Landmark Site

Durant House

 

Edward White Durant was an early and adventurous river pilot and lumberman. He came to Stillwater at the age of 19, spent three years rafting on the river, and then was a pilot between Stillwater and St. Paul to St. Louis for 15 years. He then spent 14 years as the general manager for Hersey, Staples and Company. In 1872, he became one of the founding partners in the firm of Durant, Wheeler and Company, whose business was to buy and sell lumber. He also served three terms as Stillwater mayor (1889-91), and served in the state house and senate for many years. He married Henrietta Pease in 1853, and they had four children, two of whom survived to adulthood.

By the early 1870s, he had built at least one house on the South Hill. The large and imposing three story mansion, in the French Second Empire style with a dormered mansard roof, is pictured in the 1874 Andreas' Illustrated Historical Atlas at this location on the corner of Pine and South Second Street. The 1870 census indicates Durant owned real property valued at the notable sum of $4000 at this time, with Edward and Henrietta, along with children named Henrietta and Edward and domestic Christina Holm, among the first occupants of the home.

The 1900 city directory notes that the tireless Edward, Sr. managed Stillwater’s Grand Opera House as well as timber and mineral concerns. In 1903, the Durants celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. In 1904, Edward Durant, Jr., who had followed the elite trajectory of the wealthy of the era through Exeter Academy and Yale University, moved to South Carolina, where he oversaw multiple business interests in lumber and mining and was married. In 1912, Edward Durant, Sr. joined his son’s family there (presumably after Henrietta’s death). Edward Durant Sr. died in 1918.

Aside from the sweeping views of the St. Croix valley, the Durants would hardly recognize their home as it stands today, as David and Julia Tozer McCuish, the next owners of this house, altered it to its current Classical Revival appearance following their 1908 marriage (ca. 1911). Julia Tozer was the daughter of wealthy lumberman David Tozer and his wife, Margaret, and grew up at 704 South 3rd Street (also a Landmark home). The forty-three year old Daniel McCuish, a business partner of David Tozer, was ten years older than Julia, suggesting a relatively late marriage for them both. Daniel served as master at the St. Croix Boom and was an incorporator of the McClure Lumber Company, among other ventures.

Beyond the late marriage, there are other suggestions that this was an unusual partnership. Unique for the era, for example, Julia had her own listing in the Stillwater city directory, under the full name of Julia Tozer McCuish, and which included her office location in the Lumberman’s Exchange Building (which she shared with Daniel). She served as the vice president of the Interstate Lumber Company, following in the footsteps of her mother, who had held a position as manager of the company’s predecessor, the Tozer mill.

The couple had no children. Daniel died in 1943, Julia in 1954. From the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, the house held offices for the County Welfare Board and the Public Health Office. By 1965, the house once again became a single-family home, with the John Condon family occupying the home in the following decades.

Source(s): City Directory. Stillwater: R. L. Polk and, Various. Print. Roberts, Norene. South Hill Stillwater Residential Area Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota. City of Stillwater Heritage Preservation Committee. Stillwater, MN, 1996. Print. US Federal Census. Various years.

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 2803020440023

Common Property Name: Durant House

Neighborhood: South Hill

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number:

Construction Date: 1910

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Classical Revival