Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 37

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 37

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

arranged with the owners of the telegraph line to leave the wire and they would make up the amount the receipts were short of paying the salary. All were anxious to receive President Lineoln's inaugural message, but the operator refused to take it unless he was paid extra, so a purse of forty dollars was sub- seribed, and a large number of eitizens sat up nearly all night and heard the message read. The next morning the operator disappeared, and we were with- out telegraph news for several days.

After having deeided to become a eitizen of Min- neapolis I hired a house, on the outskirts of the town. which at that time was considered one of the best in the village and for which I paid but six dollars a month rent. It is still standing on the corner of Third Avenue and Sixth Street. There were not over five or six houses south of it and cattle were pastured on the prairie around it.

At the breaking out of the War every young man who could do so enlisted and we saw the boys gather at Fort Snelling and embark on steamers for the South. Of the First Regiment but few returned. George Braekett went with them, and we lost his in- fluenee for a time. The War eaused a demand for flour and farm produets; business improved and money beeame a familiar objeet again, but the Sioux Indian outbreak, in 1862, eaused a panic among the residents of the village, and several sold their holdings for anything they eould get and left the State. It was predieted that it would be years before Minne- sota would reeover from the effects of the great In- dian Massaere. Day after day crowds of refugees swarmed into the city and had to be provided for. I saw two children whose wrists had been eut by the savages, and several men who were wounded. The Indians eame within twenty miles of the village after their attack on Hutehinson, where a spirited little battle was fought. Our citizens prepared for the de- fense of Minneapolis, but fortunately the Indians turned westward and the danger was over.

When the Government began paying bounties for soldiers money beeame quite plentiful, and it was ex- pended with great prodigality. Women whose hus- hands had received the bounty and gone to the War, eame in from the farms and purchased everything that struek their faney. It seemed as if they thought the first few hundred dollars they ever possessed would last forever. Business improved and the town began to grow. New people came into the village and upon the farms, but it was not until 1865 that there was mueh building. However, it did not take mueh to exeite the enthusiasm of Minneapolitans.

On Saturday evenings a number of the prominent business men of the town met at the office of MeNair & Wilson to play "old sledge," or some other game, and ineidentally talk over village affairs. This was really the first eivie association in Minneapolis. One evening one of the elub remarked that the town was growing and eited several men who had eome with money to invest, and the talk beeame general. About this time "Jimmie" Cyphers, who had the only restaurant in town, a small room 10x20 feet. served the usual Saturday evening refreshments to the Club.

As the meal progressed some of the members beeame more and more enthusiastie about the growth of the town and rashly stated that they believed that some day there would be fifty thousand people in Minne- apolis. Another member said if that were to be so it was time to be looking out ground for a park. W. W. MeNair said that one of his Eastern elients had twenty aeres of land that he would sell for six thousand dollars and take certifieates drawing 7 per cent in payment. It was deeided then and there that a town meeting should be ealled for the purpose of considering this proposition.

The meeting was held in a building on the corner of Washington Avenue and Second Street, owned by Mr. Dorilus Morrison, and was quite largely attended. There was a long diseussion, in which one prominent eitizen stated that there would never be a house south of Tenth Street, and that the whole country was a park; then, with vehemenee, he deelared that the young fellows who favored the purehase would ruin the town with their extravagant ideas. When the vote was taken the "young fellows" were in the ma- jority, and the resolution to make the purehase was earried. The supervisors were instrueted to issue the certifieates, but they were opposed to the project and allowed the matter to go by default. This property is now bounded by Grant and Fifteenth Streets, and First and Fourth Avenues South.

About this time Mr. H. G. Harrison built the stone building on the corner of Nieollet and Washington Avenues ; in the third story he provided a hall where for many years all the entertainments were held. One of the store-rooms in this building was taken by J. E. and D. C. Bell, and into it they moved their dry goods stoek from Bridge Square. Nearly everyone predieted their failure through getting so far away from the center of trade which was between First and Seeond Streets.

But the young men who

had participated in but survived the battles of the South were returning, and their influenee in building up the town was soon felt and business improved. The fame of the prosperous young frontier city reached the business eenters of the country, and eultured young men eame from the Eastern States to assist in making Minneapolis the Queen City of the West.

In 1865 all the business buildings on the west side of Bridge Square were destroyed by fire, and in 1866 all on the east side of the Square were destroyed. The rebuilding of these stores brought many to the eity and it was at this time that the structures now faeing the Gateway Park were ereeted. They were considered palatial ; that ereeted by Fleteher and Lor- ing was long known as "the Masonic Building" as all of the Masonie lodges were housed in its third story. There has not been a building erected since that time that ereated more favorable comment by the press and the people. John S. Pillsbury built a stone build- ing adjoining the Masonie Bloek and moved his hard- ware stoek from St. Anthony into it. This same year he opened the State University whose windows had been boarded up several years, and until his death he was the honored president of its Board of Regents.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

He was another son of New England, who as mer- chant, legislator, and Governor of the State, did noble work for the city of which he was so proud.

It would not be possible to name all who have added renown and brought prosperity to our city, but I cannot refrain from mentioning a few who were most intimately connected with its development.

The Regents of the University, in searching for a president, met in the East a young Colonel of En- gineers who had served with distinction through the Civil War, and induced him to become the head of that educational institution which had been closed for several years. It was not a very tempting offer for an ambitious young scholar, but fortunately for the State, Dr. W. W. Folwell decided to assume the responsibility and began his work here under dis- couraging conditions, but these he overcame, and for nearly half a century he has been a power in the up- building of the city.

Rev. Dr. James H. Tuttle, who came in 1866 as the pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, soon made his influence for good recognized. He served his church and worked for the interest of the city, and after twenty-five years he resigned his pastorate and passed from this life in 1895, mourned and beloved by all who had ever met him.

A tall, slim young man arrived in the city one day in 1867 and rented rooms over a store in a small wooden building situated on the corner of Second Street and Nicollet Avenue, and put up a modest sign, reading, "Thomas Lowry, Attorney at Law." As the rent of the rooms was rather beyond his means, he shared them with a young doctor, who came the same year, and whose sign read, "Dr. H. H. Kimball." Mr. Lowry became the president of the Twin City Electric Railway Company and president of the Min- neapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company, and one of the most public-spirited, gener- ous. lovable of citizens. He passed to the other life in February, 1909, and the citizens are erecting a beautiful monument as a token of their love for his memory. Dr. Kimball is still practicing his profes- sion.

Among the young merchants of the early days werc two brothers, "Pat" and Anthony Kelly, who had a small grocery store on the corner of Second and Washington Avenues, and who became the first whole- sale merchants in Minneapolis and did much to de- velop the trade of the Northwest. They often told of their first wholesale customer who came to the little store for a chest of tea. Take all they had in stock, and it would not amount to a chest, so they took what they had, purchased what they could from other grocers, and filled the order.

Among the young men who came to Minneapolis to take up life's work was Thomas B. Walker; ener- getic, honest, and with great natural ability, he grad- ually climbed the ladder of prosperity until he be- came one of its foremost citizens. His great, work as president of the Library Board and in the encourage- ment of art and civic improvements will long be re- membered by future generations, and the several

large buildings he erected will stand as monuments to his enterprise.

In 1867, R. J. Mendenhall built the two-story stone building on the corner of First Street and Hennepin Avenue for his bank, at a cost of ten thousand dollars. This was considered an act of extravagance, and was unfavorably commented on by the patrons of the bank.

This same year Mr. John W. Pence built, on the corner of Second Street and Hennepin Avenue, the brick building now standing. The upper stories were finished as an auditorium and the building was called the Pence Opera House. The walls were of common white plaster and looked very cold and inhospitable. An effort was made to have Mr. Pence decorate the walls, but he said the building had cost more than he had anticipated, and he could not afford to put in any more money. So a fund of $1,500 was raised by subscription and the auditorium decorated, and we were very proud of our opera house. At the dedica- tion, Hon. W. D. Washburn delivered an address in which he congratulated the citizens upon having such a magnificent place of amusement, and upon the growth of the city. He predicted that, at the rate the city had grown in the past five years, it would not be long before it would contain 50,000 inhabitants.

In 1872 the cities of Minneapolis and St. Anthony united as one municipality which began to grow with wondrous strides, and several young men were at- tracted to it and became active in its development. From New York came George R. Newell, who en- gaged in business with H. G. Harrison, founding the wholesale grocery house now known as George R. Newell & Company, one of the largest in the North- west. Mr. Newell is one of the progressive citizens whose names may always be found among the list of workers for the improvement of the city.

From Massachusetts came John S. Bradstreet, who, more than any other, has led the citizens to higher ideals in the artistic embellishment of their homes. This influence in city building has been invaluable.

Mr. E. J. Phelps joined Mr. Bradstreet, and for several years was a member of the firm; he retired to engage in banking and is now a prominent capitalist. He is a public-spirited citizen and, as president of the Board of Park Commissioners, is doing good service.

Fresh from college came "Charley" Reeve, who engaged in banking business and soon became a gen- eral favorite as he still is, as General C. McC. Reeve, a title he earned and received during the War with Spain.

"Jim" Gray, after graduating from the Univer- sity, took up newspaper work and was soon noted as a reporter who knew what he was writing about and he had the confidence of everyone. He is now the Ilon. James Gray, ex-Mayor, near-Governor, and an interesting writer on the Journal.

Wallace G. Nye, after learning the drug business in Wisconsin, heard that Minneapolis was a thriving village, came to see if all the wonderful stories he had heard about it were true, and he saw and was con- quered, and started a drug store in North Minne- apolis. His neighbors soon learned the metal that

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IIISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND IIENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

he was made of and elected him to various positions of trust, and now he is the progressive mayor of this progressive city.

Then eame William Henry Eustis, full of the breeze and energy he had imbibed from the ozone of St. Lawrence County, N. Y. He, too, became an ac- tive worker for the city of his adoption and whenever a strong man was needed to help in any projeet for the good of the community, the call was for Eustis. It was thought that he was needed as the head of the municipal government, and the people elected him to the office of Mayor.

And now I am down to the year 1880, when the young fellows eame in so rapidly and made places for themselves in the growing eity that I could no longer keep track of them, and if I could, it would take a large volume to record the history of their success.

But what of the pioneer women? It would be a pleasure to mention each individually and reeord the large part she played in the development of the eity. First and foremost, the stranger was welcomed and made to feel at home, and one of my most grateful recollections is of their unbounded hospitality. As far as early conditions would permit they were en- gaged, too, in altruistic work of a public nature like women of the present day. There were many beauti- ful gardens in which flowers were grown, and as early as 1866 a flower show was held in which nearly every lady took an active part. They organized church and social societies and entertainments for the young. A happier, more intelligent, and cheerful group of women never blessed a new country. The Minneapolis Improvement League, which is still doing active work, is the successor of one of these earlier organizations. Other improvement leagues and the Women's Club of today are the result of that spirit for eivie better- ment which was born with the pioncer women.

Nearly all of the pioneer workers have passed to the other shore, but those who have succeeded them imbibed their spirit and are continuing their work in such organizations as the fifty or more Improvement Leagues, the Commercial Club, the Civie and Com- meree Association, the Society of Fine Arts, and many other associations which have made Minneapolis what it is today, one of the most prosperous and beautiful of all the American eities.

Was there ever another eity with such a glorious past ! The example that was set by the early settlers has been followed by those who came after them, and the future promises to be as bright as that of the past. The little village has grown to be a great eity, and it is not so great a stretch of the imagination for the eitizen of today to predict that, in a few years, the population will exceed one million, as it was for those of 1865 to prophecy that some day there would be fifty thousand people in Minneapolis.

EARLY ROLLER MILLS AND THEIR TREATMENT BY THE RAILROADS-BY GEORGE H. CHRISTIAN.

The state of the art of milling wheat in 1870 in Great Britain was behind that of Continental Europe. The English mill owner, inheriting his property, is

apt to leave the mechanical conduct of his mill to subordinates, who, satisfied with following in the footsteps of their predecessors, are wont to set their faees steadily against new devices or machinery ; nor are his common workmen the equal of the same elass in America in the manipulation of machinery. The English public, too, were satisfied with their bread, ignorant of the better quality of the Continent.

In 1870 the most important of the then new ma- ehinery originated in France, and as it happened to be of a peculiarly difficult character to operate, re- quiring expert care, it was not adopted by the Eng- lish. In this country, knowledge of the art was de- rived from the British, and we were quite ignorant at that time of the progress made upon the Continent.

The hard spring wheat of Minnesota was unfit for the old style milling; the greater foree required to crush it ground up the bran to an important extent and darkened the flour. The improved method treated the wheat by gradual reduetions, and when m 1870 I was induced to try the French machinery and shortly after when I abandoned the traditional mill-stones, and adopted chilled iron rollers for re- dueing the wheat after the German method, I found the combination of the French and German improve- ments of peculiar advantage for Minnesota wheat. Meanwhile the New York and Boston markets had relegated the flour of the Northwest to a second or third place. They preferred the flour of the softer winter-wheat, some spring wheat millers even oeca- sionally branding their flour as from St. Louis, Mo., the headquarters of winter-wheat flour in those days of unregulated business ; but after these improvements had been installed they preferred the Minneapolis flour, and its price, for the quality, at onee sold at two to three dollars per barrel in advance. This magic change was felt like an electric shoek in Min- nesota throughont all kinds of business for wheat. The principal and ahnost sole agricultural product of the time, spring wheat, shared the advance of flour and the rapid development of the Northwest set in with ever increasing foree.

It was my fortune to be the first to introduce this new process of milling in this country. It was done in the Washburn Mills of Minneapolis, which I was operating under the firm name of George HI. Chris- tian & Co., and from here its adoption spread over all the United States with wonderful rapidity, while the flood of improved flour from this country so filled England that the millers there were forced to take it up.

Its use required a large reduction in the output of flour, rendering for several years the profits abnormal. This attracted the army of sharks which haunt the patent office at Washington. They forthwith pro- eeeded to take out patents for the machinery, easily finding a man who elaimed to have invented it, and even patenting the very process of making flour from wheat. One cannot believe that such patents should have been issued by the Patent Office, and ean hardly believe that they were issued without undue influence.

All of the principal mills of the United States were sued for royalty, and the Washburn Mills, in which

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

these improvements first saw the light in this coun- try, were enjoined by the courts from making flour by this machinery and forced to give bonds for $250,- 000. It cost several years of anxious effort and an expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars be- fore the mills of America were able to show the falsity and wickedness of these claims, but the patents were finally defeated.

But resistance against such injustice was not the only trial which the flour manufacturer had to en- dure in those days. The law regulating interstate commerce had not then been framed, and railroad managers ran their roads as if they were their own personal property, and did not recognize the right of the public to complain of unjust preferences in mak- ing rates of freight. The general manager gave re- duced rates to favorites and to large shippers, and the scheduled rates were only applied to the unfortu- nates without influence or whose business was not large enough to attract favorable attention. When the general manager came to the city he was be- sieged by shippers of all classes asking for reduced rates that they might be in position to meet competi- tion or perhaps to crush it. Rebates were granted on · every species of merchandise and not always for con- siderations of advantage to the railroad. No one knew what was the lowest rate, for all rebates were secret and paid at the headquarters of the road.

On one occasion the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad which was the only railroad reaching from Minneapolis to Milwaukee or Chicago, put a wheat buyer on the streets of Minneapolis to buy of the farmers bringing their wheat by team to this mar- ket, erected a warehouse and paid prices for wheat which were designed to destroy the milling business here. This was done because the millers sold me flour which I shipped at a period of high water by steamer from here via St. Louis and Pittsburg. The policy of that road was at that time distinctly hostile to Minneapolis. It distributed agents along the Minne- sota Valley Railroad (now the C. M., St. P. & Omaha Ry.), between Shakopee and Mankato, to buy wheat and ship it to Milwaukee at a time when wheat was exceedingly scarce and the millers could not get near enough to supply their trade with flour. Their agents paid prices which made wheat cost the Minneapolis millers, who bought in competition, ten to fifteen cents per bushel more than the Milwaukee pricc, (then the governing wheat market) less the established rates of freight, while the millers were obliged to pay the freight to Milwaukee or Chicago, as high as eighty cents per barrel of flour, more than it often costs to ship to Liverpool, England, in these days.

The Minnesota Valley. Railroad had its general offices in St. Paul and regarded itself as a St. Paul enterprise. It allied itself with the Milwaukee Road in the purchase of wheat, giving that road, without doubt, a large rebate from its scheduled tariff to Mendota, where it joined the Milwaukee, while the Minneapolis millers had to pay its full tariff. Never- theless when I complained at a meeting between its President, its General Freight Agent, and my- self of this discrimination, the General Freight

Agent said, "Why do you Minneapolis millers buy wheat on our road? We don't want you!" Such was the hostility felt by St. Paul railroads towards Minneapolis merchants. This same road owned the grain elevators for receiving and storing wheat along its line. It gave to this man their manage- ment and agreed to let him have what he could make, he guaranteeing that the railroad should be at no loss.

In those days no wheat was shipped to this city except it had been previously bought by the mill- ers, who bought direct of farmers' teams, placed the wheat in these elevators, and obtained a receipt for it. The wheat was mingled with other wheat of the same grade and when the miller had accumulated a car load it was shipped to Minneapolis. When the wheat arrived here and was weighed out, it was generally short more than a normal amount, and in some cases as high as one hundred bushels per car of the quantity the railroad agent (who was also the elevator agent) had billed as shipped. No reclam- ation for this shortage could be obtained. Without doubt when all wheat was shipped at the end of the season to the various millers and others, the elevator at each station was found what is technically called "over," or with a quantity of wheat accumulated by this rascally method, to the profit of the agent or some one else.

There was a quantity of wheat in a St. Paul ele- vator one winter and I was anxious to buy it and bring it to Minneapolis to grind. There was 110 published tariff on wheat to Minneapolis from that city. I called upon the general manager of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, now the Great Northern, and asked for a rate. After much hesitation I was given a rate which evidently he thought prohibitive. I immediately accepted it, but before I could get out of the office I was informed by this St. Paul par- tisan, with a round oath or two, that the rate was withdrawn and that the railroad would not carry wheat from St. Paul to Minneapolis at any price. This wheat, be it remembered, lay at the eastern terminal of the road; there was no mill in St. Paul to grind it, and the railroad manager could not ex- pect to earn further freight from it, for it must pass east by the only route, the river, at the opening of navigation. Hatred of Minneapolis was paramount to his duty to his stockholders.

I was asked by the general manager of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, now the St. Paul & Duluth, to go down to Lake City, Red Wing, and other points on the Mississippi where there were grain warehouses, to buy the wheat stored there, have it brought to Stillwater by boat, and from there he promised his road would bring it to Minneapolis, at a reasonable rate. This I did. The scheduled rate, a prohibitive one, was however collected, with an understanding that the freight department would refund mc the difference. I sent in my account but could get no response. This road was leased by the Northern Pacific. I began to hear ominous rumors of the financial condition of the Northern Pacific and urged my claims the harder, without effect. The

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 37

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