A tale of two cities Welcome back to Period Dramas, a weekly column that alternates between rounding up historic homes on the market and answering questions we?ve always had about older structures.
Whether on the coast of New England or deep in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the houses we tend to investigate in Period Dramas are more refuges from city life than anything else.
But today, we?re taking a trip into the heart of a city?two cities, in fact?to appreciate the stunning Gilded Age mansions in the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Minneapolis and Saint Paul owe a lot of their economic prosperity in the 19th and early 20th centuries to their frontage on the Mississippi River. Minneapolis became known as a mill town, where lumber and, later, flour mills?like the Pillsbury ?A? Mill?were established near Saint Anthony Falls, a natural waterfall on the river. Meanwhile, Saint Paul grew throughout the mid-19th century once designated capitol of Minnesota, becoming a hub for finance and commerce. The power shared by the two cities was only compounded by the addition of passenger rail service in the 1850s and ?60s. Called the Great Northern Railway, the tracks connected Saint Paul with the west coast.
The cities? rise brought an influx of money, and corporate leaders had a surplus of cash to spend on grand homes. From the late 19th century into the first few decades of the 20th century, industrial big-wigs built residences in the heart of these c...