This house at 44th and West Broadway was a rental property owned by Andrew B. Robbins. Pictured out front are from left to right, Alfred Parker, Mrs. Raliegh Parker, Fred Baker Jr. Bakers's Aunt Mrs Guptel and Mrs. Christensen, the blacksmith's wife. The house was struck by kightening and burned to the ground in 1902.
Controversy over the doctrine of election (or predestination) rocked the Norwegian Synod in the 1880s. A group called the "Anti-Missourian Brotherhood" split off from the Synod and formed its own seminary in Northfield, Minn. The Norwegian Synod then moved its seminary, Luther Seminary, to Robbinsdale, Minn., in 1888. The seminary was housed in the building depicted here which was destroyed by fire in 1895. After the fire, Luther Seminary temporarily met nearby at the Hotel Georgia.
Cabinet photograph of Truman Elwell Rickard (1881-1948) in winter attire. In 1904, as a University of Minnesota student, Truman Elwell Rickard (composed the music and wrote the original words for "Hail! Minnesota," which became the Minnesota state song in 1945. Rickard later married Grace Larson, a daughter of L.W. Larson, a prominant early Fosston settler.
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909). In 1875, St. Joseph's parish, situated in the heart of Minneapolis, opened a small school for 50 pupils under the care of the Sisters of Charity. The following year, because of an expected increase in enrollment, the Benedictine Sisters from St. Joseph, MN, were asked to assume charge of the school. By 1882, a large new parish school was built. Within 30 years, the enrollment increased to 400 with 8 sisters teaching (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Mother Aloysia (Helen) Bath, the first American-born prioress of St. Benedict's Convent, was born in Addison, WI in 1849. Helen entered the community of the Sisters of St. Agnes in Baron, WI, in 1864 and was given the name Sister Agatha. She transferred to the community in St. Joseph, MN in 1871, changed her name to Aloysia, and professed vows there in 1875. Two years later, she was appointed prioress of the community in St. Joseph by Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, to fill out Mother Antonia Herman's term. Mother Aloysia resigned shortly before her term ended. However, nine years later, she was elected by the community to serve another term as prioress. Though of frail health, Mother Aloysia led the community in beginning the construction of a new convent and academy building in St. Joseph, in accepting four new schools in Minnesota, the American Indian mission in White Earth, MN, and a school in Bismarck. ND. She was an experienced teacher who had been in charge of several schools, including the large school in St. Joseph's Parish in Minneapolis. Mother Aloysia's greatest efforts were spent staffing schools in the face of school controversies and in developing a teacher-training program in the community so that young sisters would be sent out as certified teachers. Her contemplative spirit inspired the sisters to work for a balance in their work and prayer (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 73-78, 89).