In the late 1800s and the early decades of the last century, produce passed through a corner of the old Minneapolis Warehouse District called Commission Row. The heart of the bustling business of farmers and grocers, the Central Market was just behind the Butker Brothers Warehouse, where 2nd Avenue North crossed 6th Street. There was only one woman engaged in the Minneapolis commission business back in the early days of the last century, Violet Redpath was know as the Queen of Commission Row. It all started with a clerk position in a little cigar store. Redpath spent five years getting to know people.
Once she figured out the habits of the market she put her pluck an perseverance to work. She opened her own cigar store and after she added fruit and produce she began trading over a thousand dollars worth of fruit a week. Commission merchants worked long days. English born and Scottish educated, Redpath often arrived at 3:00am when the vegetable growers and fruit farmers were just rumbling into the city, their wagons piled high. Redpath was often spotted among the overloaded wagons selecting stocks by lantern light. When the market opened at 6:00am Violet’s modest stand always attracted a throng of steady customers. Grocers and hotel men were usually followed by women from Park Avenue and Lowry Hill that came in carriages.
Redpath hired a staff of assistants that were nearly all women. Her want ads appealed for young women who wished to be well treated. They were trusted by infrequent female sellers and farmer’s daughters. The stand was known for rare November berries that were said to come from an old German couple’s farm near Lake Minnetonka. Redpath often spoke of buying land and farming, but at the outbreak of the first World War, she left for France and volunteered for a year of continuous service in a Y.M.C.A. canteen near Paris. It was reported that she broke a world’s record making 250,000 doughnuts for the boys of the 35th division. She returned home to a hero’s welcome on Commission Row. Sellers and traders forsook their business upon her arrival. A lavish dinner and gala was held at the home of Mrs. J.D. Benney, 1775 Girard Avenue. Redpath brought home trophies from the battlefield. Among the souvenirs displayed at the gala were a German cap, a camouflaged trench helmet and a brown haired doll wearing a pink velvet gown. In France, Colonel William Rowan of Topeka, Kansas caught Violet’s eye. The two announced their engagement shortly after Redpath’s return to Minneapolis. The modest stand that had been built up into a thriving business that included a restaurant and billiard parlor over 19 years of was sold. Redpath worried what the doughboys she served with would think of her marriage to a Colonel. She told the local papers that she always gave the enlisted men preference “over there” and she worried what they might say when they heard she was to marry an officer. She left her business with regret and expressed hope that she would now have time to write about her experiences on Commission Row.
