Red Wing Republican Eagle Article

Red Wing
Republican Eagle
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Saturday & Sunday
August 15 & 16, 2015
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Minnesota’s first university and its Red Wing start — 1854-1869
Hamline University is Minnesota’s first university.
The school records how it was named for Leonidas Lent
Hamline, a Methodist bishop who donated funds to start a
post-secondary institution.
Hamline first held classes on the second floor of a village
general store in Red Wing and moved to a new building in
January 1856.
Hamline graduated its first class in 1859: sisters Elizabeth A. Sorin and Emily R. Sorin, who were not only Hamline’s first graduates, but also the first graduates of any
college or university in Minnesota.
Three courses of study were open to candidates for a
degree:
The “Classical Program” — Greek, Latin, English language and literature, and mathematics
The “Scientific Course” — included the studies of the
classical program but substituted German for Greek and
Latin;
The “Lady Baccalaureate of Arts” — a separate course
for women, omitting Greek and abridging Latin and mathematics while introducing French and German and the fine
arts
On July 6, 1869, the Red Wing location
closed.
The city turned the site into Central
Park. A plaque hangs at First United Methodist Church across the street.
Building for the new University Hall in
St. Paul began in 1873. A depression resulted in repeated delays. The doors opened Sept. 22,
1880.
— source: Hamline University, www.hamline.edu
Mantels are part of the antique furnishings salvaged by the St. James Hotel from a historic house being demolished at the Hamline University. The pieces were incorporated into the hotel’s new guest rooms. Minnesota’s first university opened in Red Wing in 1854 and today is in St. Paul. (Republican Eagle photos by Stacy Bengs)
Wearing history’s mantle
St. James Hotel completes new room with historical pieces of Hamline University
By Stacy Bengs
sbengs@republican-eagle.com
It’s like a match made
in historical heaven.
Antique pieces of architecture salvaged from
Hamline University’s former White House complex
in St. Paul have made
their way back to Red
Wing — the school’s original hometown.
Not only can the artifacts be found a few blocks
away from the university’s
first foundation in Central Park, but a room in
the newly renovated wing
of the historic St. James
Hotel, where the furnishings are now housed, will
be named after the state’s
oldest college.
The connection
St. James Hotel general
manager Michael McKay
says staff began transforming an area of the
hotel being used for storage into more rooms last
summer.
“We knew we needed
more rooms,” he said,
standing in the wide hallway of the second floor’s
new guest wing, “and this
had too nice of views.”
About the same time
that work began on the
remodel, McKay read an
article in one of Hamline’s
alumni newsletters about
how the school’s former
president’s residence,
known as the White
House, was going to be demolished on the St. Paul
campus.
Hamline University
was founded in 1854 in
Red Wing. The school shut
down in 1869 and purchased land in St. Paul in
the 1870s and eventually
reopened in 1880.
Because of that tie,
McKay reached out to the
university’s engineering
department to inquire
about collecting some
pieces of furniture and
fittings to repurpose and
reuse in the hotel’s new
suites.
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St. James Hotel employee John Ogden sands pieces of wood flooring Aug. 3 that was salvaged from a historic
house on the Hamline University campus in St. Paul. The flooring will be used in the hotel’s new common room.
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Red Wing
Republican Eagle
Saturday & Sunday
August 15 & 16, 2015
The St. James Hotel opened five new guest rooms on the second level this July. They blend history with modern amenities. (Republican Eagle photos by Stacy Bengs)
u St. James
Continued from page 1B
Although
Hamline
had already contracted
a salvaging company to
dissemble the house before complete demolition,
McKay said the St. James
was basically allowed first
dibs.
“Hamline bent over
backwards,” he said. “It
was just pretty cool.”
McKay, along with St.
James chief engineer
Jerry Cook and about
eight crew members,
spent time in the White
House picking out vintage
chunks of furnishings to
bring back to Red Wing.
What they found were
impressive fireplace mantels, archways, window
panels and wood flooring
— all now incorporated in
the new 4,234 square feet
of hotel guest space.
The area includes five
large guest rooms and a
soon-to-be-done common
room.
The suites officially
opened in July.
Along with the recovered architectural treasures from Hamline, the
crew reused some historical items from St. James
storage in the construction and design as well.
“None of this existed,”
McKay said as he walked
through the new hallway
decorated from ceiling to
floor in the Victorian-style
look for which the hotel is
known.
“We are still an 1875
historic hotel,” he explained. “And we had to
keep true to being a historic hotel, but you still
have to give guests creature comforts.”
The five new guest
rooms are designed for
long-term stay. Along
with the antique-decor,
they have modern features such as WIFI, smart
televisions and oversized
bathrooms with water jet
tubs.
“We have rooms in the
hotel that are large,”
McKay said, “but these
are consistently larger.
We were able to go big so
we did.”
What Cook and his crew
A grand archway from the former president’s residence at Hamline University was among one of the larger pieces added into the St. James
Hotel’s new suites.
Workers at
the St. James
Hotel
reclaimed the
best pieces
of hardwood
before Hamline University
tore down one
of its historic
houses. The
wood flooring
will be refinished
one
piece at a
time.
accomplished is a masterpiece. The pieces of salvaged Hamline artifacts
seamlessly coincide with
the exact look McKay said
he wanted: Each suite has
a different feel and the
room names follow the ho-
Day in 1875 as a firstclass lodging establishment. According to the
hotel’s history, the building was christened the St.
Traditions carry on James Hotel most likely
The St. James Hotel after the Court of St.
opened on Thanksgiving James of London. Resitel’s tradition.
“The fun part is seeing
everything in place,” he
said.
dents felt it sounded regal
and high class.
By the mid-1970s the
hotel needed major renovations to keep up with
modern codes. Red Wing
Shoe Co. purchased it in
1977.
A two-year, multimillion-dollar renovation
took place. An addition allowed for 19 guest rooms,
office space, banquet
rooms, a shopping court
and restaurants.
“All the rooms are
named after riverboats,”
McKay said. “The rooms
on the original historic
side are all named after
retired boats and the
rooms added after the big
remodel were named after
active boats.” Some of
those boats have become
deactivated since then.
“These new rooms are
named after active river-
boats,” McKay said.
New names include
Queen of the Mississippi,
The American Eagle, Lil
Charley, MV Mississippi
and Moonbeam.
A new multi-purpose
common room and the last
piece of the remodel is in
the works. The room will
be used mainly for a gathering space for groups,
complete with a kitchenette and comfortable gathering space.
“That will be The Hamline Room,” McKay said,
saying it is an homage
to the university’s historic connection with Red
Wing. All the wood flooring in it will come from
the former Hamline White
House.
For more information
of the St. James Hotel,
call 651-388-2846 or visit
www.st-james-hotel-.com.