Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 88

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 88

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His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, his religious faith was that of the Protestant Episcopal church, and he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He was essentially liberal and progressive as a citizen, was an able and far-sighted business man.

On the 17th of April, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hooper to Miss Susan Elizabeth Stoever, who survives him and who still maintains her home in Minneapolis, her attractive and hospitable residence being located at 106 Spruce Place. She was born in the state of Massachusetts, and was a child at the time of the family removal to Minnesota, in 1856. Her father, the late John C. Stoever, was one of the sterling pioneer settlers of this state, was in active service in the conflicts with the turbulent Indians in the early years of the Civil war, and served as paymaster for the government in connection with military operations in Minnesota at this time. He established his residence in Houston county, was

closely and prominently identified with the industrial and civic development of that section of the state and there he lived until well advanced in years, when he came to Min- neapolis, where he died at the age of seventy-one years, his name meriting high place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Minnesota. His first wife died when her daughter Susan Elizabeth-Mrs. Hooper-was eight years of age, and his second wife, whom he wedded in Pennsylvania, survived him by several years,-a woman of marked talent and most gracious personality.

PROFESSOR LUDWIG W. HARMSEN.

While Minneapolis now holds high rank as a center of musical culture in its early days it lacked in organizations. There was needed a master who could collect, fuse and har- muonize the musical talent and attainments.

This master spirit came in 1868 in the person of Pro- fessor Ludwig W. Harmsen, who has won wide and apprecia- tive popularity and admiration as a composer, performer and director in musical events. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, December 31, 1839, and had his natural gifts ad- mirably trained in that city's celebrated Conservatory. He began to take pupils and teach music when he was only sixteen years old.

In 1865, he joined a brother at Atlanta, Georgia, where he remained two years, being employed as director of the Mo- zart Society. In 1868 he came to Minneapolis and soon be- came popular as a teacher and director in the different musi- cal societies.

One exception to the ephemeral character of the early musi- cal organizations was the Harmonia Society formed by the German residents in the early seventies and still in vigorous existence. It owed a large part of its vitality to the work and influence of Professor Harmsen, one of its early leaders. Peter Rauen was prominent as an early president and Richard Stempf and other well known musicians were also leaders in it. Another valuable musical organization, was the Min- neapolis Choral Society, which was founded in 1876. George R. Lyman was its first president and Professor Harmsen its first teacher, leader and director.

Professor Harmsen was also an important factor in the Minneapolis Orchestral Union, the Concordia and Maennerchor of St. Paul, the Stillwater Maennerchor, the Harmonia Froh- sinn and the Liederkranz. He wa's also the organist of Ply- mouth church for ten years and of the Church of the Re- deemer for thirteen. In addition to these, Presbyterian churches had the benefit of his similar services as had also the Hennepin Avenue and Wesley Methodist churches; and, he was director of the Concordia Singing Society of St. Paul for a continuous period of twenty-six years.

He acquired an enviable reputation as a director of large orchestras. He has been highly honored by the lovers of music, many testimonials of esteem and regard being bestowed. His piano symphony "The Martyr" composed upon the death of President Garfield, and dedicated to the American people, has won high place among musicians. His compositions for choral work have been accorded distinction. "The Singer's Curse," especially, demanding attention when rendered by a chorus of 500 chosen male voices at the Singer's festival at Brooklyn.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

lle was married in 1875 to Miss Anna Sauer of Minne- apolis. They have two daughters and one son. The pro- fessor is truly loyal and devoted to the country of his adop- tion, but still cherishes a warm and appreciative affection for that of his birth, which he visited in 1869, and again in 1874.

LEWIS S. GILLETTE.

Lewis S. Gillette, long one of the leading business men of Minneapolis, and a far more extensive and important con- tributor to the growth and improvement of the city than the residents of it generally know, was born at Niles, Michigan, May 9, 1854, a son of Mahlon Bainbridge and Nancy Mary (Reese) Gillette, and a direct descendant of Jonathan Gil- lette, who came to America in the ship "Mary and John" in 1630 and settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. He is also a direct descendant of Commodore Bainbridge of the United States navy, who quelled the piraey of the Barbary States on the Mediterranean coast of Africa in 1803, and afterward still further distinguished himself in the naval service of his country.

Mr. Gillette's father and grandfather emigrated from West- ern New York to Michigan in 1844, and located on a farm at Niles on the St. Joseph's river, making the journey of nearly 200 miles from Detroit to Niles by team. On this homestead Lewis S. Gillette was born May 9, 1854, and his brother, George M. Gillette, December 19, 1858. They re- ceived their elementary education in the country school con- ducted on the homestead and were prepared for college at the high school in Nile's. Lewis passed the entrance examination for the University of Michigan in the summer of 1872, but on account of illness came West, reaching Minneapolis in Sep- tember of the same year. Dr. W. W. Folwell, then president of the University of Minnesota, and a cousin of his father, persuaded the young student to attend the latter University for one year at least.

At the end of that period he expected to return to Mich- igan, but he became interested in the progress of Minneapolis, then a city of about 18,000 people, and the growth of the University, then in its infancy, and remained for the full four years' course. He carried a double course through the fall college period, and was graduated with the degrees of B. S. and B. E. in 1876. A few years later the University con- ferred on him the degree of C. E. on account of meritorious work in engineering, his first work in this line being done while he was at college and under the supervision of Colonel Farquahar and Lathrop Gillespie, engineers in charge of Gov- ernment work on the Upper Mississippi and the Falls of St. Anthony.

After his graduation in 1876 Mr. Gillette returned to his old Michigan home and purchased a farm adjoining that of the family homestead. He was married December 18, 1877, to Miss Louesa E. Perkins, of Minneapolis. While conducting his farming and live stock operations he bought an interest in the Niles Chilled Plow Works and became the treasurer and manager of the industry. His farm house was destroyed by fire about this time, and he then moved to Niles and took active charge of the plow works. In 1880 he represented the State of Michigan at the Atlanta Cotton Exposition, and

there he made so great a market for the products of his plow company that it became necessary to either double the plant or move it to another locality with greater facilities.

ln 1881 James J. Hill offered him the position of assistant right of way agent for the Great Northern, then the St. Paul, Minneapolis .& Manitoba Railway. He accepted the offer, moved to Minneapolis and remained with the railroad com- pany four years. During this period much of the right of way occupied by the road, for which it had never procured title, was, purchased. This included the line westward from the Mississippi, all the old Union depot grounds, the present terminal, the Minnesota Transfer and the main line, which then extended only to Grand Forks.

In 1882, after the purchase of the St. Anthony Falls water power by the Hill interests, Mr. Gillette was appointed en- gincer and agent of the Water Power Company, and he served in this capacity and also as right of way agent of the Great Northern until May, 1884. It was largely through his efforts that East Minneapolis secured the location of the Exposition building. He was chairman of the committee that made the purchase of the site, and at the same time the city made him trustee of its properties on Central avenue. He was author- ized to sell or exchange these properties and purchase the whole water front between the exposition and the east chan- nel of the Mississippi.

In May, 1884, Mr. Gillette bought a one-half interest in the Herzog Manufacturing Company, then a small institution on the east side of the river. From this date his advance- ment and successes were rapid. In 1899 he bought Mr. Her- zog's interest in the enterprise, and the iron works became known as the Gillette-Herzog Manufacturing Company. Mr. Gillette's knowledge of engineering served him well and his company became the pioneer in skeleton steel construction for mining and manufacturing buildings throughout the West and the recognized authority on that subject. Its work is found in every principal city and mining camp from Panama to Alaska, and from 1884 to 1900 there wa's scarcely an enter- prise between Chicago and the Pacific coast requiring steel work in its construction that did not confer with the Gillette company. So enviable was the reputation the operations of this company won for the men at the head of it that in 1885, Allen Marwel, president of the Atehison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, offered Mr. Gillette the position of assistant gen- eral manager of the Santa Fe system to succeed H. C. Ives, deceased.

In 1895 Mr. Gillette and his associates organized the Min- nesota Malleable Iron Company, and conducted its operations in North St. Paul at the plant of the defunct Walter A. Wood Company, which was afterward sold to the American Grass Twine Company. Mr. Gillette was also one of the principal organizers of the American Bridge Company. Two years were required to procure the options on the thirty-one properties that were absorbed by this company and to effect their sale to Mr. Morgan after Messrs. Selligman & Harriman had failed to underwrite them. At the request of Charles Steele, J. P. Morgan & Company and Percival Roberts, president of the Bridge Company, Mr. Gillette remained in charge of all the properties west of Chicago until the company was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation. He then retired and made an extended foreign trip accompanied by his family.

After his return from abroad Mr. Gillette's active mind

L. & Gillette

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

immediately sought new fields of enterprise. He aided in founding and building the Red Wing Malting plant, a con- tinuously prosperous industry. He also organized and built the Electric Steel Elevator, one of the largest of all the American terminal elevators and to this day a model. In connection with this plant of 3,250,000 bushels capacity, he conceived the idea of grouping other industries and induced three of those now surrounding it to enter into the project. The Russell Miller Mill, The Spencer-Kellogg Linseed Oil Crusher, the Electric Malting plant, the Archer-Daniels Lin- seed Oil plant and the Delmar Elevator are grouped around the mammoth central elevator and from it they receive over belts, at the rate of 10,000 bushels per hour, the grain re- quired for their uses, which is purchased and delivered to them by the central company. The arrangement is mutually satisfactory and profitable, and the large milling companies are now copying it on a smaller scale. Prior to his entering upon any of the enterprises last enumerated, Mr. Gillette received an offer from J. P. Morgan & Co. inviting him to take the management of one of that firm's Eastern railroads, but as his interests and ties were all in the West he declined the offer.

This gentleman of many powers was for years vice presi- dent of the Metropolitan Bank, which was sold through him to the Northwestern National Bank, in which he became a large stockholder and director. He was also one of the early stockholders and directors of the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, and he aided his sons, his brother and J. L. Record in establishing the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company, one of the largest industrial institutions in this state. In association with other gentlemen, he purchased the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper, with its building and printing estab- lishment. The purchasers conducted the business succesfully for some years and then sold it profitably to the owners of the St. Paul Dispatch.

Mr. Gillette has always been intensely interested in the growth of the State University and aided it on numerous oc- casions. It was largely through his efforts and those of F. W. Clifford that plans for a Greater University were secured and the master mind of Cass Gilbert was induced to estab- lish the type of buildings that should be erected on the campus. Since 1887 he has been an extensive traveler. There are few countries in the world he has not visited and 'care- fully studied, all the American states are as familiar to him as Minnesota. His home is full of mementoes of his foreign travels which delight his friends and visitors.

He is also a willing servant in public and civic work, and has been prominent for many years on boards having such work in charge. After visiting Rio Janeiro and Buenos Ayres and seeing the wonderful reconstruction of those cities, he conceived that it was possible to do something similar in Minneapolis. At a dinner given by Hon. E. A. Merrill, when discussing this subject with the late Judge Martin B. Koon and General W. D. Washburn, Mr. Gillette related the miracle performed in the two South American cities. The result was the organization of the Minneapolis Civic Commission, which was formed for planning the Greater Minneapolis.

He succeeded the late Hon. Geo. A. Pillsbury as trustee of Pillsbury Academy and is active in its service.

The investment enterprises Mr. Gillette is connected with and president of are the L. S. Gillette Company, the Plymouth Investment Company and the Chippewa Land and Pasture Company of Wisconsin. The clubs he belongs to are the

Engineers, New York; the University, Chicago; the Univer- sity and Minnesota, St. Paul, and the Lafayette, Minneapolis and Minikahda, Minneapolis. His religious affiliation is with Trinity Baptist Church. He believes that every citizen who has lived in a community, shared its prosperity, enjoyed its society, benefited by its public service, and gained a 'compe- tence within its borders owes something to that community and should pay the debt, and he is zealous in the work of discharging his own obligation to Minneapolis. He is an en- thusiastic sportsman and has been for ten years president of Lake Emily Gun Club.

Mr. Gillette was married on December 18, 1877, to Miss Louise F. Perkins, of Minneapolis, a daughter of George E. Perkins, who settled in St. Anthony in 1857. They have two sons and three daughters.

He has for thirty years been one of the state's largest cm- ployers of labor, and has held the confidence and loyal service of his men. He enjoys the enviable reputation of having keen foresight and clear perception-is a good judge of men -a tireless worker, resourceful and of unquestioned integrity. Men of affairs join willingly in any enterprise that he will father. Many benevolences and worthy poor enjoy his un- ostentatious aid.

MRS. HELEN F. HANSON.

A unique position in Minneapolis is that held by Mrs. Hanson, proprietor of the Plaza hotel, the leading establish- ment of its kind in the city and one that compares more than favorably with the best family hotels in other metro- politan centers. Mrs. Hanson has not only proved a discern- ing and capable executive but has also attained marked distinction and popularity as a hostess. She has made an enviable reputation in her chosen sphere of endeavor and her circle of friends is 'coincident with that of her acquaint -. ances.

Mrs. Hanson has been actively identified with the hotel business since May, 1901. For five years she was proprietor of the Judd House, and since its opening, in October, 1905, has officiated in a similar capacity at the Plaza, of which she is the lessee. It is essentially modern and attractive, being designed by the well known architect, Walter J. Keith, who was the chief promoter, and who became the executive head of a syndicate of representative local capitalists. Mrs. Hanson was one of the stockholders and her ability and popu- larity marked her as the one most eligible hostess of the new hotel, which was completed at a cost of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. She has handled the executive affairs with ability making the hostelry one pervaded by the true home atmosphere, the while giving the latitude and facilities of the first-class metropolitan hotel. The Plaza has accommodations for one hundred and twenty-five guests and it is a popular center of much social activity.

Mrs. Hanson was born and reared in the city of Boston, and is a representative of staunch New England lineage, as was also her husband, the late Charles M. Hanson, who was at one time secretary of the Title Insurance & Trust Company of Minneapolis. Mr. Hanson likewise was born in Boston of a family founded in New England in the colonial era. Mr. Hanson was afforded excellent educational advantages, having distinctive ability and exalted character. In 1864, a mere

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

lad, he ran away to tender his services in defense of the Union, enlisting in the Massachusetts regiment. In later years he perpetuated the memories and associations of his military career by affiliation with John A. Rawlins Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and in which he was held in highest regard. He died on the 29th of January, 1909, at the age of sixty-three. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were parents of one daughter, Alma, who is the wife of Dr. Charles B. Wright.

PERRY HARRISON.

The scion of families distinguished in local history Perry Harrison, one of the well known bankers being connected with one of the strongest fiscal institutions in the Northwest, has admirably upheld the examples and record of his family in a fruitful and useful business career.

Mr. Harrison was born in Minneapolis, October 11, 1862, being a son of Hugh Galbraith and Irene Amelia (Robinson) Harrison, an account of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. He was educated in the public schools and at the Northwestern University Preparatory School. At the age of sixteen he began his banking career in a subordinate posi- tion, and has steadily advanced until he is now vice president of the Security National Bank.

Mr. Harrison has always taken an earnest interest in local .affairs, and has contributed to their promotion. Ile served seven and a half years in the First Regiment, Minnesota National Guard, becoming lieutenant colonel. He has ever been energetic and resourceful, the progress and improvement of Minneapolis and Minnesota giving practical aid to every undertaking for betterment morally, intellectually, socially and materially.

Mr. Harrison is a Republican, but has never sought or desired political office. He is a member of the Minneapolis, Long Meadow Gun and Lafayette clubs. In 1887, Mr. Harri- son was married at Hokendauqua, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Miriam Thomas.

ARTHUR W. HOBERT.

Arthur W. Hobert was born at Ottawa, Illinois, August 14, 1858, and is a son of Edward and Mary E. (Phillips) Hobert, both of New York state. The mother dying when the son was four years old, he was reared by a step-mother, remaining at home until manhood. He obtained a common school education, which he supplemented by night school in- struction in Chicago, where he learned bookkeeping and was employed in the office of Dr. Madison, a dentist, as was Mr. Hobert's father. He soon afterward became connected with the dental manufactory and supplies establishment of S. S. White, as a salesman on the road and in charge of office detail.

He remained with Mr. White until married October 9, 1883, to Miss Bessie Berry, daughter of William M. and Betsey Ann (Godfrey) Berry. She was born at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, living in Chicago from 1875, there attending the public schools as also Miss Grant's noted school. The year after mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Hobert came to Minneapolis. They have

two daughters. Helen graduated from National Park Semi- nary, at Washington, D. C., and married Ensign Ralph M. Jaeger, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and then an officer in the navy. He is a son of Luth Jaeger and a grandson of Col. Hans Mattson, twice secretary of state of Minnesota. Hortense attended the high school two years and is now a student at Beechwood College, Jenkintown, Penn- sylvania, where she has given special attention to voice cultivation.

Mr. Hobert was employed one year in building Hillside Cemetery, and then, 1891, became superintendent of Lakewood Cemetery. He stands high in landscape gardening and is an esteemed member of several national associations devoted to this branch of enterprise and improvement. The superiority of his judgment in connection with the subject is widely known, and he has been called to superintend the designing and laying out of cemeteries in many different places. His residence is near Lakewood Cemetery.

COLONEL ERLE D. LUCE.

Promoter and president of the Electric Short Line Railway Company and colonel of the First Infantry of the Minnesota National Guard; born at Red Wing, the judicial center of Goodhue county, Minnesota, on the 20th of May, 1882, and is a son of William L. and Nellie B. (David) Luce, the former of whom was born in Maine, of staunch colonial stock, and the latter of whom was born in Iowa, in which state their marriage was solemnized, in 1881, in the city of Burlington. William L. Luce is one of the honored pioneers of Minnesota and through well directed enterprise along various lines he has contributed definitely to the civic and industrial develop- ment and upbuilding of this favored commonwealth. He became a resident of Red Wing in 1858 and eventually developed a large and important business in the buying and shipping of grain, a domain of enterprise in which he gained definite precedence and high reputation. He became the owner and operator of a series of well equipped grain elevators along the line of the Great Northern Railroad and his extensive operations had marked influence in the furtherance of progress and prosperity throughout a large and important agricultural district of the state. He continued to give the major part of his time and attention to the grain trade until about the opening of the twentieth century, and in the meanwhile, in 1889, he removed with his family from Red Wing to Min- neapolis, in which latter city he has since maintained his home. He has been closely and prominently identified with real-estate operations within later years and became a dominating force in the promotion of the Electric Short Line Railway, as he early discerned the great benefit that would accrue to Minneapolis through the construction of such a line to the west. He is the vice president of the company con- trolling the Minneapolis terminal system of the Electric Short Line Railway, and president of the company which controls the line of the system outside of the city, his son, Colonel Luce, of this review, is vice president, the two separate cor- porations having similar corporate titles. William L. Luce has given his influence and co-operation in the furtherance of legitimate movements for the general good of the state of his adoption, and during the long years of his residence in

Este To Juce.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Minnesota he has maintained secure vantage-place in popular confidenee and esteem.

Colonel Luce gained his preliminary education in the public schools of his native city and continued his studies in the public schools of Minneapolis, where he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1903. Scon afterward he was matriculated in the law department of the University of Minnesota, and in the same he was graduated in 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Even at the time when he entered the high school Colonel Luce began to manifest marked prescience and interest in the matter of affording electric interurban facilities connecting Minneapolis with the splendid section of country lying to the west,-a section not adequately served through the medium of the steam railway systems. He entered fully and enthusiastically into the splendid conception made by his father in this con- nection, and thus he was deflected from the work of the profession for which he had fitted himself and was led to enter vigorously upon the practical execution of plans which he had formulated in the matter of developing the interurban electric system which had engrossed much of his thought. His law eourse was taken primarily for the purpose of fortify- ing himself for the emergencies and legal technicalities that might arise in connection with the prosecution of his ambitious plans for the developing of an important public utility, and his technical knowledge has proved of great value to him, even as he had anticipated. His conceptions of justice and equity have been shown to be of high order and this fact has gained to him in his enterprise ready co-operation rather than antagonism. Vigorously and effectively has he handled the involved and multifarious details of bringing his ambitious purpose to concrete results, and he has shown much circum- spection and judgment in securing right of way, terminal facilities and other required concessions, as well as in the general supervision of the details of survey and practical eonstruction work. He has shown splendid capacity in the handling of large affairs and the solving of formidable prob- lems, even as he has proved himself an able financier. The following extracts from an appreciative article which appeared in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune of March 25, 1913, will afford an idea of the magnitude and value of the enterprise which has been fostered and developed under the able super- vision of Colonel Luce:

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 88

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