Catalog
“Bought 2 Horses & a Wagon:” The Story of the Murphy Companies
Virginia Brainard KunzThis is the story of how E. L. Murphy Sr. established his business, gradually converted it from horses to trucks, suffered through the takeover of Murphy Transfer and Storage Company and Murphy Motor Freight Lines by a St. Paul bank in the midst of the Great Depression, and how brothers…
Ramsey County History – Summer 2003: “Fog and the Dark of an October Night—The Fabled Wreck of the ‘Ten Spot’ in Its Plunge Twenty-five Feet to the Mississippi Below”
David RiehleFog and the Dark of an October Night—The Fabled Wreck of the ‘Ten Spot’ in Its Plunge Twenty-five Feet to the Mississippi Below Author: David Riehle Shortly before 6 a.m.. on October 15, 1912, with the landscape covered in a dense fog, a bridge tender on the Terminal Bridge…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2003: “The Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company”
Virginia Brainard KunzThe Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz This is a short article on Wilson Farrell’s Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, which was established in 1854. Like other groups of this type, its members were elected and had to buy their own ladders, buckets, and rope. Arson,…
Ramsey County History – Fall 2002: “Those Squealing Red River Ox Carts: Norman Kittson and the Fur Trade”
Clarence Rife and Holly WaltersThose Squealing Red River Ox Carts: Norman Kittson and the Fur Trade Authors: Clarence Rife and Holly Walters In 1830 at the age of sixteen, Canadian-born Norman Kittson joined the American Fur Company and headed west. He eventually arrived in Minnesota, where he joined Henry Sibley in the fur…
Ramsey County History – Summer 2002: “Singles, Doubles and Pairs, Fours and Quads—Life on the Mississippi: The 132 Years of the Minnesota Boat Club and Its Rich History”
Jim MillerSingles, Doubles and Pairs, Fours and Quads—Life on the Mississippi: The 132 Years of the Minnesota Boat Club and Its Rich History Author: Jim Miller A history of the Minnesota Boat Club from its 1870 founding to the present. It began as a sporting and social club for well-to-do…
Ramsey County History – Summer 2002: “The Road to the Selby Tunnel, Or How to Make It Up the St. Anthony Hill”
Virginia Brainard KunzThe Road to the Selby Tunnel, Or How to Make It Up the St. Anthony Hill Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz St. Paul’s hills posed a challenge for the street railways of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This article describes the earliest days of horsecars, the problem of…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2002: “The Fire Insurance Patrol: Gone But Not Forgotten”
John S. SonnenThe Fire Insurance Patrol: Gone But Not Forgotten Author: John S. Sonnen The Fire Insurance Patrol, a private organization incorporated in 1895, was financed by small assessments on fire insurance policies. When a fire broke out, the patrol rushed to the conflagration, usually getting there before the fire department…
Ramsey County History – Spring 2002: “Doing History in Ramsey County and St. Paul: A Review Essay”
John M. LindleyDoing History in Ramsey County and St. Paul: A Review Essay Author: John M. Lindley Like the late nineteenth century spate of local history books about St. Paul, the author comments on a similar recent flourishing of St. Paul history and gives several short summaries of the works. Among…
Ramsey County History – Fall 1998: “Banker and Philanthropist Richard C. Lilly: The Man Who Led Two Lives”
Virginia Brainard KunzBanker and Philanthropist Richard C. Lilly: The Man Who Led Two Lives Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz Richard Lilly began work on a road crew at age fifteen, after his father was disabled in an accident. By age thirty-three, in 1918, he was president of St. Paul’s second-largest bank. In 1929,…