First 5O years of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). At first the college shared the facilities of the academy in Cecilia and Gertrude Halls. Cecilia Hall, built in 1881, is described in the 1926 College Bulletin: "Five dining halls with service rooms occupy the basement floor, five reception rooms the first floor, seventeen music practice rooms and five teacher's studios the second, while the third was remodeled in 1924 into a residence hall with an infirmary area. The private rooms are furnished with vanity dressers, tables and settees; each has a large private wardrobe and hot and cold water. A trained nurse is at all times in charge of the perfectly equipped infirmary. A secluded cottage (infirmary/guest house) on the campus, also in charge of a trained nurse, is used in case of contagious illness." Gertrude Hall, built in 1898, is also lauded in the 1926 College Bulletin: "In the basement is the service room fitted with the most convenient shampooing apparatus, irons, electric attachements, etc.--also cloak rooms, locker rooms, a stationery store, a confectionery store, and a kitchenette fully equipped for the serving of light lunches or 'spreads.' On the first floor are administration offices and the chemical and physical laboratories. . . On the second floor is the botanical laboratory and classrooms, well-lighted and each furnished with a special library open to the use of the students. The third floor provides airy pleasant dormitories for those who do not wish to rent private rooms." However, many of the activities of the college centered in the two new buildings, Teresa Hall and Sacred Heart Chapel, which were as up-to-date as Benedicta Arts Center and Regina Hall seem to us now - perhaps more so. Teresa Hall was the height of luxury! It had a library on 1st floor, an auditorium/study hall on 2nd floor, a rotunda (residence area) on 3rd and 4th floors (where some rooms had private baths and every bedroom had hot and cold water) and a gymnasium on the ground floor. (Gable, OSB) The chapel inspired by new architecture, very moderate baroque with its Carrara statues and Sienna marble pillars from Italy (and majestic, granite pillars from Rockville, MN), was a perfect example of its baroque type -- Newman's favorite. However, the college faculty was concerned about the later interior decorating of the chapel. In 1958, members of the art department, Sisters Johanna Becker and Jacquelyn Dubay as art consultants, helped the community restore some of the chapel's original lightness which had seemed so right in the beginning. (Gable, OSB)
The parallel concrete piers jut out into the lake forming the canal leading to the harbor. Since its remodeling into a lift bridge in 1930, every vessel passes under the Aerial Lift Bridge's raised span. In this view the span is down, and traffic and people cross it as a roadbed. The South Pier is at the left, the North Pier is at the right. Minnesota Point's light sand beach draws residents and tourists in all seasons but especially throughout the summer months. The harbor is still the location of warehouses and coal docks. You can see the light road that is Skyline Parkway parallel to the horizon running the length of Duluth. The Civic Center is at the center of this shot. The St. Louis County Courthouse is in the middle with the Federal Building to the left of the courthouse, City Hall to the right, and the St. Louis County Jail to the left and set back from the courthouse. The Civic Center was designed by Daniel Burnham and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The 1893 First Methodist Episcopal church occupied the corner of Third Avenue West and Third Street in downtown Duluth until the congregation built the 1965 church building designed by architect Pietro Belluschi that everyone calls the Copper Top church at Skyline and Central Entrance. This brownstone structure closed in November 1966 and was razed in 1969.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A winter view of the Duluth Harbor, the Aerial Lift Bridge, and Lake Superior from 1015 East Eleventh Street, the site of Peace Church. The church has evolved through three names. In 1872, the German congregation chose the name St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church. The first church built that same year at Tenth Avenue East and Third Street still stands as an apartment building, and is the oldest church building in Duluth. In 1934 they changed the church name to St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed. in 1957 it was given the name St. Paul's United Church of Christ. In 1959, the congregation broke ground for the new church at the present site and changed the name to Peace Church.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
In this group photograph, dated June 4th, 1939, Muskego Church provides the backdrop for the attendees at the closing session of the Southern Minnesota District Convention of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. In 1844, Norwegian settlers at the Muskego Settlement in southeastern Wisconsin dedicated one of the first Norwegian American Lutheran church buildings. The building was moved to the United Church Seminary campus in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul in 1904. In 1917, United Church Seminary became Luther Theological Seminary. Front of photograph reads: Closing session, So. Minn. Dist. Conv.-N.L.C.A., Muskego Church, Saint Paul, Minn., June 4th 1939.
The daily chapel service at Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary was held in the former dining room and solarium of Passavant Hall, the past residence of the Charles Pillsbury family. In keeping with the rest of the Tudor style home, the refurbished chapel retained the original paneling, stained glass, and plank flooring. Seminary students of the period (1940-1967) remember fondly the beauty and uniqueness of these spaces. Back of photograph reads: NLTS chapel at S. Mpls site ca. 1960.
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). New Munich began with a few small buildings built by two men, Burns and Sutton, in 1855. They also ran a small "wayside" inn for the stagecoach that ran north-south through this part of the county. The town gradually settled around the church built by the German Catholics. In 1879 three sisters came to New Munich to teach in the district school at the request of the pastor. The trustees and the people did not agree with this decision and hired a lay teacher. The pastor then opened a parochial school in the church basement, but attendance was very small and leaders of the antagonism made it almost impossible for the sisters to live there. Despite the set-backs, the sisters won the good will of the people so that the following year the school opened with over 100 children enrolled (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, Olsenius, page 120; Jaakkola and Frericks, page 77).
Exterior view of the Church of the Messiah which was installed at Prairie Island in 1905. The abandoned church was brought by barge by Prairie Island Mdewakanton people and is still in use 100 years later.
Group Photograph of Comfort Baptist Church, Ladies Aid, Called "Arbetes Myra" ("working ants"). The group was first organized in 1900 by Mrs. John Ostrom. Members include: Mrs. Kristina Edstrom, Mrs. Tideen and baby, Mrs. Sara Nordeen, Mother of Mrs. John Sundstrom, Mrs. John Erickson, Mrs. Erick Skoglund, Elida Ostrom, Mrs. Lovegren, Mrs. John Lindstrom, Mrs. Sven Soderstrom, Anna Edstrom McKibbon, Emma Ostrom Klapmier, Mrs. John Dahleen, Mrs. Andrew Edstrom, Mrs. John Johnson, Mrs. Lars Guof Larson, Mrs. Christina Edstrom Selene and baby, Mrs. Martha Edstrom Bergren and baby Rose, Mrs. Karen Ostrom, Mrs. Victor Johnson
Group photograph of Comfort Baptist Church Members. This is the oldest known picture of the original church in Comfort Township. The structure was begun in 1901 and completed in 1902 with a parsonage built in 1907. Edward Soderstrom, Gustav Larson, 6 unknown girls, Fritjof Ostrom, Vilhelm Ostrom, 5 unknown boys, Caroline Peterson, Tiolindia Monson, Martha Erickson, Mrs. Oscar Ostrom, Christine Sundstrom, Ida Sundstrom, Elizabeth Johnson, Anna Edstrom, unknown girl, John Ostrom, J.A. Edstrom, Martha Johnson, Anna Johnson, 2 unknown persons, Victor Johnson Jr., Ole Svenson, Victor Johnson Sr., Nels Lidstrom, Swan Soderstrom Sr., John Erickson, John Sundstrom, Ole Edstrom,, 3 unknown persons, Sarah Ostman, John Swanson, Hjalmar Obbarius, Nels Hallstrom, John Hallstrom, 1 unknown person, Student Pastor Dalheed, Oscar Ostrom holding unknown baby, Sven Sevenson, 2 in doorway unknown persons
Exterior view of the second St Patrick's Catholic Church (built in Birch Cooley in 1898). View includes the confirmation class of 1900. Note: the church burned in 1942.
First 50 years of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). The convent-college joint facilities engendered a joint relationship that has mutually shaped these two entities. Even the daily schedule of the two was alike. The Sisters lives were intimately bound up with the academy and college students. The chief ministry of most of the Sisters living at the Motherhouse was devoted to student services. During the first fifty years of the college, 175 faculty members were Sisters--many of whom served on the faculty for 30-40 years. The convent/college facilities, and the management thereof, were shared as one until the college expanded southwestward and was physically separated from the convent. It is understandable that the public has a difficult time comprehending the reality of St. Benedict's Monastery and the College of Saint Benedict as two separate and independent corporations.