St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-18
FIRST HousE IN MINNEAPOLIS.

house is a plain story-and-a-half wooden
one, containing five rooms. 1t was
built by Col. John III. Stevens during
the winter of 1S49 and the spring of 1850,
and originally stood where the union
depot now stands. Its exact location is
marked by the upper gate opening out
upon the tracks. The picture of the
house in this article is good one and
was taken from the place, as it stands
now, at No. 334 Sixteenth avenue
south. Col. Stevens arrived at st.
Anthony, Oh the cast side OF the river,
along in the summer of 1849 with
party of ten, among them being DR..
William Dyer and Alfred Cartwright.
When the party reached Fort Smelling
they coveted the forbidden fruit-the
land on the Sioux Indian reservation.
They pressed on, however, and finally
settled at st. Anthony, where the land
was open for occupancy. They forgot
their fatigue in admiration of the scene
before them. The inrOads CT civiliza-
ton at that time were too few to change
materially the primeval character OF
the scenery. On the reservation, where
Minneapolis now stands, was the
old government mill, recently torn
down, and number Of Indian wig
vans. Col. Stevens could not become
satisfied so long as he saw the fair lands
on the west side Of the river. He, as
were the other settlers of St. Anthony,
wasimpatient at the restriction placed
on locating upon and improving these
tempting lands. He wrote to the Secre.
tary}of war in relation to the matter,
and in consideration of his having been
in the Mexican war, was given permls-
sion to take up claim on the reserva-
tom He at once crossed the river
there were no bridges then.) settled
. upon claim where the handsome union
i depot now stands, and began the cree
ton of his house. At that time the
! building was looked upon as something
l,a,,IITTLE SHORT OF A PALACE, -
. SO, far superior to the log cabins on the
otiIefo side of the river was it. The
; building of this house attracted consid,
, cradle attention at st. Anthony, and
soon John P. Miller and Calvin A. Tut
tie came over. Mr.. Miller built the sec
ond house in Minneapolis. 1t was To-
Gated in Murphy's addition, where
Noerenberg's brewery now stands, but
was long ago destroyed. In the spring
of 1850 G. c. Garvey took up a claim
lust south of Col. Stevens and the little
settlement soon had added to its num-
bers DR.. L. Fletcher, John Jackins, Ed
ward Murphy, Judge Bassett, Charles
Hoag and Joseph 81. Carney. Their
cabins were scattered over what is now
the metropolis of the Northwest, at in
tervals of half mile or more, but Col.
Stevens house remained the grandeSt
one of them all.
There were no churches In the settle
ment then, and Col. Stevens house
being the largest, religious service was
often held by Rev. Gideon b. Pond, or
some other missionary. Indians were
numerous in those days, and more than
once during divine service some stall
wart warrior OF bent over squaw came
to the house to see Col. Stevens, who
had many friends among the tribe.
While making a 'portage"-that is car
rying their canoes around the falls, the
Indians were the most friendly, as they
then wanted help. Many and many
time have Iddians wanted meal
in the first house ever built in
Minneapolis. But with the march of inn
prveoments came better houses, stately
residences, handsome furniture and the
like, and it was to one OF these that Col;
Stevens removed with his family, and
rented his house near the suspension
bridge. In 1888, when the first work of
building the union depot was begun,
the house was purchased by wealthy
gentleman, now in Dakota, and removed
to its present location, 1874 Sixteenth
avenue south, where it is now occupied
by Christian Dahl and family. 1t is
practically in as good condition now as
it ever was, but one or two minor
changes and repairs having been made.
The board of park commissioners lately
TRIED TO PURCHASE
the house of the owner so that it could
be placed in one of the parks of the city,
Now Col. Stevens himself is arranging
for the purchase of the house, and
should he get it will either place it in
his handsome grounds on South Tenth
street or else donate it to the park
board.