (Folwell 4: 160).
Immediately, Joseph R. Brown platted a town with a temporary existence
he named Dakota. It was located in what is now Schulenburg's Addition
to Stillwater (see Figure 13, p. 35) east and north of the country club
(Folsom 1888: 33). In 1840, Brown was elected territorial
representative from Crawford County, Wisconsin, and went to the
. . . . .. , - .. .W - .'.'. ..
Figure 12: 1848 Plat of stillwater
Wisconsin territorial assembly with the intent of asking that a new
county, St. Croix, be created west of the St. Croix River. The new
county seat of St. Croix County was Brown's town of Dakota where he
erected the first log courthouse, jail, and county offices near his log
hotel (Folsom 1901: 300).
As soon as settlement began in the St. Croix Valley, the lumbermen
rushed in. Settlers from Marine, Illinois, built the first private
sawmill in Marine, Wisconsin Territory, in 1839. Present-day
Stillwater began in 1843 when Jacob Fisher staked a claim where
Stillwater now stands. Fisher's claim was bought by John McKusick and
three business associates who erected the first sawmill in the city in
1844. It was run by direct water power from McKusick Lake on the
bluffs. The water reached the mill via a canal and turned a water
wheel. This mill stood on the lake shore east of Main Street on Block
18, lot 8 (Folsom 1888: 38).
The first permanent familles arrived in Stillwater in 1844 and
settlement began in earnest. Stillwater is the largest Minnesota city
to have begun under the governance of Wisconsin Territory and to have
ended up as part of the state of Minnesota. Wisconsin became a state
in 1848 with its western boundary set at the St. Croix River. This
left the people who lived in Wisconin Territory in the delta between
the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers with no government. The
territorial convention met in Stillwater in 1848 and elected Henry
Hastings Sibley to petition Congress for a new territory. Sibley was
successful and Minnesota Territory was organized in 1849. This
convention earned Stillwa ter the name "Birthplace of Minnesota. "
Stillwater was platted in 1848, a town of about 600 people "of
whom nearly all of the men were lumbermen." John McKusickts mill, with
its thirty-foot overshot wheel was the beginning of Stillwater's fame
as a great lumbering center (Bailey 1867: 377).
The story of Stillwater has three main ingredients:
transportation, lumbering, and manufacturing. Transportation was the
pre-requisite for the growth of the latter two. The St. Croix River's
main tributaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin were the Kettle, Snake,
Namekagon, Apple, and Yellow rivers. At settlement, the watershed area
of these tributaries contained vast stands of white pine, and the
rivers themselves provided the highway by which logs were brought to
Stillwater, cut at small sawmills, made into rafts, and floated
downriver to market. The first period of lumbering (1839-1872) at
Stillwater depended solely on the St. Croix River. Logging was
seasonal work lasting from November to late Spring, occasionally until
June. This period corresponded to the high water levels essential to
get logs out of the woods to Stillwater mills, and then rafted for the
trip down the river. The second period (1871-1914) began with the
advent of railroads to get logs from Stillwater to far-flung nrarkets.
Two innovations occured, one in each period. The first was the
building of the St. Croix Boom above Stillwater in 1851. By
effectively blocking all commercial traffic upriver, it had an adverse
effect on all St:Croix villages but Stillwater. The second was the
construction of Nevers Dam which controlled water levels in the River
and freed lumbermen from the vicissitudes of nature. The dam was built
in 1889-90 about eleven miles above Taylor's Falls (Merritt 1979: 277).
In 1851, the first log boom was built on the St. Croix to catch
logs and hold them for sorting, measuring, and rafting. This first boom
company was composed of eight St. Croix Valley'lumbermen. The boom was
built across the St. Croix River two miles upstream from Osceola and
six miles below Taylorf s Falls. The owners of the two largest lumber
mills in Stillwater were the power behind a second boom, built in 1856
below the first boom, to catch the logs floating into the St. Croix
River from the Apple River. Blasting from this second boom near
Painted Rock destroyed the Indian rock paintings. This second boom was
constructed by Isaac Staples of Hersey, Staples & Co. and Frederick
Schulenburg, the owner of the Schulenburg and Boeckeler Co., the
largest log cutter in Stillwater. The Staples operation was first
located on N. Main (see Figure 13, p. 35). The second mill was located
along the shore on S. Main and became the Hersey, Bean Company's
Northwestern mills (Sites #110-116). The Schulenburg operation was
located on N. Main along the shore north of the state prison.
Originally from St. Louis, Frederick Schulenburg normally sent his
cut lumber by raft to his lumberyard in St. Louis (Dunn 1965: 101-05).
In 1865, the volume of rafted logs tallied at the
St. Croix Boom was 105 million feet. By 1870, this figure had jumped
to 191 million feet (Warner and Foote 1881: 197).
Until the mid-1860s Stillwater retained its distinction as the
lumbering capital of Minnesota. When lumbering moved into northern
1
pineries around 1865, the mills of Stillwater were replaced by those of
Minneapolis in total output (Holmquist and Brookins 1972: 48).
During the 1850s and 1860s when Stillwater was the largest lumber
town in Minnesota, all lumber traffic used the river and several of the
early St. Croix mills even used direct water power to run the mills.
In Stillwater proper, only the McKusick mill was operated by water
wheel, but in the St. Croix Valley as a whole, six mills were operated
. by water power, the last of these constructed in 1849 at Hudson. The
year 1850 marks the advent of steam-powered mills and an enormous leap
in efficiency and output. McKusickls water powered mill operated at
the mouth of Brown's Creek at Stillwater until it was torn down in
1871. The newer mills built after 1850 were steam powered. Both ,
Hersey, Staples Co. and Schulengurg and Boeckler Co. built large steam
mills in 1854 and 1856. When completed, the Hersey, Staples mill on S.
1
Main was the largest in Minnesota (Sites 11110-116). It had an annual I
cut of 12 million feet (Warner and Foote 1881: 197).
The lumbering activity at Stillwater made the city the supply
depot for the entire St. Croix Valley. Before the first railroad
reached Stillwater in 1871, supplies were brought overland by road from
St. Paul or up river by steamboat. The machinery for all the mills
reached Stillwater by boat, as was the case with nearly everything
else. Regular steamboat service was available from Prescott and St.
i
Paul on the Mississippi to Taylor's Falls, the head of navigation on
the St. Croix (Bailey 1867: 378). A new road was opened between St.
Paul and Stillwater in June, 1846 (Folsom 1888: 411, and four horse
stages began making regular trips between the two cities in 1849 (St.
Paul Minnesota Pioneer, Oct. 4, 1849, p. 4). Stillwater was a supply -
depot for outfitting the men in the lumber camps during the winter, and
required more supplies than what was needed to feed and clothe its
small population. The road from St. Paul was little more than a
trail. Stillwater needed railroads badly.
Figure 13: Andreas' Atlas of Minnesota showing Stillwater in 1874
3 5
Under one of the original railroad land grants, to the Minnesota
and Pacific Railroad, Stillwater in 1857 was slated to be the eastern
terminus of a railroad line via St. Paul to the western border of
Minnesota. The Panic of 1857, followed by the Civil War and the Sioux
Indian uprising of 1862, seriously delayed railroad building in the ' '
state. So Stillwater waited for the coming of the rails along'with
every other Minnesota town. It was another fourteen years before
Stillwater's first train pulled into the Stillwater & St. Paul
passenger depot (Site i161).
Railroad building exploded in Stillwater between 1869-1872. By
1867 Stillwater citizens headed by John McKusick successfully appealed
to the state legislature for a new franchise and land grant to complete
the long-desired line from Stillwater to St. Paul. The new company,
headed by St. Croix Valley men, was called the Stillwater, White Bear,
& St. Paul Railroad. The road was completed from Stillwater to White
Bear in December, 1869. At White Bear, it connected with the St. Paul
& Duluth line, giving Stillwater connections with both Minneapolis and
St. Paul as well as Duluth (Folsom 1888: 670-71). The Stillwater,
White Bear, & St. Paul (shortened to Stillwater & St. ~aul) built its
facilities just north of the foot of Myrtle Street in 1869-71.
The next rail line to arrive in Stillwater was the St. Paul,
Stillwater, & Taylor's Falls Railroad, which was incorporated in 1869
to construct a line from St. Paul to Taylor's Falls via Stillwater with
a branch line to Hudson, Wisconsin. This line also operated a
steamboat line and transfer point at Stillwater. The company's tracks
came into Stillwater from the south, along the river and ended at the
shore on S. Main. The first train reached Stillwater on February 9,
1872. The facilities of this line were spread out between what is now
the Brick Alley parking lot on the north and the barge terminal on the
south.
The freight and passenger depots of both these early railroads
were built on wooden piles out over the shore of Lake St. Croix. The
Stillwater & St. Paul tracks entered Stillwater from the north and
terminated at the foot of Myrtle Street. Clustered here were their
freight and passenger depots and the Union Elevator, all built out over
the water. This railroad served the Schulenburg mill on N. Main, the
- , C. N. Nelson sawmill, the state prison, and the manufacturing
operations of Seymour, Sabin, and Co., the Northwestern Manufacturing &
Car. Co., and, later, the Rumely and Northwest Thresher companies.
At the south end of town, the St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls
line serviced the huge Hersey, Bean & Co. mill. The early depots of
Stillwater's first railroads are shown in an interesting engraved map
of the city of Stillwater in 1874 (Figure 13, p. 35). Both of these
lines used their freight depots as points of transfer between the rail
lines and the steamers which docked along side the tracks.
The entry of railroads into Stillwater in 1871 and 1872 vastly
expanded the available markets for Stillwater lumber and manufactured
goods, and made Stillwater a major wholesale distribution point for
northeastern Mimesota and nortwestern Wisconsin. Steamboating for
freight began to go into decline with the coming of the railroads
(Andreas 1874: 230). The railroads opened up new markets for
stillwater lumber, primarily to the west. In January, 1872, Stillwater
sent its first shipment of lumber to Iowa by rail. Eleven months
I
later, Stillwater had shipped 7 million feet of lumber into the
interior of Minnesota and Iowa. -,
The rails shifted the activity in Stillwater from rafting logs for
downriver mills to manufacturing finished lumber, lath and shingles.
Only when the mills at Stillwater could not saw all the 1ogs.from the
boom, were rafts of 'logs sent south by river. In June, 1875, the
largest weekly shipment of lumber to that date left Stillwater on 141
cars to points in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Dakota
Territory. Manufacturers, too, made heavy use of the rails. In 1875,
Seymour, Sabin & Co. sent its finished doors, sashes, and plows by rail
to its Cedar Rapids and Sioux City, Iowa yards (Larson 1937: 175).
By the turn of the century, Stillwater had four railroads
operating in the city. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha line
incorporated in 1880, a combination of the St. Paul, Stillwater &
Taylor's Falls, the West Wisconsin, and the North Wisconsin. The North
Wisconsin had a bridge across the St. Croix four miles above
Stillwater. Roscoe Hersey and his sons owned large shares in this line
and the "Omaha" was considered Stillwater's own. The Chicago,
Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railway Co. built from Hastings up the east shore
to Stillwater in 1882. At the turn of the century, the St. Paul &
Duluth acquired the Stillwater & St. Paul, and having expanded their
Stillwater facilities, sold out to the Northern Pacific in 1900. Spur
lines and tracks from each railroad ran along the shore of Lake St.
Croix at Stillwater connecting each lumber and manufacturing building
to markets in the four cardinal points.
The railroads were no small part of the success of lumbering
operations at Stillwater, whose golden years were the decades of the
seventies, eighties, and nineties. The last log passed through the St.
Croix Boom on August 12, 1914, signalling the end of the lumbering era
in the St. Croix Valley (Larson 1937: 179). Billions of board feet of
lumber were sent down the St. Croix in the seventy years of lumbering.
According to the Surveyor General's records, the peak year was 1899,
with over 391 million board feet cut that year (Easton 1901: 258).
One geographer recently summarized the chief reasons for the
decline in Stillwater lumbering. After 1890, markets for the lumber
I
were more.distant from the sources of white pine as settlement moved
farther west. Freight charges to these more distant markets increased
the cost of production. The stands of pine were farther away from
processing centers in the St. Croix Valley as the close-in stands gave
out. These distances further increased the cost of bringing the logs
out of the woods to the St. Croix Boom. The use of lumber railroads
into the pineries did not adequately offset these additional costs.
Railroads were costly in themselves and tracks had to be laid and taken ,
up and laid again in a new stand. Smaller lumber companies had to
consolidate or go out of business. In addition, with the largest pines
taken long before, the size of the logs steadily and dramatically
decreased from the 1880s on. Stumpage costs also increased
dramatically after 1890. Finally, the seemingly inexaustible stands of
pine began to give out. Because lumbermen viewed the vast pineries for
fifty years as an embarrassment of riches, no one had thought to
replant the cut over (Pitzl 1984: 8-10).
Newcomers to lumbering like Frederick Weyerhauser appeared on the
scene in the 1880s. Weyerhauser moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1887
and established the Weyerhauser Timber Co. Douglas fir was priced
lower than white pine and flooded the markets with cheaper lumber after
1890 (Larson 1949: 235).
Some Stillwater lumber companies held on tenaciously despite
increased production and lower profits. George H. Atwood leased the
"A" mill from Hersey, Bean and Co. in 1891 on S. Main and bought the
old "B" mill on N. Main from Schulenburg, Boeckeler and Co. and updated
it for greater effeciency. Atwood's combined output in 1904 was in
. excess of 100 million board feet. But the S. Main "A" mill ceased
- > operations in 1904 and the largest of Stillwater's lumbering operations
ended in 1907 when the "B" mill on N. Main was completely destroyed by
.fire (Amdt 1980a: 2).
The C. N. Nelson Lumber Company sawmill (site 81, which was built
around 1873 by Seymour, Sabin & Co., ceased operations in Stillwater in
1888. Nelson moved to Cloquet with the help of Stillwater
capitalists. In 1896, Frederick Weyerhauser and his associates bought
I
the C. N. Nelson Lumber Co., and the Nelson operation ceased its
separate ezdstence (Larson 1949: 352-53). Jacob Bean began lumber
operations with Isaac Staples, and became general manager of its
successor, Hersey, Bean & Co. in 1875. Like Nelson, Bean looked
- 3
outside Stillwater for new fields. He put some of his money in mining
in Montana and in the mid-1890s formed a new lumbering venture in Mille
Lacs County headquartered at Milaca. It was known as the Foley-Bean
. 1 Lumber Company (Easton and Masterman 1898: 37).
The lumber industry in Stillwater has received the lion's share of
attention from historians, but from the 1850s to the 1930s Stillwater
was also a renowned manufacturing town. Local capitalists in
Stillwater, many of whom made initial fortunes in lumbering,
diversified into manufacturing, wholesaling, and flour milling. These
non-lumbering activities not only gave some spice to the makeup of
Stillwater, but kept it from becoming little more than a small village
when lumbering declined. As these other economic activities flourished
on the water front in Stillwater, the New England character of the
town, set in the beginning by a preponderance of eastern lumbermen,
began to change.
The lumber companies hired mostly Scandinavians, Germans,
Canadians, New Englanders, and even Indians and mixed-bloods on a
seasonal basis to log, sort, and raft the timber in the camps and on
the booms. The mill workers in Stillwater who operated the saws,
stacked and loaded the lumber were mostly Germans who lived in "Dutch
town" on N. Main near the Schulenburg mill. On S. Main, a row of small
houses across from the Hersey, Bean mills was known as "Slab Alley"
where the sawyers and other mill workers lived (Amdt 1980b: 3).
Around 1876, many Italians began arriving in Stillwater. Uthough they
started out in St. Croix lumber camps, they quickly found work in
Stillwater as steam fitters, assembly workers, blacksmiths, and
machinists in the state prison or in one of the several agricultural
implement manufacturing plants. The Italian connnunity lived at the
west end of town near the intersection of Laurel and Owens streets
(Kroon and Salmore 1978: 3). The blue collar workers in Stillwater
. . were a more stable, less transient group than the lumberjacks who
swelled the federal census rolls by calling Stillwater home. 1 -
The agricultural manufacturing concerns not only had an impact on
the ethnic makeup of Stillwater, but kept the city from turning into a
ghost town after lumbering gave out. The population statistics from
Stillwater reflect the role lumbering played in the town. When
lumbering was at its peak in the 18908, Stillwater hit a population
high of 12,318, which by 1940 had dropped by nearly half, to a low of
7,013 (Federal Censuses: 1890, 1940). The tawn actually had a somewhat
smaller population than the census figures indicated because the count
for Stillwater routinely included lumberjacks working in camps in the
St. Croix region who were employed by Stillwater-based lumber companies
(Disabled American Veterans 1978: 11).
There was a long tradition of manufacturing in Stillwater going
back to the Seymour, Sabin Co. in the 18708, and including the
Norhtwestern Manufacturing and Car Cob, Minnesota Thresher,
Northwestern Thresher, M. Rumely and Co., and Twin City Forge and
Foundry. Had it not been for this long tradition id. manufacturing, the
population after 1910 would have dropped even further. Between 1920
40
and 1930 the population of Stillwater dropped from 7,735 to 7,173.
During this decade the Twin City Forge and Foundry Company alone
employed upwards of 650 men, somewhere above 15% or more of the male
work force in the city (boon and Salmore 1978: 3).
Nearly every venture which flourished on the shores of Lake St.
Croix at Stillwater was founded with lumber money. Many of the men who
diversified their lumber businesses knew each other as business
partners in non-lumber ventures. The lumbermen who purchased St. Croix
Valley pine lands from the 1860s on were sawing lumber in the Valley,
mostly at Stillwater. It was a small group and everyone knew each
other. Names generally associated with this group are Isaac Staples,
Louis E. Torinus, W. H. Bronson, David Tozer, Charles N. Nelson, Dwight
Sabin, Edward Durant, Charles and Jacob Bean, Roscoe Hersey, Frederick
Schulenburg, Orange Walker, Samuel Judd, W. H. Veazie, William.O'Brien,
Mark C. Scanlon, and Thomas Brennan (Larson 1949: 70). Most of these
men were associated with the Stillwater riverfront.
The Hersey Staples Company is a good example of highly integrated
business practices which put Isaac Staples and Samuel F. Hersey into
I
logging, milling, wholesale distribution, banking and retailing. All
.. of these lines of business were needed to succeed in the lumber
industry. And luckily for Stillwater, the scope of operations of these .
business men saved Stillwater from obscurity when the timber gave out.
-,
In order to carry on in a new country, according to Agnes Larson,
the lumbermen "had to supply food, provide transportation, and finance
allied industries. Thus they became active promoters in many fields.
, (Larson 1949: 1731." Such was the case with Hersey, Staples and
Company. The Hersey, Staples mill began operations in 1854. By 1859,
they were advertising dry goods, clothing, provisions, hardware, boots,
shoes, and other articles on the levee. They were willing to take
grain and flour in exchange for fencing and common lumber produced at
their mill. Flour was an important and scarce food staple in early
Minnesota. Isaac Staples bought the Union Elevator and feed mill in
1888, renaming it after himself, and operated it until his death in
1889 (Site 651). It burned a month after his death. Staples also
formed an early partnership with Louis E. Torinus, recently arrived
from Russia. After making money in lumber, the men went into the
wholesale hardware business together selling nails and stoves to supply
the lumber camps. The firm of Torinus and Staples began operations in
1868 from a warehouse at the shore (site 83). This business simplified
getting supplies to Staples' lumberjacks.
Samuel F. Hersey's son, Roscoe, formed the Hersey, Bean Co. when
Staples left the partnership. Roscoe Hersey was also involved in
merchandising, milling, banking, and the St. Paul & Sioux City
Railroad, later known as the "Omaha" line. He became a state senator
in 1878.
John and James S. O'Brien were self-made men who by dint of hard
work and native wit built a successful logging company headquartered in
Stillwater. Some of James O'Brien's early lumber partners were Elam
Greeley and John McKusick, pioneer Stillwater lumbermen (Warner and
Foote 1881: 591). O'Brien became enormously successful in lumbering.
In 1881, he founded and became president of the Minnesota Mercantile
Company (Sites 155 and 1/56), the largest wholesale grocery business in
Stillwater. John O'Brien built the John O'Brien Elevator in 1898 and
went into the grain and milling business (Site 154).
David Bronson, another Maine lumberman, settled in Stillwater in
1855, began with lumbering, and then built up a variety of interests in
the mercantile business, manufacturing, and banking (Upham and Dunlap
1912: 78). In 1859, he started a dry goods and grocery store. He took
on partners in 1866 (David Cover, William Bronson, and E. A. <Folsom)
and formed Bronson, Cover and Company. Their warehouse was on the
waterfront in Stillwater (Site 594). After several additional changes
in partners the business was bought out by Hersey, Bean & Co. in 1874.
Bronson then formed a separate retail business selling from a store on
Main Street (Warner and Foote 1881: 552).
The agriculture machinery manufacturing business in Stillwater
grew into the largest in the northwest. It began with Dwight M. Sabin
in the early 1850s. Other lumbermen associated with its successor, the
Northwestern Manufacturing and Car. Co., were Roscoe Hersey and Isaac
Staples. Even Thomas Lowry of Minneapolis street car fame and Norman
Kittson of Red River Valley fame were directors. The manufacturing of
railroad rolling stock, threshers and other agricultural machinery such
as separators and binders was as much a boon to the Stillwater economy
as lumbering. Stillwater manufactured needed machinery and cars at a
time when most of Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Dakota Territory was
being settled. The need for farm machinery in the Red River Valley
alone was enormous. North Dakota became a state in 1879. Bonanza
farms and smaller farms demanded farm machines to harvest the vast
winter wheat fields in the Red River Valley. Excellent rail
connections from Stillwater led directly to the newly homesteaded lands
opening up in the Dakotas and the plains states. The name of Stillwater
was known throughout the trans-Mississippi west for its excellent
machines and engines.
This industry began when Dwight M. Sabin came to Minnesota in 1867
and settled in Stillwater the following year. Sabin started by
manufacturing specialty items: doors, sashes, molding, and office
furniture. He ended up making machinery, engines and railroad cars.
Sabin was elected to the state senate (1871-3), and was a U. S. Senator
from Minnesota from 1883-89 (Upham and Dunlap 1912: 664). According to
Stillwater photographer John Runk, "Mr. Sabin was one of the cleverest
promoters in Stillwater's history." He was a classic entrepreneur,
always operating on a grand scale, with a reputation of always getting
what he went after. His best talents lay in organizing and promoting
and he was backed by eastern capitalists. Sabin was an excellent and
persuasive speaker. Runk maintained that the only businessman in
Stillwater who would not do business with Sabin was none other than
Isaac Staples. Sabin died leaving a remarkably small estate, but he
had had many financial set-backs during the boom and bust periods of
the nineteenth century (Runk 1872 : #196).
Dwight Sabin and George Seymore, general contractors, formed
Seymore, Sabin & Co. in the 1860s. It was one of the first companies
in Minnesota to use convict labor provided by the Minnesota State
Prison on N. Main (Carroll 1970: 11). George Seymore first appears in
an 1867 directory as "Seymour, Willim & Co., contractors of Minnesota
Penitentiary, Upper Main" (~ailey 1867: 383). George Seymour settled
in Stillwater in 1858. He was a carpenter by trade and a chief partner
Figure 14: The old state prison on N. Main looking southeast
toward the shore, ca. 1880.
Figure 15: An engraving of the old state prison on N. Main, based on the 1880
- d
photograph (Figure 12). In the engraving, only the three story stone building
within the prison walls is a cell block. The remainder of the buildings are the
shops and boiler room of the Seymour, Sabin & Co. operations. In the background
along Main St. is the chimney stack of the Isaac Staples saw mill. The house
1 on the hill in the background is the mansion of Isaac Staples.
of Seymour, Sabin & Co. when it was formed in the late 1860s. Seymour
later became sheriff of Washington County, mayor of Stillwater, and, in
1889, a state representative (Upham and Dunlap 1912: 693; Roney 1970:
41) :
Seymour, Sabin & Co. had a lock on cheap convict labor in the
state prison on N. Main. They expanded to the east side of N. Main and
built a vast complex of buildings across from the prison. In the
beginning, they manufactured finished millwork, brackets, molding,
scrollwork, doors and sashes for buildings and office desks, counters,
and bank furnishings (Andreas 1874: 55). An early engraving shows
their plans for the plant in 1872 prior to construction (see Figure 13).
The success of Seymour, Sabin & Co. and its successor, the
Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Co., owed much to the state prison
on N. Main in Battle Hollow. The company did not invent the use of
convict labor. The prison was located in Stillwater in 1849 and
completed in 1853. In 1859, one John B. Stevens, a Stillwater
manufacturer of shingles and blinds, leased the prison workshop and
harnessed the convict labor for manufacturing, George M. Seymour and
his partner took over the contract for prison labor when Stevens pulled
out. They began making flour barrels at the prison. The convicts were
paid a small sum each day for their work. The company sold its
products, worth $135,000 in 1871, by working the convicts eleven hours
in summer and nine hours in winter under the watchful eye of prison
guards. Charges of profiteering ensued while Seymour, Sabin & Co.
continued to expand. The company built additional facilities on the
east side of Main. In 1874, the firm started making threshing machines
(Dunn 1960: 143).
In 1882, Sabin organized the Northwestern Manufacturing and Car
Company with the help of railroad money. Seymour, Sabin & Co. was
absorbed into this new conglomerate, the largest corporation in
Minnesota. Northwest Manufacturing and Car Co. continued to make
doors, sashes, flour barrels, and threshers, adding to its line
traction farm engines and freight and passenger cars (Dunn 1960: 144).
Northwestern excercised virtually complete control over prison
affairs. The 1884 Sanborn insurance map of the prison shows the cell
blocks of the penitentiary lost among the buildings which housed the
- 1 machine shops, sash, door, and blind warehouses, erecting shops,
storerooms, blacksmith shops, finishing and molding rooms, coal sheds,
and woodworking shops of the Northwestern Car Co. on the prison grounds.
In addition to the operation within the prison walls, Northwestern
had mushroomed with extensive yards and shops on the east side of N.
Main (Figure 14). Some 1,200 civilians provided most of the labor,
since the convict population was so small. The state prison inspectors
in 1884 apologized in their annual report:
It was never expected that when the contract for prison labor
was made, the Manufacturing Co. of Seymour, Sabin & Co. would
develop into the mammoth N.W. Manufacturing and Car Co.....
Had that result been foreseen, the shop room would most
certainly have been restricted, and also the number of
citizen employees allowed within the prison grounds (Dunn
1960: 144).
The company muscle even extended to choosing guards and officers
employed by the state prison. Eventually in 1887, the state
legislature took hold of the situation ruling that prison labor
I contracts would compete with free enterprise.
The contract with Sabin was terminated but the Northwestern
Manufacturing and Car. Co. continued to use the state prison for
manufacturing operations. The Car Co., deprived of its source of cheap
labor, went out of business in 1888, and the facilities east of N. Main
passed to the Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company.
This was not the end of the story. Largely drawn from creditors
and stockholders of the Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Co., the
I Minneosta Thresher Co. was born. It used the facilities of N.W. from
. >
1887-1902. Then followed a brief life for M. Rumely & Co. which also
manufactured threshers. From 1902-1916, the shops on N. Main were
operated by the Northwest Thresher Co. When N.W. Thresher went
bankrupt in 1916, George H. Atwood, who had formed the last large
lumber company in Stillwater by merging Hersey, Bean's mill on S. Main
with the Schulenburg mill on N. Main, formed the Twin City Forge and
Foundry Co. The "Forge" made munitions for WW I, and after the war,
made casings. It ceased operations in 1930. In this progression,
Figure 16: Engraving of the North West Thresher Company plant across from the i
prison on N. Main looking southeast, ca. 1910. Main Street is in the foreground . 7
and the boiler plant of the old C. N. Nelson sawmill (118) is the chimney stack
in the left background.
Stillwater became renamed for its threshers and farm machinery which
were sent throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, making the
name of Stillwater famous.
The industrial glory days of the Stillwater waterfront ended when
"The Forge" closed in 1930. The city continued with the improvement
program at Lowell Park during the 1920s and 1930s, but there was no new
construction along the waterfront. The tracks and trestles of the
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad were taken out in
1935 in the area east of S. Main Street, and a few buildings started to
come down during the 1930s along the river. More were tom down in
1946 after World War 11. The citizens of Stillwater were increasingly
using cars to commute to work outside of Stillwater after the war.
Stillwater's population continued to decline to a low of around 7,000
during the decade of '40s, then slowly started to rise as the Twin
Cites came within commuting distance for most people in town. This
trend is continuing even today.
The next wave of demolition along the. riverfront started in the
early 1960s. This was a time of urban renewal, but there was no
concerted effort in Stillwater to.clear the riverfront. Nonetheless,
the oil tanks of Standard, Kilty, and Bartles were tom down, along
with Union Station and buildings like the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad
freight house. By far the greatest loss to Stillwater was Union
Station. This was easily the most impressive depot from an
architectural standpoint in Minnesota. The depot was replaced by
Hooley's Market, the one major new addition to the riverfront. In '
1969, two more buildings were razed: the Torinus, Staples warehouse and
the Minnesota Mercantile Co. Building. These were both major buildings.
Things began to happen again in the'1970s. Rivertam
Restorations, Inc. did a photographic survey of part of Stillwater in
1976-78 (see Figure 44). Tom Blank rehabilitated the old freight house
and made it into a restaurant. It was placed on the National Register
in July, 1977. Architect Mike McGuire redid the old gas plant and
substation into the Brick Alley in 1979-81. And the city of Stillwater
rehabilitated the Lowell Park Pavillion in 1984.
INVENTORY OF SITES
This section contains an inventory of all sites found in the study
area along the Stillwater waterfront. There are 117 sites and they are
listed in order from north to south along the riverfront. Since field
testing for subsurface structural remains was not part of this study,
the archaeological potentials refer to probable foundations and
structures below ground which may remain, and not to possible evidences
of other human activities in and around the structures. Dates in
parentheses for each site are dates-the building stood.
- 7
1. Seymour, Sabin & Co. boarding house and shed, 4410-11 N. Main (ca.
1884 - ca. 1902)
Historical Overview: This 2-story frame boarding house was built
by Seymour, Sabin & Co., makers of fancy mill work and office
furniture during the 1870s. It was probably built for the
company's employees. It was a common practice in Stillwater
for campanies along the river to provide room and board for
some of their employees.
Archaeological Potential: The chances of locating remains of this
building are very small. It did, however, have a basement
(Sanborn 18881, probably of stone or brick. In 1902, site
12, the Northwest Thresher Co. foundry', was built over the
remains of this site. The foundation was probably destroyed.
Recommendations: No further work is needed.
References : Sanborn Insurance Atlas (1884-1898 1.
2. Northwest Thresher Co. fouitdry and castings storage, 4409 N. Main
(1902 - ca. 1945)
Historical Overview: The Northwest Thresher Company was organized
in 1901 and went out of business in 1916-17. Their plant
covered 18-25 acres and employed 600-700 men. It was one of
Figure 17: View from the top of Battle Hollow looking northeast, ca. 1888. The
stone house is the foreground was the Warden's House (now the Washington County
Historical Society Museum). The long stone building north of it is the cell
block within the prison walls. On the east side of Main (right) is the machine
shops (!I51 of the North Western Manufacturing and Car. Co. North of the shops
building is a small two story gabled building, the Seymour, Sabin boarding
house (#I).
the largest manufacturers of high grade threshing machines
and traction engines (Carroll 1970: 12). The company also
made wind stackers, feeders, and separators. The company
maintained branches in Kansas City, Fargo, N.D., Sioux Falls,
S.D., Council Bluffs and Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, and made shipments throughout the U. S. as well as
to Canada and Mexico (Railway Publishing Co. 1903: n.p. 1.
From 1917-1930, this building was used by Twin City
Forge and Foundry, whose general offices were across No. Main
Street in the old state prison building (boon and Salmore
1978: 1,3). The building was razed ca. 1945.
Archaeological Potential: This building had an earth floor
(Sanborn 1924), but was of brick construction 3-112 stories
tall with a stone base. Remnants of the base may still exist
below grade.
Recommendations: Only a small portion of the southeast end of this
building was in the Corps study area. Most of the building
was outside the study area. No further work in necessary.
References : Carroll (1978 : 12) ; Railway Publishing Co . (1903 :
n.p.1; Kroon and Salmore (1978: 1,3); Sanborn (1904-24).
Note: This site is related to Sites 112, 3, 21 and 23.
3. Minnesota Thresher Co. foundry and blacksmith shop, 4408 N. Main
(attached to the north end of Site 15) (ca. 1891-1898 to post-1930)
Historical Overview: The foundry and blacksmith shop was built on
the north end of the machine shops (Site 1/51 when the
buildings were operated by the Minnesota Thresher
Manufacturing Company. The foundry and blacksmith shop
addition was a one story brick building with no basement. In
1902, the Northwest Thresher Company bought the machine shop
(Site 1/51, and expanded the forge and foundry at that time.
For additional information, see the description of Site #5
later in this inventory.
Archaeological Potential: The building had no basement. Footings
may have been brick or stone. It is unlikely that pieces of
- I the footings remain.
Recommendations: The Corps study area boundary runs through the
site. See recommendations for Site #5.
References : Sanborn (1898-1896).
4. C.N. Nelson and Co. steam dry kiln, 4409-112 N. Main (ca. 1878-1896)
Historical Overview: This steam dry kiln was situated north of the
C.N. Nelson Lumber Company saw mill (Site f8). It was used
to steam dry the lumber cut at the Nelson saw mill. See Site
/I8 for history of C.N. Nelson Co. Site #6 (the boiler house)
is also associated with the Nelson sawmill. By 1891the kiln
building was used as a warehouse for farm machinery. In 1898
. it was vacant (Sanborn 1891 and 1898). The building was
razed between 1898 and 1904.
Archaeological Potential: This frame building had one story and a
basement. The main building had 2 shed wings on the east and
west and a wooden platform on the south side. The stone or
brick basement may still be there because in later years the
area was used to store piles of lumber. This use would not
have disturbed whatever remains of the building were still
below ground.
Recommendations: The Corps study area boundary runs through this
site. The site is not as important as the main sawmill (site
8 No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1884-1904).
5. Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine shops, 4408 N. Main (ca. 1874-1904)
Historical Overview: This was an important building in the history
of Stillwater. ,Views of the building taken in 1904, 1907,
1908, 1914, 1917, 1919, and 1926 appear in John Runk's
photographs. It was built by Seymour, Sabin & Co. as their
main machine manufacturing building (Andreas 1874: 55). It
Figure 18: 1884 Sanborn showing the North Western Manufacturing and Car. Co.
car shops (W5) and yards. To the east of the Car shops is the C. N. Nelson
sawmill (W8). Nelson's steam dry kiln (f4) is shown north of the sawmill.
went through several architectural plans between 1872 and its
actual construction in 1874. It measured 44' X 315' and was
of 3-story wood construction (Mitchell 1882: 163). Seymour,
Sabin & Co. began operations in the 1860s in the old state
prison building on N. Main (Roney 1970: 25). Originally the
company was a general contracting business managed by George
M. Seymour and D.M. Sabin, and it was one of the first
companies in Minnesota to use convict labor (Carroll 1970:
ll). The company manufactured fancy mill work and furniture
such as brackets, moldings, and scrollwork for buildings. It
also made office desks, counters, and bank furnishings
(Andreas 1874: 55).
In 1882, Seymour, Sabin & Co. briefly merged with the
Northwestern Construction Co., and then became the
Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Company. D.M. Sabin was
president of the new firm, which took over the physical plant
of Seymour, Sabin & Co.
The Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Company defined
its business as the
building and sale of steam engines of all kinds,
and the manufacture, building and sale of passenger
cars, freight cars, flat cars, cattle cars and all
other kinds of cars, and the fixtures and
attachments thereto belonging, and the manufacture
and sale of farm implements and machinery of all
kinds, and the manufacture and sale of all
articles, improvements and machinery of which wood
and iron...form the principal component parts, and
the manufacture of the materials therin used
(Mitchell 1882: 163).
The machine shops building housed "machinery of every
description for boring, planing, turning and working iron in
various ways (Ibid. 1. "
By 1888, the machine shops building passed to the
Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company, which used it as a
warehouse for their separators,-farm machinery, and wagons
(Sanborn 1888-1898). The Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing
Company was formed in 1887 largely from creditors and -
stockholders of the Northwest Manufacturing and Car Co. when
- 7
it went into receivership (Barrett 1887: 26). Minnesota
Thresher was a successful business at this site from 1887 to
1902. M. Rumely & Co. operated the machine shops briefly in
1902, also manufacturing threshers.
1
From 1902-17, the machine shops were run by Northwest
Thresher Co. and the foundry at the north end of the building
(Site //2) was rebuilt. When this company went broke in 1916,
Stillwater lumberman George H. Atwood and a group of Twin
Cities businessmen formed Twin City Forge and Foundry Co
"The Forge" made munitions (mostly 6" shrapnel shells) during
World War I and remained in business until 1930 making steel
castings (Kroon and Salmore 1978: 3).
In the 1940s the old machine shop was operated by
Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company. The building was
razed in 1946.
Archaeological Potential: This building was of 3-story wood frame
construction with a basement. Foundations were stone or
brick and were evident in 1978 (Kroon and Salmore 1978 : 3).
1
I The building was sheathed in corrugated iron - hence its
J
nickname: "Old Iron Clad."
Recommendations: The Corps study area boundaries run through only
a small portion of this site. The site is significant to the i
history of early lumbering manufacture in Stillwater by - ,
virtue of its association with Seymour, Sabin & Co. and its
1874 date of construction. In addition, the site has
interpretative value as a leading example of the shift from
lumbering to machine manufacture in Stillwater. The latter
industry continued in the city into the 1940s.
The Corps should avoid the site during construction if
possible. It is in Reach 3 in the direct impact area. The
foundation itself is not historically significant.
References : Sanborn (1884-1924) ; Runk (photos from 1904, 1907,
1908, 1910, 1914, 1917, 1919, 1926) ; Upham & Dunlop (1912:
664); Barrett (1887: 26); Andreas (1874: 55); Carroll (1970:
11, 12); Mitchell (1882: 163); Roney (1970: 25, 39-41);
Figure 19: Early stages of construction of a steel U. S. Government barge by
the Minneapolis Steel and Construction Company along the shore near Twin City
Forge and Foundry in 1919.
Northern Pacific Railway Papers (1902-03: File ~58-3) ; boon
and Salmore (1978).
6. Boiler House Complex, East of 4408 N. Main (Site #5) (ca. 1882-ca.
1920)
Historic Overview: The boiler house was connected by steam pipe to
Site 115. It housed 6 boilers which provided steam power to
run machinery in the machine shop (Site #5). The 1884
Sanborn map showsthe steam pipe running under the wooden
railroad platform and tracks of the St. Paul and Duluth
Railroad directly into the machine shops. The 6 boilers were
probably housed away from the machine shops for safety. The
building had a 60' smoke stack on the south side, and in its
original configuration was 1-112 stories tall. Between 1888
and 1891, a smaller 1-story addition was built on the west
side and 2 of the boilers were removed. By 1898, the
building was vacant and the boilers idle (Sanborn 1898).
By 1904, the boiler complex was operated as the Twin
City Rapid Transit Company's power house. By 1904 a new
boiler had been added, making 5 in all (Sanborn 1904). Twin
City Rapid Transit, a Minneapolis-based company, extended
suburban car line service to the towns surrounding the Twin
Cities (including Stillwater) just after the turn of the
century (Prosser 1966: 100). For reasons which are unclear,
the Rapid Transit Company abandoned the boiler complex within
a few years. In 1910, the State Prison was using the west
wing for an ice house. The building was probably used to
store ice until the new prison was built in 1915.
Archaeological Potential: The boiler complex had no foundation,
but the 60' smokestack on the south side of the original
structure may have had substantial footings to support its
great weight. Those footings may still be below grade.
Recommendations: The building is of interest only for its
association with Site 115, and only from 1882 to the mid-90s.
Although the base of the chimney stack may remain, no further
work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1884-1910) ; Prosser (1966: 100) ; Runk (1904,
-. 7. Northwest Thresher Co. dry kiln and horse shed, east of & behind
4408 N. Main (Site 95) (ca. 1902-1907)
Historical Overview: Just east of the machine shops (Site were
2 frame 1-story buildings erected by Northwest Thresher Co.
They appear on the 1904 Sanborn Insurance Map, and are both
small structures. The one to the north was a small steam dry
kiln with an open walled lumber shed. It may have been used
in manufacturing thresher parts. Just south of the kiln was
a small coal bin with a 1 or 2-horse shed on its east side.
Archaeological Potential: None. These buildings sat directly on
the ground and only lasted 5 years (1902-1907). They are not
historically significant.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1904).
Historical Overview: This sawmill was originally built as a -medium
capacity mill by Seymour, Sabin & Co. (Durant 1905: 655) to
saw lumber for their doors, window sashes, plows, and other
- 1 articles required for life on the frontier (Larson 1937:
175). The sawmill sat just east at the river's edge from
_ I Site 95. It contained a rotary saw, edgers and trimmers, and
could turn out 50,000 board feet of lumber a day. A shingle
-, and lath machine made this mill one of the best in the St.
Croix Valley (Warner and Foote 1881: 516).
In 1878 Seymour, Sabin & Co. leased the mill to D.M.
Sabin and C.N. Nelson under the company name of C.N. Nelson &
Figure 20: Architect's drawing showing plans for Seymour, Sabin & Co. buildings
on the east side of N. Main. The long building in the background is the proposed
machine shops (#5), which, when built in 1874, were more functional looking. The
sawmill in the foreground was leased to C. N. Nelson and Co. (#8).
Co. D.M. Sabin was a principal in both companies and may
have wanted to separate his milling operations from his
manufacturing operations. Improvements were made to the
mill, including a 27 gang saw reputed to be the fastest in
the state at 260 strokes a minute. An addition was build to
house the shingle and lath machines.
The lease expired in 1880. C.N. Nelson Lumber Co. was
incorporated in September of.that year. This company
consolidated the St. Louis River Lumber Company and C.N.
Nelson & Co. Nelson and Sabin had interests in both these
companies, and essentially consolidated their lumber
operations in the new C.N. Nelson Lumber Co.
By 1881, the C.N. Nelson Lumber Company mill measured
36' X 150' and could turn out annually 14 million board feet
of lumber, 7 million shingles, and 5 million board feet of
lath. Eighty five men were employed in the mill and yards
each season. Millwork from this mill was sent to southern
and western markets. Company camps were located on the Snake
River, St. Louis River, and Sand Creek in Minnesota. There
was also a camp on the south fork of the Clam River, two
camps on the Apple River, and another on the Upper Namekagon
in Wisconsin. On some 60 or 70 acres of land in downtown St.
Paul, the Nelson Lumber Co. had a planing mill and 3 lumber
yards (Warner and Foote 1881: 516, 517).
The railroad tracks of the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad
Company stretched between this site and the machine shops
(Site #5). A wooden railroad platform was located at the
back (west) of the site. The railroad took finished lumber
and millwork south and west to new settlements. The logging
camps were also connected by rail.
The Nelson Lumber Co. was short-lived. By 1888 the mill
was abandoned (Sanborn 1888). It was torn down around 1890
(Sanborn 1891). A small wooden addition on the north side of
the mill remained standing until sometime between 1904 and
1910. This addition appears as a boat house at the water's
edge on a 1902 Northern Pacific map (Northern Pacific Railway . .
Co. 1902-03: File S58-2). - .7
Archaeological Potential: None. The frame 2-story Nelson mill had
no foundation. An 1874 engraving (Andreas 1874: 55) shows
the building built over the gently sloping river bank and
supported, at least on its east (river) end, on wooden
posts. If the posts were left when the building was razed,
some remnants of these posts may still exist. Since the
ground was wet and low, it is more likely that any remains
from the posts have rotted 'away.
. >
Recommendations: It is historically significant because of its
association with D.M. Sabin and C.N. Nelson and also as a
textbook example of a Minnesota lumbering operation from the
1880s. It was also not by any means the largest lumbering
operation in Stillwater at the time. No further work is . ,
recommended for this site.
References: Runk (1872 engraving). This engraving may be misdated
and taken from Andreas (1874:55); Sanborn (1884-1910); Warner
and Foote (1881: 516, 517, 510); Larson (1937: 175); Durant
(1905: 655); Mitchell (1882: 164); Northern Pacific Railway
Co. (1902-03: File S58-2).
9. St. Paul & Duluth paint shop, east of Site 1/10, east of Site 115
(1902-10).
- 7
Historical Overview: Nothing is known about this building. It
only appears on the 1910 Sanborn map, and is shown as a small
(approx. 6' X 8') building on a 1902 Northern Pacific Railway
map of the riverfront. It may have been built by the St.
Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. or by the Stillwater Branch of the
Northern Pacific.
Archaeological Potential: None
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. This was a small,
insignificant building which apparently did not stand on this
site for long.
References: "N.P. Ry., St. Paul Division, Stillwater Branch,
Stillwater, Washington Co., Minn., September, 1902." (Northern
Pacific Railway Co. Papers 1902-03: File S58-2); Sanborn (1910).
-.
10. M. Rumely & Co. testing room, east of Site #5, (ca. 1902-24)
- 3 Historical Overview: This building was of frame construction, 1
.. story, located behind the machine shops (Site #5) and built
- , in 1902 when the shops were operated by M. Rumely & Co. As
.. built, the structure was sheathed in iron and had a dirt
-, floor (Sanborn 1910). By 1924 when the building was owned by
.. , Twin City Forge 6 Foundry, it had been converted to use as a
garage and had a concrete slab floor (Sanborn 1924).
Archaeological Potential: The concrete floor was probably broken
UP*
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. This site is
not historically significant.
References: Runk (1919, f2141); Sanborn (1910); "N.P. Ry., St.
Paul Division, Stillwater Branch, Washington Co., Minn.,
September, 1902. (Northern Pacific Railway Co. Papers
1902-03 : File S58-2).
11. Johnson 6 McHale mill (1856-ca. 1875)
Historical Overview: The Johnson 6 McHale mill was was one of
Stillwater's earliest sawmills. After 1874, the mill was
demolished to make way for the Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine
shops (Site #5).
References to this mill are fragmentary. It was built
opposite the state penitentiary on the east side of N. Main.
The 1857 Territorial Census of Minnesota listed 2 mill owners
named Michael McHale, age 33, and Roswell B. Johnson, age
45. McHale, an Irishman, came to Stillwater in 1849 and
recieved the first masonry contract for the Stillwater State
Prison (Warner and Foote 1881: 588).
McHale had formed a partnership with Johnson when the
St. Croix Union announced in 1856 a "steam mill at water's
edge" owned by Johnson & McHale (Dec. 5, 1856). The mill was
long gone when Folsom (1888: 404) noted that McHale and Co.
was one of the eleven leading lumber mills in Stillwater in
1888. This may or may not be Michael &Hale.
Archaeolonical Potential: None. Site 65 was built on the Johnson
& McHale mill site in 1875. The mill sat at the southwest
corner of what became the machine shops.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: St. Croix Union (kc. 5, 1856); Folsom (1888: 77, 78,
404); Territorial Census (1857). .
. . . . - - . - .. . - 12. Seymour, Sabin &.Co. main offices, in 1884 4404 N. Main, in 1891
607 N. Main (ca. 1874-ca. 1940).
Historical Overview: This small, rectangular 2-story frame
building with basement was the main office of Seymour, Sabin
& Co. when it was built. It passed through the same sequence
of ownership as the wchine shops (Site #5) just to the.
north. In the early 1880s this site was the general store
and offices of the Northwestern Manufacturing & Car Co. In
1888 it became the supply house and offices of the Minnesota
Thresher Manufacturing Co. It was the general offices of the
Northwest Thresher Co. In 1917, it became the main office of
the Twin City Forge & Foundry Co., and was vacant in 1924.
Archaeological Potential: Since the basement of this building was
probably local brick or stone, some remnant of the foundation
may be buried'under the ground.
Recommendations: The site is significant to the history of
Stillwater by virtue of its assocation with the large
machinery manufacturing companies operating on the riverfront
between 1874 and 1924. It should not be disturbed by
construction activities if possible. It is located in the
direct impact area in Reach 3. It would be an interesting
Figure 21: The Stillwater landing used by Bronson & Folsom Co. in 1904. The
chimney stack (right rear) is the boiler house (#6) built by Seymour, Sabin
Co. The white building in the center with a gabled roof was originally the
Seymour, Sabin company offices (#21).
site to interpret if the remnants of the foundation were . .
uncovered in conjunctions with those at Site /!5. The
foundation itself is not significant.
References: Sanborn (1884-1910); Warner and Foote (1881: 519-521); ,
Voney (1970: 39-41) ; Runk (1919, f477).
13. Stillwater Fire Department hose house, 603 N. Main (ca. 1898-1924).
Historical Overview: This small (ap~rox. 6' X 6' ) frame building
with no foundation was just large enough to hold 2 hose carts
with 150' of cotton hose and 2 stationary reels with 50' I
hoses (Sanborn 1910). .)
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: The site is not historically important. No
further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1898-1924).
. ,
14. Seymour, Sabin & Co. castings storage, office, & coal sheds, in
1884 4402-4403 N. Main, in 1888 603 N. Main (ca. 1875-ca. 1896).
Historical Overview: This 1-story frame rectangular building with
basement preceded the hose house (Site /!13) on this lot. It
was associated with the same early companies as Site #5
(machine shops) and Site /I12 (general offices).
In 1884 the casting storage shed was attached to a
southeast wing used as a coal and coke shed running alongside
the St. Paul & Duluth tracks. A small wood frame office was
located at 4305 N. Main a few feet south of this building
(Sanborn 1884). Most of the storage building was razed, but
the office and coal and coke shed remained in 1888 (Sanborn
1888). In 1891 only the coal and coke shed remained (Sanborn
1891). In 1898 only the office at 603 N. Main remained
(Sanborn 1898).
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: These small buildings are not significant to the
history of Stillwater. No furtherworkisnecessary.
References: Sanborn (1884-1891).
15. Minnesota Highway Department garage, 599-601 N. Main (ca.
1940-still standing)
Historical Overview: This building was constructed ca. 1940. A
concrete block structure, it is faced in cream brick and has
a concrete slab floor. A wood frame shed is situated to the
northeast between Sites ill5 and il17. The Warden's house for
the old State Prison is directly across the street.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. The Corps boundary
runs through the site.
References: Sanborn (1924 updated to 1961).
16. Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. paint storage shed, no address
(ca. 1887-ca. 1907)
Historical Overview: This small 1-story frame metal clad building
was located on the east side of the St. ~aul & Duluth
Railroad Co: tracks east of 601 N. Main (Site #18). It was
erected by the Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. and is
related to Sites il5 (machine shops) and ill2 (general offices).
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is recommended.
References : Sanborn (1888, 1891, 1901).
17. Muller Boat Works, Inc. boat houses, no address (1945, 1950,
1965-still standing)
Historical Overview: The "north end" of the Muller Boat Works
consists of a wood frame shiplap sided building with roof
monitor built in 1945. It was originally a boat repair
building with a concrete floor (Sanborn 1924 updated to
1961). Two corrugated metal sheds with gabled roofs are
located to the north and east. They were built in 1956 and
1965.
Site #17 consists of 3 buildings, all still standing.
During the winter these buildings are used to dry dock and
repair large launches and pleasure boats and for storage.
The Muller Boat Works business began in 1872 and is
operated by direct descendants of George Muller, the
company's founder our Committee of Stillwater Bicentennial
Commission 1978: 23).
This site is related to Sites #24, 31, 66, and 89.
Archaeological Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Tour Committee of the Stillwater Bicentennial
Commission (1978: 3) ; Roney (1970: 23) ; Sanborn (1924 updated
to 1961).
18. Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. warehouse, 601 N. Main (ca.
1887-ca . 1917)
Historical Overview: This 3-story frame building was built by the
Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Co. for a sash, door and
blind warehouse anbo born 1888). In 1891, it was a paint shop
and office (Sanborn 1891). In 1904, the Northwest Thresher
Co. used the building for mounting and rebuilding engines
(Sanborn 1904). A 2-story south addition was built by 1910.
The entire structure was razed around 1917, about the time
Twin City Forge & Foundry took over the property.
Archaeological Potential: This building had no basement. Its
archaeological potential is very small to none.
Recommendations: This site is significant to the history of
Stillwater by its association with machinery manufacture in
the city, but its archaeological potential is negligible. No
further work is recommended.
19. St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. sand shed, in 1884 east of and
behing 4308 N. Main, in 1891 southeast of 601 N. Main (Site #18) (ca.
1884-ca . 1910 )
Historical Overview: This sand shed was a small rectangular frame
building with no basement and a wood shingled roof. It sat
along the west side of the St. Paul & Duluth tracks southeast
of 601 N. Main (Site #18).
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommencations: No further work recommended.
References: Sanborn (1884-1904).
J 20. Midland Cooperative, Inc. filling station, 501-505 N. Main
(1950-still standing)
Historical Overview: The Midland Cooperative built this 1-story
concrete block filling station in 1959. The company also
owned the tire storage building and oil tanks at 507-511 N.
Main shown on the 1924 updated to 1961 Sanborn map and listed
on the map as Farmers Co-op Oil Co. The tanks and a previous
building at the site were owned by the Bell Oil Co. in 1946
(Railroad Yard Map: 1946).
- 1 Archaeological Potential: Remnants of concrete slabs or foundations
1 for the oil tanks may exist. The sites are not, however,
historically significant.
Recommendations: No further work recommended. 'The Corps boundary
runs through the site.
References: Sanborn (1924 updated to 1961); Polk (1958, 1961);
1
Railroad Yard Map (1946). ,
.. .
21.Northwest Manufacturing & Car Co. warehouse, in 1891 425 N. Main
Historical Overview: This large shipping warehouse As a 2-story
wood frame brick veneered building with basement. It sat on
wooden posts driven into the ground. At the rear of the
building was a 1-story car shed covering the spur line tracks
of the St. Paul & Duluth. From this warehouse machinery was
shipped directly to market. When Northwest went into
receivership in 1887, the building was operated by the
Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company until Twin City
Forge & Foundry took it over in 1917, using it for general
warehousing. This building has the same sequence of
ownership as Sites #5 and 12.
Archaeological Potential: Small. Subsurface materials may
still exist, but the likelihood is not strong because the
only known underground materials appear to have been wood.
Recommendations: Historically this large warehouse is associated
with Sites 3!!5 and 12. The Northwestern Manufacturing & Car
Co. was the largest firm of its kind in the state. The
shipping warehouse, connected as it was to the St. Paul &
Duluth tracks by spur, facilitated direct shipping of
finished goods throughout the region. For this reason it is
a significant buidling in the industrial history of
Stillwater. The boundary of the Corps study area runs
through the site and the Corps should avoid disturbing the
area with construction activities if possible. No further
work is recommended.
References: Sanborn (1884-1924); Runk (1910); Barrett (1887:
20-23) ; Plat of Stillwater (1930).
River Bank
Historical Overview: This portion of the river bank was west of
the St. Paul & Duluth tracks in 1848 (Wilson 1848). As
activity increased along the riverfront, fill was added,
pushing the bank farther east. Consequently, the shore line
in this area was a little farther east in 1852 than it was in
1848. In the decade 1874-84, the low bank and shoreline were
gradually filled in. The 1874 C.N. Nelson & Co. sawmill
(Site /!8) was originally built at the shore, with part of the
building on posts out into the water. By 1891, the sawmill
sat perhaps 25-30 feet west of the shoreline (Andreas 1891).
The change in shoreline was caused by fill, probably rubble
from city construction, dirt, and sawdust and slabs from
lumbering operations. The river bank was also the site of
large piles of cut lumber from the Nelson mill.
Various maps of the area from the 1880s and 1890s
indicate an attempt to construct a retaining wall at the
shore.
In 1902, the NP Depot had a small frame engine house
approximately 4' square at the river's edge (NP Railway Co.
1903, File S58-2).
Between 1917 and 1930 Twin City Forge & Foundry used the
shore for barge building and munitions stocking (Runk 1919:
/!2141). A 1919 Runk photograph, 52091, shows a level area,
probably a large raised wooden platform, extending from their
machine shops (Site /!5) out over the water where a barge is
being assembled. This platform may have covered the uneven
ground around the present Muller Boat Works boat storage
(Site /!17).
Archaeological Potential: In driving along this stretch of the
shore to the Muller Boat Works property (Site #17), there is
evidence of stone foundations or walls, loose brick, and
rubble. These remains are probably connected with either the
railroad or activity associated with Twin City Forge &
Foundry and its predecessors. The area has been gradually
filled with dirt and other materials vor over 100 years. The
Corps study area boundary runs through the area.
Recommendations: No further work is recommended.
References: Sanborn (1884-1961); Runk (1919: fs 2092, 2141); Wilson
(1848); Andreas (1874: 52); NP Railway Co. (1901-03: File
S58-2).
Figure 22: Stillwater looking north along the tracks before 1900. This photograph
was probably taken from the top of John O'Brienls elevator (i154). In the fore-
ground are the stock yards (1146) and coal sheds' (i138, i148) along the tracks. The
two large flat-roofed buildings on the left are the N.W. Mfg. & Car Co. warehouse
(i121) and the N.W. Thresher Co. engine house (i123). -.
Figure 23: 1884 Sanborn showing the huge warehouses of the N.W. Thresher
Company (#21, #23). J. N. Bronson's foundry and machine shop (#26) took over
the old Stillwater Street Railway Co. building in the late 1900s.
23. Northwest Thresher Co. engine warehouse, in 1924 321 N. Main
(1902-ca. 1940-46)
-1
Historical Overview: The engine warehouse of the Northwest
Thresher Co. was a 1-story frame building with no basement. - 3
A spur line of the St. Paul & Duluth ran through the back of
the building. This spur was used to ship agricultural
machinery directly to markets all over the region.
This engine warehouse was built in 1902, adding yet
another building to the 25-acre company holdings across from
the penitentiary. The engine warehouse was huge (200' X
200'1, and it was completed in 1903. It housed finished ,
machinery: feeders, threshers, separators, and other
agricultural implements. In business from 1902 to 1917, the
company shipped its machinery "to every state of the Union,
Mexico and Canada, carrying the name of Stillwater in
evidence on each piece of machinery" (Railway Publishing Co.
1903: n.p.).
Archaeological Potential: Like the warehouse to the north (Site 1
I
#21), this building was supported on wooden posts driven into
the earths. The likelihood of underground survivals at the - ?
site is small. . J
Recommendations: The size of this building attests to the volume - ,
of business conducted by Northwest Thresher. The building -I
was significant to the manufacturing history of Stillwater. - ,
The area should not be disturbed by construction activities
if possible. The site is in Reach 3 in the direct impact
area. No further work is recommended.
References : Sanborn (1904-24) ; Railway Publishing Co . (1903 :
n.p. ); Runk (1907: #439, 1910: #$80); NP Railway Co. Papers
(1902-03: File S58-2). .
Figure 24: Stillwater looking south ca. 1875. The bridges and
trestles of the Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. are shown built
out over the water. Logs, debris, and sand are gradually filling
in the area between the tracks and the shore. Located on the water
at the side of the tracks in the background is the tall Union
Elevator (1151).
24. Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. railroad trestles and bridges
over inlet (built 1870-71-date of destruction unknown)
Historical Overview: The 1848 plat map of Stillwater (Wilson:
1848) shows an inlet dipping inland at this point. The shore
line today shows vestiges of this inlet between approximately
Cherry and Linden Streets. Originally, this inlet led toward
the Staples Mill on N. Main. Staples used the inlet as a log
boom in the 1870s (Runk 1875: iI203).
When the Stillwater & St. Paul laid track along the
shore in 1870-71, they built wooden trestles and bridges 20'
above the low water level starting from Myrtle Street on the
south and running straight north over the inlet (Andreas
1874: 52).
Once the tracks were in place, the inlet began to fill
up with lumbering refuse and debris from other activities
(see Figure 22). The tracks of the Stillwater & St. Paul
were eventually on solid ground. In the 1890s, the railroad
was bought by the NP. In the 1920s, the Chicago, St. Paul,
Minneapolis & Omaha had tracks in this area, as did the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific.
The remnant of the inlet is used today as a marina by
the Muller Boat Works.
Archaeological Potential: Some of the materials from the trestles'
and bridges may still exist. It is more likely that they
rotted away long ago.
Recommendations: While they show an interesting eastward shift of
the shore line, these trestles and bridges are not
particularly significant. No further work is recommended.
References: Andreas (1874: 52); Wilson (1848); Runk (1860s: iI203,
1872, 1875: /,177); Warner and Foote (1881: 510).
25. Coal shed cluster, in 1904 301-112, 307-112, 315-114 N. Main (ca.
1902-1910)
Historical Overview: A small cluster of coal sheds was located
southeast of the Northwest Thresher Co. engine house (Site
#23) on the east side of the St. Paul & Duluth tracks. The
cluster consisted of three small wood frame buildings
stretched along the tracks east of 301-315 N. Main (The
Consolidated Lumber Co. Yards) in 1904 (Sanborn: 1904).
Archaeological Potential; None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1904).
26. Stillwater Street Railway Co. electric power house, 319 N. Main
(ca. 1890-ca. 1910) '
Historical Overview: This 1-story frame building sat one door
south of Site #23, and was metal clad. It had no basement.
The front had a small repair shop and car house. The rear
held 2 engines, 2 boilers, and a fuel shed (Sanborn 1891).
The Stillwater Street Railway Co. was a financial flop.
The venture went into receivership and the tracks were torn
up in 1897. The assets of the company were sold for junk
(Roney 1970: 19).
J.N. Bronson bought the building for a foundry and
machine shop, which operated there until around 1910, when
the building was razed.
Archaeological Potential: None.. The building had no
basement and only stood for a. few years.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1904) ; Roney (1970: 19).
27. NP Railway Co. engine house/roundhouse, no address (ca. 1909-1961)
Historical Overview: In June 1900 the NP acquired the St. Paul &
Duluth Railroad property in Stillwater (Prosser 1966: 155). 1
As part of the improvements which ensued, the NP erected the
frame engine house, plans of which have survived in the NP
Papers. The building was clapboard sided with small paned
windows and a slightly pitched gabled roof.
1
Archaeological Potential: None. Plans show this building was
erected on the ground with no foundation. An 8" X 12" wooden
sill sat on 8" X 12" x 3' blocks. When the building was
razed in 1961, the remnants of the sills would have been
rotted out or torn out.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1910, 1924).
28. St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. turntable, no address (ca.
1900-post-1946)
Historical Overview: The turntable was located in the middle of
the St. Paul & Duluth tracks just east of the coal sheds
(Site 925) and slightly north of E. Mulberry St. It was
. probably built by the St. Paul & Duluth because it is
mentioned in a letter from the Chief Engineer of the NP to
Mr. J.W. Kendrick May 26, 1900 listing the assets of the St.
Paul & Duluth prior to its purchase by the NP. This letter
lists the turntable as "plate girder, 56 ft." (NP Railway Co.
Papers : May 1900, File /!1645).
The plans for the turntable were first developed in
1896. The St. Paul & Duluth planned to move the turntable in
1
their East Minneapolis yards to Stillwater and build a new
steel turntable in Minneapolis.(Letter from Asst. General
Manager to B.T. Iver, June 1, 1896, NP Railway Co. Papers
1896-1900: File 368(1)).
Archaeological Potential: The standard plans for a 56' turntable
indicated that it usually had footings about 4.5 to 5' below ,
grade supporting a 6" X 6" X 3'6" oak floor on which the
turntable moved. It is likely that these footings still
remain, so the potential is high for finding remnants. The
turning mechanism would probably have been salvaged for scrap
or for reuse.
Recommendations: The Corps' construction activities would directly
impact the footings with the flood wall in Reach
3. Although intact turntables from this period are not
numerous in Minnesota, some still exist. And the plans for
this one are preserved. No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1904, 1910); NP Railway Co. Papers
(1896-1900: Letter from Chief Engineer to J.W. Hendrick, May
26, 1900 and letter from Asst. General Manager to B.T. Iver,
June 1, 1896 in File 368 (1)).
29. NP Railway Co. scales, no address (ca. 1902-1910)
Historical Overview: Located east of Site #28, these scales were
built by the NP after it acquired the St. Paul & Duluth in
1900. The scales were used to weigh freight cars. They
appear only on a 1902 NP map of the Stillwater Yards (NP
Railway Co. 1902-03: File S58-2). The Sanborn maps from the
period do not show this site.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. The scales would
have been removed long ago when the tracks were ripped up.
References: NP Railway Co. Papers (1902-03: File ~58-2).
30. o& tool house, no address (ca. 1902-date
of destruction unknown)
Historical Overview: These structures were small wood frame
buildings erected after the NP acquired the St. Paul & Duluth
in 1900. They had no foundations, and had a transitory
existence.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: NP Railway Co. Papers (1902-03: File S58-2).
31. Muller Boat Works, Inc. boat house, no address (ca. 1938-still
standing)
Historical Overview: The south end of the Muller Boat Works
property has this frame boat house, which was built ca.
1938. It sits at the shore at the south end of the marina.
Large 14" timbers salvaged from the razing of Site #5 were
reused in constructing this building.
Archaeological Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: None. The Corps study area boundary runs through
this site.
References: Muller 1985.
32. Sand bar, foot of E. Mulberry St.
Historical Overview: This area was the mouth of Brown's Creek
(originally Pine Creek). In 1842, John McKusick decided to
turn Brown's Creek into Lake McKusick at the top of the bluff
and construct a 60' canal at the lower end of the lake which
ran over the bluffs and down the ravine to power the city's
first sawmill. McKusick built his sawmill on the east side
of Main Street. When more water power was needed than the
canal could provide, the canal was closed, and the lake
became the city reservoir (Warner and Foote 1881: 499-5001.
The Stillwater Water Co. dammed up the canal and the water
was turned into the main which supplied water to the city
.J
(Warner and Foote 1881: 513). The canal later became part of
the city sewer system.
In 1852 a rainy spring saturated the soil on the bluffs
at Lake McKusick. The stream which led to McKusick's mill
washed out its high banks and a landslide of mud, gravel and
debris swept the ravine onto the waterfront, damaging or
burying many buildings on the shore. The landslide covered
-. Figure 25: View of bateau dry-docked on the sand bar (#32) at the foot
of Mulberry Street, 1914. In the background are the old Seymour, Sabin
boiler house (#6) and the three story machine shops (#5).
about 6 acres to an average depth of 10' and substantially
altered the shore line between Mulberry and Linden Streets.
The landslide actually improved the waterfront in the
long run. What had been lowlands on both sides of Main
became solid ground. At the lake shore, the banks were
higher and the landing was improved (Warner and Foote 1881:
508).
The sand bar - actually a small projection into the lake
- seems to date from the 1852 landslide. During the rest of
the nineteenth century it continued to grow slowly in size.
It became a matter of controversy in 1897, when conflicting
interests pitted the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad against one
G.D. De'Staffany. De'Staffany made a living sawing up and
selling driftwood, which he gathered by boat from the lake.
He would tie his boat to the sand bar and unload his
driftwood there. To get to the sand bar by wagon to pick up
his wood, De'Staffany had to cross 7 sets of railroad tracks
and pass by the Isaac Staples mill (Site #51). De'Staffany
and his friends petitioned the city of Stillwater to open
Mulberry Street to Lake St. Croix.
Unwilling to hire a switchman for each track crossing,
the railroad disparaged the petition. "There are but three
names of any weight, and they have no possible interest
there," their response stated. "All the others are saloon
keepers and contract laboring men who have no possible need
for a street." De'Staffany responded by building a bridge
across a sewer near the old turntable (Site #35) to gain
access to the sand bar while the matter was in dispute. The
railroad called his lawyer "a shyster" for encouraging him to
do this (Letter to L.S. Miller, Sept. 13, 1897 in St. Paul &
Duluth Railroad Co . Correspondence 1897-1900). How it
happened is not known, but eventually Mulberry Street was
extended to the lake.
Archaeological Potential: There may be remains of the old sewer
lines and outlets here and at the foot of other streets. The
earliest lines would be wood and iron. Later ones would be
brick lined. They generally run at right angles to the shore
line.
Recommendations: Sewer lines would transect the study area running
east-west. The oldest of these would be nothing more than
brown stains in the soil. Such stains and sewer renrnants
turn up occasionally east of Main Street. The Corps should
be aware of these stains, and of the later brick-lined sewers.
References: Warner and Foote (1881); St. Paul & Duluth Railroad
Co . Co . Correspondence (1897-1900: File 1181).
33.St. Paul &' Duluth tool house & coal bin, no address (pre-1884-ca.
1888
Historical Overview: These 2 small wood frame buildings with no
foundations sat between the St. Paul & Duluth tracks north of
Mulberry Street for a short period of time in the 1880s.
They were typical railroad structures.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1884).
34. St. Paul & Duluth water tower, no address (ca. 1888-ca. 1900).
Historical Overview: This metal water tower is associated with
Sites 1/35 and 36 (turntable & roundhouse). It was
constructed at the same time as part of major improvements to
the Stillwater Yard of the St. Paul & Duluth. It was razed
about the time the NP bought out the St. Paul & Duluth in
1900.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations : No further 'work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1891).
35. St. Paul & Duluth turntable, no address (1888-ca. 1900)
St. Paul & Duluth roundhouse, no address
Historical Overview: The roundhouse and turntable were connected
by a wooden platform when constructed in 1888. They
functioned as one piece of equipment to take engines off the
line on a spur track closest to the lake shore, turn them
around and put them into the covered roundhouse. The
wedge-shaped roundouse was built on wooden piles on low land
at the foot of Mulberry Street, and razed in 1897.
Archaeological Potential: Very small. Any timbers which were not
rotted were probably salvaged when the buildings were razed.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1888, 1891)'; Gleason (1889); St. Paul &
Duluth correspondence (1897-1900, File 1181).
37. Standard Oil Co. shed and tanks, 411 E. Mulberry St. (Ca. 1921-ca.
1961)
Historical Overview: Between 1920 and 1960 the area east of Water
St, and. both north and south of Mulberry St. was used by a
succession of oil companies. The Standard Oil Co. had a
1-story frame building with platform and tanks used as an oil
warehouse.
Archaeological Potential: The five oil tanks sat on concrete
bases. The oil house itself may have had equipment such as
pumps which sat on concrete slabs. The slabs were probably
torn out when the tanks were taken out.
Recommendations: The site is not significant. The area was
probably used for oil storage because of bulk transport of
oil by river barge.
References: Sanborn (1924, 1924 updated to 1961); Runk (1921:
6498); Northern States Power Co. (1959).
Figure 26: View of Stillwater looking south from the north end of town on
July 1, 1936. In the left foreground are the machine shops' roof (#5). At
the right is part of the old prison. N. Main Street runs between the two.
38. Coal shed, 403 Mulberry (ca, 1902-ca. 1961)
Historical Overview: This coal shed was located between the NP
tracks on the south side of E. Mulberry St. It was 1-story
frame with a metal roof and metal sheathing. It probably had
little or no foundation, and was probably by the NP.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1910-1924 updated to 1961); NP Railway Co.
(1902-03: File S58-2).
39. J.J. Kilty & Sons Oil Co. sheds & tanks, 411 E. Mulberry St. (ca.
1923-ca . 1961
Historical Overview: J.J. Kilty sold kerosene and gasoline from a
business at 411 E. Mulberry in the early part of this
century. The Kilty site consisted of three storage tanks on
a concrete base and a 1-story shed without basement (Sanborn
1924 updated to 1961).
The Kilty name is a long-lived one in Stillwater. The
Kilty Oil Co. is probably related to the Kilty Brothers,
Timothy and Patrick, who settled in Stillwater as children in
1858 (Warner and Foote 1881: 582). A John Kilty was clerk of
the District /!5 school board in 1881 (Warner and Foote:
491). In 1970, there was an Ogren-Kilty service station on
Main St. (Roney 1970: 99).
Archaeological Potential: Remnants of the concrete slabs which
supported the Kilty oil tanks may still exist.
Recommendations: This site is not historically significant to the
history of Stillwater. No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1924, 1924 updated to 1961); Warner and Foote
(1881: 491, 551-2, 582); Roney (1970: 99); Northern States
Power (1959).
40. Standard Oil Co. sheds & tanks, no address (ca. 1898-ca. 1924)
Historical Overview: This l-story frame shed was moved between
1910 and 1924. It sat at the shore and had 2 tanks on
concrete bases. It is associated with Sites /I37 and 44.
Archaeological Potential: The building probably sat directly on
the ground. The concrete bases were probably torn out when
the tanks were razed.
Recommendations: No further work is required.
References : Sanborn (1904-24) ; Runk (1921: /I498), 1923: /I301).
41. Sand furnace & shed, in 1884 2309 Mulberry (ca. 1870-ca. 1888)
42. Brick sheds, no address (ca. 1870-ca. 1888)
43. Boiler house, no address (ca. 1870-ca. 1888)
Historical Overview: Sites #41, 42, and 43 are associated with
early brick manufacturing in Stillwater. These 3 buildings
are shown on the earliest (1884) Sanborn map.' The brick
sheds and boiler were not in use in 1884. The 7 staggered
brick sheds were no more than roofs on poles to protect
stacked bricks from the weather. The sand furnace at 2309
Mulberry was located in the middle of what became Mulberry
St. after it was extended to the shore.
The owner of this brick facility is unknown. The
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley
mentions a brickyard operated by Frederick Steinacker which
began in 1859 manufacturing 200,000 bricks a year until 1875,
when he expanded his operations (Warner and Foote 1881: 522).
This site may or may not have been associated with
Steinacker's brickyard. The 1884 Sanborn map noted that the
boiler house was not in use and the brick sheds were "to be
removed. "
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: The sand furnace (Site iI41) and the boiler house
(Site iI43) were razed 100 years ago. The brick sheds (site
#42) were flimsy structures. None of these buildings are
likely to have left subsurface remains, and all were razed
long ago. No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1884) ; Warner and Foote (1881: 522).
44. Standard Oil Co. wagon shed, no address (ca. 1910-1924)
Historical Overview: This l-story frame building was associated
with Sites /I37 and 40. It had no basement and stood only
briefly .
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn: 1924.
45. Bartles Minnesota Oil Co. sheds & tanks, no address (ca. 1924-ca.
1961)
Historical Overview: The Bartles Minnesota Oil complex consisted
of a concrete block oil warehouse, a small concrete block
pump house, and a tank wagon shed attached to 4 gasoline
tanks located south of J.J. Kilty & Son at 411 E. Mulberry
(Site iI39). The tanks were carried on concrete bases and
held 12,000 gallons each (Sanborn 1924). Between 1924 and
1961 the facilities were operated by the Hart Brothers and
Stenseng and Fierke Oil Co. (Sanborn 1924 updated to 1961).
Archaeological Potential: Concrete from the tanks installations
was probably torn out when the tanks were razed. The other
structures had no basements or foundations, and it is
unlikely that there are survivals from them.
Recommendations: This site was of recent construction and not
significant to the history of Stillwater. No further work is
necessary.
References: Sanborn 1924, 1924 updated to 1961)
46. Stock yards, south of 403 E. Mulberry St. (site /I381 (Ca. 1902-1924)
Historical Overview: This stock yards was a holding pen for
cattle. It was apparently little more than a fenced area.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: Not significant. A transient structure.
References: Sanborn (1910, 1924); NP Railway Co. Papers (1902-03,
File S58-2).
47. Hand car shed, no address (ca. 1910-ca. 1924)
Historical Overview: This very samll 1-story frame structure was
built just west of the NP tracks. The shed was used to
shelter small 2-man rail cars. The building was probably
built by the NP.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1910,1024).
48. Coal shed additions, no address (ca. 1923-ca. 1961)
Historical Overview: The coal shed built ca. 1902 (Site /I311 was
expanded ca. 1923 by the NP to include a second shed
immediately to the south. These sheds, built when Sites /I46
and 47 were razed, were located in an area of railroad
building first owned by the St. Paul & Duluth and acquired by
the NP in 1900.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. The site is a
small one, with no importance to the history of Stillwater.
References: Sanborn (1924 updated to 1961); Railroad Yard Map
(1940, 1946).
49. Union Elevator & Feed Mill Offices, no address (ca. 1877-ca. 1898)
50. Union Elevator & Feed Mill Warehouse, no address (ca. 1890-1898)
51. Union Elevator & Feed Mill, no address, located south of Sites /I35
& 36 (1871-1898)
Historical Overview: In late 1870 and early 1871, the Union
Improvement & Elevator Company built the first flour elevator
(Site #51) in Stillwater. It was located between the
Stillwater & St. Paul railroad tracks on the west and the
lake on the east. The elevator was built in Stillwater
because the navigation was Lake St. Croix was better than the
Mississippi River at St. Paul for transferring wheat from
rail cars to barges (Warner and Foote 1881: 528). The tracks
were built on trestles and bridges over the water. An 1874
map shows the elevator on piles at the edge of the tracks
over the water (Andreas 1874: 52). Since this first elevator
was big news, the Stillwater Messenger recorded the progress
of construction. The Union Elevator Company architect, T.J.
Moulton, was in charge of construction (Dec. 16, 1870). A
local mason, Thomas Sinclair, was hired to lay the foundation
and build the chimney stack (Dec. 23, 1876; Feb. 3; 1871).
Wooden piles were driven for the elevator and feed mill in
January 1871, and the building was nearing completion by
March of that year (Jan. 27, 1871; Mar. 24, 1871).
For years the Union Elevator Company had the only
elevator in town. By 1882, however, there were three mills,
including Union's feed mill at the north end of the
elevator. The feed mill was a 2-story wood building clad in
sheet iron. The elevator with roof monitor was 3 and 4
stories tall. The mill had 4 run of stone, 2 for grinding
feed, 1 for grain, and 1 for bolting. The elevator was built
to hold 50,000 bushels (Easton and Mastermn 1898: 4).
The Union Elevator and Improvement Company operated the
elevator and mill until 1877. From 1877 to 1880 they leased
it to the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. It was then sold to
D.M. Sabin, who immediately sold it to the Union Elevator
Company. Union Elevator was incorporated in October 1880
with Louis Hospes as president and J.H. Townshend, a miller,
as vice president. Between 1880 and 1884, the elevator's
capacity was increased to 300,000 bushels, some six times its
original capacity (Warner and Foote 1881: 528). The square
1-story office (Site #49) was moved onto the dock at the
north end of the elevator and mill ca. 1884. It had a
basement and wooden platform (Sanborn 1884).
Isaac Staples, who had diverse interests in real estate,
manufacturing and lumbering, purchased the elevator and mill
in 1888. Staples renamed it the Isaac Staples Flour Mill and
Elevator and ran it until his death in June 1898 (Upham and
Dunlap 1912: 734). A flour warehouse (Site #50) was built
north of the mill around 1890. It was a 1-story frame
building with no foundation.
A month after Staples' death, the entire complex burned
to the ground. The November 1898 Sanborn map showed only the
brick foundation and chimney of the flour mill (the north
portion of Site #51). The office (Site #49), warehouse (Site
#50) and elevator (the south portion of Site #51) were
entirely destroyed.
Archaeological Potential: Some remnants of the wooden pilings used
to construct the elevator in 1871 may have survived the fire
of 1898. It is more likely that they rotted away long ago.
The brick foundation and brick footings of the mill chimney
stack may have been buried when the ground was levelled after
the fire. Some of the foundation of the mill (Site #51) may
be intact. The office (Site #49) and warhouse (Site #50)
were completely destroyed and had no subsurface foundations.
Recommendations: The mill elevator (Site #51) was significant to
the history of Stillwater. The mill wite is in the total
impact area of Reach 3, Alternative A and the total impact
area of Alternative B. If located during construction, any
subsurface remains of the mill should not be disturbed if
possible. Their only value today would, however, be for
interpretative purposes.
References : Sanborn (1884-98) ; Stillwater Messenger (Dee. 16, Dee.
23, 1870; Feb. 3, Feb. 17, March 24, 1871); Easton and
Masterman (1898: 4); Warner and Foote (1881: 528); Upham and
Dunlap (1912: 734); Runk (1871: #2180); Folsom (1888: 403);
Andreas (1874: 52) ; Shephard (1878) ; Mitchell (1882: 165) ;
St . Paul & Duluth Correspondence (1897-1900: File 1480).
52. Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Co. movable truck tramway, no
address (ca. 1870-ca. 1888)
53. Stillwater & St. Paul shops, no address (ca. 1870-ca. 1888)
Historical Overview: A land grant in 1857 was provided to build a
railroad from Stillwater to St. Paul. Stillwater waited
patiently for about 10 years. Finally in 1867, a group of
Stillwater citizens, headed by John McKusick, appealed to the
legislature to compel the railroad company to complete the
line. The legislature gave a new franchise to St. Croix
Valley to build a road from Stillwater to White Bear Lake to
connect with the St. Paul & Duluth at that point. The new
company was called the Stillwater, White Bear, and St. Paul ,
Railroad. This company completed the line to Stillwater Dec.
20, 1869 (Folsom 1888: 670, 671). Sites #52, 53, 58, 59, and
61 were all constructed just north of the foot of Myrtle
Street along the waterfront in 1870-71. The railroad was
known as the Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad or the Stillwater
& White Bear. According to Prosser (1966: 1591, the .st. Paul
& Duluth formally acquired the Stillwater & St. Paul in 1899,
but the St. Paul & Duluth was actually operating the
Stillwater & St. Paul buildings of the Stillwater waterfront
' as early as the late 1870s.
The movable truck tramway (#52) was located immediately
north of the car shops (#53) on a spur track. The
9 2
Figure 27: The Stillwater Market Company grain elevator on Water Street,
looking southeast, August 22, 1938. John O'Brien built the elevator in
1898 (#54).
construction of the tramway is unknown. It was probably
frame without a foundation. The car shops (/I531 was a
l-story frame building with no basement. The Northwestern
Manufacturing and Car Company took over the shops in the
mid-1880s, using the building to store their reapers (Sanborn
1884).
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: These sites are not significant to the history of
Stillwater. No further work is necessary.
References : Folsom (1888: 670, 671) ; Sanborn (1884) ; Andreas
(1874: 52); Prosser (1966: 159).
54. John O'Brien elevator, 200 block of N. Water St. (1898-ca. 1942)
Historical Overview: John O'Brien and his brother James were
lumbermen in the 1860s, 70s, and 80s. In 1892, the lumber
firm of Anderson and O'Brien was dissolved. While the
brothers continued with their interests in lumbering, John
began the John O'Brien Elevator Company in 1898 (Easton and
Masterman 1898: 26). The elevator was constructed on a
modest scale. It was a frame building 50' tall, sheathed in
iron, with no basement. A flour shed was on the south side
of the elevator, and a scale house on the west projected onto
N. Water St. A St. Paul & Duluth spur line ran along the
east side of the building.
By 1904, the elevator had been sold to the Loftus,
Hubbard Elevator Co., which was operated by Spear and Co.
(Sanborn 1904). In 1908, the Equity Market Co. operated the
elevator and feed mill. A frame metal clad south wing was
added for a feed mill. A gasoline engine was housed in a
small building at the north end, and a shaft connected the
engine to the elevator. The Stillwater Market Co. operated
the elevator and mill from around 1917 until ca. 1942 (Polk
1917: 201, 1942: n.p.); Runk (1917: f460, 1918: f485, 1926:
//534). This firm added an addition on the north to house
baled hay
(Sanborn 1924).
Archaeological Potential: None. The elevator, mill, and engine
house had no basement.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1989-1924) ; Runk (1917: 1'460, 1918: C485, -.
1926: 1!534); Easton and Masterman (1898: 26).
55. Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse annex, 125-129 N. Water St. (ca.
1889-ca . 1924)
56. Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse, 201 N. Main St. (ca. 1889-ca.
1924)
Historical Overview: Founded in 1888, the Minnesota Mercantile Co.
was one of the two largest wholesale grocery businesses in
Stillwater in the 1890s (Carroll 1970: 47, Easton and
Masterman 1898: 6). James O'Brien, whose brother John built
Site 1\54, was president of the company and one of its largest
stockholders (Ibid.: 26). This wholesale grocery business
was the sort of venture that was founded with lumbering money.
Located on N. Water St. at the foot of Commercial
Avenue, the warehouse and annex stood side by side. Both
were frame constructions sheathed in metal. The warehouse
(1'56) was 2 stories high with a basement. The annex (555)
was a smaller 1-story building one door to the north. These
warehouses were conveniently located next door to the St.
Paul & Duluth freight depot (Site 1\57]. They were also
associated with the main Minnesota Mercantile building (1173)
and two other warehouses (Sites 1'83 and 84) on S. Water
Street a block away.
Archaeological Potential: Foundations from the warehouse (1'56)
probably still remain.
Recommendations : The buildings sat in what is now the Hooley's
Market parking lot. No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1919-1924 updated 1961); Runk (1911: 1\2245,
1923: #301) ; Carroll (1970: 47) ; Easton and Masterman (1898:
6).
57. St. Paul & Duluth freight depot, 101-117 N. Water St. (ca. 1891-ca.
1961)
Historical Overview: The St. Paul & Duluth was incorporated in
1877, bought the Stillwater & St. Paul in 1899, -and was
acquired by the NP in 1900 (Prosser 1966: 159).
The freight depot was built around 1891 just north of
the railroad's Union Station (Site #65). It was of warehouse
construction with large 12" framing timbers and metal trusses
in the roof. An elevated wood floor and platform on the
Water St. side were supported by concrete bases and wooden
blocks (NP Papers 1902-19). This site sat at the northeast
corner of Myrtle and N. Water St.
Archaeological Potential: Very small. The concrete bases were
partially above ground, so they were probably removed when
the depot was razed. This is now the site of the Hooley's
Market parking lot (Site #64).
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References : Sanborn 1891-1924 updated to 1961) ; Prosser (1966:
159).
58. Stillwater & St. Paul turntable, at foot of Myrtle St., north side
(ca. 1870-ca. 1898)
59. Stillwater & St. Paul roundhouse, at foot of Myrtle St., north side
(ca. 1870-ca. 1891)
60. Stillwater & St. Paul freight depot and steamboat landing, at foot
of Myrtle st., north side (1871-ca. 1900)
Figure 28: The Union Improvement and Elevator Co. mill (#51) was built in
1871. It was leased by the St. Paul & Duluth Railway Co. beginning in 1877,
about when the office (#49) was erected on the dock. This 1888 Sanborn plan
shows the railroad's new turn table and roundhouse (#35, #36) in the process
of being built just north of the elevator.
Figure 29: Compare this 1891 Sanborn with that of 1888, three years earlier
(Figure 26). The St. Paul & Duluth roundhouse and turntable have been completed.
The Union Elevator (1151) is now operated by Isaac Staples, and a flour warehouse
has been built (1150) just west of the roundhouse.
61. Stillwater & St. Paul passenger depot, at foot of Myrtle St., north
. . side (ca. 1870-ca. 1890) -
Historical Overview: This complex of buildings was constructed
very soon after the rails of the Stillwater, White Bear &
St. Paul, better known as the Stillwater & St. Paul, reached
Stillwater. Together with Sites #52 and 53, the area was the
first rail yards and concentration of railroad activity in
Stillwater. The area was attractive to the Union Elevator
Company officials who built the first elevator (Site #49).
Most of this land was lake in 1871. Both the passenger depot
(iI61) and the freight depot (iI60) were built out over the
water (see Figure 11) (Andreas 1874: 52).
The small passenger depot (iI61) was the first depot in
Stillwater. It was eclipsed by the larger freight depot
(/I60) within a year of its construction. According to one
historian, passengers in Stillwater often bought their
tickets at the freight depots rather than in the passenger
depots, which were little more than waiting rooms (Carroll
1970: 24).
All these buildings were wood structures on piles.
Raised wooden platforms surrounded the passenger depot and
freight depot along the tracks. The turntable (/I581 and
roundouse (iI59) were originally located at the shore on low
ground.
Archaeological Potential: The chances of finding underground
survivals is remote. The turntable and roundouse sat on the
ground. The rest of the buildings sat on piles which have
probably rotted away long ago. None of the structures had
foundations or basements.
This cluster of early railroad structures, along with
Sites /I52 and 53, was significant to the history of
Stillwater. The placement of the buildings gave importance
to the area at the foot of Myrtle Street. No further work is
necessary.
Figure 30: Stillwater looking south from the bluffs above Battle Hollow, ca. 1875.
The Union Elevator (#51) is the tall building on the left out over the water. South
of it on the east side of the tracks is a low brick building, the Stillwater & St.
Paul freight depot and steamboat landing (#60). The two story frame building to
the south west of that is the Surveyor General's office (#62).
References: Andreas (1874: 52; Sanborn (1884-1898); Carroll (1970:
24).
62. Express offices, Surveyor General's offices, and fur warehouse,
101-112 N. ~ain St. (pre-1970-ca. 1888) . ' . ' '.
Historical Overview: This building was an older building that was
moved to the shore between 1874 and 1882. It was a half
block east of N. Main in the middle of E. Myrtle St. and east
of Water St. After the building was razed, Myrtle St. was
extended toward the shore, so that today the building site is
under Myrtle St. The ground around the building was low and
wet. .It had a wooden platform on the west (front) and a
plank walk around its north side leading to the passenger
station (i161) and freight depot (#60) (Sanborn 1884).
The second floor office of the Surveyor General was the
most important function in the building. Stillwater was one
of the first three Surveyor General's offices in the state.
The first floor was only used as a warehouse for hides
(Sanborn 1884). The Surveyor General was a state appointee
whose job was to scale or measure all the logs coming down
the St. Croix before they went through the mills. A small
staff of scalers measured the logs each day at the boom and
returned to the office with tally sheets to be added up by
the office staff (Carroll 1970: 7). Millions of feet of logs
were involved, and this survey work went on from spring to
late fall (Roney 1970: 100).
After this building was razed and the Lumbermen's
Exchange (Site #69) built in 1890, the Surveyor General's
office and the express office moved to the Lumberman's
Exchange (Roney 1970: 100).
Archaeological Potential: None. The site was destroyed in
extending E. Myrtle St. As with other streets which transect
the study area, remnants of old sewers can probably still be
found .
Figure 31: The Lumbermen's Exchange (#69) and the Union Station (#65) were
located between E. Myrtle and E. Chestnut streets. The 1904 Sanborn shows
the two buildings conveniently connected by a raised depot platform and
wooden roof. The Stillwater Feed Mill (#72) is at the shore just above the
bridge to Houlton, Wisconsin.
Recommendations: This site was of vital importance to the history
of Stillwater because of its use by the Surveyor General.
But since the extension of Myrtle St. destroyed the site, no
further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1884) ; Clarke (1882) ; Carroll (1970: 7,8);
Roney (1970: 100).
63. Municipal Pavillion , in Lowell Park ( Ca . 1916-st ill standing)
Historical Overview: The Stillwater waterfront was a fair mess in
the early days. As part of Elmore Lowell's one-man battle to
beautify it, he persuaded the city fathers to hire the famous
Minneapolis landscape architects, Morrell and Nichols, to
design a park. The pavillion was part of this design. It
appears in Morrell and Nichols' "Grading Plan for Sunken
Garden - June 1916" and "1918 General Plan of the City of
Stillwater" with a floating dock at the end of the pavillion
I
(Morrell and Nichols 1916, 1918).
The pavillion has a concrete foundation, trellised open
walls, north and south wings with Craftsman-style open eaves,
and a central portion with hipped roof. It was refurbished
and remodelled in 1937, in 1956 (by Consolidated Lumber Co. ),
and 1984. It is in excellent condition and affords a
beautiful view of Lake St. Croix.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: See pp. 151, 175.
References: Sanborn (1924-1961); Morrell and Nichols (1914, 1916,
1918); Permit File (Nov. 1955, //460); Runk (1923: //301); Plat
of Stillwater (1930).
64. Hooley's Market, 127 S. Water St. (1961-still standing)
Historical Overview: Hooley's Market is a concrete block fireproof
building constructed in 1961. The building faces north and
its front facade is brick. According to blueprints in the
Figure 32: The Union Depot (1165) looking southeast from Water Street, ca. 1887.
A locomotive of the St. Paul 6 Duluth Railroad can be seen on the left.
Building Inspector's Office, it was designed by Ames, Crommett and
Associates, St. Paul architects.
Archaeological Potential: None.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary since the site is
still standing.
. References: Sanborn (1924 updated to 1961).
.~ , 65. Union Station, S. Water St., (1887-1960)
Historical Overview: The Union Station was built by the Union Depot
Street
Railway and Transfer Co. in 1887. When built, it was the
finest depot in Minnesota. It was 106' X 68' with a platform
extending around the entire building. .The main entrance was
on Water St. The first story was faced in red sandstone, and
the roof was steeply pitched slate. It had a 75' shingled
tower at the northwest corner. The company rented the depot
to all three Stillwater railroads: the St. Paul & Duluth, the
Omaha, and the Milwaukee Roads (~arrett 1877: 55, .56) (see
Figure 30).
L.W. Eldred, an Ohio native, was the contractor who
built the building. Eldred studied architecture as a young
man and also built - Stillwater's opera house (Warner and Foote
1881: 570). The depot cost $50,000, an enormous sum in
1887. It is said that all the building material was shipped
from the east and Eldred put the marked pieces together like
a giant jig-saw puzzle (Carroll 1970: 25).
The depot was closed in 1954 and the building sold to
Capacitor, Inc., makers of capacitors for radios and
televisions (Stillwater Gazette: Dec. 28, 1954). The
building was razed in 1960. Its destruction was a great loss
to Stillwater and to the history of railroading in this part
of the U.S.
Archaeological Potential : Hooley' s Market (6641, substantially
covers the site of Union Depot. Despite its massive
foundation, chances are slim that survivals of the depot
remain at the site. Hooley's and its parking lot have
undoubtedly obliterated much of this site.
Recommendations: The Corps boundary runs through the site. This
site is important to the history of Stillwater. No further
work is recommended, however, because the site is probably
substantially destroyed and Hooleyvs Market occupies the site
today.
References: Sanborn (1888-1961); Stillwater Gazette (DEC. 28,
1954, Feb. 23, 1960); Plat of Grounds East of Water Street
(1907); Runk (1960: #612-A); Warner and Foote (1881: 570);
Carroll (1970: 24-29); Buck (1977: 6, 7) ; Easton and
Masterman (1898: 28); Roney (1970: 16-19); Barrett (1887: 25).
66. Lowell Park, north of Chestnut Street
Historical Overview: The shore north of Chestnut St. was used as a
dumping area for businesses and residences in the area. A
1910 photograph (Runk 1910: #31954g) shows high banks of
rubbish along the shore, old wooden piles, and at least one
small building tilting toward the water.
George Muller, proprietor of the St. Croix Boat Shops
had his main office at 320 W. Myrtle, but used the levee at .
the foot of Chestnut St. on the levee. MUer manufactured
row boats, sail boats, and river launches (Barrett 1887:
25). Muller built a new boat house on the shore at the foot
of Chestnut St. in 1884 and operated a boat livery, which he
added to over the years. His business at the river was
renting out rowboats to parties for pleasure trips on the
river (Bunn and Philippi 1884: ad between pages 64 and 65).
Muller operated the livery at the levee until ca. 1930 (Runk '
1912: #661A, 1906: f438, 1927: 44549).
Efnore Lowell offered $2,000 in bonds after World War I
for a park if the Stillwater Board of Park Commissioners
Figure 33: Muller's Boat Works, ca. 1906 (iI66). In the left background is
the sand bar (iI32) where drift wood was piled up and sold in town.
would hire landscape architects Morrell and Nichols of
Minneapolis to prepare a plan for the west shore. In doing
so he called attention to the sand bars and rubbish on both
sides of the Chestnut St. bridge approach. Through Lowell's
efforts this area was cleaned up and landscaped to become
Lowell Park (Stillwater Post July 17, 1929). The area of
Lowell Park south of Chestnut is discussed under Site #86.
Archaeogical Potential: Good. This area was cleaned up and
landscaped 50 years ago, but dumps probably lie deeply buried.
Recommendations: See pp. 151, 175.
References: Stillwater Post (July 17, 1929); Runk (1906: jI438,
1910: #31954g, 1912: #661A, 1927: ?!I5491 ; Sanborn (1924).
67. Wharf, between Myrtle and Chestnut Streets (in continuous use since
the early 1870s)
Historical Overview: The area between Myrtle and Chestnut was used
on and off as a wharf, steamboat landing and dock. With
their shallow drafts, early steamboats could pull close
enough to the unimproved shore to embark and debark
passengers and freight on planks extended to the shore.
In 1884, an inclined wooden wharf was located at the
foot of Myrtle Street (Sanborn 1884). In 1886, the area
between Myrtle and Chestnut was filled, shored up, and
planked over for a dock. From 1888 to 1930, maps show the
city levee along the shore between Chestnut and Nelson
Streets (Clarke 1888, Plat of Stillwater 1930).
Archaeogical Potential: None. The wharf was wooden. The
early levees were not stable structures, and washed out from
time to time. Today's levee is recent and associated with
Lowell Park.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1884-1961); Clarke (1888); Plat of Stillwater
(1930).
68. Unidentified Buildings, along Water Street between Myrtle and
Chestnut (ca. 1870-ca. 1884)
Historical Overview: These 1-story and 1-112-story buildings stood
where Union Station (#65) and Hooley's Market (a641 were
later built, and at the foot of Myrtle Street. These
buildings were located on Stimpson's Alley, a narrow street
paralles and a half block east of Main St., which became
Water St. ca. 1881-84,
The city directory for 1881182 (Davison 1881182)
indicates that small businesses and laborers' homes stretched
along Stimpson's Alley and clustered at the foot of Chestnut
near the pontoon bridge. The exact nature and location of
these buildings is unknown. 811 were razed by 1884 (Sanborn
1884).
Archaeogical Potential: Very small. Stillwater had two quarries
at the north and south ends of town and brick making by the
mid 1850s. These early frame structures were built along
what was then the shore in low, swampy land. They may have
had brick or stone foundations, probably had no basements,
and may have been built up on wooden posts. So much fill has
been put into this area that evidence of these structures is
either deeply buried, rotted away, or obliterated with later
construction.
Recommendations: The Corps boundary runs through these sites. It
is doubtful that anything could be found, and not much could
be learned by subsurface tests. No further work is needed.
References: Sanborn (1884); Ruger (1870); Davison (1881182: 128).
69. Lumbermen' s Exchange Building, 113-121 S. Water St. (1890-still
st anding)
Historical Overview: The Lumbermen's Exchange was built on the
northeast corner of Water St. and E. Chestnut in 1890. It
was the first modern business block in the city, and hae
109
continued to be an important building in the city for almost
a hundred years. In 1890, it was equipped with modern
heating, plumbing, and electricity. It even had an elevator.
Its early tenants included the largest and most
successful logging and lumbering firms. It was built by the
Union Depot and Transfer Company, which also built Union
Station (#65) in 1887. The two buildings were connected by a
raised wooden platform and shed on the east side. The post
office was located in the building in the 1890s. The
Surveyor General's office moved into the second floor from
its previous offices (#62).
When lumbering declined around 1900-1910, the building
became home for lawyers, real estate and insurance firms,
latter-day lumber firms, Consolidated Lumber Co. and
Inter-State Lumber Co. (Roney 1970: 27-9). The American
Railway Express Co. used part of the east floor for years
(Sanborn 1924).
The integrity of this building has been destroyed along
with its grace. Early photographs (Easton and Masterman I
1898: 30) show a 3-story brick building with raised stone
basement. It had 3 bays on the north and south, 4 on the
east and west, a tau brick parapet, and long one over one
windows with jack-arched brick headers. The owners of
Hooley's Market remodelled the third floor windows in 1966
(Permits Office Oct. 7, 1966: #1330), and today all the
window openings have been partially bricked up and new
inappropriate windows installed.
Archaeogical Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: On historical grounds, the Lumbermen's Exchange is
one of the most important business blocks in Stillwater. It
is significant for its association with lumbering,
transportation, and government in Stillwater. The
unfortunate alterations preclude nomination to the National
Register of Historic Places. No further work is necessary.
The west boundary of the Corps study area runs through the
building. See pp. 151, 175.
References : Sanborn (1898-1961) ; Runk (1923 : j.301, 1926 : #535) ;
Permit File (Oct. 7, 1966: #1330), Nov. 1979: j.4989); NP
Papers (1902-19); Tour Committee of the Stillwater
Bicentennial Commission (1978) ; Easton and Mastemn (1898:
30); Roney (1970: 27-29).
. . 70. August V. Linden Saloon, northeast corner of Water St. and E.
.. Chestnut (ca. 1870-ca. 1884)
Historical Overview: This small 1-112 story frame saloon was built
when Stimpson Alley was narrower and before it became Water
St. in the early 1880s. It sat on the east half of Water St..
just out from the steet curb at the southwest comer of what
is now the Lumbermen's Exchange Building (169). By 1884, the
saloon had been moved or razed, probably when Stimpson Alley
became Water Street (Sanborn 1884). In 1884, Linden moved
his saloon to a 2-story frame building at ll1 E. Chestnut and
lived upstairs (Stillwater City Directory 1884: 125, 257).
Most of the saloons in 1884 were a block west along Main
Street, but Chestnut Street gained in importance after the
pontoon bridge was built at the foot of Chestnut.
Archaeogical Potential: None. This small saloon sat in the middle
of what is now Water St. at the intersection with Chestnut.
Recommendations: The widening of Stimpson Alley into Myrtle Street
destroyed the site ca. 1884.
References : Clarke (1882) ; Sanborn (1884) ; Davison (1881182: 110) ;
Bunn and Philippi (1884: 125, 257).
71. Hay and Feed Store, north side of Chestnut east of Water St. (ca.
1891-ca . 1910)
Historical Overview: This small wood frame iron clad building sat
east of the Lumbermen's Exchange building (169). It was
originally used for hay and feed. It may have been connected
with the Stillwater Feed Mill Co. mill (#72)- In 1907, the
building was a coal house (plat of Grounds East of Water
Street 1907). It was torn down between 1907 and 1910.
Archaeogical Potential: None.
Recommendations: This was a small, insigdficant buildingc It
stood for about 10 years. No further work is needed.
References: Sanborn (1898, 1904); Plat of Grounds East of Water
Street (1907).
72. Drews Brothers and Miller Co. flour and feed mill, north side of
Chestnut St. east of Water St. (1894-ca. 1904)
Historical Overview: The Drews Brothers and Miller Co. built a
flour and feed mill along the shore north of the Chestnut St.
bridge in 1894. Within 2 years it was operated under the
name Stillwater Feed Mill Co. It continued operation under
that name from 1896 to ca. 1899. This was a 3-story frame
iron clad building with an engine house on the east side.
The mill was not running in 1904, and was razed by 1907.
Archaeogical Potential: None. Any subsurface elements of the '
building which survived its destruction were probably
destroyed when Lowell Park was put in in the late 'teens
early 20s.
Recommendations: The Corps boundary runs through the site. No
further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1898, 1904); Plat of Grounds East of Water
St. (1907); Polk (1892193: 111; 1894195: 92).
73. Minnesota Mercantile Co . Building, 401-411 E. Chestnut (1888-ca .
1969)
Historical Overview: This was the main building of the Minnesota
Mercantile Co., which had several warehouses (Sites #55, 56,
83). This building was erected when the company started
business in 1888. Ten years later, the company had 25
Figure 34: 1910 Sanborn showing the Minnesota Mercantile Co. building (#73),
a warehouse built by Torinus, Staples & Co. (883), and a heavy storage ware-
house (#84) on S. Water Street just north of the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul
freight depot (887). The depot is now the Freight House restaurant.
employees, and 4 travelling salesmen selling all over the
northwest (Easton and Masterman 1898: 23). The building, 60'
X 80', was 5 stories tall, of brick construction, with rough
cut stone foundation and trim. "Minnesota Merc" operated
here until ca. 1969, when the building was razed.
Archaeogical Potential: The southeast corner of Chestnut and Water
Streets is now a parking lot north of the Freight House
restaurant (Site #87). The parking lot is paved, but
remnants of the stone foundation may be buried under it.
Recommendations: The building was significant to the history of
Stillwater. The company operations here were built on lumber
money from James O'Brien's earlier successes in logging. The
foundations of this property are not significant. No further
work is necessary.
References : Sanborn (1891-1961) ; Runk (1905: #308669, 1921 : 11495,
1923: #301, 1925: #509, 510, 1926: #520); Easton and
Masterman (1898: 23).
74. Rhiner ice house/barn, 201-117 S. Water St. (1871-ca. 1887)
Historical Overview: Esaisas Rhiner established an ice business in
Stillwater in 1863. He gradually expanded, and by 1881 he
could store 300,000 tons of ice (Warner and Foote 1881:
554). Rhiner was one of only two ice dealers in the city in
the early 1880s. The other was Ownen Mower (Ibid. : 549).
Rhiner had his ice barn behind his home (Site #81) and dealt
in ice from the 1870s until the mid-1880s (pryor & Co. 1876:
76).
Archaeogical Potential: None. In 1888 his house and ice house
became the site of the Minnesota Mercantile Building (SIte
173).
Recommendations: The Corps study area boundary runs through this
site. It was destroyed to build Site f73 in 1888. No
further work is required.
References : Clarke (1882) ; Sanborn (1884, 1888) ; Warner and Foote
(1881: 549, 554).
75. Interstate bridge, foot of Chestnut St. (1930-still standing)
76. Pontoon bridge, foot of Chestnut St. (1876-1930)
Historical Overview: Citizens of Stillwater and Wisconsin used toll
ferries to cross the St. Croix as early as 1849 (Carroll
1970: 45). Everyone recognized the need for a bridge across
the lake. In the early days the state legislature gave out
chargers to private companies when public improvements such
as bridges were needed. This was the case with the first
bridge across Lake St. Croix. With legislative approval in
hand, the people of Stillwater addressed the question of
where to build the bridge. The City Council wanted it at the
foot of Myrtle Street, but both the bridge builder (Danier
Lambor of Prairie du Chien) and Col. Farquar of the Corps of
Engineers favored Chestnut as the wester terminus. Farquar
and Lambor prevailed, and the pontoon bridge was built at the
foot of Chestnut.
Farquar further insisted that soundings in the river be
taken and submitted to the War Department for approval (Buck
1977: 1, 3). A July 1875 map noting soundings across the
lake at Nelson, Chestnut, Myrtle, and above Mulberry Streets
has survived in the Stillwater Department of Public Works
(corps of Engineers 1875).
Daniel Iambor completed the pontoon bridge in May 1876.
Its cost was $24,400.00 It was 1,500' long with a 300'
pontoon draw operated by a small engine. The draw was
necessary to allow logs to pass. The bridge had ten 30'
spans at each end which could be raised or lowered as the
water level dictated (Folsom 1888: 403, 404, Buck 1977: 3,6).
The eastern terminus of the bridge caught fire in
September 1904. Forty people fell in the river, and two were
Figure 35: The old interstate bridge at Stillwater, May 12, 1930, looking
west toward the Stillwater water front from the Wisconsin side.
killed. The toll was abandoned in 1912. The bridge was
proclaimed the only free interstate bridge between Taylor's
Falls and Hastings (Carroll 1970: 62, Buck 1977: 6).
Planning for a new interstate bridge (Site #75) began in
the late 1920s and involved both the Minnesota and Wisconsin
highway commission bridge departments. In 1929, construction
was delayed while the angle of the bridge was altered to have
the east end of the bridge enter Houlton, Wisconsin, farther
south than originally planned. The Minnesota Department of
Highways originally designed the bridge with five 140'
spans. The bridge as built has seven camelback spans. The
second span from the west end Ufts for navigation.
When the new bridge was opened on July 1, 1931, 15,000 .
people, including the governors of Minnesota and Wisconsin,
celebrated the event (Tour Committee of. the Stillwater
Bicentennial Commission 1978 : 3).
Archaeogical Potential: None.
Recommendations: The new bridge (#75) is still standing. It is
potentially eligible to the National Register. The old
pontoon bridge (#76) was on the edge of the Corps study area
because its west end was farther west than the present
bridge's. The remains of the pontoon bridge were torn out or
rotted out long ago. The Lowell Park improvements probably
destroyed any survivals of the old bridge. The new bridge
(#75) should probably be nominated to the National Register.
For further comments, see p. 152.
References: Sanborn (1884-1961) ; Buck (1977: 1, 3, 6); Carroll
(1970: 45, 62); Folsom (1888: 403, 404); Runk (1908: #787,
1923: #301, 1934: #854) ; Corps of Engineers (1875); Warner
and Foote (1881: 536).
77. Lime and cement warehouse, south side of E. Chestnut east of Water
St. (ca. 1896-ca. 1910) - 1
78. Captain H.B. Elder office, 201-1/2 .E. Chestnut (c.a 1884-ca. 1896)
Historical Overview: Captain H.B. Elder began in the early 1880s
with a small wood and coal business on the levee at the foot
of Chestnut St. In 1887 he was listed as a dealer in wood,
coal, and brick (Stillwater City Mrectory 1884: 73, 1887:
237).
Elder had three buildings on the south side of Chestnut
near the bridge. His office (678) was a tiny wood frame
building no bigger than 6' X 6' at 201-1/2 E. Chestnut.
Behind it was a lime house with a coal bin at 2l1-112 E.
Chestnut (Site #80). When the office and lime house were
tom down ca. 1896, a larger frame metal clad lime and cement
warehouse (#77) was built on the site. This warehouse was
razed between 1907 and 1910. Elder had a railroad spur to
his warehouse. The warehouse also had a set of scales along
its east side (Sanborn 1888, 1904).
Archaeogical Potential: None. This area is now paved parking lot
on the east side of the railroad tracks and the landscaped
part of Lowell Park just east of Chestnut St. near the
interstate bridge.
Recommendations: Sites #77 and 78 did not stand very long. They
had no basements. The sites have been paved over and
extensively landscaped. No further work is recommended.
References: Sanbom (1884-1910); Bunk and Philippi (1884: 73) ;
Barrett (1887: 237).
79. Unidentified buildings at the foot of E. Chestnut Street near
Stimpson's Alley, no addresses (1860s and 1870s-ca. 1884)
Historical Overview: In the 1860s and 1870s until ca. 1884, there
were many small wood frame residences and business buildings here.
This was the area along S. Water St. (Stimpson's Alley until around
1884) and east to the lake. Most of' the buildings were clustered "at
the foot of Chestnut.". Names associated with the area: "W. Balch,
teamster; Gustav Smith; John A. Ross, sawyer; Charles Neuendorf, baker
and feed store; William Lotz, barber; Antohe La Fleur, mason; John
Hildebrand, tailor; Mrs. Beeson; Fred Berger, teamster; R.M.
Coles, real estate; Peter Gilbert, shoe maker; and Fred
Weber, mason (Davison 1881182). This area was a good
cross-section of Stillwater's small businesses and working
class residences.
Archaeogical Potential: Very small. The structures in this area
would have been small 1 and 1-112 story buildings for the
most part. In the 1860s and 70s the land here was low and
frequently wet. Since Stillwater had early stone quarries
and brickyards, the structures could have had brick or stone
foundations. Without testing, there is no way of knowing
what remnants 'of the buildings might have survived. If
underground remains could be found, it would take extensive
excavation to find artifacts connected historically with the
area.
This was area of extensive human activity and many
natural events. For example, Samuel Burkleo, a merchant, had
a stone building which stood at the foot of Chestnut near the
I
railroad tracks. In the flood of 1859, this stone building
floated off its foundation (Warner and Foote 1881: 503).
Given this history of activity, there is small probability
that intact sites remain underground.
Recommendations: The written record on these buildings is rich,
1 and it would take extensive subsurface testing of sites that
have probably been much disturbed to build up an
archaeological record. On balance, no further work is
necessary.
References: Pryor and Co. (1876: 43, 54); Davison (1881182: 46,
60, 82, 92, 106, Ill, 128, 143, 152, 165); Warner and Foote (1881: 503,
549, 566).
80. Captain H.B. Elder lime house, 2ll-112 E. Chestnut St. (ca.
. .
1884-ca . 1896)
Historical Overview: Captain Elder operated this lime house with
coal bin while his office (Site 1/78] was at 201-112 E.
Chestnut. See 1/77 and 78.
Archaeogical Potential: None. The building had no foundations. It
was a small frame structure razed ca. 1896 and replaced with
a lime and cement warehouse (177).
Recommendations: No further work is needed. .
References: Sanborn (1888, 1891).
81. Dwelling, in 1884 201-113 S. Water St. (18708-18881
82. Ellis Rhiner residence, in 1884 101-114 S. Water St. (ca. 1870-1888)
Historical Overview: These buildings were 1870s-vintage small
1-112 to 2-112 story frame buildings built on Stimpson Alley
before it became S. Water St. Both were originally private
homes. Ellis Wner lived at 201-114 S. Water in 1876 (Pryor
and Co. 1876: 76). -He operated his ice dealership from the
barn (/I741 behind this house.
The house at 201-113 S. Water (181) had a saloon on the
first floor in 1884 (Sanborn 1884). Shortly thereafter, the
two houses were joined together. In 1888, 201-207 S. Water
was called the Home Hotel (Sanborn 1888). 201 S. Water was a
saloon run by Duchrich Weiss (Barrett 1887: 233). It was
probably Weiss who joined the two buildings and made them
part of the Home Hotel.
In 1888, both buildings were razed to make way for the
Minnesota Mercantile Co. building (Site 1/73).
~rchaeohical Potential : None.
Recommendations: The Corps study area boundary runs through this
site. No further work is necessary because the construction
of the Minnesota Mercantile Co. Building (#73) destroyed
these earlier buildings.
References: Clarke (1882); Sanborn (1884, 1888); Barrett (1887:
233); Pryor and Co. (1876: 76).
-. 83. Torinus, Staples and Co. warehouse, in 1888 209-211 S. Water St
(pre-1882-1969)
84. Heavy Storage warehouse, in 1888 217-219 S. Water St. (ca. 1882-ca.
1961)
Historical Overview: Louis E. Torinus, a native of Russia, settled
in Stillwater in 1855 (Upham and Dunlap 1912: 790). He began
a general store on Main St. between Chestnut and Nelson in
1859. In 1867 its name changed to Torinus and Staples. The
next year William Brown became a partner, and the name
changed to Torinus, Staples & Co. The company sold all
manner of hardware from stoves to nails (Warner and Foote
1881: 553).
The warehouse may have been built as early as 1867, when
the Torinus and Staples Co. was started. In 1882 the two
buildings were shown as one, and described as a combination
warehouse and tin shop (Clarke 1882). In 1884 the warehouse
was shown as two separate buildings with a common wall. The
north part (#83) was further west (into Water St.) and the
south part (#84) had heavy hardware storage in the first
floor and basement and a tin and plumbing shop on the second
floor. Site #84 was connected at the second floor by walkway
with the rear of 211 S. Main, the Torinus and and Staples
store (Sanborn 1884).
After 1888, when the Minnesota Mercantile Building (Site
#73) was erected next door to the north, the warehouse (183)
was used for their cold storage. The heavy storage warehouse
. (#84) housed other wholesale goods. Site #83 survived until
1969, when Minnesota Mercantile closed its doors. It was one
of the oldest buildings in Stillwater when it was destroyed.
The heavy storage warehouse (184) was razed ca. 1961.
Archaeogical Potential: These buildings were 100' south of E.
Chestnut along S. Water St. The area is now a paved parking
lot north of the Freight House restaurant. Site #83 had no
basement. Site /I84 had a basement. Rerunants of it may be
under the parking lot.
Recommendations: See Site #73. No further work is required.
References : Clarke (1882) ; Sanborn (1884-1961) ; Warner and Foote - - --
(1881: 553).
- 85. Unidentified buildings along S. Water St. between Chestnut and -
-. -
Nelson (1860s-pre-1882)
Historical Overview: The unidentified buildings are 3 frame sheds
and a small frame house between Chestnut and Nelson Streets
on St. Water St. (which was known as Stimpson's Alley before
1882). These buildings appear on Ruger's 1870 Birds' Eye
view of the city.
Many small frame buildings were located along Stimpson's
Afley (see Sites /I68 and 79) in the pre-1880 period.
Some of these small buildings at the south end of
Stimpson's alley close to Nelson St. would have been tom
down or moved in 1882 to make way for the railroad tracks and
the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha freight depot
(now the Freight House restaurant (Site iI87).
Archaeogical Potential: None. The buildings were located in
an area now occupied by the Freight House restaurant and its
parking lots to the south and east. Land fill, construction,
and grading for railroad tracks would have destroyed any
underground remains long ago. And the site is substantially
covered with the restaurant and parking lots.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Ruber (1870).
86. Lowell Park, between Chestnut and Nelson (ca. 1918-present)
Historical Overview: The north end of Loweff Park has been
discussed under Site iI66. Lowell Park was built on the site
of the old city levee (Site iI89).
Elmore Lowell, whose vision was responsible for the
development of the park, was the owner of the Sawyer House, a
large frame hotel which was torn down in 1927 to make way for
the Lowell Inn. In a real sense, Lowell's reputation rests
on his role in establishing Stillwater's city park system.
At the turn of the century Lowell was aghast at the condition
of the waterfront, which was little more than a dump. The
city made some improvements ot the levee in 1909, but Lowell
wanted a park. With the cooperaion of the NP, which owned
the land, and a personal gift of $5,000.00 from Lowell to the
city in 1911, the idea of Lowell Park went forward.
Lowell wanted a beautiful park along the waterfront and
induced the city to hire a landscape architecture firm,
Morrell and Nichols of Minneapolis, to draw a plan. The
landscape plans of 1914, 1916, and 1918 called for retaining
the levee wall and adding steps to the river, park benches,
and sunken gardens. When Lowell died, he left a trust to
continue the work. Major improvements were made in 1927 and
1937. The flagpole in Lowell Park was dedicated on Memorial
Day 1940 by the Lions Club and a celebration was held to
honor Lowell's memor.
Archaeogical Potential: Dump area. Some earlier retaining
structures may remain. Part of this area is in the
right-of-way of Alternatives A and C.
Recommendations: No further work is needed.
References: Tour Committee of the Stillwater Bicentennial
Commission (1978: 2, 3); Carroll (1970: 72, 73); Roney (1970;
21, 22) ; Morrell & Nichols (1914, 1916, 1918) ; Clarke (1886a).
87. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co. Passenger and Freight
Depot (now Freight House Restaurant, 239-305 S. Water St. ) (1883-still
standing)
Historical Overview: This is the only building in the study area
that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was nominated
Figure 36: The St. Croix river bank at the south end of what became Lowell Park
a few years later, ca. 1910. Behind the cord wood in the background are (left to
right) the heavy storage warehouse (/I84), the Minnesota Mercantile Co. building
(#73) , the Lumbermen's Exchange (iI69) , and the Union Depot (iI65) .
as the "only survivor of the four Stillwater railroad depots"
(Hall 1976: 3) and for its historic associations with
commerce, communications, engineering, and transportation.
Between 1883 and the mid-19208, a telegraph office and
Railroad Express Agency office operated out of the building.
The limestone foundation stone was probably quarried
locally. The foundation is two feet thick. The brick
load-bearing walls are 18" thick and 30' high. Heavy timbers
and trusses were used in the floors and roof. The original
slate roof has been replaced.
The building served as a freight house and passenger
depot until 1955 (Hall 1966, Spaeth 1976).
The depot was built by the River Division of the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Co. Their road
followed the west bank of the Mississippi River from Dubuque,
Iowa to Hastings, Minnesota. At Hastings it crossed the
Mississippi on the first iron railroad bridge built in
Minnesota (1878) and passed up the river to terminal stations
in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The original charter for this railroad was granted to
the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad Company in 1857. This was
one of the original land grant railroads in Minnesota
Territory. The Minnesota and Pacific granted a charter to
the Chicago and St. Paul in 1872 (Folsom 1888: 671). The
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul came into existince as a
corporated in 1874. It acquired the Stillwater and Hastings
Railway Co. in 1882 and laid track from Hastings to
Stillwater that year. The depot was completed in 1883. The
line through Stillwater became the Chicago, Milwaukee, St.
Paul and Pacific in November 1926. The line was known as the
"Milwaukee Road" for short (Prosser 1966: 124).
Architect Peter Nelson Hall began a historic
rehabilitation of the freight house in 1977. The project
renewed Stillwater's interest in .preservation and the old
depot has become a successful restaurant (Broede 1978).
Archaeogical Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: This building was placed on the National Register
in July 1977. If a folding floodwall is built on the east
side of the tracks in front of the building, it should be
mitigation enough to protect the structure and its setting.
Refererices : Hall (1976) ; Spaeth (1976) ; Folsom (1888: 671) ;
Prosser (1966: 124) ; Broede (1978) ; Sanbom (1884-1961) ;
Clarke (1882).
.88. City horse shed, east of Water St. on the Levee (Site #89) (ca.
1897-ca , 1910)
Historical Overview: The city horse sheds were probably used for
the horses of passengers coming and going at the levee. The
flimsy rectangular building sat directly east of the freight
depot (Site #84) for approximately 10 years. There were
stalls for 14 horses and buggies.
kchaeogical Potential: None. The sheds stood on what is now paved
parking on the east side of the tracks between the Freight
House (#87) and Lowell Park. It had no foundation.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Plat of Grounds East of Water Street (1907); Sanbom
(1898-1910).
89. City Levee, between Chestnut St. and Nelson St. (ca. 1875-present)
Historical Overview: Work began on the levee around 1875 when E.M.
Churchill and others deeded the levee to the city (Clarke 1883a). The
area was used as a levee as early as the 1850s. There was a retaining
wall, probably of stone, between Chestnut and Nelson in 1882 (Clarke
1882). In 1904, the levee was cluttered with wood piles and
boatbuilding activities (Sanborn 1904).
A general carriage way and steps descending to the water, built
around 1907, were replaced by a paved roadway and levee in 1913
(Proposed Levee Improvement 1907, Clarke 1913). The concrete pavement
was 6-112" thick, and the retaining,wall at the water's edge was a
126
Figure 37: A steamboat at the Stillwater Levee, ca. 1927.
buttressed structure of solid stone with a concrete cap
(Clarke 1913). In the 1860s, Durant and Wheeler Boat Works
and, later, Muller Boat Works, used the levee area. The
improved levee is still used today for pleasure and excursion
boats.
Archaeogical Potential: Some of the rip rap from the previous
levees might be under Lowell Park because the old shore line
was west of its present configuration (Clarke 1887). If
remains exist, they would probably lie on a north-south line
through this area. A good deal fill should be evident in
this area as well.
Recommendations: This area may be occupied by a folding flood
wall. It is a thoroughly disturbed area to which substantial
amounts of fill have been added. No further work is
necessary.
References: Clarke (1882, 1883a, 1913); Proposed Levee Improvement
(1907) ; Sanborn (1904).
90. City engine house, in Lowell Park (ca. 1891-ca. 1924)
91. Park restrooms, north of Nelson St., east of Water St., attached to
Site f 92 (1984-still standing)
92. City lift station, north of Nelson St., east of Water St.
(1958-still standing)
93. City pump house, north of Nelson St., east of Water St. (1886-ca.
1960)
Historical Overview: Major sewer improvements came to Stillwater in
1886, when the city hired the firm of Shable and Currie to
construct brick and iron pipe sewer lines along Main St. and
down Nelson St. to Lake St. Croix. These lines replaced
earlier wooden sewers, one of which ran just south of Nelson
St. on an east-west line into the lake. Part of these
Figure 38: 1910 Sanborn of the vicinity of E. Nelson and S. Main streets
showing the substation and gas plant (//98, 11/99) (now the Brick Alley), the
Big Diamond Elevator and Mill (11/97), the Simonet rug factory (//94), and the
city pump houses (#92, #93) . .. -
improvements involved construction of a circular pump house
(#93) in what is now Lowell Park just north of Nelson St.
The sewer outlet dumped directly into Lake St. Croix (Clarke
1886b).
The pump house (#93) was an imposing structure.
Detailed plans for the building for the building from 1886,
are filed with the Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Above ground, the plans show only a 12' round brick building
with a conical metal roof (Runk 1858: 62417). Below ground,
however, was a 4' brick well surrounding the valve outlet.
Below that was more brick and 5' of rubble stone masonry.
All of this sat on 10" X 12" beams supported on 12" X 12"
beams sitting on wooden piles. Range masonry walls encased
the whole structure and provided the base for the structure
(Clarke 1886b).
A 15 horsepower A.C. motor ran the pump. It pumped
water through a suction pipe to the surface and out into the
lake through a 4" pipe (Sewer Pump Well 1916). The pump
house did yeoman duty until ca. 1960.
The engine house (Site #go) provided an electric motor
for the pump house (#93). It appears to have been used as an
auxilliary motor for the sewers during high water periods
(Sanborn 1910). It was located directly north of the pump
house in a small wood frame building sheathed in metal.
The Stillwater Board of Water Commissioners built
several new pump houses in the late 1950s. As part of the
new improvements, they constructed a new lift station (692)
at the site of the older engine house (a901 in 1958. This
building (692) is still standing. It is a rectangular brick
building laid in American bond, with a flat roof, much less
interesting visually than the old roung pump house.
When the park pavillion (Site #63) was restored in 1984,
new restrooms were needed at the waterfront in Lowell Park.
The restrooms (Site #91) were added to the existing lift
station (Site 692). They were designed by Short - Elliott -
Hendrickson, Inc., St. Paul architects, with the McGuire firm
located in Brick Alley (Sites 1/98 and 99) as consulting
architects.
Archaeo~ical Potential: Excellent brick-lined sewers are located
below Nelson St. The pre-1886 sewers (either wood or iron)
are just south of Nelson St. and transect the study area.
The remains of these pre-1886 constructions may appear as a
brown stain in the soil. As with Myrtle and Chestnut
Streets, the Department of Public Works should be consulted
before digging for an earth levee commences in this area.
According to the Director of Public Works, remains of the old
pump house (1193) are intact just south of the lift station,
including the underground brick lining and some of the
machinery (Shelton 1984). The new lift station (1192) and
park restrooms (1191) are still standing.
Recommendations: Sites 1/91 and 92 are still standing. They are
minor sites, and not eleigible for the National Register.
Site 1/92 is on the same location as Site 890 formerly
occupied. The subterranean parts of the old pump house (1193)
are probably intact below the surface, but there is little to
be gained by uncovering them. No further work is necessary.
See p. 151.
References : Clarke (1886b, 1887) ; Runk (1902 : 81100, 1907 : 112148,
1911: 112245, 1923: 1/301, 1958: 112417); Sanbom (1891-1961);
Sewer Pump Well (1916); Shelton (1984); Plat of Grounds Fast
of Water Street (1907) ; Proposed Levee Improvement (1907).
94. Bronson, Cover & Co. warehouse, foot of E. Nelson St. (ca.
1866-1933)
Historical Overview: The firm of Bronson, Cover & Co. began as a
dry goods and grocery store in 1859 run by David Cover. In
1860, William Bronson and E.A. Folsom became partners and the
firm name became Bronson, Cover & Co. (Warner and Foote 1881:
552). In 1867, their retail store, which dealt in dry goods
and groceries, was located at the comer of Myrtle and Main
Figure 39: The old Bronson, Cover & Co. warehouse (//94) in 1912 when it was the
Sirnonet Rug. Company factory.
Streets. Their warehouse, used for forwarding and
commissions, was on the levee at the foot of E. Nelson
(Bailly 1867: 381). The engraved Birds' Eye View of the city
in 1870 plainly shows the warehouse at the levee on the south
side of Nelson St. (Ruger 1870).
In 1884, the warehouse was part of the Stillwater Flour
Mill Co. (Sites 1100 and 101). The Flour Mill Co. may have
bought the warehouse when the firm was organized in 1877
(Warner and Foote 1881: 517). A.T. Jenks owned the warehouse
from ca. 1888-90. Then it was a sash factory until1903.
From 1903 until it was razed in 1933, the Simonet Rug Co.
operated the building as a rug factory. They used the
basement for storage, the first floor for unravelling, and
the second floor for weaving (Sanborn 1904). The Simonet
Furniture and Carpet Co. was the largest in the Northwest.
It had a store on lower Main St. (Carroll 1970: 13, Warner
and Foote 1881: 550). This old warehouse was a landmark on
the levee for many years, plainly visible from the lake and
from lower Main Street.
Archaeogical Potential: The Bronson, Cover 61 Co. warehouse had a
basement, probably of stone or brick. It was located where
the car wash building (Site 1/96) is today. Partial remains
of the building's foundation may have survived.
Recommendations: The small car wash building (#96) is due to be
demolished in the spring of 1985. Developers of the planned
Dock Cafe may find part of the basement of the warehouse
(f94) during construction. Since the planned Dock Cafe will
be excavating the area in early 1985, they should be told
about the possibility of finding foundations here. No
further Corps work is required.
References: Warner and Foote (1881: 517, 550, 552) ; Bailly (1867:
381) ; Sanborn (1884-1961) ; Carroll (1970: 13) ; Ruger (1870) ;
Runk (1902: 11100, 1907: 12148, 1908: #443, -1787, 1911:
#2245); Plat of Stillwater (1930).
Muller Brothers Boat House, foot of Nelson St. (1873-1882)
Historical Overview: Of the many sites connected with the Muller
family and their boat works, this site is the first recorded
one. According to local historians, the Muller's frame boat
house was built in 1873.' It was '20' X 40q long (Warner and . .
Foote 1888: 524). A 50' addition was built on in 1875 (~uck
1972). The 1876 Stillwater City Directory lists "Muller
Bros. (George and John) boats and furniture, foot of Nelson
(Pryor & Co. 1876: 68). The frame boat house extended out
into the lake in the middle of what became Nelson St. It was
moved or torn down when the tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee,
and St. Paul Railroad Co. were built through the site in 1882
(Clarke 1882).
Archaeogical Potential: None. The site was in the middle of
Chestnut St. It has been paved over for many years.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary. The Corps boundary
runs through the site.
References: Buck (1972); Clarke (1882); Pryor C Co. (1867: 68);
Disabled American Veterans (1978 : 13) ; Davison (1881182:
1251, 1882183: 143); Warner and Foote (1888: 524).
96. Car wash, southside of E. Nelson St. at the shore (cam 1960-1985)
Historical Overview: This small frame building was put up around
1960. It was partially flooded during the flood of spring 1965. It
was used a car wash around 1967, which accounts for the white and aqua
vertical panels sheathing the exterior, It is scheduled to be razed in
the spring of 1985. Mike McGuire, a Stillwater architect who offices
in,the Brick Alley (Sites #98 and 99) will raze this building and build
a reinforced concrete restaurant tentatively called the Dock Cafe. A
Corps of Engineers permit has already been secured for the project
(Shelton 1984).
Archaeogical.Potentia1: None.
Recommendations: The site is not significant, and is scheduled for
demolition (see Site #94). No further work is necessary.
References: Shelton (1984).
97. Woodward Elevator, east of 403-407 S . Main (1898-still standing)
Historical Overview: In 1898, the Woodward Elevator Co. built an
elevator and scale house on the southeast corner of S. Main
and Nelson Streets (Sanborn 1898). This frame elevator was
moved east of the spur line by 1904 and a new flour mill and
office was erected by the Minnesota Flour Mill Co. on the old
site. The old elevator was connected by an overhead spout to
the new flour mill (Sanborn 1904). The Minnesota Flour Mill
Co. operated the mill and elevator until 1908. For two years
thereafter, Big Diamond Milling Co. operated the facilities.
From 1912-15 Dibble Grain and Elevator Co. took them over.
In 1919, ownership passed to the Commander Elevator Co.,
which operated the mill until 1961. In 1961, G.T.A. bought
out all the Commander line elevators in southern and
southwestern Minnesota, including this one. Under the name
Harvest States Co-op, the elevator is still in use today
(Jerzak 1985).
Archaeogical Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: The elevator is significant only in that it is
the oldest and last remaining operating elevator in the
city. None of the original machinery remains, and it is a
common building type for elevators in the state. It has been
~. in continuous use since 1898. A proposed folding flood wall
east of the elevator would be less visually intrusive on the
site than an earthern levee. See p. 151.
References : Jerzak (1985) ; Sanborn (1898-1961) ; Runk (1907: #2148,
1908: #787, 1917: f473, 1936: #522, #2256, 1934: #854) : '
Easton and Masterman (1898: 26). .
98. Stillwater Gas & Electric Light Co. substation, 421 S. 'Main St.
(1907-still standing) . .
99. Stillwater Gas & Electric Light Co, gas plant, 423 S.
Main (1904-still standing) -
Historical Overview: These buildings are now known as the Brick
Alley. The history of the buildings goes back to 1874, when
the Stillwater Gas Light Co. was organized and recieved a -.
--- . 40-year franchise to provide gas Ughts to the city. Isaac
Staples was president of the company and the directors were a
Who's Who of prominent Stillwater businessmen: D.M. Sabin,
L.E. Torinus, John McRusick, and David Bronson (to name a
few). The first distribution system consisted of about 3
miles of 4" and smaller wooden gas mains, which were later
replaced with cast iron pipe. The company built a plant on
Nelson St. between Second and mrd Streets. Almost the
entire business was confined to i$fdnation. - -- - -
In a short time, a rival technology - electricity - came -
along to challenge the gas business. In 1881, the Stillwater
Electric Lfght Co. was organized. The new company had some
of the same directors as the gas light company: Staples, I
Sabin, and others. The gas company promptly introduced
electric.Ughting of its own - D.C. arc fighting. The
Stillwater Electric Light Co. used A.C. incandescent lights.
The A.C. technology gradually yon out, and is the system in
use today. lit 1890, the Stillwater Gas and Electric Light
Co. (which had already expanded by acquiring another electric
company in Bayport), bought out the Stillwater Electric Light
Co. This company was in turn bought out in 1904. The new
company was called the Stillwater Gas and Electric Company.
The new owner built a gas plant on S. Main (Site 199).
The plant operated on coal. That is, it cooked a liquified
coal mixture over a coal fire to produce gas. This building
is the south half of the present-day Brick Alley. The rear
of the gas plant had a 124' chimney, which was a landmark on
S. Main until it was dismantled in 1922.
The substation building (198) was built immediately . . . ,
Figure 40: In this rear view of a train heading south out of Stillwater on
September 12, 1926, the freight depot (#87) is on the right. Behind it are
the old Woodward Elevator (iI97) and the roof of the gas plant (iI98).
north of the gas plant in 1907. Three years later it was
converted to a steam plant, which used steam engines to power
generators. The north end of the steam plant housed the
company offices.
In 1909, H.M. Byllesby and Company, which had large
interests in Minneapolis and St. Paul, bought the Stillwater
Gas and Electric Co. At this time Byllesby changed the
company name to the Consumers Power Co. By 1916, Consumers
Power had a system which included Minneapolis, St. Paul,
Faribault, and Mankato, and stretched into Wisconsin. In
1916 the Stillwater steam plant (Site #98) had temporary
transformers installed to provide power to build the Wissota
hydro plant near Chippewa Falls. On April 1, 1916 the
Consumers Power Company became Northern States Power Co. NSP
converted the gas plant (3!!99) to handle Liquified Petroleum
gas in 1949.
Both buildings are built on stone foundations with 12"
thick brick walls. NSP operated here until the mid-1970s.
In 1976, architect Mike McGuire began an adaptive reuse
project which has converted the two buildings into the Brick
Alley complex containing a restaurant, shops, and offices.
Archaeogical Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: Though the building constitutes an interesting
chapter in the history of the city, the rehabilitation begun
nine years ago precludes nomination to the National
Register. No further work is required.
References : Meyer (1957: 31-37) ; Byllesby & Co. (1910) ; Sanborn
(1904); Consumers Power Co. (1909, 1911); Northers States
Power Co. (1909).
100. Stillwater Flour Mill, in 1884 315 S. Main St. (1877178-1897)
Historical Overview: Stillwater had three flour mills in the 1870s.
The Townshend Roller Mill was built in 1872. The Stillwater
Flour Mills and the St. Croix Flouring Mill were both built
in September 1877 (Walker 1877a, 1877b).
The Stillwater Flour Mill was a frame 5-story building
with a stone basement. It was "most admirably situated, on
the bank of the lake by the side of the St. Paul, Stillwater
& Taylor's Falls railroad track" (Walker 1877b). The mill
measured 50' X 70' and had a 20' X 70' addition on the
northwest side. It had engines and boilers in the basement
and the mill offices on the first floor. The rear of the
boiler room had a stone base for the circular brick 120'
smoke stack.
A detailed description of this mill floor by floor has
survived. The basement had line shafts to run the stones.
The stones were on the first floor. The second floor had
rolls and a middlings purifier. The third floor had fans for
blowing shorts and six more middlings purifiers. The fourth
floor had flour holds, more purifiers and a wheat beater.
The fifth floor had dust rooms, a rolling screen and a
grading reel. It was the second mill in Minnesota to use the
roller method, known as the Hungarian system.
In 1881, the mill and its improvements were valued at
$100,000.00. It was a first-class, modem mill, employing 30
men, running 24 hours a day, and producing 400 barrels a
day. The brands shipped from the facility were "Bronson's
Select, " "Porcelain Roller, " "Bun Hersey , " and "Billy Boy"
(Warner and Foote 1881: 517-5181.
In 1887 Stillwater had a new company on the scene - the
Florence Mill Co. J.H. Townshend was nanager. The three
early mills from the 1870s seem to have been combined into
the new company.
The warehouse behind the Stillwater Mill (Site //101) was
a 1-112 story frame warehouse east of the mill. It was built
between 1878 and 1882 and was used by the Florence Mill Co.
until it was razed in 1896. Site #I00 burned down in 1897.
Archaeogical Potential : Very small. The Stillwater (//loo) was
built at roughly the same site as the gas plant (#99). Its
Figure 41: This ca. 1900 photograph looking northeast shows the ruins of
the Stillwater Flour Mill in the foreground (#loo). Behind it are the
Woodward Elevator (#97) and the Simonet rug factory (#94). At the west end
of the Chestnut Street bridge are the lime and cement warehouse of Capt. Elder
(i177) and the Stillwater Feed Mill Company's elevator (iI72) . The rectangular
building at the left is now the Freight House Restaurant (#87).
foundations appear to have been reused when the gas plant was
built in 1904. The warehouse (#101) had no basement and it
is unlikely that foundation remains still exist.
Recommendations: Because the gas plant (/,99) was built on the old
mill site (#loo) and the warehouse had no basement, no
further work' is recommended'.
References: Sanborn (1884-1898); Barrett (1887: 19, 10); Walker
(1877a, 1877b); Folsom (1888: 404); Clarke (1882); Warner and
Foote (1881: 517-519).
102. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Co. coal shed, no
address (ca. 1910-ca. 1973)
103. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Co. freight depot,
. . no address (ca. 1910-ca. 1973)
104. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Co. car repair
shops, no address (ca. 1884-ca. 1924)
I
Historical Overview: The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
was incorporated in 1880. It combined the St. Paul,
Stillwater & Taylor's Falls (which built a line from St. Paul
. into Stillwater in 1872); the West Wisconsin (from Madison to
Hudson) ; and the North Wisconsin (to Duluth and ~shland) .
The first building the company built in Stillwater was
the freight depot (Site /l103), a 1-story brick building
. . erected in 1888. In the 1880s they used the St. Paul,
Stillwater and Taylor's Falls freight and passenger depots
(Sites #lo6 and 107).
The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha coal shed
(#lo21 was a 1-story frame building. It was used by the
Bluff City Lumber Co. from 1916 to 1973. It was torn down in '
1973. The car repair shop (1104) was built ca. 1884 and
razed in the period 1910-24.
The company's tracks were taken up in 1935, and its
Stillwater facilities were bought by the Chicago and
Northwestern.
Archaeogical Potential: The depot (#lo31 site is along S. Main
south of the Brick Alley. It is under a paved parking lot.
What foundations may remain are covered by the paving. The
car repair shop (1104) was a small frame building of no
importance. The coal shed (#102) site is southeast of the
Brick Alley in the parking lot on the south of the building.
The foundations were probably taken up and this area is now
paved. Site 1104 is in the Corps study area.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1884-1961) ; Prosser (1966: 126) ; Clarke
(1882); Runk (1927: #554, 1926: #535, #2256, 1923: #301);
Plat of Stillwater (1930).
105. Unidentified buildings along S. Water St., no address
(pre-1870-ca. 1882)
Historical Overview: Like similar early groupings of small and
medium-sized frame buildings (sites #68, 79, and 85), these buildings
appear in the 1870 Ruger engraving called a Birds' Eye View of the City
. of 'Stillwater. The buildings, however, pre-date, any existing maps of
the city. At least two of these buildings which were warehouses appear
to have been located along S. Main St. where Site #lo3 was built in
1882 (see Figure 40, foreground).
Archaeogical Potential: None.
Recommendations: Since subsurface tests are likely to yield no
useful information other than location and they are not
historically significant, no further work is necessary.
References: Ruger (1870).
106. St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Railroad Co. freight depot,
in 1884 354-112 S. Main (ca. 1872-ca. 1890)
Figure 42: The Steamer "G.B. Knappt' at Stillwater ca. 1875. The two buildings
in the foreground at the water's edge are unidentified (#105). The third build-
. . ing in the background may be the St. Paul, Stillwater, & Taylor's Falls freight
depot (106).
107. St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Railroad Co. passenger
depot, in 1884 354-112 S. Main (ca. 1872-ca. 1890)
108. Railroad trestles, bridges & platforms, over the lake (ca.
1872-1935).
Historical Overview: The St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls
Railroad was incorporated in December 1869. It was charged
to build a road from St. Paul to Taylor's Falls via
Stillwater, with a branch line to Hudson, Wisconsin. It was
also to build and operate a telegraph line along the tracks,
and own and operate boats and ferries in connection with the
road. Although it never completed the line to Taylor's
Falls, the line's first train from St. Paul reached
Stillwater on Feb. 9, 1872 (~rosser 1966: 163, Folsom 1888:
671).
The company's tracks came into Stillwater from the south
along the lake shore and reached only as far north as a line
running east from about E. Pine St. At the north terminus,
built on wooden posts over the water, was a 2-story freight
depot (Site 11106) surrounded by wooden platforms. The
railroad tracks were built over the water on trestles and
bridges set on wooden posts (Site 11108). The freight depot
was converted to warehouse use by 1884, and was razed ca.
The passenger depot (11107) was just southwest of the
freight depot on what is now S. Main St. It was a frame
building surrounded by a wooden platform. Like the freight
depot, the passenger depot was built in 1871-72 when the
company's tracks first reached Stillwater. In 1871, the
railroad negotiated with the city for use of part of S. Main
St. to build the passenger depot and tracks. This was
necessary because the depot was so close to S. Main Street
(~oney 1970: 18). The passenger depot was tom down in
1882183 after the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
bought out the company and built its own depot (Site #103).
Archaeogical Potential: None. The passenger depot sat where
Highways 55 and 95 run into Stillwater from the south. The
wooden pilings for the freight depot and trestles (#lo6 and
108) rotted and were tom out when the tracks were taken up
in 1935.
Recommendations: Site #lo7 is outside the Corps study area. Sites
Dl06 and 108 are in the study area. Chances are extremely
remote that any of the wooden posts put in over 100 years ago
remain. No further work is recommended. .
References : Andreas (1874: 52) ; Sanborn (1884-1891) ; Shephard
(1878) ; Folsom (1888: 671) ; Roney (1970: 17-19) ; Clarke
(1883a).
109. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha scales, no address (ca .
1888-1900)
Historical Overview: The railroad scales were on the tracks between
S. Main St. and the Hersey, Bean shingle shed (Site #110).
They are part of the equipment connected with this railroad.
See Sites #102, 103, and 104.
Archaeogical Potential: None. Railroad scales were salvageable,
and these were taken out.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary.
References: Sanborn (1888, 1891).
110. Hersey & Bean shingle shed, no address (ca. 1888-ca. 1904)
Ill. Hersey & Bean blacksmith & wood shop, 7330-112 S. Main (ca.
112. Hersey & Bean boarding house, 7329-7330 S. Main (ca. 1870-1912)
113. Hersey & Bean shed, 443-112 S. Main (ca. 1884-a. 1891)
Figure 43: 1898 Sanborn showing the extensive yards of t.he Hersey, Bean Company
along S. Main. The office (#115) is at the north end near the horse sheds (8116).
146
114. Hersey & Bean warehouse, 7325-1/2 S. Main (ca. 1870-ca* 1891)
115. Hersey & Bean store & office, 7326 (433) S. Main (1877-ca. 1932)
116. Hersey & Bean horse sheds, 7325 S. Main (ca. 1870-1924)
Historical Overview: The Hersey & Bean buildings along the lake on
S. Main St. comprised a huge complex known as the
Northwestern Mill. The mill itself was located south of the
study area. Sites #110-116 were merely the north end of the
complex.
Hersey, Staples & Co. began erecting the mill in 1853,
the year Staples arrived in Stillwater. The huge steam
sawmill which the company built was reported by the
- A
Stillwater Messenger (May 1, 1860) to have cost $80,000.00 an
-.
enormous sum in those times (Larson 1949: 20). In 1861, the
name of the operating firm was changed to Hersey, Staples,
and Hall. In 1866 it changed again to Hersey, Staples and
Bean. Staples sold his one-third interest in 1871, and the
firm became Hersey, Bean & Co. In 1872, E.S. Brown boughta
1/3 interest, and the name was changed to Hersey, Bean &
Brown.
Improvements in 1872-3 increased the capacity of the
mill to 90,000 board feet a day, 100,000 shingl=s a day, and
50,000 lath a day. A second mill was added south of the
first in 1873.
Beginning in 1872, the St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's
Falls Railroad shipped all the company's manufactured lumber
by rail. The mills employed 225 men by 1881, and could
produce 18 million board feet of lumber and 9 million each of
shingle and lath a year. The entire complex occupied 5/6ths
of a mile of lake front east of S. Main St. (Warner and Foote
1881: 515-516). In connection with the mill, Isaac Staples
ran a general merchandise store on Main (Ibid. - :554).
In 1892 the Northwestern Mills came under the management
Figure 44: This picture was taken from the top of the bluffs on S. Main in
the stone quarry in 1898, looking southeast. The smoke stacks and buildings
of the Hersey, Bean Lumber Company can be seen on the east side of S. Main.
of George H. Atwood (Durant 1905: 655). In 1901 William
Folsom noted that in 44 years the Northwestern Mills had cut
756 million board feet of lumber (Folsom 1901 : 303) . By 1898
logs came to the mill by rail, indicating that the technology
of lumbering had improved immediately since the days of the
booms on the river (Easton and Masterrnan 1898: 16, Sanborn
1904).
Archaeogical Potential: Most of the buildings at the north end of
the Northwestern Mill complex (Sites #110-116) were razed by
1910. What remains in this area should be huge piles of
bark, sawdust, and slabs from 60 years of operation. Site
#110 was a shingle shed which stood only a short time and had
no basement. The warehouse (f114) was built on posts, which
have probably rotted away or been torn out. The store and
office (#115) was the only one of these buildings with a
basement. It was stone, and remnants of it may still exist.
Recommendations: No further work is necessary, but the Corps should
be aware that wood slabs, sawdust, or bark encountered south
of an east-west line through E. Pine St. are associated with
the old Northwestern Mills.
References: Sanborn (1884-1961); Shephard (1876); Andreas (1874:
52, 53); Mitchell (1882: 20); Upham and Dunlap (1912: 322,
323); Runk (1874: #183, 1875: f184, #185, 1885: #186, 1897:
#189, 1899: f188, 1910: #176A); Larson (1949: 19-22); Easton
and Masterrnan (1898: 16, 17, 37) ; Warner and Foote (1881:
515, 516, 554) ; Roney (1970: 11-13); Neason (1882) ; Durant
(1905: 655); Folsom (1901: 303).
117. St. Croix Barge Terminal warehouse, east of S. Main St:
(1958-still standing)
Historical Overview: The St. Croix Barge Terminal Co. has operated
in this area along the river since 192718. In the 1920s, the
barges brought sisal upriver for the state prison's
twine-making operations. This warehouse was built in 1958.
Aiple Towing now runs the terminal, but the ownership is the
same as that of the St. Croix Barge Terminal Co. The use of
this general area for barges goes back to the turn of the
century.
Archaeogical Potential: None. Still standing.
Recommendations: No further work is required.
References : Address Book (1951) ; Abercombie (1927) ; Plat of
Stillwater (1930); Sanborn (1924 updated to 1961).
ASSESSMENT of STANDING STRUCTURES,
SITES WHICH WERE SIGNIFICANT TO THE HISTORY OF STILLWATER,
-. and SITES WITH ARCHEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL
I. Standing Structures
There are 17 existing sites in the Corps study area. None are
eligible for National Register listing. They are Sites #15, 17, 20,
31, 63, 64, 66, 69, 75, 86, 87*, 91, 92, 97, 98, 117. Site 87*, the
Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railroad Co. passenger and freight
depot, is listed on the National Register. It is the only National
Register site in the entire study area.
The other 16 sites were assessed according to the National
Register criteria. We looked at the age, integrity, workmanship,
design, and materials associated with each site. We assessed the
significance of the existing sites for historical associations and
found that 15 of the existing sites were not sufficiently distinctive
to merit National Register status. One seems to be potentially
eligible to the National Register, Site #75, the current Interstate
bridge over the St. Croix.
An individual analysis of each ineligible site follows:
Site #15: Minnesota Highway Dept. garage--not 50 years old,
concrete block; does not meet standards for National Register
listing.
Site #17: Muller Boat Houses--not 50 years old, vernacular ---
functional buildings; do not meet standards for National
Register listing.
Site #20 : Midland Cooperative filling station :--not 50 years
old; concrete block; does not meet standards for National
Register listing.
Site #31: Muller Boat Works boat house--not 50 years old; ----
frame shiplap. Although it has timbers from the Seymour,
Sabin machine shops (Site #5), it does not meet standards for
National Register listing.
Site /I63 (Lowell - Park Pavillion), Site /I66 (north end of -- -
Lowell - Park), Site /I86 (south end of Lowell park)- here is --- -
not enough information on the Morel1 and Nichols landscaping
firm to determine whether Lowell Park and the pavillion are
eligible for the National Register. However, the original
more elaborate plan for the park was never built in its
entirely. Major updating and construction was done in 1927
and 1937. The pavillion was refurbished nicely in 1984. It
is a plain lattice-walled building with open eaves
reminiscent of the Craftsman style. The park layout and
design of the pavillion is not distinctive. It is typical of
modest park plans from the period 1910-1920.
Site #64: Hooley's market--undistinguished typical
supermarket built in 1960 of glazed brick tiles and concrete
block; not 50 years old; does not meet standards for National
Register listing.
Site /I 69: Lumbermen's Exchange Building-posesses important
historical associations with patterns of Stillwater history
and with important lumber men in the city. However, the
building has lost its architectural integrity as a result of
brick window infill and new windows. Had this building
retained its original architectural integrity, it would have
been a strong candidate for the National Register; no longer
meets standards for National Register listing.
Site /I 91 (Park Restrooms) and Site #92 (City lift -
station)-- Restrooms built in 1984 attached to lift station
built in 1960; not 50 years old; no distinctive qualities;
does not meet standards for National Register listing.
Site #97-woodward Elevator-Built 1898, over 50 years old;
original machinery gone; used continuously since
construction; last remaining elevator in Stillwater
riverfront area; common massing to elevators from the era;
the mill has been razed. Integrity of building is good, but
property is not of sufficient technological interest or
architectural destinction to merit listing on the National
It was located where the GTA offices are today. Integrity
good, but not of sufficient age or architectural distinction
to merit National Register Usting.
Site /I98 (Stillwater Gas & Electric Light Co. substation) and Site -- -
/I99 (Stillwater -- Gas & Electric Light Co. gas plant)-- over 50 -
years old; significant to the history of Stillwater's private
utilities; no integrity since the two buildings were changed
and combined into the Brick Alley in ca. 1978-80 by the
current owner. One of the building's rooflines was changed
to face the other way, brick infill, all machinery gone.
Site /I117 -- Croix Barge Terminal Buildin&--Built 1958, not St.
50 years old; common vernacular style, warehouse
construction; does not meet standards for National Register
listing.
Potentially eligible structures :
Site /!75: Interstate bridge--There is only one potentially
eligible standing structure site in the study area. It is
the Interstate bridge (Site #75) at the foot of Chestnut
Street. The bridge is a multi-span camelback bridge of truss
construction. It has a lift section near the west shore.
This combination makes it fairly rare in Minnesota and the
upper mid-west. The Interstate bridge is over 50 years old.
It is also located at a traditional and major crossing of the
St. Croix River. The crossing here was originally made by
ferry before 1876. The first bridge at Stillwater (Site #76)
was constructed in 1876. It, too, had a,section which could
be moved out of the way for logs and commercial boats. The
Interstate bridge, built in 1930, was probably made with a
lift section not only to accommodate larger craft headed
up-river to the head of navigation at Taylor's Falls, but
because a lift section or drawbridge was traditional at this
point. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has a
large file on this bridge. Clem Kackelmeyer at MNDOT has
this file. A state-wide study of highway bridges is
currently being conducted by the State Historic Preservation
Office in conjunction with MNDOT. The contractor for this
study is Dr. Robert M. Frame. Dr. Frame, an industrial
archeologist and historian, also believes the bridge is
potentially eligible to the National Register.
National Register structures:
Site iI87: Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad Company
passenger and freight depot--listed on the National Register
of Historic Places in guly, 1977. The National Register
nomination appears in Appendix A. This current study has
uncovered an error in the nomination. The passenger and
freight depot was built on dry land, not wooden posts in
1883. The building has 2 foot thick stone foundations and
18" thick brick load bearing walls, 30 feet high.
11. Structures Which Were Significant to the History of Stillwater
All of the starred(*) sites in the Assessment section are
siginificant. But this is, in a way, a misnomer. By significant, we
mean that these structures were, when standing or intact, significant
to the history of Stillwater-- not that they qualify now for National
Register status or are intrinsically significant despite their
demolition.
There are only two truly significant structures in the Stillwater
riverfront study area: the building now known as the Freight House
Restaurant (Site 87) and a potentially eligible structure, the
Interstate Bridge (Site iI 75).
In essence the structures significant to the history of Stillwater
should be treated about like the non-significant ones by the Corps as
far as preserving the sites or trying to avoid them during
construction. These sites might have been National Register quality
had the buildings survived. They did not. And this report, in itself,
is mitigation of the sites significant to Stillwater history.
The most useful thing which has come out of this study is the
ce'rtain knowledge that the written and photographic record of the
destroyed buildings is enormous. Existing records tell us far more
about the historic uses of the Stillwater waterfront than could be
learned from archeological testing. There is little to nothing to
learn from protecting the foundations of the sites significant to the
history of Stillwater if Corps construction is realized.
The only possible reason to avoid the structures which are
significant to the history of Stillwater is to save the foundations for
possible future interpretation as an industrial park. At present, such
a possibility is remote in Stillwater. It has not yet occurred even in
Minneapolis in an equally rich but more important industrial area along
the riverfront in the West Bank Milling District. The chances are that
the Stillwater riverfront area will be valuable commercial property,
ripe for highrises, long before it is set apart for an industrial park
whose purpose would be to interpret the ruins and remains of
Stillwater's impressive and interesting past.
It would, nonetheless, be wise for the Corps to destroy as few of
the foundations of the sites significant to the history of Stillwater
as possible in case the remote becomes reality and the people of
Stillwater become interested in an industrial interpretive park.
Structures significant to Stillwater history but no longer
standing are: #5*, 8*, 12*, 21*, 23*, 50*, 51*, 54*, 60*, 61*, 62*,
65*, 69*, 72*, 73*, 76*, 83*, 87*, 89*, 94*, loo*, 103*, 107*, 115*:
twenty three destroyed sites in all, plus the potentially significant
Site #75 (Interstate bridge) and Site /I87 (C., M., & St. P. railroad
depot), already listed on the National Register.
Sites significant to the history of Stillwater, but no longer
standing are as follows:
Site /I 5 Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine shops
Site if 8 C. N. Nelson & Co. sawmill
Site 612 Seymour, Sabin & Co. main office/storage
Site /I21 N.W. Mfg. & Car Co. warehouse
Site /I23 N.W. Thresher Co. engine warehouse
Site /I50 Union Elevator and Feed Mill warehouse
Site #51
Site /I54
Site #60
Site /I61
Site /I62
Site /I65
Site /I69
Site /I72
Site /I73
Site /I76
Site /I83
Site /I89
Site /I94
Site /I100
Site /I103
Site /I106
Site /I107
Site /I 115
Union Elevator and Feed Mill
John O'Brien Elevator
Stillwater & St. Paul RR freight depot and
steamboat landing
Stillwater & St. Paul RR passenger depot
Express Offices, Surveyor General's office
Union Depot
Lumbermen' s Exchange Building
Stillwater Feed Mill Co. flour and feed mill
Minnesota Mercantile Co . Building
Pontoon Bridge
Torinus, Staples & Co. warehouse
City Levee
Bronson & Cover warehouse
Stillwater Flour Mill warehouse
Chicago,St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha RR
freight depot
St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls RR
freight depot
St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls RR
passenger depot
Hersey & Bean store and office
111. Structures with Archeological Potential
There are 20 sites in the study area with archeological potential.
These sites have subsurface structures such as basements, stone or
brick foundations, or are sites with dumps or scrap yards. The 20
sites are: #2, 4, 5*, 6, 12*, 21, 22, 28, 32, 51*, 56, 65*, 66, 73*,
83*, 84, 86, 93, 94*, and 115. Of these, 7 are significant to the
history of Stillwater (starred). Since no actual archeological testing
has been done, this list represents the best information on
archeological potential which has survived in the historical record.
These sites are listed below with the likely subsurface remains in
parentheses :
Site 1/2 Northwest Thresher Co. foundry and castings storage
( foundation)
Site 1/4 Steam dry kiln (foundation)
Site i/5* Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine shops (foundation)
Site 1/6 Boiler house complex (base for smokestack)
Site #12* Seymour, Sabin & Co. main office and storage
(foundation)
Site 1/21 Northwestern Manufacturing & Car Co. warehouse
(possible remnants of wooden posts)
Site 1/22 River bank (historic dumps, loose brick, rubble, stone
foundations)
Site 1/28 Northern Pacific turntable (footings 4.5-5' deep)
Site 1/32 Sand bar (sewer lines)
Site #51* Union Elevator & Feed Mill (foundations)
Site 1/56 Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse (foundations)
Site #65* Union Station (partial foundations in ~ooley's lot)
Site 1/66 Lowell Park (historic dumps and possible remnants of
earlier retaining walls)
Site 1/73* Minnesota Mercantile Co. building (partial stone
foundations)
Site #83* Torinus, Staples & Co. warehouse (foundation)
Site 1/84 Heavy storage warehouse (foundation)
Site 1\86 Lowell Park (possible earlier levee walls, dump area
Site 1\93 City Pump House (machinery, brick well, stone masonry
Site 1/94* Bronson & Cover Co. warehouse (foundation)
Site //I15 Hersey & Bean store and office (stone foundation)
General remarks about archeological potential:
Although not specifically mentioned in the above list, there
should be old gas and sewer lines running at right angles to the river
bank. The sewer mains should be at the foot of every cross street
which runs into the river, i.e., Chestnut, Myrtle, Mulberry streets
etc. The earliest water pipes were wood and may not show up as much
more than brown stains in the soil. Some of these should be deeply
buried, because of the amount of infill which has occurred since
settlement along the shore. The later sewer and water mains were brick
and good maps are filed in the Department of Public Works. The gas
lines were originally wooden in the 1870s and were replaced with cast
iron pipe. These pipes could be almost anywhere in the study area
depending on how many of the buildings along the riverfront were hooked
into the system.
Sawdust, slabs, and burned splinters of wood could be anywhere
along the riverfront. The largest sawmill in Stillwater was the
Schulenburg, Boeckler mill on N. Main almost a half mile north of the
Corps study area. The Schulenburg mill burned to the ground in 1907.
It was common practice to dump bark and sawdust in the rivers during
the nineteenth century. Although some of the sawdust was burned in the
mills for fuel, the boiler houses could not possibly use all the
sawdust generated by the saw. In addition, sawdust in the old mills
was much greater per board foot sawed than today, because the curf of
the saw then was wider. Sawdust also sinks relatively quickly to the
bottom of a river, because it becomes waterlogged. So most of the
sawdust below ground along the Stillwater riverfront should have been
generated by Stillwater mills, not, for example, mills in Marine or
Taylor's Falls.
There are two places in the Corps study area where great
concentrations of sawdust should occur. One is up at the north end in
Reach 3 around the Muller boat houses. This was the site of the C. N.
Nelson Lumber Co. sawmill (Site 88) and is in the area of one of the
soil borings the Corps took. The other is in Reach 1 on S. Main in the
area between the Brick Alley parking lot and the barge terminal. This
area was used to load cut lumber and was the property of the Hersey,
Bean Company, the other large saw mill operation in the Stillwater
riverfront.
Any surviving foundations in the riverfront area are either brick
or stone unless specified on the above list as one or the other. Any
brick or stone structures in Stillwater are potentially quite early.
Stillwater had two early stone quarries, one at the north and another
at the south end of town. The south quarry is shown in Figure 42, p.
141). The first mention we found of a stone building was the store of
Samuel Burkleo built at the foot of Chestnut Street possibly built as
early as 1850. This building would be west of the study area today,
but what is interesting is that it is said to have floated off of its
foundation in the spring flood of 1859 (Warner and Foote 1881: 503).
The old State Prison was also built of stone, probably from the north
quarry just above Battle Hollow on N. Main, in 1851-53.
Early building foundations may have been stone, but by at least
1859, foundations and chimneys were made of brick. Early brick was
"common" brick, probably cream colored and a soft brick, rather than a
fired hard-face brick. It was in 1859 that Frederick Steinacker
established a brickyard in Stillwater in Ramsey's and Carter's addition
to the city. By 1880, he was manufacturing over 800,000 brick annually
(Warner and Foote 1881: 522). It was common brick similar or
identical to that used on the C., M., & St. P. passenger and freight
depot (the Freight House restaurant). By 1882, Stillwater had three
I
brick manufacturers and dealers (Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary
1978: 13). They would all have been turning out the kind of brick
found throughout the northwest in the nineteenth century, and most of
this brick would have been cream color.
The riverfront area is a highly disturbed area. The fine sand and
silt found in the Corps soil borings would have been deposited in great
amounts during the lumbering era before 1914. The load in the water
would have been especially great during lumbering because of the
turbulence caused by logging operations on such a grand scale. This is
also true of the upper Mississippi River.
Very little of the riverfront in the Corps study area was dry land
in 1843 at settlement. This can be seen most graphically by comparing
the 1843 plat of Stillwater (Figure 10, page 24) with today's
shoreline. The greatest addition to the shore was accomplished by the
1852 landslide at the foot of Mulberry Street. The landslide, a result
of water saturated soil from the bluffs above, covered about six acres
to an average depth of ten feet. A fuller discussion of this begins on
page 73 (Site ij32). The landslide not only provided solid building
lots on hitherto swampy low land, but improved the shore of the lake,
making the landing much more convenient for steamboats. Before 1852,
Main Street was about eight feet lower and flooded every Spring
(Carroll 1970: 45). According to one account, the "Argo" was able to
debark passengers on the front steps of the Minnesota House on the west
side of S. Main before the landslide, because Main Street was four to
five feet under water in the Spring flood of 1850 (Warner and Foote
1881: 509). Mter the 1852 landslide, this was impossible.
DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF SITES BY RWHES,
ALTERNATIVES, AND IMPACTS
The survey area was divided into three Reaches (see the overlay
map in the pocket) by the Scope of Work, Appendix B. The following
summarizes each Reach in terms of a description of the potential Corps
of Engineers' plans and a resume of historical sites found in each
Reach.
Reaches are organized from south to north, beginning with Reach 3
on the south end of the study area. Sites are organized from north to
south. In general, Reach 1 contains Sites #loo-111; Reach 2 contains
Sites 856-100; and Reach 3 contains Sites 1-55. This is
approximate. Sites significant to the history of Stillwater, but not
eligible to the National Register are starred (*).
REACH 3
I Historical Summarx: Reach 3 extends from just above E. Williams
Street to approximately Commercial Street along the waterfront.
Between E. Elm Street and E. Linden Street, the river front
included sites owned and used by a succession of companies beginning -.
with Seymour, Sabin & Co. from 1860-1882. Convict labor was used to
run their operations and those of their successor, the North Western
Manufacturing & Car Co. These buildings on the east side of N. Main
were used by a succession of agricultural implement manufacturing
firms: N.W. Mfg. & Car Co. (1882-1902), Minnesota Thresher Company
(1887-1902), M. Rumely Company (1902), Minnesota Thresher Company
(1903-1917 1, Twin City Forge and Foundry Company (1917-1930 1, amd
Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company (1930-1946 1.
Between E. Linden and E. Mulberry streets, the riverfront was
dominated by a concentration of railroad structures (turntables,
roundhouses, water towers and trackage) built by the Stillwater & St.
Paul and later used and improved by the St. Paul & Duluth and Northern
Pacific rail roads.
I Between E. Myrtike Street and approximately Commercial Avenue, the
I historic uses of the riverfront included a concentration of flour
mills, warehouses, elevators, and oil company tanks.
Project Description: Approximately 2,000 ft. long. The Corps is
contemplating a permanent concrete floodwall and earthen levee. Both
the floodwall and earthen levee would directly impact a width of 80
feet, but construction activities might impact an area as wide as 200
feet during construction. An inspection trench would be dug down the
centerline of the levee, and would be approximately 6 feet deep, have a
6-foot bottom width, and an 8-foot surface width.
Assessment:
Earthen levee. Alternatives A, B, and C
Direct Impact (80 foot width) :
Site #1: Seymour, Sabin & Co. boarding house
Site f3: Minnesota Thresher Mfg. Co.
foundry/blacksmith shop.
Site #5*: Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine shops
Site #12*: Seymour, Sabin & Co. main office/storage
Site f14: Seymour, Sabin & Co. castings storage,
office and coal sheds.
Total Impact (200 foot width) : -
In addition to sites /I 1, 3, 5, 12, and 14:
Site #2: N.W. Thresher Co. foundry and castings
Site (14: Steam dry kiln
Site #7: Dry kiln and horse shed
Site 118*: C. N. Nelson & Co. sawmill
Site #lo: M. Rumely Co. wheel shop/testing room
Site #11: Johnson & McHale mill
Site #17: Muller boat houses
Site f18: Minnesota Thresher Mfg. Co. warehouse
Permanent floodwall (Alternative A and B):
Direct impact (50 foot width):
Site 1/12": Seymour, Sabin & Co. =in office/storage
Site 1/16: Paint storage sheds
Site #24: Stillwater & St. Paul RR trestle tracks
. .
: Site' ~29: . . Northern Pacific scales
Site #33: Tool house and coal bin
Site #51*: Union Elevator and Feed Mill
Site 1/52: Stillwater & St. Paul movable truck tramway
Total impact (100 foot width):
In addition to sites 1/12, 16, 24, 29, 33, 51, and 52:
Site 1/14: Seymour, Sabin castings storage, office & coal
sheds.
Site 1/17:
Site #22:
Site 1/30:
Site 1/37:
Site 1/39:
Site #41:
Site 1/43:
Site 1/45:
Site 1/46:
Site i/50*:
Site 1/53:
Muller boat houses
River bank ;
N.P. RR oil house, repair house, & tool house
Standard Oil Co. shed and tanks
J.J. Kilty & Son Co. sheds and tanks
Sand furnace and shed
Boiler house
Bartles b. Oil co. sheds and tanks
Stock yards
Union Elevator & Feed Mill warehouse
Stillwater & St. Paul RR car shops
Permanent floodwall (Alternative C)
Direct Impact (50 foot width) :
Site 1/12*: Seymour, Sabin & Co. =in of ficelstorage
Site i/21*: N.W. Mfg. & Car Co. warehouse
Site #23*: N.W. Thresher Mfg. CO. engine warehouse
Site #24: Stillwater & St. Paul RR Co. trestle tracks
Site 1/27: N. P. RR engine/roundhouse
Site #28: N.P. RR turntable
Permanent floodwall (Alternative C) Direct Impacts (50 ft
width), cont.
Site 1/29: N.P. RR scales
Site 033: Tool house and coal bin
Site 1/38: Coal shed
Site 1/41: Sand furnace and shed
Site 1/43: Boiler house
Site 1/46: Stock yards
Site f47: Hand car shed
Site 1/52: Stillwater & St. Paul RR movable truch tramway
Site 1/53: Stillwater & St. Paul car shops
Total Impact (100 Foot width):
In addition to sites f 29 , 33, 38, 41, 43, 46, 47, 52, and
53:
Site f5*: Seymour, Sabin & Co. machine shops
Site 1/12": Seymour, Sabin & Co. main office/storage
Site f14: Seymour, Sabin & Co. castings storage, office
Site f16:
Site f19:
Site f21*:
Site f23*:
Site f24:
Site f27:
Site 1/28:
Site 1/42:
Site 1/48:
Site f54*:
Site f55:
Site f56:
and coal sheds
Paint st orage sheds
Sand shed
N.W. Mfg. & Car Co. warehouse
N.W. Mfg. Thresher Co. engine warehouse
Stillwater & St. Paul RR Co. trestle tracks
NP RR engine house/roundhouse
NP RR turntable
Brick sheds
Coal shed additions
John 0' Brien Elevator
Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse annex
Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse
REACH 2
Historical Summary: The area of Reach 2 extends from
approximately Commercial Avenue south to just below Nelson Street.
Between Commercial Avenue and Myrtle Street were located the
earliest railroad freight depots, built around 1870 by the Stillwater &
St. Paul Railraod Company. The north end of Lowell Park and its open
pavillion, designed in 1914-16 as part of a "city beautiful" plan, are
situated at the foot of Myrtle Street. Along Water Street sat two
large warehouses for the wholesale operations of the Minnesota
Mercantile Company.
Between E. wrtle and E. Chestnut streets sat the heart of the
riverfront activities. The early pre-1875 wharf was a debarking place
for travellers and an unloading area for manufactured goods. Both
' bridges to Houlton, Wisconsin, the original pontoon bridge (built in
1876) and its replacement (built in 1930), began at the foot of E.
Chestnut Street. One of Minnesota's most beautiful railroad depots,
Union Depot, built in 1887, was located on Water Street at the comer
of Myrtle. It sat where the Hooley's market and parking lot are
today. It was connected by a covered shed and platform to the
Lumbermen's Exchange Company building at the south end of the block at
Water and Chestnut streets. Other small houses and businesses
clustered at the foot of Chestnut Street during the 1860s and 1870s.
These were small wood frame structures. In the early days, Water
Street was known as Stimpson's Alley.
The area from E. Chestnut to E. Nelson streets contained a
concentration of early commercial and service industry structures, as
well as several municipal structures.
Ellis Rhiner lived here and operated one of two ice businesses.
His house became the Home Hotel, one of many small lodging businesses
in the city. In 1888, the Rhiner property gave way to the Minnesota
Mercantile Company building, located just south of what is today the
Lumbermen's Exchange building. Capt. Elder operated a contracting
business and sold lime, brick and coal in this area. The same area
contained several large warehouses for businesses fronting on S. Main
Street.
The south end of Lowell Park fronted the river, with major
improvements added in 1927 and 1937. This stretch of riverfront became
the city levee in the mid-1850s. The city also maintained a pump
house, city engine house, and city horse shed here. The new lift
station and park restrooms are located just south of the old city pump
house.
Project Description: Approximately 1,400 feet long. Some type of
folding floodwall is contemplated for this area. The floodwall would
directly impact a width of 40 feet., but the impact of construction
activities might be as wide as 200 feet. Direct sub-surface impacts
might be a 10 foot width and between 5 feet and 15 feet in depth,
including the deeper sheet pile.
Assessment:
Folding f loodwall. Alternative A
Direct Impact (40 foot width):
Site #51*: Union Elevator and Feed mill
Site 860*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR freight depot and
steamboat landing
Site 566: Lowell Park
Site 1/67: Wharf
Site 1/68: Unidentified buildings along water Street
Site 1/76: Pontoon bridge
Site #77: Lime and cement warehouse
Site 1/78: Captain H. B. Elder office
Site 1/79: Unidentified buildings at the foot of Chestnut
Street
Site 1/80: Captain H. B. Elder limehouse
Site 1/86: Lowell Park
SiteH88: Cityhorse shed
Site 1/89": City levee
Folding floodwall (Alternative A) Direct Impacts (40 foot
width, cont.)
Site #90: City engine house
Site #91: Park restrooms
Site 592: City lift station
Site #94: Bronson & Cover warehouse
Site #96: car wash
Total Impact (200 foot width):
In addition to sites f51, 60, 66, 67, 68, 71, 76, 77, 78,
79, 80, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, and 96:
Site f52: Stillwater & St. Paul RR movable truck tramway
Site f54: John 0' Brien Elevator
Site #58: Stillwater & St. Paul RR turntable
Site #59: Stillwater & St. Paul RR roundhouse
Site 3!!60*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR freight depot and
steamboat landing
Site f61*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR passenger depot
Site f 62*: Express offices, Surveyor General's offices
Site #64: Hooley ' s market
Site /!65*: Union Depot
Site /!72*: Stillwater Feed Mill Co. flour 7 feed mill
Site 873*: Minnesota Mercantile Co. building
Site #74: Rhiner ice houselbarn
Folding floodwall. Alternative B
Direct Impact (40 foot width):
Site U58: Stillwater & St. Paul RR turntable
Site #61*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR passenger depot
Site /!62*: Express of fices,Surveyor General's office
Total Impact (200 foot width):
In addition to sites f58, 61, and 62:
Site /!51*: Union Elevator and Feed Mill
Site #53: Stillwater & St. Paul RR car shops
Folding floodwall (Alternative B) Total Impact (200 foot
width), cont
Site 1/54*: John 0' Brien Elevator
Site 1/55: Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse annex
Site 1/57: St. Paul & Duluth RR freight depot
Site 1/59: Stillwater & St. Paul RR roundhouse
Site 1/60*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR freight depot and
steamboat landing.
Site f64: Hooley' s market
Site #65*: Union Depot
Site 1/66: Lowell Park
Site 867: Wharf
Site //68: Unidentified buildings along S. Water Street
Site #69*: Lumbermen's Exchange Building
Site 1/71: Hay and feed store
Site //73*: Minnesota Mercantile Co. Building
Site #74: Rhiner ice houselbarn
Site 1/76*: Pontoon bridge
Site #77: Lime and cement warehouse
Site //78: Capt. Elder office
Site #79: Unidentified buildings at the foot of
Chestnut Street
Site 880: Capt . Elder limehouse
Site #81: Dwelling
Site 1/82: Ellis Rhiner residence
Site #83*:
Site //84:
Site 885:
Site 1/87":
Site 1/88:
Site #89*:
Site 1\90:
Site 1/93:
Site 1/94*:
Torinus, Staples & Co. warehouse
Heavy storage warehouse
Unidentified buildings along S. Water Street
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul RR passenger
and freight depot
City horse shed
City Levee
City engine house
City pump house
Bronson & Cover warehouse
Folding floodwall (Alternative B) Total Impact (200 foot
width), cont.
Site 195: Muller Brothers boat house
Site 196: car wash
Site 197: Woodward Elevator
Site 1101: Stillwater Flour Mill warehouse
Site ?!!102: Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha RR
coal shed
Site /!105: Unidentified buildings along S. Main Stree
Folding and Permanent flood wall. Alternative C.
Direct Impact (40 and 50 foot width):
Site 153: Stillwater & St. Paul RR car shops
Site 158: Stillwater & St. Paul RR turntable
Site /!61*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR passenger depot
Site #62*: Express offices, Surveyor General's offices
Site /!64: Hooley's market
Site /!65*: Union Depot
Site 168: Unidentified buildings along S. Water Street
Site #69* : Lumbermen' s Exchange Building
Site #73*: Minnesota Mercantile Co. Building
Site #74: Rhiner ice houselbarn
Site #95: Muller Brothers boat house
Total Impact (100 and 200 foot widths):
Site 153: Stillwater & St. Paul RR car shops
Site #54*: John O'Brien Elevator
Site /!55: Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse annex
Site 156: Minnesota Mercantile Co. warehouse
Site 157: St. Paul & Duluth RR freight depot
Site #58: Stillwater & St. Paul RR turntable
Site 159: Stillwater & St. Paul RR roundhouse
Site #60*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR freight depot and
steamboat landing.
Folding and Permanent floor wall (Alternative C) Total
Impacts (100 and 200 foot widths), cont.
Site #61*: Stillwater & St. Paul RR passenger depot
Site 1/62*: Express offices, Surveyor General's offices
Site 1/64: Hooley ' s market
Site #65*: Union Depot
Site 1/66: Lowell Park
Site 1/67: Wharf
Site #68: Unidentified buildings along S. Water Street
Site 1/69*: Lumbermen's Exchange Building
Site 1/73" : Minnesota Mercantile Co . Building
Site 1/74: Rhiner ice house/barn
Site 1/76": Pontoon bridge
Site #77: Lime and cement warehouse
Site 1/78: Capt. Elder office
Site 1/79: Unidentified buildings at the foot of
Chestnut Street
Site 1/80: Capt. Elder limehouse
Site #81: Dwelling
Site 1/82: Ellis Rhiner residence
Site 1/83*:
Site 1/84:
Site 1/85:
Site 686:
Site 1/87:
Site 1/88:
Site 1/89*:
Site #90:
Site 1/93:
Site 1/94:
Site #95:
Site 1/96:
Site 1/97:
Site 1/101:
Site 1/102:
Torinus, Staples & Co. warehouse
Heavy storage warehouse
Unidentified buildings along S. Water Street
Lowell Park
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul RR passenger
and freight depot
City horse shed
City Levee
City engine house
City pump house
Bronson & Cover warehouse
Muller Brothers boat house
car wash
Woodward Elevator
Stillwater Flour Mill warehouse
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha RR
coal shed
Folding and Permanent flood wall (Alternative C) Total
Impacts (100 and 200 foot widths), cont.
Site /!105: Unidentified buildings along S. Main Street
REACH 1
Historical Summary: Reach 1 encompasses the riverfront area from just
south of Nelson Street to approximately where an east extension of E.
Willard Street would run into the river.
A concentration of flour milling activities were located between
E. Nelson and E. Pine streets, along with some railroad and
utility-related buildings. The Woodward Elevator Company built the
elevator still standing behind the Brick Alley. The two buildings
known as the Brick Alley were built as a gas plant and substation in
1904 and 1907 by the Stillwater Gas and Electric Light Company. These
buildings were later acquired by the Consumers Power Company, which
I later became Northern States Power Company. Both the Stillwater Flour
Mill Company's mill and warehouse, built in the late 1870s, burned down
in 1897.
The riverfront here was the early (1873-1884) site of the Muller
Brother's boat building operations. The "Omaha" railroad had
facilities at the south end of the city. These included the Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha freight depot (built in 1882) and coal
shed. Both were torn down around 1973. In later years, the coal shed
was used by Bluff City Lumber Company. The "Omaha" line also had a car
repair shop (built around 1884 and razed between 1910-1924).
On the lower terrace along the river south of E. Pine Street sat
the huge sawmill complex which began as the Hersey, Staples Company,
later known as the Northwestern mills, owned by Hersey, Bean & Co. The
yards included a warehouse, horse sheds, blacksmith and wood shop,
store and office, and at the south end, two huge lumber mills. At the
north end of this area stood the St. Paul, Stillwater, & Taylor's Falls
passenger depot, built in 1872. At the south end of Reach 1 today is
the Aiple towing operations. This area has been used for a barge
terminal for over 60 years.
Project Description: Approximately 1,400 feet long. The Corps may
build a permanent concrete flood wall here. It would impact widths
varying from 50 to 100 feet. The depth of the sheet pile may be about
20 feet.
Assessment:
Permanent floodwall. Alternatives A and B:
Direct Impact (50 foot width):
Site #108: Railroad trestles, bridges, and platforms
Total Impact (100 foot width):
Site //104: Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha car
repair shop
Site //108: Railroad trestles, bridges, and platforms
Permanent floodwall. Alternative C:
Direct Impact (50 foot width):
Site //104: Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha car
repair shop
Site //108: Railroad trestles, bridges, and platforms
Total Impact (100 foot width):
Site //104: Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha car
repair shop
Site //108: Railroad trestles, bridges, and platforms
Permanent floodwall. Alternatives A, By and C.
Direct Impact (50 foot width):
Site //108: Railroad trestles, bridges, and platforms
Summarv :
Reach 3:
Least impact: earthen levee. Alternatives A, B, and C.
Most impact: permanent floodwall. Alternative C.
Reach 2:
Least impact: folding floodwall. Alternative B.
Most impact: folding floodwall. Alternative A.
Reach 1:
Least impact: perlrranent floodwall. Alternatives A, B, and C.
Most impact: permanent floodwall. Alternative C.
Alternative B has the least overall impact.
Alternative C has the most overall impact.
INVENTORY OF IMPACTED SITES
IN THE STUDY AREA BY ALTERNATIVES
ALTERNATIVE A
Direct Impact: Sites 1, 3, 5*, 12*, 14, 16, 24, 29, 33, 51*, 52, 60*,
66*, 67, 68, 69*, 71, 76*, 77, 78, 79, 80, 86*, 88, 89*, 90, 91, 92, 94*,
96, 108.
A total of 31 sites are directly impacted by Alternative A, of
which 8 sites are significant to the history of Stillwater.
Total Impact: Sites 1, 2, 3, 4, 5*, 7, 8*, 10, 11, 12*, 14, 16, 17,
18, 22, 24, 29, 30, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46, 50*, 51*, 52, 53, 54*, 58, 59,
60*, 61*, 62*, 64, 65*, 66, 67, 68, 69*, 71, 72*, 73*, 74, 76*, 77, 78, 79,
80, 86, 88, 90, 91, 92, 94*, 96, 104, 108.
A total of 58 sites are impacted by Alternative A of which 15
sites are significant to the history of Stillwater.
ALTERNATIVE B
Direct Impact: Sites ill, 3, 5*, 12*, 14, 16, 24, 29, 33, 51*, 52, 58,
61*, 62, 108.
A total of 15 sites are directly impacted by Alternative B of
which 5 are significant to the history of Stillwater.
Total Impact: Sites #1, 2, 3, 4, 5*, 7, 8*, 10, 12*, 14, 16, 17, 18,
A total of 69 sites are directly or indirectly impacted by
Alternative B of which 16 are significant to the history of
Stillwater.
ALTERNATIVE C
Direct Impact: Sites #l, 3, 5*, 12*, 14, 21*, 23*, 24, 27, 28, 29,
33, 38, 41, 43, 46, 47, 52, 53, 58, 61*, 62*, 64, 65*, 68, 69*, 73*, 74,
95, 104, 108.
A total of 31 sites are directly impacted by Alternative C of
which 9 are significant to the history of Stillwater.
Total Impact: Sites #1, 2, 3, 4, 5*, 7, 8*, 10, 11, 12*, 14, 16,
17, 18, 19, 21*, 23*, 24, 27, 28, 29, 33, 38, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 48, 52,
53, 54*, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60*, 61*, 62*, 64, 65*, 66, 67, 68, 69*, 73,
74, 76*, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83*, 84, 85, 86, 87*, 88, 89*, 90, 93,
94, 95, 97*, 101, 102, 104, 105, 108.
A total of 73 sites are directly or indirectly impacted by
Alternative C of which 16 are significant to the history of
Stillwater.
Reach 3:
Least impact: earthen levee. Alternatives A, B, and C.
Most impact : permanent f loodwall . Alternative C.
Reach 2:
Least impact : folding floodwall. Alternative B.
Most impact: folding floodwall. Alternative A.
Reash 1:
Least impact: permanent floodwall. Alternatives A, B, and C.
Most impact : permanent f loodwall. Alternative C.
Alternative B has the least overall Impact.
Atlernative C. has the most overall impact.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. We recommend that the Corps use a folding floodwall (Alternative
B). This would have the least overall impact in the project area. It
would directly impact only three sites significant to the history of
Stillwater with - archeological potential: 5*, 12*, and 51". They are
the Seymour, Sabin machine shops (5"); the Seymour, Sabin main office
and storage (1/12); and the Union Elevator and Feed Mill (1151).
Alternative B is especially attractive because it closely follows the
railroad track construction along the riverfront.
2. Of the standing structures still along the riverfront, only the
Interstate Bridge is potentially eligible for National Register
nomination (Site 1/75).
3. A copy of this report should be sent to the Stillwater Heritage
Preservation Commission, in care of the Municipal Buiding, Stillwater.
The Stillwater HPC is interested in a downtown National Register level
survey leading to a possible district nomination along Main Street.
Currently, merchants and owners of buildings along Main Street are
generally opposed to a commercial district because they fear federal
control of private property (mistakenly if the district is National
Register level).
4. The Freight House restaurant is the only site in the study area on
the National Register. It was listed in July, 1977 and should be
protected with a folding floodwall in order to protect the general site
as well as the building.
5. Any final Corps plans for the riverfront floodproofing should avoid
the starred sites listed on pages 153-55 if at all possible. These are
significant to the history of Stillwater, but are not, in their
demolished state, significant for nomination to the National Register.
In the final analysis, it is better to demolish the foundations of a
few sites under the current plans than to recast the plans to affect
standing structures farther west between Water and Main streets.
6. We do not recommend that the twenty sites with archeological
potential (listed on page 156) be tested by archeologists in an attempt
to locate subsurface remains which should still be there. The reason
for our recommendation is that a vast body of historic material on
these buildings exists, and the archeological testing of them would add
no useful new information to the body of knowledge on them. This
report is, in itself, mitigation since it is the first time that site
location has been pinned to these buildings and the available
literature on the old buildings has been brought together in footnoted
form.
7. The Corps need not test for prehistoric or historic Indian sites
along the Stillwater riverfront. The historic record does not note in
early accounts of historic Indian villages. In addition, the pre-1843
shore was west of the survey area boundary. Any historic Indian
activities would have been on the shore or inland west of the study
I
area. Although the historic Indians undoubtedly used the floodplain at
present Stillwater, the area is highly disturbed. In addition, the
archeological testing in a similar area in the Mill District of
Minneapolis yielded no such sites. The general land use patterns in
historic times are very similar to the situation in Minneapolis.
8. The Corps should take pains not to impact the buildings on the east
side of Main Street. Whether listed on a local HPC list in the future
or eventually listed on the National Register, these sites are too
important to the past history qf Stillwater and its current economic
viability to be adversely impacted by Corps floodproofing structures.
9. Finally, it is interesting that the 100 year flood level closely
corresponds to the shoreline shown on the 1843 Plat of Stillwater
(Figure 10). The 1852 landslide may have provided additional building
lots along the lake, but using the riverfront for building sites has
proved foolhardy in the long run.
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
Address Book, Stillwater Building Inspector's Office.
1951 On file, cabinet in Alan Zepper ' s Off ice, Municipal
Building.
Abercombie, J .A .D. , City Engineer.
1927 City of Stillwater Plat showing Water Front from East
Myrtle Street South to City Limits.
1945 Map showing Right of Way line on N .P. Railroad and
westerly boundary of Property purchased by Henry M.
Baskerville from Atwood Forge and Foundry Co. On file,
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Andreas, Alfred T.
1874 An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota.
Chicago: Charles Shober and Company.
Arndt, Harriet R.
1980a The Atwood "B" Mill Story. Historical Whisperings.
Stillwater: Washington County Historical Society, 7(1): 1,2.
1980b The Atwood "B" Mill Story. Historical Whisperings.
Stillwater: Washington County Historical Society, 7(2): 3,4.
Bailey, A., compiler
1867 Minnesota Railroad and' ~iver Guide for 1867-68.
St. Paul: J. Marshall Wolfe, Publisher.
Barrett, E.F.
1887 Stillwater City Directory. Stillwater: E.F. Barrett.
Blegen, Theodore C.
1963 Minnesota: A History of the State. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
Broede, Jim.
1978 Architect Foresees Restaurant, Shops. St. Paul Dispatch,
Extra, October 19, 1978, p. 17.
Ruck, Anita.
1972 Stillwater Evening Gazette, September 26, 1972.
1977 When Lumber Was King. - The Fishwrapper. Stillwater:
Stillwater Downtown Council.
Bunn & Philippi.
1884 Stillwater City Directory. Stillwater: Sun Printing
Company.
Byllesby and Company.
1910 Plat of part of Block 28, Stillwater, Minnesota,
showing property of the Consumers Power Co. On file,
Northern States Power Company, Record Group IVY G2, File 155.
Carroll, Joseph E.
1970 Exploring of the Great Northwest and the St. Croix Valley.
Stillwater: Joe Carroll.
Carter, W. Bell.
185 - Map of Stillwater, Minnesota Territory. St. Paul: Holmes,
Payte and Buechner. On file, Map Room, Minnesota Historical
Society.
Clarke, L.M., City Engineer.
1882 Stillwater Yard map. Copied Feb. 6, 1885 by C.W. Foster
from plan in possession of L.M. Clarke. On file, Stillwater
Department of Public Works.
1883a Plan showing Main Street and lake shore from Myrtle Street
south. On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
18832, Main Street Profile Map. On file, Stillwater Department
of Public Works.
1886a Plan of Nelson Street Sewer, Sheet No. 3. On file,
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
1886b Cross Section Through Sewer and Pump Well. On file,
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
1886c Nelson Street Sewer, Costing for Pump Well Connection. On
file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
1888 Map of McKusick and St. Paul Ravines, showing original
Water Courses and Water Sheds. On file, Stillwater
Department of Public Works.
1913 Paving Plan for Levee, Stillwater, Minnesota. Attached
to City Engineer's estimate, May 10.
Consumers Power Company
1909 Excerpt from a report on the Stillwater gas and'electric
properties to H.M. Byllesby and Co. On file, Northern States
Power Company, Record Group IVY G2, File 155.
1911 Plat of Power House Property, Stillwater, Minnesota. On
file, Northern States Power Company, Record Group IVY G2,
File 155.
Corps of Engineers
1875 Sketch showing soundings in Lake St. Croix at Stillwater,
Minnesota. On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Davison, C.W.
1881/2 Stillwater City Directory. Minneapolis: C.W. Davison.
1882/3 Stillwater City Directory. Minneapolis: C.W. Davison.
De la Barre, William
1882 Letter to Hon. C.C. Washburn. On file, Northern States
Power Company, Record Group IV, G2, File 155.
Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary, Chapter 17.
1978 Stillwater Business Ventures. Stillwater: Disabled
American Veterans Auxiliary.
Dunn, James T .
1957 The St. Croix Valley Welcomes the Iron Horse. St. Paul:
Minnesota History, 35, 358-364.
1960 The Minnesota State Prison during the Stillwater Era,
1853-1914. Minnesota History 37 (4) : 137-151.
1968 Marine on St. Croix: Fom Lumber Village to Summer Haven.
Marine on St. Croix: Marine HistoricalSociety. Expanded
version of the author's 1963 Marine Mills: Lumber Village,
1838-1888.
1965 The St. Croix: Midwest Border River (Rivers of America
Series). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Durant, Edward W.
1905 Lumbering and Steamboating on the St. Croix River. MHS
Collections, 10, pt. 2, 645-675.
Easton, Augustus B., ed.
1909 History of the Saint Croix Valley, 2 vol. Chicago: H.C.
Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Easton and Masterman, Publishers.
1898 Stillwater Trades Review. Stillwater, Minnesota.
Federal Census, Stillwater, Minnesota.
1850-1970 On file, Division of Archives and Manuscripts,
Minnesota Historical Society.
Folsom, William H .C .
1888a History of Lumbering in the St. Croix ~alle~, with
Biographical Sketches. MHS Collections, 9, 291-324.
1888b Fifty Years in the Northwest (edited by E .E. ~dwards) .
St. Paul: Pioneer Press Co.
-. Folwell, William Watts
.. 1930 AHistory of Minnesota, 4 vol., St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society.
Glaser, Emma
1943 How Stillwater Came to Be. Minnesota History, 24:
195-206.
Gleason, John
1889 Sewer Record sheet 1, Mulberry Street. On file:
Stillwater Department of Public Works
Hall, Peter Nelson
1976 Letter of August 27, 1976 to Liza Nagle. On file,
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Freight House and Depot
File. Preservation Office, Minnesota Historical Society.
Harvey, Tom
1982 Multiple Resource Nomination of Washington County. On
file, Preservation Office, Minnesota Historical Society.
-. Holmquist, June Drenning and Jean A. Brookins.
1972 Minnesota's Major Historic Sites: A Guide. Second
- , Edition. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society.
Jerzak, Kenneth, Manager, Harvest States Co-operative
1985 Interview.
I
. 1 Johnston, Patricia Condon.
1982 Stillwater: Minnesota's Birthplace in Photographs. By
John Runk; text by Patricia Condon Johnston. Afton, Minn.:
Johnston Publishing.
Knoll, E.P. and Co. Map Publishers.
1896 Map of the City of Stillwater, Minnesota, including Oak
. , Park and Portions of the towns of Stillwater and Baytown.
Philadelphis: E.P. Knoll & Co. Map Publishers. On file,
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Kroon, A1 and Charlie Salmore.
1975 Remember Twin City Forge? Historical Whisperings.
Stillwater: Washington County Historical Society.
Larson, Agnes M.
1937 When Logs and Lumber Ruled Stillwater. Minnesota
History, 18: 165-179.
1949 History of the White Pine Industry in Minnesots.
Minneapolis: University of Ninnesota Press.
Map of Myrtle Street from Fourth Street to Lake St. Croix.
1886 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Map Showing Approximate Shore Line at High Water Stage.
1952 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Map of Tracks of Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway.
1905 Copied Nov, 1907. On file, Stillwater Department of
Public Works.
Meeks, Harold Austin.
1957 The Growth of Minnesota Railroads - 1857-1957. A Plan B
Paper in Partial Fulfillment of the Master of Arts.
University of Minnesota. On file, Minnesota Historical
Society Library.
Merritt, Ray H.
1979 Creativity, Conflict and Controversy: A History of the St.
Paul District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Meyer, Herbert W.
1957 Stillwater's First Gas and Electric Companies Formed in
1874 and 1881. In Builders of NSP. Minneapolis: Northern
States Power Company, 31-37.
Minnesota Highway Department
1929 Plans Showing Proposed Bridge from Stillwater to Houlton,
Wisconsin dated June 7, 1929. On file, Minnesota Room,
Stillwater Public Library.
Minnesota Highway Department, cont.
1953-4 N. Main Street, Commercial Avenue to Elm Street. Map on
file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
1954 Stillwater Shop Drain System Plan. On File, Stillwater
Department of Public Works.
Mitchell, William A.
1882 Stillwater, Minnesota - Its Industries and Prospects.
Wood and Iron, 2(6) : 163-165. -
Morrell, Anthony U. and Arthur Nichols.
1914 Study for Arrangement of Waterfront. Blueprint on file,
large scrapbook in Minnesota Room, Stillwater Public Library. .
1916 Grading Plan for Sunken Garden. Blueprint on file, large
scrapbook in Minnesota Room, Stillwater Public Library
1918 Plan of The City of Stillwater. Minneapolis: Morrell &
Nichols, Landscape Architects. On file, large scrapbook in
Minnesota Room, Stillwater Public Library
Muller, Richard.
1985 Interview.
Nexsen, Slberts, City Engineer
1882 Map of Churchill and Nelson's Addition. On file,
Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Northern Pacific Railroad Co. Papers.
1902-03 Office of the Division Engineer. Files S58-2 and
S58-3. On file, Division of Archives and Manuscripts,
Minnesota Historical Society.
1902-19 Drawer 23, Minnesota Valuation Section 4, Stillwater
Drawings. On file, Division of Archives and Manuscripts,
Minnesota Historical Society.
1907-37 File S-58, file on Stillwater Lumber Exchange Building.
From Sept. 12, 1907 to October 18, 1937. On file, Division
of Archives and Manuscripts, Minnesota Historical Society.
Northern States Power Company
1909 Plant Accounting Records for Stillwater Gas and Electric
Light Co. and reclassified late 1930s. Account number 312.
On file, Records Controller, Northern States Power Company.
1959 -- NSP News. June, 1959: 6. Photograph of Stillwater
Paving Plan for Levee
1913 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Permit File, Stillwater Building Inspector's Office.
1967-present.
Pitzl, Gerald R.
1984 The Persistence of Stillwater, Minnesota as an Urban
Place. Paper delivered at the 135th Annual Meeting of the
Minnesota Historical Society, October 19-20, 1984. On file,
Gerald Pitzl, Professor of Geography, Macalester College, St.
Paul, MN.
Plat of the City of Stillwater, Minnesota.
1927 Showing Water Front from Myrtle Street south to City
Limits. On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Plat map of Stillwater, Minnesota.
ca. 1940 On file, Stillwater, Department of Public Works.
Plat Showing Sewer Mains in Downtown Section.
1941 (Updated to 1956) On file, Stillwater Department of
Public Works.
Plat of Stillwater, Minnesota.
1930 In John Runk Historical Photo Collection. On file,
Audio-Visual Department, Yinnesota Historical Society.
Plat of Grounds East of Water Street.
1907 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Polk, R.L. & Co.
1890191 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R.L. Polk & Co.
1892193 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
1894195 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
1908109 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
1917 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
1942143 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Pollc & Co.
19 61 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: R. L. Polk & Co.
Proposed Levee Improvement Map
1907 On File: Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Prosser, R.S.
1966 Rails to the North Star. Minneapolis: Dillon Press.
Pryor and Co.
1876 Stillwater City Directory. St. Paul: Pryor and Co. On
file, Minnesota Room, Stillwater Public Library.
Railroad Yard Map.
1940 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
1946 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Railway Publishing Company. - -
1903 stillwater, Minnesota: The Metropolis of the St. Croix
Valley. St. Paul: Railway Publishing Co.
Rector, William G.
1953 Log Transportation in the Lake States Lumber Industry.
Glendale, Cal.: Arthur H. Clark.
Roney, Edgar L. -
1970 Looking Backward: A Compilation of More Than a Century of
St. Croix Valley History. Stillwater: Privately published.
Rosenfelt, Willard E., ed.
1977 AHistory of the Minnesota County. Stillwater: Croixside
Press.
Ruger, A.
1870 Birds' Eye View of the City of Stillwater. Chicago:
Merchant's Lith. Co. On file, Audio-Visual Department,
Minnesota Historical Society.
Runk , John.
Historical Photograph Collection. On file, Audio-Visual
Department, Minnesota Historical Society.
St. Anthony Express.
1850-55.
St. Croix Union.
1856-60.
St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Company Correspondence.
1892-4 In Northern Pacific Railway Co. Papers, File 368(2). On
file, Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Minnesota Historical
Society.
1896-1900 In Northern Pacific Railway Co. Papers, File 368(1).
1897-1904 In Chief Engineer Files, Northern Pacific Railway Co.
Papers, Files 1181, 1645, and 1480.
"St. Paul and Stillwater".
1849 In St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer, Oct 4, 1849, p. 4.
Sanborn Insurance Atlas.
1884 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
1888 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
I 1891 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Nap Publishing Co.
1898 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Nap Publishing Co.
1904 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
1910 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
1924 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
1924 Stillwater, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Publishing Co.
1
1924 atlas updated 1956 and 1961. On file, Stillwater of Public
Works.
Sewer Pump Well Drawing.
1916 On file: Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Shelton, Jack, Director of Public Works, Stillwater, Minnesota.
1984 Interviews between Aug., 1984 and Jan., 1985.
S hepard, Myron. .
1878 Sectional Map of Stillwater, Minnesota from Accurate Surveys
by Myron Shephard. St. Paul: Pioneer Press Co. Lith. On file,
Washington County Register of Deeds Office.
Sirnonds, Chauncey.
1889 Reminiscences of the Early History of Stillwater.
Typescript, 8 pages, dated March, 1889, Milwaukee. MS
FS11S-SI . On file, Archives, State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, Madison.
South Hill Outlet Sewer Map.
1912 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Spaeth, Lynn Van Brocklin.
1976 Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House and Depot
National Register Nomination. On file, Preservation Office,
Minnesota Historical Society.
Stimpson Alley Profile Map.
1881 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Stimpson Alley Property Map.
1860 On file, Stillwater Department of Public Works.
Stillwater Evening Gazette.
1952-76.
Stillwater Gazette.
1898-1960.
Stillwater Messenger.
1854-7 5.
Stillwater Post.
1929 Clipping dated July 17, 1929 on Elmore Lowell and Lowell
Park. On file, Xinnesota Room, Stillwater Public Library.
Stillwater Gazette Special Trades Edition.
1898. The City of Stillwater. Issued January, 1898.
Stillwater and St. Paul Railroad Co.
ca. 1869 Map of Stillwater. Copied 1881 for D.W. Cunninghan, City
Engineer. Original missing. On file, Stillwater Department of
Public Works.
Territorial Census of Stillwater, Minnesota.
1857 On file, Division of Archives and Xanuscripts, Yinnesota
Historical Society.
"A Trip to the Willow River".
1851 The Weekly Minnesotian. Published Oct. 1, 1851. On file,
Willoughby Babcock Newspaper Transcripts, Box 1, Division of
Archives and Nanuscripts, Minnesota Historical Society.
Tour Committee of the Stillwater Bicentennial Commission.
1978 The Official Tour of Stillwater Historic Sites. Stillwater:
The Commission.
Upham, Warren.
1920 Minnesota Geographic Place Names: Their Origin and Historic
Significance. Reprint edition, 1969. St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society.
Upham, Warren and Rose Dunlap.
1912 Minnesota Biographies 1655-1912. Minnesota Historical
Society Collections, vol. 14.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
1984 St. Croix River Reconnaissance Report Including Stillwater,
Minnesota and New Richmond, Wisconsin. St. Paul: U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District.
Walker, Platt B., editor & proprietor
1877a Mississippi Valley Lumberman & Yanufacturer 2(7): 4.
1877b Mississippi Valley Lumberman & Manufacturer 2(8): 8.
Warner, George E. and Charles M. Foote, comp.
1881 History of Washington county and-the St. Croix Valley.
Minneapolis: North Star Pub. Co.
Washington County and Stillwater Historic Photo Collections.
On file, Audio-Visual Department, Minnesota Historical
Society.
Wilson, K.
1848 Plat of the Town of Stillwater, WisconsinTerritory.
Original on file, Stillwater Department of Public Works. Copy
on file in photographic fom in Audio-Visual Department,
Minnesota Historical Society.
The Valley of the St. Croix, Picturesque and Descriptive.
1970 Stillwater: Croixside Press. First published at Neenah,
Wisconsin, 1888.
Van Roughnet, Donald E.
1932 Pioneer Industry in Minnesota. In The Minnesota Alumni
Weekly, 31(29): 475, 456.
APPENDIX A
National Register nomination of Freight House
Fp,m No 10-300 ,@*. \o."'
UNITEDSTATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
YATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM
SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS
TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS
NAME
HlSTaRlC
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House and Depot
AND/OR COMMON
Stfllwater Depot
STREET h NUMBER
233-335 Water Street -NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UTY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Stillwater - VICINITY OF First
STATE CODE COUNTY CODE
EfLnnesota 27 Washington 163
CLASSIFICATION
CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE
-DISTRICT ABUC -OCCUPIED AGRICULTURE -MUSEUM
XBUILDINGISI %RIvATE -UNOCCUPIED -COMMERCIAL -PARK
-STRUCIURE -BOTH &WORK IN PROGRESS -EDUCATIONAL -PRIVATE RESIDENCE
-SITE
I
PUBLlC ACQUlSlTlON ACCESSIBLE - -ENTERTAINMENT ,REUGIOUS
,OBJECT JN PROCESS YES: RESTRICEO -GOVERNMENT -SCIENTIFIC
-BEING CONSIDEREO -YES: UNRESTRICED JNDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORT TlON
-NO -MIUTARY uncferg ing
zoTnER: rehablfita-
tior OWNER OF PROPERTY
NAME
Peter Nelson Ball
STREET h NUMBER
888 Butler Square, 100 North 6th Street
CITY. TOWN STATE
Minneapolis - VICINITY OF Minnesota
LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION
. COURTHOUSE.
REGISTRY OF DEEDSnC Washington County Courthouse
. STREET h NUMBER
14900 North 61st Street - Oak Park Heights
CITY. TOWN STATE
Stillwater Minnesota
REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS
nTLE
Minnesota Historic Sites Survey
DATE. - -
1976 -FEDERAL %TAT€ -COUNTY --LOCAL
OEPOSITORY FOR
. . SURVEY RECORDS Minnesota Historical Society, Building 25, Fort Snelling
OTY.TOWN STATE
St. Paul Minnesota
DESCRIPTION
CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE
SCELUNT AETERIORATED -UNALTERED LRIGIWL SITE
&GOOD ,RUINS XALTERED __MOVED DAL
AAIR . ,UNEXPOSED
DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Freight House and Depot is
located on a one acre parcel of land overlooking the St. Croix River on the eastern
fringe of Stillvater. (The St. Croix River has recently received National Scenic
Rivervay designation preserving the waterfront between the depot and the river.)
The freight house and depot, built in 1883, is a simple vernacular building.
Exterior ornamentation consists of a series of arched doors and windows on both
sides of the building. Constructed of limestone and brick the building measures
200 feet by 40 feet. The limestone foundation walls measure approximately two
feet thick. The brick bearing walls are eighteen inches thick and thirty feet
high. (The limestone was quarried in the nearby North Quarry.)
The interior of the building is divided into two sections. The floor
planking is four inches vide and one inch thick clear maple from the islands and
shoreline inmediately north of Stillwater. The truss system is of heavy timber
construction. The basement is heavy timber mill construction. The timbers are
fir and are of clear grain.
PERIOD
SREHISTORIC
-1-1499
-1500.1599
-16041699
-1700-1799
X1800.1899
-two-
AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW
ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC -COMMUNITY PLANNING JANDSUPE ARCHITECTURE -REUGION
ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC -CONSERVATION -LAW -SCIENCE
AGRICULTURE -ECONOMICS -LITERATURE -SCULPTURE
ARCHITECTURE -EDUUTION AIUTARY -SOClAVHUMANITARIAN
ART X-ENGINEERING -MUSIC -THEATER
~OMMERCE APLORAnOWSEITLEMENTo , ,PY(LOSOPHY ZTRANSWRTATION
~COMMUNIU~ONS -INDUSTRY _POUIIWGOVERNMENT -OTHER (SPECIM
-INVENTION
SPECIFIC DATES 1883 - present BUILDEWARCHITECT
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Ghicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House and Depot is significant
under the themes of Commerce, Couucunication, Engineering, and Transportation.
From the date of its construction in 1883 until recently the commerce of
Stillwater centered on the railroads -- the freight house and depot served
virtually every commercial interest in the city. Nearly all goods and materials
arrived by or were shipped by rail. Products locally produced were sent by rail
throughout the nation.
During the period from 1883 until the 1920s the freight house and depot
housed a telegraph office and a railroad Express Agency office. These offices
served the majority of Stillwater's communication needs for a number of years.
The glass insulators and wooden pegs connecting the telegraph lines to the building - - and distributing them inside have been preserved as have the telegraph and ticket
windows.
The mill construction and truss system of the building are significant as
examples of wood structural engineering. The first map of Stillwater (1848)
indicates that the present site of the building was once Lake St. CroFx. There-
fore, the building required elaborately engineered pilings to support the tremendous
weight of the limestone foundation and brick walls.
One of the most interesting features of the building was its dual use -- .'
., passenger and freight. The building served as a freight house and passenger depot'
until 1955. It is the last 19th century freight house and depot standing in -. Stillwater.
The exterior of the building has been recently cleaned and the interior is
currently undergoing rehabilitation/preservation for an adaptive use.
MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Eaton, Augustus B., History of the St. Croix Valley, Chicago: 1909.
Insurance Maps of Stillwater, Minnesota; Sandborn Map and Publishing Company.
Interview: Clarence Kirschemaan, former tichet agent of the Stillvater Depot.
Milwaukee Road Inventories.
John Ruck Historic Photograph Collection.
Stillwater City Directories.
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA . .
ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 1 acre ... . +. . - . . , .:. ... , : :? - , :.-.:-..::*.;<:: ...' ::, ,,.
UTM REFERENCES . .. .
swlllllllu A 1 51 1, 51 4, 2,01 1 4, 91 8,8] 8, 8, 0j
ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING
cu u u
VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION
ow lll lllllrlllllt
LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES
STATE CODE COUNTY CODE
STATE CODE COUNTY - CODE
O FORM PREPARED BY I
NAME/ nTLE
Lynne VanBrocklin Spaeth, State Historic Preservation OfficerPeter Nelson Hall -
ORGANlZ4nON DATE
Minnesota Historical Society 19 October 1976
STREET 6 NUMBER TELEPHONE
Buildinn 25. Fort Snellinn/888 Butler Sauare 612-726-1171 1339-1085
CITY OR TOWN STATE
St. Paul/Minneauolis Minnesota
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION
:. . THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OFTHIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: .. .. . . .. ... .. _. .... : .: .:.. ..: ,. ' . ..,. . ... .
. .
NATIONAL - STATE- LOCALX
As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (PuMic Law89-665). 1
hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the
criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE
TITLE DATE
DESCRIPTION
CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE
-EXCELLENT AETERIORATED -UNALTERED X-~~~~~~~~ SITE
XGOOD -RUINS XALTERED -MOVED DAL
-FAIR -UNO(WSED
DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Freight House and Depot is
located on a one acre parcel of land werlooking the St. Croix River oa the eastern
fringe of Stillwater. (The St. Croix River has recently received National Scenic
Riverway designatlon preserving the waterfront between the depot and the river.)
The freight house and depot, built in 1883, is a simple vernacular building.
Exterior ornamentation consists of a series of arched doors and windows on both
sides of the building. Constructed of limestone and brick the building measures
200 feet by 40 feet. The 1Fmestone foundation walls measure approximately two
feet thick. The brick bearing walls are eighteen inches thick and thirty feet
high. (The limestone was quarried in the nearby North Quarry.)
The interior of the building is divided into two sections. The floor
planking is four inches wide and one inch thick clear maple from the islands and
shoreline inmediately north of Stillwater. The truss system is of heavy timber
construction. The basement is heavy timber mill construction. The timbers are
fir and are of clear grain.
-. 1. SIGNIFICANCE
PERIOD
-PREHISTORIC
-1400.1499
-1m.1599
-18001699
-1700.1799
~1800-1699
-1 800-
AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIM BELOW
ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC ,COMMUNIW PUNNING -UNDSUPE ARCHITECTURE -REUGION
ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC ,CONSERVATION -UW SCIENCE
AGRICULTURE -ECONOMICS -UTERANRE JCULPTURE
ARCHITECTURE -EDUCATION -MIUTARY -SOCIAUHUMANITAR
ART X~NGINEERING -MUSIC -THEATER
&COMMERCE -.EXPLORATlON/SEllLEMENl., , -PWLOSOPHY .&ANSPORTATIC
X-COMMUNICATIONS JNDUSTRY -POUTIWGOVERNMENT -OTHER (SPECIFY1
JNVENTION
SPECIFIC DATES 1883 - present BuILDEWARCHITECT . ,
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The Ghicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House and Depot is significant
'
under the themes of Conrmerce, Communication, Engineering, and Transportation. ~.
From the date of its construction in 1883 until recently the commerce of
Stillwater centered on the railroads -- the freight house and depot served
virtually every conrmercial interest in the city. Nearly all goods and materials
arrived by or were shipped by rail. Products locally produced were sent by rail- .
throughout the nation. ~.
During the period from 1883 until the 1920s the freight house and depot
housed a telegraph office and a railroad Express Agency office. These offices .
served the majority of Stillwater's c~ication needs for a number of years.
The glass insulatore and wooden pegs connecting the telegraph lines to the buildi--g
and distributing them inside have been preserved as have the telegraph and ticket-
windows.
The dl1 construction and truss system of the building are significant as . .
examples of wood structural engineering. The first map of Stillwater (1848)
indicates that the present site of the building was once Lake St. Croix. There-. ,
fore, the building required elaborately engineered pilings to support the tremendous
weight of the limestone foundation and brick walls. . .
One of the most interesting features of the building was its dual use --
passenger and freight. The building served as a freight house and passenger depot
until 1955. It is the last 19th century freight house and depot standing in
Stillwater.
The exterior of the building has been recently cleaned and the interior is
currently undergoing rehabilitation/preservation for an adaptive use.
MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Eaton, Augustue B., History of the St. Croix Valley, Chicago: 1909.
Insurance Maps of Stillwater, Mianeeota; Sandborn Map and Publiehing Company.
Interview: Clarence Kirschenman, former tichet agent of the Stillwater Depot.
Milwaukee Road Inventories.
John Ruck Historic Photograph Collection.
Stillwater City Directories.
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA
ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 1 acre
UTM REFERENCES .
~(1,51 1511,514,2,0) )4,918,q48,0J
ZONE EASTING NORTHING
BUllJlll
ZONE EASTING u
NORTHING
cw lllllrl u
VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION
bW lllllll llllllrl
LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES
STATE CODE . COUNTY CODE
STATE CODE COUNTY . CODE
FORM PREPARED BY
NAME I TITLE
Lynne VanBrocklin Spaeth, State Historic Preservation OfficeIPeter Nelson Hall h
ORGANIZATION DATE
Minnesota Historical Society 19 October 1976
STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE
Buildinn 25. Fort Snellinz/888 Butler Sauare 612-726-1171 1339-1085
CllY OR TOWN STATE
St. Paul/Minneapolis Minnesota
NSTATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION
THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OFTHIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: .
NATIONAL - STATE- LOCAL X
As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665). 1
hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the
criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE
TITLE DATE
APPENDIX B
Correspondence
HISTORICAL
RESEARCH,
INCORPORATED
5535 Rlchrnond Curve Minneapolis, MFI 55410 (612) 929-2921
April 28, 1985
Mr. Dennis Gimmestad
Aaaiatant State Historic Prese~ation Officer
Minnesota Historical Society
F t. Snelling History Center
St. Paul, Minnesota 55111
Re: Historic Reconstruction of the Stillwater Riverfront for the St. Paul
District Corpa of Engineers; HRI File # 1156
Dear Mr. Gimmestad: . .
I am writing on two matters concerning the Stillwater historical study for the
Corps of Engineers.
I
This letter confirms our recent discussion that the Mi~2~0ta Historical
Society, State Historic Preservation Office, is willing to curate the maps and
four notebooks with site sheets and accompanying documentation produced during
the current study.
Secondly, I wish to call your attention to the fact that the National Register
nomination on site # 87 in this report, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul
Railroad Company passenger and freight depot, is in error., In the
nomination's significance statement, reproduced in Appendix A, page 191, the
the nominators remark that the depot was built over what was once Lake St.
Croix and that "the building required elaborately engineered pilings to
support the tremendous weight of the limestone foundation and brick walls."
In fact, this depot was constructed on dry land and never had wooden pilings.
The nominators confused this depot with earlier depots in Stillwater both
north and south of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Freight House and
Depot. Attached is a map showing these earlier depots, which were, indeed,
built over the water by 1874 (see attached ~ndreas'Atlas) and required wooden
pilings. One is the St. Paul & Duluth freight depot (Site #57), the other the
Stillwater 61 St. Paul passenger depot (Site 861). They were frame depots, not
masonry, as would be expected of buildings built on wooden pilings. A
building with stone foundations 2 feet thick and brick bearing walls 18" thick
with a slate roof would naturally not be built on wooden pilings.
This information should not affect the significance statement to the extent of
making the site ineligible, but it is meant as a refinement to the nomination
which, as it stands, is incorrect.
Sincerely,
HISTORICAL RESEARCH, INC.
Dr. Norene A. Roberts, President
At tchmen
cc: HRI File # 1156