Minnesota History Magazine Fall 2023 (68.7)

Departments

Editor’s Note
Pam McClanahan

EyeWitness
Noah Barth
The Onyx: A Welcoming Bar for Queer People

Curator’s Choice
William Convery
The Leland Rowberg Papers

LandMarks
Greg Gaut and Marsha Neff
Worthington Armory and Community Building, Nobles County

Book Review
J. Michael West
The Fierce Life of Grace Holmes Carlson: Catholic, Socialist, Feminist by Donna T. Haverty-Stacke

News & Notes, Our Back Pages, Take Three

Preserving > Sharing > Connecting
The Lasting Legacy of Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan

Articles

Mansions of Memories: Linden Hill and the Long Shadow of the Lumber Industry in Little Falls, 1891-2010
Alexander Lawrence Ames

Author Alexander Ames offers a portrait of a Minnesota river town redolent with heritage, resonant with a sense of place, and intent on forging an identity in a changing world. The privileged status of Linden Hill in Little Falls’ collective memory owes itself to the town’s faltering economic and cultural-historical development—as well as to the life and work of a woman named Laura Jane Musser, who endeared the mansions and grounds to the town’s psyche, and who transformed the lumber barons’ homes into mansions of memories.

The Other Luther Seminary in Minnesota: Spotlighting an Undertold Lutheran History
Mark Granquist

When one thinks about Luther Seminary in Minnesota, what may come to mind is the institution that has long been located on the west side of St. Paul, on Como Avenue near the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. But Minnesota also once had another Luther Seminary, one that was eventually situated on the east side of St. Paul, near Phalen Park. Author and Lutheran scholar Mark Granquist writes a brief history of St. Paul Luther Seminary, and its role in the growth of the Ohio Synod in the upper midwestern region by providing German-speaking pastors to its congregations.

From the Archives
Discovering the Universe of Home
Paul Gruchow

Twenty-five years ago, the journal published this essay by the late Minnesota author, teacher, and conservationist Paul Gruchow presented at the Minnesota Historical Society’s 1997 Theodore C. Blegen Memorial Conference, dedicated to exploring issues and themes in grassroots history. Drawing on a wellspring of personal experience, he examined the links between our lives and the land and the importance of teaching local history to our children, and his words have just as much resonance and urgency today as they did then.