James J Hill Mansion

James J. Hill, born in Ontario of a Scottish immigrant family, moved to St. Paul to seek his fortune working as a clerk on the levees of the bustling river transportation industry. After 20 years of very hard work in shipping he amassed enough money to purchase the nearly bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1878.

Over the next two decades he pushed tirelessly to push the line into Southern Canada and across the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. Renamed the Great Northern Railroad in 1890, Hill’s hard work and intelligence helped it survive the depression of 1893 when many other railroads failed, such that it was still the dominant force on the rails when I was a young boy taking my Grandma Larsen to the depot catch the “Empire Builder” out West to visit her daughter Aunt Shirley. I always thought the “Empire Builder” was just a cool name for the Great Northern trains that went to the coast. But it turns out that Empire Builder was the moniker that the world knew Hill by.

Interestingly enough, in 1878 Hill purchased 3 lots up on Summit Hill, overlooking the decay of Irvine Park that his railroad had either caused or contributed to. In 1891 he completed construction of a 36,500 square foot stone home, designed primarily to help him to meet the demands that his success in business required. The home included an 88 foot reception hall that served dual purpose as a ball room for formal affairs, 13 baths, 22 fireplaces and 16 cut glass chandeliers. That funny little notch in the front steps was for when carriages pulled up to the front of the home - people could get down onto that step without having to put foot in the driveway!

Hill was progressive, but hedged his bets. His home was wired for electric, but all the chandeliers also were plumbed for gas. Hill had the makings of whole house air heating – he had massive radiators heated by the immense boiler and ducts that ran throughout the house so the impact of hot air rising would heat the home – yet he built the aforementioned 22 fireplaces. The home totaled out at $931,275 in 1891 – at that time, the average worker in St. Paul made a total of $400 per year – so Hill demonstrated his opulence and business success.

Hill passed away in 1916. In 1925 members of his family purchased the home from his estate and donated it to the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul. The Archdiocese used the home as offices and as a presentation site for decades. In the late 1970’s, the Archdiocese moved its offices to new facilities and no longer found a need for the home. The Minnesota Historical Society purchased the home in 1978, and has worked to restore it to its look when the Empire Builder lived here. While little of the original furniture still exists, the mansion has been brought to near original form!

If you want a view of post-Civil War era St. Paul, this is the place to be.

Talk to you soon!