Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 73

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 73

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GEORGE H. ELWELL.

George H. Elwell, president of the Minneapolis Furniture company and of the Minneapolis school board, was born on November 25, 1856, in what was then the village of St. Anthony. He is a son of Tallmadge and Margaret (Miller) Elwell, natives of the state of New York, both of whom came to Minnesota in 1852. The mother and her sister were mil- liners at Stillwater from 1852 until their marriage at St. Anthony in 1854. This was a double wedding; the sister was married to John P. Furber of Cottage Grove, Minnesota. This double marriage was solemnized in the First Congre- gational church by Rev. David Secomb. The father was a daguerreotyper for some years, and many of the historic views now owned by E. A. Bromley and used in this work were taken by him.

After following his art for a number of years he started a town site at Granite City in Morrison county in 1855, where he remained until 1862. The period was one of great expecta- tions in the way of new towns and his enterprise in this line looked very promising. But in 1862 the uprising of the Sioux and Chippewa Indians made the place unsafe and he abandoned the project he, had so hopefully undertaken. He then moved to Little Falls, where he remained two years, then to St. Cloud for another period of two years, during which time he was in the employ of the government as col- lector of internal revenue.

In 1865 he located at the village of Cottage Grove in Washington county. where he remained until 1872. when he again changed his residence. removing to Minneapolis. and here he and the mother passed the remainder of their days, her life ending on March 19, 1894, and his on February 7. 1903. After his return to this city he organized the Elwell Manu- facturing company in 1873 for the manufacture of spring beds, being the founder of the industry in this part of the country. He continued at the head of the company until the business was incorporated in 1882 as the Minneapolis Furniture com- pany, and when he retired from all connection therewith.

Mr. Elwell, the elder, and his wife. the parents of George H ..

were members of the First Congregational church, in which they were married. They had eight children: James T., who- has represented the Thirty-ninth district in the state senate since 1907; George H., the subject of this brief review; John F., who resides in Los Angeles, California; Rev. Robert T., who- is pastor of a Congregational church in Seattle, Washington; Susie Isabel, now the wife of C. T. Rickard, proprietor of the Minneapolis School of Business; Mary Whitmore, now Mrs .. T. N. Spaulding, of Pasadena, California; Mattie Laura, the wife of Dr. William Noyes, dean of chemistry in the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois, and Jessie Helen Campbell, the wife of Dr. William Frost, professor of bacteriology at Madi- son, Wisconsin.

George H. Elwell was eighteen when the family returned to Minneapolis. He was educated in the public schools, at Carleton College, where he passed three years, and at the University of Minnesota, which he attended one year. He began making his own way in the world as a teacher, serving as the principal of the public school at Appleton, this state, occupying the position from 1879 to 1882. In the fall of 1882 he was married to Miss Belle Horn, one of his pupils in the school. In March of that year he took charge of the business of the Minneapolis Furniture company. of which he was one of the incorporators, as its secretary and manager, and the next year became its president, which position he still holds.

The business of this company has shown steady and con- tinued growth under his vigorous and progressive manage- ment. This company has been engaged in manufacturing- and supplying to the trade bedroom furniture and Elwell kitchen cabinets. The kitchen cabinet is a very useful article of furniture, very popular and extensively used. The com- pany employs regularly 150 persons and has $200,000 invested in its business. Its annual trade amounts to $250,000 to $300,000.

In his political faith and allegiance Mr. Elwell has been a firm adherent of the Republican party. He never sought. political office either by election or appointment until about five years ago, when he was elected a member of the board of education, and immediately after his election was made president of the board, a position he is still filling. The period of his service has been one of the most important in the history of the school system of the city. The growth of the schools has been rapid, many new buildings have been demanded, and every phase and feature of the system has been expanding in usefulness and requirements. His duties as president of the board have been heavy, but they have been faithfully attended to and his fidelity and ability in performing them are highly appreciated.

Mr. Elwell is also deeply and serviceably interested in- church work. He and his wife are members and regular at- tendants of the First Congregational church, the one in which his parents were married and he was baptized. His. principal recreation is an occasional hunting trip, but he finds enjoyment in the social life of his community. He is an active member of the Minneapolis and St. Anthony Com- mercial clubs.

He and his wife are the parents of five children: Harold Manford, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who is secretary of the company over whose affairs his father presides; Georgia Belle. a graduate of Columbia Teachers' College, now a teacher of Domestic Art in the East High- School; Florence and Susie Marie are graduates of East High School, and George Herbert, Jr., is now a high school

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

student. All of the children are still members of the parental family circle and ministrants to its enjoyments and attrac- tions.

WILLIAM W. WALES.

This esteemed pioncer, whose Scotch and Irish ancestry is traced baek hundreds of years, was born in North Carolina in 1818. In early manhood, he moved to Indiana, and there married Miss Catherine Elliott Bundy. Impelled by the spirit of the Builder of New Communities, he came to the North- west with Mrs. Wales, locating in the spring of 1851 at the Falls of St. Anthony, now East Minneapolis. The popula- tion of the village at the Falls was about 300 persons at this time. During the year two sawmills were added to a small mill previously in operation; the St. Charles hotel was built and a ferry was established to the west side of the river, then known as the "Fort Snelling Military Reserve." It was also during this year that the University was located at St. Anthony, and the regents held a meeting on June 14th, at the St. Charles Hotel, and decided to build the "Preparatory School" building at a cost of $2,500, and to raise that amount by subscriptions from the people. Mr. Wales took an active part in soliciting such funds.

While the growth of Minneapolis on the east side of the river may be reckoned from this time, the Reserve on the west side was not opened to settlers until 1852.

Mr. Wales soon became active in the civic and social life of the village, and established himself in the book trade, oc- cupying the ground on which the Pillsbury A mill now stands, his being the first book store in the community. His exten- sive knowledge of books and discriminating taste in litera- ture, added to his rare social qualities, soon made Mr. Wales' little book shop a favorite resort of men and women com- bining the culture of the East and South with the vigorous and enterprising spirit of the frontier, all drawn together in the making of a notable community.

Mr. Wales took an active part in the organization of the Republican party in Minnesota. The first meeting of aboli- tionists held in the state was at St. Anthony on July 4tlı, 1854, and was addressed by Rev. C. G. Ames who handled the slavery question without gloves. The following spring the first Republican Territorial Convention was held at St. Anthony on Thursday and Friday, March 29th and 30th, 1855. It was a mass convention presided over by Wm. R. Marshall, later Governor of Minnesota. Mr. Wales was one of the leaders among those who were radically opposed to slavery and the fugitive slave law. The convention remained in session for two days, and finally closed after passing the following resolution: "Appealing to Heaven for the rectitude of our intentions, we this day organize the Republican party of Minnesota."

Mr. Wales served the town as clerk, as a member of the school board, and, after its incorporation as a city, as mayor, and also as postmaster under appointment from President Lincoln. Furthermore, he served the legislative district as a member of the territorial legislature in the memorable ses- sion of 1857, being a member of the upper house, then known as the Council; and he took a prominent part in the most thrilling of the legislature's proceedings.

In 1857 Mr. Wales published a "Sketch of St. Anthony and Minneapolis," in which he first reviewed St. Anthony, which at that time was far more important than the village on the west side of the river, to which Mr. Wales referred in the following language: "Minneapolis is one of the most beauti- ful and flourishing towns in the United States. Two years ago there were probably not two hundred person's in the place, now there are over two thousand. No place in the Territory has grown more rapidly or on a more permanent basis than Minneapolis. It has all the elements of prosperity. The site for a large city could not have been made more beautiful by art than nature has laid it out." As an indication of the growth of the city Mr. Wales referred to the inerease in the ferry tolls from $300 in 1851 to $6,000 in 1854. He also called attention to the completion of a suspension bridge across the river.

In his sketch Mr. Wales wrote further: "St. Anthony and Minneapolis are situated at the head of navigation on the Mississippi river. Some expense must necessarily be incurred in improving the channel of the river, but we entertain no doubt that navigation to these points may be regarded as a fixed fact, and there can be no doubt that within five years railroads will begin to intercept the territory in different directions. The prospects of the rapid growth of St. Anthony and Minneapolis arc at this time far more flattering than ever before. There is not a town in the West which enjoys such a combination of advantages and elements that must inevitably build up a large city at these points."

In regard to the climate, Mr. Wales said: "A general error prevails as to the winters in Minnesota. The soil is of a very deep, black, sandy loam, which imbibes heat to a great depth. This is the reason why frost ceases early in the spring, and the principal reason why it holds off so late in the fall, as compared with clay soils hundreds of miles far- ther south. The growing season is quite sufficient to mature all products of neighboring states." In conclusion he said: "We look to see Minneapolis and St. Anthony united under one corporation, constituting one great city, which will know no superior northwest of Chicago." This publication was widely cireulated and was effective in removing erroneous impressions as to the productiveness of the state and in stim- ulating immigration.

From the little book shop established by Mr. Wales a pros- perous business along art lines was founded, the Wales Art Galleries becoming a strong factor in developing the art inter- ests of the city. Always in advance of the times, Mr. Wales maintained a standard above commercialism. In his galleries all artistic Minneapolis found inspiration and encouragement to high ideals. In this atmosphere, as well as that of a cul- tivated home, his daughters were developing rare natural gifts into beautiful forms of expression, both in literature and art. In their several lines all have become well known -one in connection with the New York Public Library, others in connection with the Handicraft Guild of Minneapolis and the public schools of Milwaukee and Cleveland. Mr. Wales' son, Charles E. Wales, a well known business man of Min- neapolis, is mentioned elsewhere in this volume.

Pursuant to his early expectation, Mr. Wales retired from business in 1892 to devote his time to social and religious work among the mountain people of North Carolina, his na- tive state. His activities in bettering the condition of the mountaineers, whom he so thoroughly understood, oceupied the last ten years of his long life, which came to an end

Nm. M. Nales

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

in 1902. His wife, son and three daughters survive him, and all are residents of Minneapolis.

Mr. Wales was a man of strong convictions and great felicity of expression, and was therefore convincing. Perhaps of all his qualities his sympathetic understanding and love of his fellow men stood out strongest. He had a rare genius for making friends, and his friends were among "all sorts and conditions of men." Although his religious affiliations were with the Society of Friends, his Catholic spirit was larger than sect or denomination, and recognized the good in human- ity wherever it was found and in whatever form expressed. His interests were numerous, for he touched life at many points, and his never failing enthusiasm made him an inspira- tion to all who came in touch with him. The influence of his life upon others, as felicitously expressed by one of his co- workers was, "that of a quiet, encouraging spirit, like the falling of the gentle warm spring rains, which cause the earth to respond in a glad renewal of life."

CHARLES E. WALES.

Charles E. Wales, a son of the revered Minneapolis pioneer, William W. Wales, is a native and life-long resident of Min- neapolis. He is widely known as a successful business man and a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and is connected with many business corporations and social organizations, in- cluding the principal clubs of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Chicago and Pittsburgh.

In early life Mr. Wales became identified with the coal trade as an employee in a business conducted by James J. Hill of St. Paul and John A. Armstrong of Minneapolis; later he succeeded to the Minneapolis branch and organized the Pioneer Fuel Company and soon extended its operations far beyond the boundaries of the state. Still later he merged the Pioneer Fuel Company's business with the organization of numerous Pennsylvania coal mines under the name of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. He was made vice-president of the new organization, with headquarters in Chicago, and for some years devoted his time and energies principally to or- ganization work in securing Northwestern outlets for the company's productions. During the same period he exercised general supervision of the Home Company's subsidiary sales organizations throughout the Northwest, including the Pitts- burgh Coal Company of Wisconsin, whose headquarters are in Minneapolis.

With the completion of this organization Mr. Wales re- signed as an officer of the company in order that he might de- vote more time to organization work in the development and sale of various properties in which he had from time to time become interested, and in which are included terminal and water-front properties at Duluth, Superior, and other ports on the Great Lakes. During the last few years Mr. Wales has effected sales and leases of such properties to many coal companies and to various railroad companies.

Mr. Wales maintains his principal office at his country home, known as "Waleswood-on-the-Minnesota," about six miles south of the Minneapolis city limits.

Mr. Wales' wife is a daughter of the late John M. Smyth, an honored pioneer and well-known merchant of Chicago. Their family consists of two sons, Martin Smyth and Robert Elliott.

Charles Raymond Wales, an elder son of Mr. Wales by an earlier marriage is a member of the Wales-Campbell Com- pany, of Minneapolis, engineers and general contractors, whose operations have been principally on the Great Lakes. Charles Raymond' Wales with his younger brothers represent in Minneapolis the third generation of the Wales family and they are expected to perpetuate their name with that of the city.

JOHN ENGQUIST.

Mr. Engquist is president of the American Realty & Build- ing Company and a well known contractor of Minneapolis. He is a native of Sweden. He came to Minneapolis in 1884 and having served a long apprenticeship as wagon maker endeavored to find employment. He was unsuccessful in all his applications for work, though he finally offered to give his services free for one month for the opportunity to prove his ability. He was compelled to turn to other occupations, and the first job he secured was as a hod-carrier.

He finally won out and the following year, 1885, he was in position to engage as a contractor on his own account. The carpenters' strike of that year had left many unfinished buildings and he found their completion a profitable field of operation. The site of the first house which he erected was at 3607 First avenue, and for a time the majority of his contracts were in the Eighth and Thirteenth wards. From the first his operations were successful and finally required a force of eighteen or twenty workmen. Mr. Engquist became one of the leading contractors in the city. He built Zion Lutheran church and Lyons Court, on Stevens avenue, and his operations extended to Cambridge and Princeton and various other towns.

The American Realty & Building company was incorporated in 1909, with a capital of $50,000 and with John Engquist as president, Charles G. Engquist, vice president, and E. L. Bergquist, secretary of the corporation. The company has extensive real estate interests in the city, including about thirty buildings and residences and has erected several busi- ness blocks, among which are the building on the corner of Nicollet avenue and Lake street, occupied by the Minneapolis State bank; the new Lake Theatre, which is one of the two fireproof theatres on Lake street and has a seating capacity of 600; the block between Nicollet avenue and Blaisdell ave- nue, in which the offices of the company are located, and the Stewart Memorial church. The company handles plumbing, heating and cement contracts and aside from local invest- ments owns real estate and buildings in International Falls, Minnesota. For a number of years Mr. Engquist extended his real estate interests to North Dakota farm lands, where for a time he cultivated about 3000 acres, half of which was his own but of which he has since disposed. He is a director of the Minneapolis State Bank and the Bankers' Security Company, assisting in the organization of the former institu- tion as stockholder and one of its first directors. He was married in 1887 to Miss Ida Magney, of Minneapolis. They have five sons, Carl A., John E., William A., Fred E., and Ray A. The eldest son is associated in business with his father, in the cement department of the American Realty & Building Company and John E. Engquist has charge of all the architectural work for the Company.

300

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

WILLIAM ALBERT FRISBIE.

Connected with the leading daily newspapers of Minneapolis as a reporter and in various editorial capacities since 1890, William A. Frisbie, editor of the Minneapolis Daily News for the last five years, has made his work count for usefulness and good in the community.

Mr. Frisbie was born in Danbury, Connecticut. on December 12, 1867, the son of Alvah Lillie and Jerusha R. (Slocomb) Frisbie. He began his academic education in the public schools and completed it at Grinnell College, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. S. in 1889. He was engaged in manufacturing in Des Moines, Iowa, until the latter part of 1890, when he came to Minneapolis and turned his attention to journalism, which has been the field of his labors ever since.

The first appearance of Mr. Frisbie in this field was as a reporter and assistant city editor on the Minneapolis Tribune, which he served in those capacities in 1890, 1891 and 1892. In 1892 and 1893 he was assistant city editor of the Minne- apolis Times. The Minneapolis Journal had his services next as city and managing editor from 1893 to 1908. On Septem- ber 1, 1909, he became editor of the Minneapolis Daily News, a position of great trust and responsibility which he has filled ever since.

Mr. Frisbie has found time from his daily duties to do some outside literary work and among the successful books he has published are: "Tales of the Bandit Mouse," 1900; "Pirate Frog and Other Tales," 1901; "Puggery Wee," 1902; "The Other Man," 1904; "A. B. C. Mother Goose," 1905, and others of note. On May 16, 1893, Mr. Frisbie was united in marriage with Miss Nellie McCord, of Des Moines, Iowa. Their pleasant home in Minneapolis is at 1778 Irving avenue south.

GEORGE GOTTHILF EITEL, M. D.

Founder of The Eitel Hospital, was born near Chaska, Carver county, Minnesota, September 28, 1858. He is a son of John G. and Mary (Ulmer) Eitel, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, and who were married at Chaska. The father came to America, like Carl Schurz, a refugee from the proscriptions following the Revolution of 1848. His wife's father had been active in that agitation, cooperating with Carl Schurz, and like him was obliged to seek safety in a foreign land. Several of Mr. Ulmer's associates came with him, among them Mr. Eitel. The latter made two trips to California, one in 1849 by the Isthmus route, and the other after coming to Minnesota. After spending some years on the coast he became a farmer and flour miller at Chaska. George G. Eitel was reared on the home farm two and one half miles from Chaska and attended the common schools and an academy. He early chose the medical profession and in 1888 was grad- uated as an M. D. from the Minnesota Hospital College. Desirous of special training he next devoted one year to clinical work in the University of Berlin, one of the greatest medical schools. After practicing one year he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, taking a thorough review in all previous work; and, upon graduation

practiced at Centralia, Washington, until 1893. He then located in Minneapolis, but later revisited Berlin, receiving the medical degree from its University. His twenty years of practice in Minneapolis has not only been extensive and successful, but has won him elevated position in his pro- fession. The idea of owning and conducting a private hospital he had long in mind, but hesitated for years because of the vast responsibility. His practice at various hospitals, how- ever, continued to so enlarge that in order to concentrate and secure best results he was almost compelled to put his design into execution. In March, 1911, work was begun on the hospital building, it being opened for patients in January, 1912. The hospital is a purely personal enterprise on the part of Dr. Eitel. It has accommodations for 100 patients, demands 40 nurses and 25 attendants and employ's four assistant physicians, all of whom are specialists in surgery. In fact, although it admits patients sent by other physicians, the hospital is largely a surgical institution, thus more meet- ing the desires and intention of its founder, who has special- ized in surgery during the last twelve years. $190,000 was needed to erect, equip and maintain the hospital and the Eitel training school for nurses. Only the best and most modern facilities of every required kind have been installed in the equipment. Dr. Eitel holds active membership in the various medical societies. He has been consulting surgeon of the Soo Railroad for years, and has enjoyed an extensive general practice in surgery. Concentrating his mind on his profession and with keen and critical analysis, he has written numerous articles for the medical journals which accord him a high reputation for the lucidity and force of language, the extent and accuracy of examination and comprehensive knowl- edge displayed. Dr. Eitel was married February 1, 1908, to Miss Jeannette E. Larsen of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The doctor is both a Scottish rite and Knight Templar Mason also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.

WILLIAM DONALDSON.

From the humble position of draper's apprentice to the exalted one of merchant prinee reads like a fairy story, but it is not, it is the life story of William Donaldson, who rose from the first named position which he held in Scotland to the honored one which he won for himself in Minneapolis and all this without wands or magic, without incense or incanta- tions but simply by his own unaided efforts, by his industry and integrity, his genius for administration and organization, his humanizing sympathy and his broad understanding. Min- neapolis people were always glad of his success and proud of the man, and in the old days when he was climbing the ladder of success so rapidly they delighted in calling him "the mer- chant prince." . All this had a significance beyond the recog- nition of his material gains and had to do with recognition of his qualities of heart and personality. No man was ever more loved by his employees. no man was ever more respected by his business friends and associates, no man was ever more welcome in the social cireles in which he moved than William Donaldson was. His construetive genius is part of the history of Minneapolis. He built for the prosperous future which he did not live to enjoy, but the fruits of his genius are the harvests of today.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 73

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