Exterior view of the Isaac Staples Sawmill Building at 400 Main Street North in Stillwater, Minnesota. The building is also known as the St. Croix Lumber Mills- Stillwater Manufacturing Company and is on the National Register of Historic Places. This mill was built in 1853 by Seth Sawyer and Alvah Heaton. It was purchased in 1869 by Isaac Staples. He was a powerful lumber baron in the St. Croix River Valley during the logging boom of the late nineteenth century. Staples arrived in Stillwater, from Maine in 1853 as a representative of eastern investors. Hersey, Staples, andCompany became the largest single owners of timberland in the St. Croix valley. Aside from his massive holdings and operations in timber, sawmills, and the St. Croix Boom Company, Staples was also the region's most successful farmer and an important banker.
Birdseye view of the Stillwater Lift Bridge and the Commander Building in Stillwater, Minnesota. The Stillwater Lift Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge crossing the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota, and Houlton, Wisconsin. It first opened to traffic in 1931.
View of Second Street east of Myrtle Street in Stillwater, Minnesota. Signs are visible for Shorty's dry cleaners, Stillwater Gazette newspaper, and The Old Post Office Shoppes.
The east side of Main Street from Nelson Street to Chestnut Street in Stillwater, Minnesota. Pictured are Simonet Furniture and Carpet Company at 301 Main Street South, built in 1904 and Trump's Grill and Bar, built pre-1884.
The Trade Winds Travel building was located at 118 Main Street South, Stillwater Minnesota. Silver Light Photography Studio is also pictured. Built approximately 1867-1884, the building is made of limestone block.
View of the east side of the Junior High School in Stillwater, Minnesota. The building has since been demolished to make room for the Veteran's Memorial.
Picture of 223 Chestnut or Tepass Block in Stillwater, Minnesota. Tepass block was built 1885 and named after Stillwater's first brewer. Country Classics, Anna Lou's, Tailor Maid, and Trimble & Associates. This is a four bay two story red brick structure with hood moldings of metal around the second story windows.
The Jassoy building is located at 204 Third Street in Stillwater, Minnesota and was built by Theodore Jassoy in 1886. Jassoy and his son Herman owned and ran one of the finest harness and saddlery shops in Stillwater and in the state. In 1898, this building also housed the Public Reading Room.
The Roscoe Hersey home at 414 South Fourth Street is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Eastlake/early Queen Anne style Roscoe Hersey House is an irregular plan 18 room structure made by machine-produced decorative woodwork. Roscoe Hersey played an important role in the early development of Stillwater's lumber and mercantile development. His house reflects the commercial success of the Hersey-Staples partnership, the strong link between the St. Croix Valley and Maine capital and personalities, and the boom years of Stillwater's lumber years. Roscoe Hersey was the eldest son of Samuel F. Hersey, Isaac Staples financial partner. Roscoe Hersey moved to Minnesota in 1867, after serving in the Civil War at the age of 26 to look after his family's business. He took charge of the Lake City branch of the Hersey, Staples and Co. In 1872 he moved to Stillwater and entered the firm of Hersey, Bean and Brown, a land, lumber, merchandise firm. In 1878 he was elected and served one term as a state senator. Hersey built the house in 1879-1880 and occupied it for seven years.
The view of Water Street North in Stillwater, Minnesota; to the east (right) is the Water Street Inn (formerly the Lumberman's Exchange) at 101 Water Street South.
The Saint Croix County welcome sign across the river from Stillwater in Wisconsin features advertisements for H & L Liquors and Bass Lake Cheese Factory.
Exterior view of the Isaac Staples Sawmill Building in Stillwater, Minnesota. Also known as the St. Croix Lumber Mills- Stillwater Manufacturing Company on the National Register of Historic Places.
Saloon building at 304 North Main Street and Stillwater Manufacturing Company at 312 North Main Street. The Saloon was relocated to Second and Mulberry streets during the construction of Stillwater Mills condominiums. The Stillwater Manufacturing Building was demolished. North Main Street runs in front of the buildings. A sign for an antique store is visible.
The fountain in Lowell Park near the Stillwater Lift Bridge in Stillwater, Minnesota. The Stillwater Lift Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge crossing the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota, and Houlton, Wisconsin. It first opened to traffic in 1931.
View of 3rd Street South and Myrtle Street West in Stillwater, Minnesota. Historic Hassoy block in background; Steeple Town Commons condominium ( formerly First Presbyterian Church) in foreground. Building constructed in 1851.
The Freight House in Stillwater, Minnesota is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Freight House and Depot is overlooking the St. Croix River on the eastern fringe of Stillwater. The freight house and depot, built in 1883, is a simple vernacular building. Exterior ornamentation consists of a series of arched doors and windows on both sides of the building. Constructed of limestone and brick the building measures 200 feet by 40 feet. The limestone foundation walls measure approximately two feet thick. The brick bearing walls are eighteen inches thick and thirty feet high. (The limestone was quarried in the nearby North Quarry.) Date of its construction is 1883. The mill construction and truss system of the building are significant as examples of wood structural engineering. The first map of Stillwater (1848) indicates that the present site of the building was once Lake St. Croix. Therefore, the building required elaborately engineered pilings to support the tremendous weight of the limestone foundation and brick walls. One of the most interesting features of the building was its dual use - passenger and freight. The building served as a freight house and passenger depot until 1955.
Buildings at 114 Chestnut Street East and 116 Chestnut Street East, Stillwater, Minnesota. On the left is the Brunswick House, constructed by William C. Penny, a carpenter by trade, about 1848, the same year in which Stillwater was platted as a town and the year the territorial convention took place. In 1849 the first meeting of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) in Minnesota took place in the upstairs of the house. The Pennys sold the house in 1863 to Julius Brunswick. Brunswick, from Switzerland, worked in the mercantile trade.