Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 50

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 50

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

GEORGE A. PILLSBURY.

In every community there are a few men who leave some distinct impress. Minneapolis has had many such men in its various stages of development. They have come from all parts of the world, and their activities have been along all lines of educational, moral, industrial, commercial and political progress. Very few have been great factors along all these lines, yet George A. Pillsbury touched them all and left a deep impression on each.

One of the first things to attract the attention of the visitor to Minneapolis is that it is a city of homes,-not only of the eitizens of wealth, but equally so of the humblest laborer. Whatever a visitor's views may be as to the wisest manner of lessening the evils of the liquor traffic, he observes that Minneapolis is a well ordered city, and that no drinking places exist outside of a limited zone of the city where there is a con- tinuous police patrol. He sees no saloons in the residential portions of the eity, and he feels sure that he can select a home in a part of the city where no saloon can ever come. On further investigation he finds that there is a legally established "patrol limit" confined to a small business portion of the eity, beyond which the sale of liquor is not permitted. This is what George A. Pillsbury did while Mayor of Minneapolis. In every other large eity of the country into which the traveller goes he finds saloons-scattered anywhere and everywhere according to the whim or means of the brewer or saloon keeper,-but not so in Minneapolis. This is a fact which makes Minneapolis unique among the dozen largest cities of the country. Except in Minneapolis a traveller can find a saloon almost anywhere.

George A. Pillsbury came to Minneapolis in 1878, when he wa's sixty-two years of age. He had already rounded out in New England a successful business career; and he became a eitizen of Minneapolis at a time in life when most successful business men deem themselves entitled to retire. He had worked hard and had accumulated ample means upon which to retire. Most men, under his circumstances, would have re- tired, but to a man like George A. Pillsbury the removal from New Hampshire to Minnesota was but the opening of a new chapter, and a new opportunity. And opportunity was what he had sought from his boyhood days.

George A. Pillsbury was born at Sutton, N. H., August 29, 1816. He had only the common school education of a century ago, when the children were taught "to read, write and cipher." With the Yankce instinct, which has never been questioned as to the Pillsbury family, he knew how "to 'cipher." After serving as a clerk in his native town and in Boston, he returned to New Hampshire, became postmaster of Warner, N. H., from 1844 to 1849; was selectman in 1847 and 1849, town treas- urer in 1849 and a member of the New Hampshire legislature in 1850 and 1851. In November, 1851. was appointed pur- chasing agent and adjuster of the Concord Railroad (which is now an integral part of the Boston & Maine R. R.). This position of purchasing agent and adjuster he held for twenty- seven years. How strenuous his duties and responsibilities dur- ing that period were, the business man of to-day can readily guess. But he was never a one-idea man. During these twenty-seven years he was active in many lines. Always a Baptist he was strong in religious work. In building construc- tion he was especially sought, not only by the City of Con- cord, but by the State of New Hampshire, in its public build- ings. In 1864 he with others established the First National

Bank of Concord and until he came to Minneapolis was its president. He also established a Savings Bank in connection with the National Bank. In 1871 and 1872 he was elected a member of the legislature of New Hampshire, then a member of the city council of Concord, and in 1876 he was elected Mayor of Concord, which position lie held until he decided to come to Minneapolis in 1878. What drew him to Minneapolis was the fact that his brother, John S. Pillsbury, and his sons, Charles A. Pillsbury and Fred C. Pillsbury, had already pre- ceded him. John S. Pillsbury had not only become a factor in the development of Minnesota, but his son, Charles A. Pillsbury, had established the flour milling business of Pills- bury, Crocker & Fisk and C. A. Pillsbury & Co., which are referred to elsewhere in this work.

Upon coming to Minneapolis, Mr. Pillsbury was quickly recognized as a man of affairs. He was elected alderman of the Fifth Ward in 1883 and in 1884 was elected Mayor of the eity. Upon his accession to the mayoralty he initiated and carried through the "patrol limit" system which confined the sale of intoxicating liquors to a restricted district in the heart of the city where there was (to use his own words) "a con- tinuous police patrol" and the exclusion of the sale of liquor from all other parts of the city. Space does not permit the details of this controversy which are exceedingly interesting, but George A. Pillsbury prevailed and posterity ha's the bene- fit's of his fight. Hence Minneapolis is to-day the only large city in the United States where no intoxicating liquors are sold in residential portions of the city. No one can calculate the moral and financial advantages which this policy has al- ready conferred upon Minneapolis, much less can one com- pute the moral advantages it gives to the city's future.

Aside from his duties as Mayor, Mr. Pillsbury became deeply interested in the various activities of the city,-and this at a time when constructive work was needed. He was one of the projectors of the Syndicate Block, at a time when large business blocks were needed to transform Minneapolis from a frontier town to a metropolitan city. He superintended the erection of the famous Pillsbury "A" Mill .- then as now, the largest flour mill of the world; he was President of the Chamber of Commerce, a Trustee of Lakewood Cemetery, a member of the Board of Education, a Trustee of the Hennepin County Savings Bank, and for several years and up to the time of his death on July 17, 1898, was President of the North- western National Bank of Minneapolis. During all this time he was interested in educational and religious work. Shortly after coming to Minneapolis he became interested in the academy at Owatonna and shortly afterwards became one of its trustees. This academy had been organized in 1856, and while doing a good work, it was limited in its means and had not flourished to the degree its friends had intended. Mr. Pillsbury at once applied his business tact to the building up of this academy. With his private mcans, and under his personal supervision, several needed buildings were erected and donated to the academy, and in his will a large bequest for other improvements and a fund for the perpetual maintenance of the institution were provided. In honor of his work the legislature of the state changed the name of the institution to Pillsbury Academy. ' The liberal endowment of Mr. Pills- bury put the academy on a strong financial basis, and it is now one of the strong educational and moral forces in the northwest.

All this while Mr. Pillsbury did not forget his New England home. In honor of his wife. Margaret Sprague Pillsbury, he

Geo. A. Pillsbury

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

built and donated to the city of Concord, N. H., the Margaret Pillsbury Hospital, erected a Soldier's Monument to the old Soldiers of Sutton, N. H., and did other works of public charity. All of this was in addition to a long line of private charities of which only he and the beneficiary had knowledge.

Mr. Pillsbury died at his home, 225 South Tenth Street, which is the present site of The Leamington, on July 17, 1898, survived by his widow, Margaret Sprague Pillsbury, and his son, Charles A. Pillsbury.

ALFRED MELVIN BREDING.

Born in Minneapolis and educated in the institutions of the city Alfred Melvin Breding is one of the prominent young attorneys of the city. He is the son of John O. Breding and Marie (Lyng) Breding. His father was a tailor and the family are all natives of Minnesota and have lived here all their lives with the exception of two years which they spent in Philadelphia. Mr. Breding began his education in the graded schools of the city, entered the Central High School and graduated in 1897. He graduated from the law depart- ment of the Minnesota State University in 1906 and imme- diately began an active practice in the city. During the years after his graduation from high school and his entrance in the University he was gaining experience which would be useful to him in his profession by working in an attorney's office and gaining a knowledge of human nature and of business by acting as solicitor for advertising-incidentally he was earning the money for his law course.

Socially Mr. Breding is democratic and genial. He has numerous social affiliations being a member of the B. P. O. E., the University Club, and the Masons. He is also a member of the Commercial Law League of America. Miss Lucene A. Burbank became his wife on September 14, 1906, and they have two daughters. They have a beautiful home at Lake Harriett, and have a charming circle of friends.

ARTHUR EDWIN BENJAMIN, M. D.

As often happens, Dr. Arthur Edwin Benjamin followed in the footsteps of his father, Dr. John Benjamin, his mother being Elizabeth (Garner) Benjamin, and both of English birth. John Benjamin became a physician in his native land, and practiced in Boston, from 1847 until 1857, when he be- came a banker and merchant at Rockford, Ill. In 1860 he went to Hutchinson, Minnesota, which was founded by the Hutchinson family of singers. When the Sioux Indians at- tacked the settlers in their stockade in Hutchinson, it was he who cared for the sick and wounded, and who was physician to the refugees in the stockade during the fall and winter. His latter years were devoted to his farm and to his pro- fession, dying at the age of eighty. It was near Hutchinson on "Fairy Glen" farm that Arthur E. was born, December 19, 1868. He attended the public schools, including the high school, graduating in 1887, when he taught for one year. Then entering the University, he was graduated an M. D. in 1892.

He, locating in Minneapolis, for a time was in general practice, when he began to confine his attention to surgery,

finally coming to be widely recognized as a specialist in surgery and gynecology. He availed himself of the great hospitals and centers of surgical science in the East, and took post-graduate work in the most celebrated American and European Hospitals. He did service for the State Uni- versity as clinical instructor and assistant for 17 years. He has read numerous papers on surgery before the various medical societies and which have been published. His articles on Stomach and Intestinal Surgery and Gynecology especially attracting attention and being awarded favorable reception. He has held important office in several medical societies, and is accorded high standing in the profession. He has also served on staffs of several of the most important hospitals in Minneapolis.

In 1900 Dr. Benjamin married Miss Blanche Grimshaw, a member of one of the leading families of the city. They have four children, Edwin Grimshaw, Harold Garner, Maude Elizabeth and Alice Louise. Mrs. Benjamin is an active member of social and literary clubs and in the work of Park Avenue Congregational Church. The Doctor belongs to the Interlochen, Lafayette and New Athletic Clubs and the Civic and Commerce Association, and finds further recreation in hunting, and has a pleasant summer home at Minnetonka Beach.

WILLIAM MORSE BERRY.

William Morse Berry, for twenty-two years superintendent of parks in Minneapolis, and now living in retirement with his son-in-law, Arthur W. Hobert, was born at Georgetown, Maine, August 12, 1826. His father was Joseph Berry, a ship builder and lumber manufacturer at Georgetown, Bath and Bowdoinham, Maine, and was educated at academies in Lewis- town and Brunswick. At the age of eighteen he took charge of his father's. mill at Bowdoinham, which he operated for ten years. During six years of this period he was president of a bank and for a part of the time was president of the village, being elected as such at the age of twenty-two.

After the financial panic of 1857, which seriously crippled his father's business, he came to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he built barks for ocean traffic. He became captain of the second one built, and which becoming water-logged in a storm in mid-ocean, was abandoned and never again sighted. In 1861 he went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where during the next eight years he was engaged in the grain trade. In 1869 he became the first superintendent of the South Side park system in Chicago, over which he had control for fourteen years, laying out Washington and Jackson parks and Drexel, Garfield, Grand and Western boulevards.

Mr. Berry's work in Chicago attracting the attention of Prof. H. W. S. Cleveland, the landscape architect of Minne- apolis, he was induced to come to Minneapolis for one year at a salary of $1,500. The park board was so well pleased with his work that it added $1,000 to the salary agreed on for the first year and offered him an annual compensation of $3,000 to remain. From then until he retired from active pursuits in 1907, at the age of eighty-one, his whole energy and ability was devoted to the extension and improvement of the park system of the city. His duties required a large executive power, and this he had acquired in his experience as a lumber manufacturer, ship builder and master. His

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fino artistie sense is shown in every stretch of the miles of parkway, and his excellent business management is amply demonstrated by the magnitude of achievements without ex- cessive cost.

In 1847 he married Betsy An Godfrey, a native of Saco, Maine, and who died in 1906 after nearly sixty years of ideal companionship. Of the seven children born six are living. Bessie is the wife of Arthur W. Hobert. Helen is the wife of E. A. Merriam, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he is cemetery superintendent after several years connection with the National Bank of Commerce of Minneapolis. Hattie is the wife of Gorham Norton of Brooklyn, a woolen mill operator. Dora is the wife of J. N. Buchanan, of Chicago: Alphonso G. is at Los Angeles. J. W. lives in Seattle, Wash- ington, and Herbert M., who was a mine operator, was killed by a blast in one of his own mines at about 40 years of, age.

FRANK H. PEAVEY.

The untimely death of the late Frank H. Peavey, of Min- neapolis, occurred in Chicago, December 30, 1901, when Mr. Peavey was but 51 years of age, and when his enormous busi- ness interests seemed to most require his continued attention and management. His life was not long, but it was a very useful one, and it displayed the best and most admirable human qualities. He aimed at nothing less than the highest and best results in every endeavor, and its every shaft of his effort pierced the center of the mark.

Mr. Peavey was born at Eastport, Maine, January 20, 1850, the son of Albert D. and Mary (Drew) Peavey, also natives of New England. The father was a lumber and shipping mer- chant of fine business capacity and great force of character. The son was reared in his native town to the age of fifteen. Then his father died and he became almost the sole depend- ence of the mother.

The youth, though but an immature boy, at once entered upon the high and holy duty before him with ardor, and from then to the end of his life he was never idle. He was eon- stantly on the lookout for opportunities for advancement, and as he grew older they came to him in satisfactory numbers and value. The great Northwest attracted him. He located first in Chicago, where he became a bookkeeper in the North- western Bank. Two years later, in 1887, he moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and entered the employ of H. D. Booge & Company. By this change of location Mr. Peavey found an open way to success. He made friends on every hand, and steady prog- ress in advancement. Half his earnings were sent back regu- larly to his mother, to whom his first duty was always paid. In a short time he became a partner in an agricultural im- plement business, and in 1871 brought his mother and the other members of the family to Sioux City and set up a home. Twice his business property was destroyed by fire, but he continued his work with intensified energy and deter- mination:

In time, Mr. Peavey became interested in the grain trade, then in its infancy, in the Northwest, both in volume and method. But this far-seeing man divined its possibilities and confidently embarked in it with all his resources. At the age of 23 or in 1873, he was the owner and manager of an old- style "blind horse" elevator, with a capacity of 6,000 bushels, in Sioux City. The next year he secured control of four

small elevators on the old Dakota & Southern Railroad, and began to buy grain for the first elevator built in Duluth, which had just been completed. A little later he brought into his business and under his management the elevators on what was then known as the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad (now the "Omaha"), and his operations in grain grew rapidly.

At this point in his history the Minneapolis flour mills were also extending their business rapidly, and in 1875 he began business in the Flour City, becoming connected with the Minne- apolis Millers' Association, for which he bought grain as long as it continued to operate. By 1878 he had control of ele- vators at all points on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad in South Dakota, and four years later his operations took in the whole "Omaha" road southwest of Minneapolis. The same year, the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce having been organized and the grain business here placed on a firm financial basis, he opened his first offices in this eity.

Mr. Peavey, however, continued to maintain his mother's home in Sioux City, and to the end of his life he considered it very much his own home, although in 1884 he established one for himself and family in Minneapolis. From that time on he took a very prominent part in building up the grain market of this city. In 1884 he extended his operations to all points on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and thus be- came one of the leading operators in the most rapidly ex- panding grain trade in the world. In fact, at the time of his death, through his large system of elevators, he owned and operated the most extensive grain business known in human history.

In 1889, the arms of this great business genius, like those of fabled Briareus, were reaching out far and wide. He built a great elevator at Portland, Oregon, and added to it some thirty subsidiary houses in the rural districts along the lines of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company in Oregon and Washington. This was the first large terminal elevator on the Pacific Coast. During the next year he built the Union Pacific elevator in Kansas City, extended his operations to the lines of the Union Pacifie and leased a terminal elevator at Omaha. In 1893 he took in points on the Northern Pacifie. The next year he built the Republic at Minneapolis, and in 1897 acquired the Belt Line elevator at West Superior, Wis- eonsin. In 1898 the Peavey elevators at South Chicago were built, and in 1899 the Peavey Terminal house at Duluth and the big elevator at Council Bluffs were erected. Within the same year Mr. Peavey's operations were extended to a part of the Great Northern Railway system.

Mr. Peavey was a very careful and exhaustive student of his work and omitted no effort necessary on his part to guard his interests. When he contemplated erecting the Duluth Terminal elevator he sent a special representative to Europe to investigate the concrete storage system in vogue on that continent, and as a result determined to adapt the system to the needs of grain handling in this country. An experimental concrete bin was built at one of the elevators in Minneapolis, and after being tested several months, was found to be en- tircly saasfactory. The concrete system was then adopted in the construction of the Duluth Terminal, and it became the first great concrete grain elevator built in this country.

In 1900 the Peavey Steamship Company was organized and four large grain carriers were built to operate on the Great Lakes. This was Mr. Peavey's last new enterprise.

He died suddenly December 30, 1901. He had been in the

Frank NOEorg

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Northwest thirty-six years, but in that period he built up the enormous grain trade herein briefly detailed, established the highest credit for himself and his enterprises, and acquired a large fortune. His operations centered at Minneapolis, touched the Great Lakes at Chicago and Duluth, extended far into the Southwest beyond Kansas City and Omaha, and reached to the Pacific Northwest.

After Mr. Peavey's death the business built up by him was continued under the management of his son, George W. Peavey (now deceased), and his sons-in-law, Frank T. Heffelfinger and Frederick B. Wells, who were associated with him before his death.

Although engrossed with his personal affairs Mr. Peavey never neglected the interests of his community. He was in- terested in the cause of public education and served on the City School Board in 1895, but never held any other public office. In his political relations he was cordially attached to the Re- publican party; but he was always independent in political thought and action, and was liberal in his views in all things. In religious belief he was a Universalist and he made his faith practical in good work for his own and all other denominations. In the language of the old Latin poet, Terence, "He was a man and nothing that was human was foreign to him." By his radiant example and through the expression of his real feelings he taught men everywhere that fellowship and con- fidence were a heritage for all alike, and that by working togetlier good would come to all.

September 19, 1872, Mr. Peavey was married to Miss Mary Dibble Wright. His substance had been wasted by fire the year before and his business was at a standstill, but this discouraging circumstance did not delay the marriage, nor cause either the husband or wife to doubt the future. To their union, which was always congenial and felicitous, were born three children. their daughters, Mrs. Frank T. Heffel- finger and Mrs. Frederick B. Wells, and their son, George W. Peavey.

LAMONT J. BARDWELL.

Vice president and secretary of the Bardwell-Robinson Company, an extensive sash, door and hardwood interior finish manufactory, began this business upon leaving school and, giving it close attention, has mastered its every detail, having a high standing among the city's enterprising manufacturers. He was born in Minneapolis, Sept. 6, 1872, and the son of Charles S. and Annette (Jenks) Bardwell. The father was born at Goshen, Massachusetts, and was there reared and educated. In early life he located at Excelsior Lake Minne- tonka. In 1872 he formed a partnership with L. C. Bisbie, as Bardwell & Bisbie, and started to make sash, doors and hardwood interior finish on the East Side. Their capital was limited but the business soon demanded greater accommoda- tions, and in 1874 a much larger plant was secured. In 1876 S. C. Robinson bought Mr. Bisbie's interest, the firm becoming Bardwell, Robinson & Company, and in 1891, was incorporated as the Bardwell-Robinson company. Mr. Bard- well died in 1892. In 1885 a new brick factory, covering about ten acres of floor space, was erected at Twenty-fourth avenue and Second street south. This is modern in style, of ample size, conveniently arranged and equipped with every facility. The expansion of the business has kept pace with general

growth of the city now employing regularly about 400 men, the most of whom are skilled mechanics. Lamont J. Bard- well passed the grade and high schools, at once joining his father, and in 1894 he was elected vice president and secre- tary. This company or its predecessors furnished all the finishings for the West Hotel, the New York Life building, the Lumber Exchange, the Masonie Temple, the Chamber of Commerce, the Milwaukee depot, the Andrus building, the Minikahda and Commercial club buildings, and numerous other important structures both in and out of the city. Mr. Bard- well has taken an interest in the advancement and improve- ment of the city, the increase and expansion of its industries, the proper administration of its civil affairs, the liberal sup- port and wise regulation of its educational forces and the promotion of every good agency. In 1894 Mr. Bardwell mar- ried Miss Susan Baxter. They have four children: Adele, Margaret, Annette, and Robert. The parents are members of Plymouth Congregational church, and the family residence is at 3321 Second avenue south.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 50

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