The story of the Stevens house reminds me of Virginia Lee Burton’s book, The Little House that was based the story her own little house which she had moved from a busy city street into a field of daisies with apple trees growing all around. The removal of the old Stevens house from 16th Avenue South to Minnehaha Park, took place May 28th, 1896. The modest home, erected by Col. John H. Stevens in 1849, was the first settler’s house to rise in what would become the city of Minneapolis, west of the Mississippi. A sizable population made a home east of the river in St. Anthony, but that area did not become part of the new city of Minneapolis until 1872. Under the roof of the Stevens home, the first town and county governments and the first school district were organized and many of the earliest agricultural and literary societies were formed.
Charles Hoag is said to have proposed the name “Minneapolis” in this house. Over the years the house fell into disrepair, but when the Stevens House was threatened by the construction of the Union Depot, the Minneapolis Journal proposed and worked out a novel plan to transport the building to a place of safety for indefinite preservation. At an early hour, the children of the Minneapolis Public Schools began arriving at 16th Avenue South in detachments. The first relief were stationed along two cables of 500 feet or more attached to the house and mounted on trucks. At 9:00 the word was passed and the children “in high glee” began pulling the ropes. The moving had begun and the old house was on its way. Successive reliefs, standing by at convenient points along the way, took their places on the towing lines, and a little after lunch time the journey came to an end on the far side of Minnehaha Falls.
Alderman Fred . B. Snyder, who was born in the house, presented it to the city and made a speech,
” It is both fitting and proper to glorify the relics of bygone days. I remember the house as it stood amid lilac bushes, beneath the foliage of overlapping trees on the green banks of the Mississippi. Many changes have come since then and the old landmark was swept away. This house has no commercial value, but only stands as an ancestral history picture, like a keepsake of departed ones, it stands as a monument of the past. Old home, I greet you.You are endeared to me by memories of the past. For many years you have been outcast, forsaken and neglected, almost forgotten. I rejoice that at this late date there has come to you as to an old man a second childhood; that henceforth as of old you will nestle on the green banks of a flowing stream beneath the foliage of overhanging trees; and that you again will feel the mist and hear the roaring of the falling water. Mr Mayor, in behalf of the children who have brought the old building here, I now transfer the first house built in Minneapolis to you, by delivering this key to have and to hold for the use of the public from this time forth;forever.”
It was a matter of regret by all present that a sudden illness prevented Col. Stevens from attending the ceremonies. The mention of his name brought the crowd to their feet with loud demonstrations of good will and respect. Over 10,000 children from all over the city participated. After enjoying a holiday granted by the school board, the boys and girls were carried free to their homes by the Minneapolis Electric Railway Company.
