Landmark Site

Mulvey House

 

The refined, well-executed and respectfully preserved exterior of this Italianate home makes this one of the finest examples of its kind in Stillwater. The Mulveys owned a small, one-story house before the Civil War, and appear to have made steady improvements as real estate values increased from $200 to $400. An 1869 map shows a small lean-to addition on the rear. The 1870 census finds James Mulvey’s occupation modestly noted as "works on logs," although his real estate was valued at $700. In 1878, the assessor recorded the house at a value of $900, the date of the home’s construction in this form, and the 1879 Bird’s Eye View map suggests the old home was move to the rear of the lot. Over time, other additions were made to the rear of the home. The site also includes a stone carriage house, built to house James Mulvey’s horses and carriage collection.

Historian Don Empson noted: "The 1880 census lists James Mulvey, age 45, his wife, Miranda [listed elsewhere as Minerva], age 36, from New York, and children, Arthur, 13; Jessie, 12; Edna, 4; Walter, 2; and James’ father, John Mulvey, age 67, all living together in their new house along with a servant, Ellen Kaus, age 21, from New Brunswick. Mulvey was born in Kent County, England, in 1836, and came to America at age 13. In May 1853, he came to Stillwater to engage in the lumbering trade and over the course of the next 30 years he prospered. The 1889 Personal Property records indicate that Mulvey had one horse over three years of age, a wagon valued at $40, a sewing machine, three clocks or watches, and a piano."

In 1903, James, a staunch Presbyterian, donated a residence on Forth Street and West Pine to the First Presbyterian church for a parsonage (used until 1955), in memory of his wife, Minerva. In 1910, he still occupied his elegant home at the age of 75 with two unmarried daughters, Edna and Jessie, a nurse, Mary Rathburn, and servant Lizzie Lang. The sisters remained in the home after James’ death in 1913, attended by maid Gertrude Rossbach and active in women’s organizations such as the Women’s Relief Corp and child welfare boards. In 1922, the women also established a scholarship in their father’s name at Macalester College, "for a student committed to full-time church service." The home was left to Mulvey family members following Edna’s death in 1952 and Jessie’s in 1957, and owned by the Symmes family through the 1970s, with Howard Symmes a correctional officer at the State Prison.

The house stands today as the James Mulvey Inn, a bed and breakfast.

Source(s): City Directory. Stillwater: R. L. Polk and, Various. Print. Empson, Don. A History of the Holcombe's Additions Residential Area, Stillwater, Minnesota. City of Stillwater Heritage Preservation Committee. Stillwater, MN, 1999. Print. Larson, Paul Clifford. Stillwater's Lumber-Boom Architecture: An Annotated Photographic Essay. 1975. MS. St. Croix Collection, Stillwater Public Library. US Federal Census. Various years.

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 3303020210054

Common Property Name: Mulvey House

Neighborhood: Holcombes Addition

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number:

Construction Date: 1878

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Italianate