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Rueben & Minnie Grant House

 

Stillwater began in the 1840s in what is today the downtown area. Forty years later, when this house was built in 1886, the city was stretching to its southern boundary at Orleans Street. In a time when everyone walked, living here meant a 13 block, ¾ mile, (and a steep hill) walk to the downtown with its railroad stations, stores, and businesses.

Rueben Grant, a 37 year old Maine born lumberman, and his 22 year old wife, Minnie, along with their daughter, Cora, bought this lot in 1885, had their house built the following year, and the family lived in it for the next two and a half decades. A son, Forest (a fitting name for the son of a lumberman!), was born in the house in October of 1892. A second daughter, Lillian, was born in the house in October of 1895. On July 4th, 1906, Rueben walked home from the Fourth of July celebration in downtown Stillwater. He went into the back yard to rest and a half hour later, his wife found him dead from a heart attack. His family remained in the home until 1910 when Minnie moved to Madison, North Dakota.

The house, valued at $750 when it was built, is a typical vernacular house of the late 1880s and 1890s: Distinctive characteristics of those years are the full two-story cross gable roof structure with one-pane over one-pane narrow windows, some of them paired. A wrap around front porch, and possibly the projecting window bay on the north side may have been added shortly after the house was built. Decorative details include the diamond shaped shingles in the gable ends, the gable ornament, and the window bay with its decorative eave brackets. There is a one story 1970s modern addition at the rear of the house.

Today the house is the residence of City Councilman, Rob Gag, and his wife, Amy.

Source(s): Information complied by Donald Empson, Empson Archives on 12/8/2009 Building date and value is from the original annual tax assessors’ rolls, 1878-1886 (on microfilm in the St. Croix Collection, Stillwater Public Library); biographical information is from the 1900 U.S. Census and the Stillwater City Directories. Rueben’s obituary is in the Stillwater Daily Gazette, Thursday, July 5, 1906. The purchase deed is Book 7 Deeds, page 388.

Washington County Parcel Identification Number (PIN): 3303020140090

Common Property Name: Rueben & Minnie Grant House

Neighborhood: Churchill's Addition

State Historic Preservation Office Inventory Number: WA-SWC-1701

Construction Date: 1886

Builder:

Architect:

Architectural Style: Vernacular