St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-25

proper under all the circumstances.
Yet feature of peculiar significance
would have been on the programme
today if certain movement had
been begun in time. To explain this
it will be necessary to go back to the
early days of ST. Paul.
In 1859 q young man named Will
lam II. Rhawn was an inmate of the
family of A. L. Larpenteur for a
year. AS all St raul people well
know, Mr.. Larpenteur Is one of the
very first men who came to the
village of st. Paul with the inten-
ton of making this place his home.
In August, 1S47, he assisted in lay
ing out the town site, and in Septem-
Der of the same year--On the 22d to
be exact-his oldest daughter, Rose
Larpenteur, was born. The i'm
mediate scene of this event in the
Larpenteur family was a small frame
building that stood exactly where the
central police station is today
Rose was the first female white
child born in the organized village
of st. Paul, and young Rhawn
learned this fact when he was here
in SO. Thirty-five years afterward
we find that the president of the
Bank of the Republic in Philadel-
phia is the same William H. RhaWn
referred to above. A great ship
greatest of her kind ever built-iS
to be launched, and it has been de-
ni6 oh
ST. Paul. Mr.. RhaWn found that
the name revived old memories, and
as he pondered on these, the thought
came that it would be a most happy
and appropriate act to have the
beautiful cruiser chriStened by the
woman whom he knew as charm
ing girl, and who, by reason of the
peculiar circumstances connected
with her birth, might worthily, and
by right, assume the honor. He
wrote to A. l.. Larpenteur, but un-
fortunately when the subject was
preached Mrs. Harrison-the Rose
Larpenteur of other days-was alb
sent from the city and i'll. The
time remaining between receipt of
the letter and the date set for the
launching of the boat was too short
to permit the proper arrangements
being made. So the pleasant duty
today will be performed by a Phila-
delphia girl.
A FARM TRANSFORMED.
AS the writer sat in the library Of
hn Hi
with Mr.. Larpenteur-surrou by
treasured family heirlooms and relies
of pioneer days-the thought came that
a great opportunity had been lost to
st. Paul, and a highly deserved honor
missed by a family that will ever be
held in highest esteem by all who have
read the history of the development of
a great state and a great city. Look
ing out the window of that old solid
stone house the eye was greeted every
where by handsome residences. To
the south nestles the bulk of the great
Eighth ward, with its thousands of peo-
pie, scores of factories and shops, hun
dreds of stores, schools, churches, miles
of streets, along some of which the
electric carS-almoSt undreamt of when
The Anchorage was built-go whirling
along at railroad speed, each car carry
ing more people, perhaps, than there
were bona fide residents in st. Paul
when Rose Larpenteur was born. The
street on which the mansion fronts was
originally the section line, and formed
the eastern boundary of the claim filed
upon by A. L. Larpenteur when the old
Indian trail from the Jackson street
levee to st. Anthony was the only path
| that men could follow in their Journey
| ings back and forth.
Today the farm has been wiped out,
| city dwellings are scattered numerous
| ly all about its old limits, and ninety
| nine out of every hundred people that
pass by forget, if they ever knew, that
| here is a historic homestead, man
| sion in all that the word implies, built
| in the heroic days of Minnesota by a
pioneer of grit and sturdy grain, whose
steadfast, unwavering faith in the
| destiny of the city of his early and
| present love has been beautifully re-
warded. AS the visitor gaZes on this
BRAVE AND GOOD OLD COUPLE,
! contented in the present, proud of the
| past, unafraid of the future, at peace
with the world he begins to realize the