Heirloom Home

Joseph & Anna Eichten House

 

This lovely Queen Anne style house with its turret, fish scale shingles, sunburst panel on the second floor window bay, parquet floors, and a ceramic fireplace was built in 1890 by Joseph and Anna Eichten. The original house included a toilet and a copper bath tub installed by M.M. Peaslee, a local plumber — whose office was on Water Street. The prime lot was previously the site of the Second Presbyterian Church.

At the time of construction, Eichten was a wholesale dealer in spirituous liquors and a saloon owner. He was born in January of 1855; came to Minnesota in 1869, and to Stillwater the following year. A successful businessman, Joseph became the President of the Connolly Shoe Company in 1907, a position he held until 1931.

Faced with the collapse of the lumber industry, and the resulting loss of jobs and income in the city, a group of local businessmen, after considerable discussion, established the Connolly Shoe Company in 1905. The company goal was to manufacture shoes, to provide jobs for local residents, and to help stem the economic decline in the city. The company lasted in one form or another for over 70 years, and many of the older residents remember it fondly. The manufacturing building they built remains at 123 N. Second Street with its name still visible on the south side.

In 1907, Frank Linner, a local contractor, replaced the original small portico on Eichten’s house at 215 West Pine Street with a large wrap-around porch decorated with dentils and columns typical of that period. Another room and a bathroom were added to the house at the same time.

After a long and prosperous life, Eichten died in his home in 1940. His daughter lived there until 1950, after which the house fell on hard times. Fortunately, new owners have burnished the house back to its full splendor, and many of the original 1890 elements, including the windows, doors, woodwork, fireplace and wood floors remain.

Source(s): Information complied by Donald Empson, Empson Archives on 12/27/2008. The 1879 Bird’s Eye View Map shows a drawing of the church on this site. Book 32 of Deeds, page 247 details Eichten’s purchase of the land. The 1891 original annual tax assessors’ report (on microfilm in the St. Croix Collection, Stillwater Public Library) indicates a value on the property of $2,400. The beginnings of the Connolly Shoe Company are explored in the History of the St. Croix Valley by Augustus Easton, 1909, Volume 1, page 291. Eichten’s household is listed in the 1910 Census, and his obituary is in the Stillwater Gazette, March 2, 1940. City of Stillwater Building Permit Applications #1500 and #50 (Plumbing).

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 2803020430060

Common Property Name: Joseph & Anna Eichten House

Neighborhood: South Hill

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number: WA-SWC-164

Construction Date: 1890

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Queen Anne