Landmark Site

Christopher Carli Jr. House

 

This simple and well-preserved gable-front home with its modest gable decoration and hipped-roof porch is fine representative of early Stillwater residential development and family history.

In 1886, Christopher H. Carli, Jr, the son of Lydia and Christopher Carli (early Stillwater settlers) built a substantial two story house, 24 feet wide and 28 feet deep at 1122 N. Broadway. On the building permit, the price of construction is listed as $800.

C. H. Carli, like his father, had a varied career. For many years he was a photographer ("Old pictures reproduced and enlarged, Porcelain pictures a specialty") working from his father's house and office at N. Second and E. Mulberry Streets. In moving to N. Broadway, C.H. took over management of the "Carli Quarry" which occupied most of the east side of N. Broadway from E. Elm Street to E. St. Croix Street. This quarry, and the one on the south hill, supplied most of the limestone for the curbs on Stillwater's streets, as well as the stone for many of its buildings. A limestone carriage step with Carli's name remains on the property.

In 1893, C. H. Carli, age 37, became irritable and talkative, and began having such hallucinations and delusions (among them paranoia) that his family wanted to commit him to the insane asylum. At the urging of his doctor and family, he was taken before a jury and judged insane. His brother, Joseph R., took him to the State Hospital for the Insane at Rochester where he remained until his discharge in February of 1898. He was able to regain the guardianship of his affairs that had been given to his wife, Mattie May. Carli pursued a variety of interests, including inventions. In 1905, received a patent "For the invention of an 'Animal Blanket.'" In 1918, C. H. and Mattie moved to Pequot, Minnesota.

By 1920, the home was occupied by Harry and Frieda Kollander, who purchased the house and became the home's caretakers for over 40 years. Harry, a worker at the Connelly shoe factory, was the son of a German immigrant family and one of seven children, six of whom were born in Minnesota. His father was a Stillwater saw mill laborer. Harry and Frieda raised five children here, and Frieda lived in the home until her death at age 90 in 1987. Her parents lived on one adjacent lot, and other Kollander family members lived nearby, forming a small family neighborhood. Son Norman lived in the home his entire life until his death in 2007. For many years, he operated a repair shop out of the small barn/carriage house located at the rear of the property.

In recent years, the home's metal roof and wooden siding have been restored, offering an excellent example for the preservation of these increasingly rare early homes.

Source(s): City Directory. Stillwater: R. L. Polk and, Various. Print. Empson, Don. The South Half Of The Carli And Schulenburg Addition Residential Area, Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota. City of Stillwater Heritage Preservation Committee. Stillwater, MN, 2001. Print. Kollander Family Papers. Courtesy of Current Home Owners. Peterson, Brent T. Stillwater: the next Generation : Stories from Minnesota's Birthplace. Stillwater, MN: Valley History, 2004. Print. US Federal Census. Various years.

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 2103020430026

Common Property Name: Christopher Carli Jr. House

Neighborhood: Carli and Schulenburg Addition

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number: WA-SWC-1087

Construction Date: 1886

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Vernacular