Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 117

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190

USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 117

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About ten (10) years ago he built the Swedish Baptist church on Madison and 13th avenue Northeast. During the year of 1911 he erected the Norwegian Lutheran church on Monroe and 15th avenue Northeast. This was the last strueture built by him and also one of the finest structures that he ever ereeted and for which he deserves great credit.

CHARLES A. QUIST.

Charles A. Quist was born in Denmark, on the 5th of May, 1866, and was afforded the advantages of the home schools and there he also gained practical experience in landscape gardening. At the age of sixteen he came to the United States in company with his elder brother, Julius, who is now a successful railroad contractor at Everett, Washington. Landing in New York City on the 27th of April, 1883. they came to St. Paul, where Charles A. secured employment as a landscape gardener. Remaining three years in St. Paul and with a capital of thirteen dollars, he opened an office at the Union depot, Minneapolis, and turned his attention to the handling of western lands. He directed special care to pro- tecting and making provision for immigrants, particularly those of his own nationality. Jolm H. Thompson, then the leading merchant tailor took a deep interest in Mr. Qnist and his work, and through him the latter formed the acquaintance of Judge Vanderberg, of the Supreme Court. This distinguished jurist secured to Mr. Quist free privileges of the Athaneum, then the principal library of Minneapolis, and it is needless to say that he fully profited by the advantages thus af- forded.

By degrees, he finally developed a substantial and profitable real-estate business, in which line of enterprise he has con- tinued to be identified. He aided greatly in the establishing of a Danish colony in Redwood county, where he obtained for the settlers lands from the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company. His reputation became established and finally im- migrants of all nationalities sought his advice and aid in securing land.

Mr. Quist is well fortified in his political views and is a stalwart Democrat. He has been specially active in connec- tion with municipal affairs. Being impressed by the state-

ment of a school-girl that Minneapolis had no parks for the use of the people, the "keep off the grass" signs being in evidence in the various parks, and policemen were stationed to enforce this and other stringent rules, Mr. Quist be- lieved that such restrictions defeated the very ends for which public parks exist, and he determined to bring about a reform, if possible, by opening the parks to the full use of the public and also by providing band concerts therein during the summer months. He finally brought the appointment of a private civic commission, he being one of the three members, appointed by the mayor, the others being Walter Boutelle and Edward P. Capen. Through publie subscription provision was made for band concerts in the parks, in the evenings, and soon the obnoxious signs of "keep off the grass" were removed. He has served as delegate to city, county and state conventions and while he has been zealous in the promotion of the party, he has not sought personal preferment, although he was made the nominee for the state senate. As foreman of the grand jury, Mr. Quist was active in investigation of municipal affairs several years ago. He was a staunch sup- porter of William J. Bryan, and also supported Hon. John A. Johnson for governor. He has served as a member of the state central committee, and in 1912 was a member of the Democratic national committee, having done much to swing Hennepin county into line in support of President Wilson. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1895.

Mr. Quist was the leading spirit in the organization of the Minnesota Danish society formed for the purpose of in- forming prospective immigrants concerning conditions and ad- vantages in America, and the building of this society, in Minneapolis, was saved largely through his liberality and efforts in 1893, when foreclosure was theatened. He was the first president of the Danish Aid Association of Minnesota, organized for the promotion of Danish customs, language, etc. He was a leading factor in the organization of the Odin Club, being one of its fifteen charter members. Of these he was the only Dane, seven being Swedes and seven Nor- wegians.

On the 14th of June, 1899, was solemized the marriage of Mr. Quist to Miss Helen C. Ryan, of Columbus, Ohio. They have no children, but in their home they are rearing as their own, a son and a daughter of Mr. Quist's sister. Leo L. Quist. a student in the high school, and Helen Alberta Quist.

FRANKLIN STEELE.

It was natural that Franklin Steele should be a leader of men. For he came of distinguished lineage, of a line of lead- ers. For three generations before him the Steeles had been residents of Pennsylvania, his native state. His grandfather, William Steele, a native of Wales, settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1750. Mrs. Steele was of Scotch parents of the name of Kerr. And the William Steeles reared a ro- markable family. Two, Archibald and John, were officers in the Revolution, and men of distinguished bravery and leader- ship. William, another son, was high in the conneils of his native state. James was a general in the war of 1812, being inspector general of the Pennsylvania state troops throughout the war.

Franklin Steele was the son of General James Steele. He

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

was born May 12, 1816, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and passed his early life in the association of the leading families of the time. That he was one of the representative young men of the state is attested by the fact that he was chosen by his associates to go to General Andrew Jackson, when that doughty warrior became president, and to pay the re- speets of his associates to the president. It was during this visit that young Steele attracted more than passing notice on the part of the president, who, noting Mr. Steele's fine qualities, both mental and physical, counselled with the young man that he go west and take a part in carving common- wealths out of the rich wilderness. The young man acted upon this advice, and in 1837 came to the territory that now includes Wisconsin and Minnesota. He came, early in that year, to Fort Snelling.

First of his enterprises was his settlement at the Falls of St. Croix. To this point he proceeded by canoe from Fort Snelling, down the Mississippi to the mouth of the St. Croix and up that river to the falls. He laid claim there to the water- power site, and erected a elaim cabin of logs. Meanwhile General Dodge was making a treaty with the Indians. to cover eession of land about the two rivers. And in September of that year, while Mr. Steele was at St. Croix, the Indians went to Washington and there signed a treaty which coded lands about Fort Snelling. Mr. Steele was one of the first to take advantage of the opportunities which the treaty opened up. One story has him hurrying by canoe in 1838, from St. Croix down the river of that name and up the Mis- sissippi to Fort Snelling, and thence, by night, up the Missis- sippi farther, even to Meeker's Island. It is the account which has him pacing out the boundaries of his claim on the east side of the river, along the Falls of St. Anthony, and erect- ing a elaim eabin by moonlight, before the dawn. Other ac- counts of the first settlement are not so dramatic, but scem to be better accepted as facts. It is definitely stated, at any rate, that it was on June 20, 1838, that news reached Fort Snelling that the United States senate had ratified the treaty with the Indians, but it was not until July 15 that official notice arrived. And it was in September that Mr. Steele be- came definitely identified with St. Anthony to the extent of disposing of his holdings at St. Croix and centering his for- tunes at St. Anthony. Land which is now the principal part of the military reservation of Fort Snelling came into his possession; and it was at the Fort or adjacent to it that he made his home.

For the first decade of his life in the west, with the ex- eeption of visits to the East, Mr. Steele gave his attention to trading. For a long time he was the greatest trader of the region; indeed, his business came to be of such a volume that it exceeded the combined business income of the mer- chants down the Mississippi as far as and ineluding Galena. It was not until 1848 that Mr. Steele began to develop the holdings on the east bank of the Mississippi river, near St. Anthony Falls. He erected there the first sawmill on the east side of the river.

Beside his leadership in commercial affairs, Mr. Steele was one of the foremost men of culture and refinement, who looked to the creation of the finer institutions of the state. It was he who, in 1851, obtained a site for the preparatory depart- ment of the University of Minnesota, and he was the largest contributor toward the erection of its first building.

Along with his other enterprises, Mr. Steele was sutler at Fort Snelling, and his life there was lived in contact with the

foremost soldiers and others who had a part in making the territory out of the wilderness. His business extended from Lake Superior to Galena, and from the Mississippi river to the Missouri. He traded in great volumes of commodities of the time, with the Indians. And he elung to his principle that it was given to him to lead men in the development of a great manufacturing city at the Falls of St. Anthony, with their enormous possibilities in water power.

During this decade following the Indian treaties in 1838, Mr. Steele held fast to his claim and to ownership in lands ad- jaeent to Fort Snelling. The government was slow to open it or at least to give title. And at times it was only as a squatter that Mr. Steele held to his land, but his pertinaeity was rewarded at last by the giving of complete ownership. His foresight was no greater than his grasp of things of the time. It was when he decided to ereet a sawmill at the Falls that he sent cast to Maine for Ard Godfrey to come west and, as a millwright, to direct the building of his mill and water- power. But Mr. Steele did not wait for Godfrey; he had the work started and well under way as to the waterpower dam, before Godfrey arrived.

To the west side of the river, in 1849, came John H. Stevens. At first he lived at Fort Snelling, and was employed by Steele, the sutler and trader. Then he came up the river, and in partnership with Steele he established himself on the west side. It is worthy of note that the two men went into partnership here, and the fourth store which bid for the trade of the settlers was that of Steele and Stevens.

It was Franklin Steele, who, beside heading the movement to erect the University, likewise, after running a ferry for many years at the Fort, set about to have a bridge constructed linking St. Anthony and Minneapolis. The suspension bridge was built-the first bridge to span the great river between Lake Itasca and the Gulf of Mexico. And this, too. even when Mr. Steele did not know whether full title to the land on the west side of the river would be given by the govern- ment. But he went ahead with the suspension bridge work, and it was to his energy that the people of the young cities by the Falls owed its completion, to the joy of the people who used it and to the pride of the people who lived at its ter- minal on either side of the river.

So continued Franklin Steele's life until the time of the Civil War. And it was when the Sioux Indians rose to mas- saere the whites that Franklin Steele placed himself fearlessly at the head of an expedition sent out to the relief of the fugitives and refugees.

Meanwhile the institutions of the primitive city and the good interests of the territory attracted Mr. Steele's attention. Be- side helping to build the first school or college building erected at the University, Mr. Steele was the first president of the board of regents of that college. He took an active part in affairs connected with the public offices, though never ac- cepting office himself, except for the regency office. He gave generously to the churches, not limiting himself to the Pres- byterian church, in which he had been brought up and educated. From the time of the early sixties, and especially as soon as the country had begun to recover itself after the terrible years of the Civil War, Mr. Steele was one of the first citizens of Minneapolis in every movement for the upbuilding, for the betterment of the eity.

Mr. Steele's life was marked not merely by industry and by public spiritedness as well as by the hardships that char- acterized existence in the wild country, but by romance that

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

made life in the new country the finer for its companionships. In 1843, after he had passed the better part of four years in the wilderness and at the fort, Mr. Steele went east and mar- ried, in Baltimore, Miss Anne Barney, daughter of William C. Barney and granddaughter of Samuel Chase, one of the sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence. His bride was in her eighteenth year; she was a reigning belle of Washington, Baltimore and the East, and her family connections were among the most aristocratic in the land. Mr. Steele brought his bride to Fort Snelling, and there for a time they lived, figuring in all the brilliant social events-brilliant for the time-that marked life at the frontier post. To them were born five children. And as these grew up, they played a prominent part in the social life of the community. Mr. Steele's sister had married General Henry H. Sibley, one of the early officers in the new territory. Another was tlfe wife of Gen. R. W. Johnson, famous among the nation's soldiers. And naturally the Steeles were among the first families of the fort and of the settlements at the Falls.

For four decades Franklin Steele's hand was one of those which guided the' destinies of the settlement, of the villages, of the city, at the Falls of St. Anthony. He took part in the large councils of the times; he was sought out for business as well as political advice; and he became one of the great real estate operators of the period. He amassed two for- tunes; and when he passed away he left what was estimated at the time to be worth two millions of dollars. He has been honored by the giving of his name to one of the counties of Minnesota, and in his city there is a beautiful park which is known as Franklin Steele square.

Mr. Steele's death occurred September 10, 1880, in the city for which he had done so much, and in which his interest centered. True, he had become a resident of Georgetown, a suburb of Washington, but this was in order that his family might have the advantages of life in the East. Mr. Steele himself continued to speak of Minneapolis as his home, and it was while he was on a business trip to this city in 1880 that he was fatally stricken, while riding down Hennepin avenue with an old friend, Captain John Tapper, the man who ran the first ferryboat across the river at Minneapolis. He was buried in the beautiful Oak Hill cemetery at Wash- ington. His wife followed him there within six months.

DANIEL S. B. JOHNSTON.

In the personality of Daniel S. B. Johnston, of St. Paul, long one of the leading citizens of Minnesota, all who have knowledge of him recognize a remarkable force, and none is surprised that he has had an influence notably broad, deep and far-reaching in the development and progress of the city and state of his home and their institutions. And if his excep- tional intellectual power, readiness in resources and unyielding· firmness of fiber are inherited, he is deserving of no loss of credit on that account, for he has used them to the best advantage for himself and the community around him, and made their fruitage all that his circumstances have allowed.

Mr. Johnston's progenitors in the paternal line were early New York and New Jersey colonists of Revolutionary service and rank and of Scotch and Dutch origin. He was born in the state of New York on May 17, 1832, and from his very boy-

hood a vigorous ambition distinguished him from most of his associates. He was educated at the Delaware Literary Institute, at Franklin, New York, and at the earliest possible age began teaching school as a means of earning his living and making his way in the world. The West seemed to hold out an inviting hand to him and he came to Galena, Illinois, at the time a transportation center and a place of consider- able importance, and from there he made a trip to St. Paul on the "Lady Franklin," arriving on July 21, 1855. Fromu St. Paul he came to St. Anthony, and here he soon afterward opened a school which became the germ of the present State University.

In 1856 the young pedagogue, whose vision swept regions of constructive action and development far beyond the range of ordinary country school teaching, undertook, in company with four of his friends, the project of starting a new town in the wilderness, where the Bois des Sioux and Otter Tail rivers unite to formu the Red River of the North, which they designed to call Breckenridge, and near which the town of that name has since been built. Only three of the five adven- turers made the trip to the proposed townsite, and they and the oxen which drew their wagon suffered untold hardships, journeying for thirty-one days in an extremely cold season through snowdrifts often eight feet deep, fifteen rods wide and erusted to a depth of four inches. The experiment was altogether disastrous except in its psychological effect upon Mr. Johnston's development in judgment and financial acumen.

The next encounter with Fate which Mr. Johnston experi- enced was as conspicuous in success as his former one was in failure. Journalism was one of his especial talents, and he turned to it with ardor. He was first associated in this field with Judge Atwater, who later sold his interest in the enter- prise to him and C. H. Slocum. They were together for about three years, and during this period their paper. The St. Anthony Express, became very successful and widely and favorably known. Next Mr. Johnston investigated the possi- bilities of the milling industry, but, instead of engaging in it he accepted a position as bookkeeper for Orrin Curtis. who was agent of a steamboat company on the levee, and also a prominent insurance agent in those days.

In that position he gained a broader business experience. and it fitted him well for the next post he assumed, which was that of state agent in Minnesota for the Phoenix Life Insurance company of Hartford, Connecticut, the salary attached to which was $1,000 a year, a good one for the year 1864. His snecess in the work brought him an advance to $2.500 a year as state agent for the same company in Kentucky. He worked in Kentucky until he had the affairs of the company in that state in good condition and then resigned to take the position of special agent for the Mutual Life Insurance company of New York, with headquarters in St. Panl.

In 1868 Mr. Johnston was made Western superintendent of the Widows and Orphans branch of this company's busi- ness at a salary. of $5,000 a year. His field was at that time enlarged to twelve states, which rendered a central location at Richmond, Indiana, the most advisable. In that region fever and ague so impaired his health that he was compelled in 1872 to return to St. Paul. He then became vice-president and general manager of the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance company, of which General H. H. Sibley was president and some of the most prominent men in Minnesota were directors. But his health did not materially improve.

Typ Lewis Publishing Co

En bu E C Willbe's & Bre NY.

DSBJohnston

The Lewis Publishing Co.

Mr. Hannah 6. Johnston Organizer and President of the Haman's Christian 'Home of De Paul

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

and in 1875 on account of it he was obliged to resign his position. He then started a farm loan agency; and in that business he loaned nearly $2,500,000 for Eastern investors. This loan agency was the foundation of the land business in which he and his sons are now engaged.

In the fall of 1898 Mr. Jolinston and his sons bought 476,000 acres of land east of the James river in North Da- kota. Their holdings previous to that mammoth purchase, together with what they have since acquired, have aggre- gated about 200,000 acres more. Since 1898 they have dis- posed of about all but 140,000 acres and have placed a population of more than 30,000 persons in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Mr. Johnston is president of the firm, which is known as the D. S. B. Johnston Land company. Its other successful enterprises include a large lumber yard, a bank and two grain elevators (70,000 bushels capacity) at Marion, Nortlı Dakota.

Mr. Johnston's activities are not bounded by his business affairs, but extend into many spheres of religious, benevolent, literary and municipal work. He is one of the founders and zealous workers of the People's church, was co-worker with his first wife in organizing the Woman's Christian Home of St. Paul, built the Mary Johnston Memorial Hos- pital in Manila, and donated to the Young Women's Chris- tian Association of St. Paul the costly site on which its imposing building now stands. Among the most valuable of the publications of the Minnesota Historical Society is his elaborate and accurate "History of Minnesota Journalismn." a highly important work which but for his interest and dili- gence in its production would have been neglected until too late for its accomplishment. Many other lines of useful public service have been made vital and efficient through his efforts.

Mr. Johnston's first marriage was with Miss Hannah C. Stanton. To them were born two sons, Charles and A. D. S. Johnston, who are now their father's closest associates in business. Their mother died in 1879, and two years later the father married Miss Mary J. King, of Canandaigua, New York. Her deatlı occurred in 1905, and in 1909 Mr. John- ston contracted a third marriage which united him with Miss Eda Worth, also of Canandaigua, New York.

MRS. DANIEL S. B. JOHNSTON.

Hannah Coffin Stanton, who became the first wife of Daniel S. B. Johnston, of St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 1, 1859, and whose name is revered as that of one of the noblest and most useful women who ever lived in this state, was born in North Carolina October 16, 1839. She was of Quaker lineage and the daughter of Dr. Nathan and Ruth H. (Coffin) Stanton. Soon after her birth her parents moved to near Richmond, Indiana, and from there they came to St. Anthony in the summer of 1855. In August of that year Miss Stanton was a pupil of her future husband in the pre- paratory department of the University of Minnesota, the building in which the school was kept being on the site on which the Minneapolis Exposition building was afterward erected.

The life work of this noble woman culminated in the organization of the Women's Christian Home, one of St. Paul's most beneficent charitable institutions. To its estab-

lishment she devoted so much of her physical strength, men- tal energy and nervous force that her life was ended on January 10, 1879, at the early age of thirty-nine, but she lived long enough to see the creation of her foresight and benevolence and child of her ardent hopes firmly fixed on a solid foundation, from which it has since grown to large proportions.

The Woman's Christian Association was started by Mrs. Johnston in June, 1872, and organized on July 22, the same year, and she was elected its first president. The membership soon numbered 117 and was made up of active lady mem- bers of the different churches of St. Paul. An industrial school, said to be the first in the city, was organized, and there were about fifty girls in attendance at various times during the first year. A Helping Hand Society also was started, and some thirty women and children were assisted before the close of its first year.

These enterprises opened the way to another, the great need of which soon became manifest. One day in December, 1872, a girl of sixteen went to Mrs. Johnston for help. Her father had died when she was six months old and her mother when she was two years old. She was homeless, with no kin on earth that she knew, betrayed, and a vicious out- cast, untruthful, foul-mouthed and thievish. Mrs. John- ston helped and saved her. One by one other tempted and fallen girls came, until in August, 1873, five inmates of houses of ill fame came in a body, seeking help to turn from their evil ways. Then Mrs. Johnston saw that either a refuge for such girls had to be provided or they had to be told that the Christian women of St. Paul could do nothing for them. Her line of duty lay plain and open before her, and without hesitation she determined to enter upon it at once.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 117

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 1190

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190