��A Beginning History of the Land under Grace University Lutheran Church
Jean Stilwell, Grace land working group, March 2023
Native tribes lived in the area of present-day Minneapolis and St. Paul for centuries. These slides detail one small slice of this history to try and illuminate how in 1917 Grace University Lutheran Church came to possess and build on the land at Harvard and Delaware Streets SE.
Much of the tradition and law surrounding European colonization was expressed in a Papal Bull issued in the end of the 15th century that held that land populated by non-Christian people was not only open to work to convert people but also was available to be “discovered” and claimed by Christian rulers. This is now known as the Doctrine of Discovery.
Introduction
1783—The Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution. This treaty gave Indigenous lands to the new US government. (note: all treaties made by the US government were eventually broken)
1803—The United States completed the Louisiana Purchase which included a huge section of land west of the Mississippi River and led to more settler and explorer pressure on Indigenous land.
1807—Zebulon Pike traveled up the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Minnesota River/Mississippi River confluence. Pike made an agreement with the Dakota chief that the US government would have to right to use land at the MN/Miss. River site and also land on both sides of the Mississippi from the confluence to above the St. Anthony Falls, 9 miles wide on either side of the river. In return the Dakota were to receive $2000 and have the right to hunt and fish on this land as well as to pass through undisturbed.
Doctrine of Discovery in US law:
1823—Supreme Court unanimously decides that, because of the Doctrine of Discovery, already “discovered” Indigenous people had lost their rights to sovereignty and only had occupancy rights.
1830-1850: Removal Era
1830—Indian Removal Act. US government made treaties to exchange tribal lands for lands west of the Mississippi but most of these treaties were forced on the tribes. White settlers then claimed former Indigenous land.
1837—A new treaty with the Dakota who ceded their land east of the Mississippi. White settlers began to move in but were driven off by US soldiers in 1840.
1847—Settlers were given permission to stake claims east of the Mississippi. The new town was called St. Anthony and was centered by the river. Today we call this area “St. Anthony Main.” Lumber mills were some of the first businesses.
1851--Private citizens began what they hoped would be a “great university”. Their building was bounded by 2nd St., University and Central Avenues, and 1st Ave.
In April of 1849, a man named William Cheever completed a purchase of almost 145 acres of land from the federal government on the east side of the Mississippi River. He registered his purchase in St. Croix Falls as that land had very recently been part of a proposed Wisconsin Territory. There is no price listed on his purchase agreement but land at that time was selling for about $1.25/acre. This land included Grace Church’s lots. Cheever’s purchase would have encompassed about 25 current blocks of this area of Minneapolis, including streets.
William Cheever built a hotel somewhere in this area close to the river, a guest register of which is held at the Minnesota History Center. He also built a hydraulic ram to produce water for passing stagecoaches. And, finally, he built a 90-foot observation tower—the slogan was “pay your dime and take a climb.” The guest register only covers the years 1857-59 and there weren’t a lot of customers. By 1860, Cheever was selling off the land, much of it to an Eastern banker named Ovid Pinney, who, according to his obituary in 1883, had two families who fought over his assets.
This is the top half of the original 1849 land grant patent delineating the land William Cheever purchased.
1850-1887: Reservation Era
US government began to restrict Indigenous territories to reservations. The resistance by Indigenous people was called the Indian Wars. (This definitely included fighting in Minnesota—the 1862 Dakota War) “Finally defeated by the military and continuing waves of encroaching settlers, the tribes negotiated agreements to resettle on reservations.”
1850s—Visitors and people from St. Anthony began to cross the river and find beautiful places on the west side of the river for recreation.
Soon settlers began to build homes and businesses on the west side of the river though that was not officially open for purchase until 1852.
1872—Due to financial problems in St. Anthony and prosperity in Minneapolis, the two cities merged and took the name, Minneapolis.
By 1880, the city had divided this land into lots for tax purposes. Very few lots had structures on them.
On the 1880 tax rolls, all 10 lots of Block 30 are listed as owned by Ovid Pinney. He is also shown as the owner of most or all of almost all the blocks in the whole St. Anthony City subdivision.
According to newspapers, Ovid Pinney died in 1878, leaving a contested will that involved an unregistered marriage and many people seeking to be heirs. In the end, 1/3 of his $250,000 estate was left to the orphans of Boston and $50,000 each to any court-approved heirs.
1884, 1886, 1888: All 10 lots of Block 30 owned by Ann L. Perkins.
1889, 1890: All 10 lots of Block 30 owned by E.R. and F.L. Perkins
1892: Of “St. Anthony City Block 30”, Fred Barney owns lots 1-5 and ER and FL Perkins own lots 6-10.
1894: Fred E. Barney owns all the lots on Block 30.
(Hence, “Barney’s Addition”.) The block is divided into 10 lots.
1896: Almon G. Case owns all the now 18 lots on Block 30.
1911: Tax rolls show most of Block 30 is owned by Almon G. Case. 2 of the 18 lots are owned by others.
(Map on next slide shows 1894. Minnesota College, a Lutheran high school, is across the block diagonally from Grace’s site.)
This 1894 map shows Block 30, just south of Washington Ave. between Union and Harvard St. SE. Grace sits on lots 6 & 7.