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John and Clara Joy House

 

This attractive Italianate Style house was built in 1877 by John and Clara Joy. He was born in Maine in June, 1846; she was born in New York in September 1849. The 1880 U.S. Census records the couple living in the house along with their daughter, Mary Gertrude, born in September of 1877; and their son, Frank, born in May, 1879. John’s occupation is listed as "clerk in store," but he might have had some affluence considering the size of his house, plus the fact he also had a servant, Kate Glysso, age 22 listed as part of his household. The house was assessed by the tax collector at $1,400 in 1880.

Perhaps John was not as prosperous as he wished, for in the early 1880s, he moved out of this house, and we find him and Clara in the 1900 U.S. Census, living in a rented duplex at 487 Iglehart Avenue in St. Paul. His occupation is listed as a traveling salesman, and there are no servants in the house.

The next resident of the house was James Courtney Henning, born in Ohio in August of 1846. He was a druggist and proprietor of the Central Pharmacy downtown at 226 East Chestnut Street. The 1880 Census lists him as single and boarding on Second Street in Stillwater. In 1882, he married, and he and his wife, Mary moved into this house at 214 West Elm Street shortly thereafter. While living in the house, they had three children: Robert, born in September, 1883; David, born in November, 1885; and James, born in May of 1891.

In 1894, the Hennings moved out of their home, and they next appear in the 1900 U.S. Census living in Minneapolis in their new home at 2728 University Avenue. James was still a druggist, and the family is prosperous enough to have a servant.

The next residents of this Elm Street house are the Englin family. According to the 1910 U. S. Census, Erick Englin was born in Sweden about 1858 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1869; his wife, Ellen, was a first-generation Minnesotan, born in 1884. He was 52; she was 26, and apparently this was his second marriage for there is a son, Lawrence, age 14, living with them. Erick and Ellen were married in 1902. There were also other stepchildren briefly living in the house. The 1904 Stillwater City Directory lists Clara Englin and Emma Englin, both teachers, living at 214 West Elm, as well as Charles Englin, a student. Erick was the manager of the repair department and advertising manager of the Northwest Thresher Company, a large Stillwater manufacturing firm. It seems Erick had a good job, for again there is a servant, Ella Monty, listed in the 1910 Census.

Shortly after 1910, Erick and Ellen Englin moved out of the house to Westbrook in Cottonwood County, Minnesota, where they rented a house. Erick, in his 60s, took up farming.

Since the Englins moved from 214 West Elm Street this house has had a number of other owners, including George Sullivan and Orange Burkleo.

In style, the house is a standard 1880s Italianate design, quite common in Stillwater. Characteristic are the three windows across the front of the house on the second story with two windows and the door directly below on the first floor. The chimney is typically in the middle of the hip roof. The corner brackets under the eaves are features of this style, but the double front doors have been modified, and the usual transom window over the front door has been removed. The other features: the two-pane-over-two-pane original windows, the decorative hoods over the windows, and the attractive paint scheme all make this an excellent example of a Nineteenth Century Stillwater home. The original house, as built in 1877, probably did not have a front porch; typically the front porches were added around 1900.

Source(s): Information complied by Donald Empson, Empson Archives on 3/28/2009 Building date and value is from the original annual tax assessors’ rolls, 1878-1886 (on microfilm in the St. Croix Collection, Stillwater Public Library); the house shows up, pretty much all by itself, in the 1879 Bird’s Eye View Map of Stillwater. The U.S. Census 1880-1920 provided information on the residents of the house.

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 2803020210055

Common Property Name: John and Clara Joy House

Neighborhood: Staples and Mays Addition

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number: WA-SWC-1582

Construction Date: 1877

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Italianate