Advanced Search Fewer Search Options

Topics

African Americans
Agriculture
Architecture
Arts
Business and Industry
Cities and Towns
Crime and Punishment
Education
Environment
Health and Medicine
Immigration
Labor
Native Americans
Politics
Religion and Belief
Science and Technology
Sports and Recreation
Transportation
War and Conflict
Women

Category

Event
Group
Person
Place
Structure
Thing

Era

Before European Contact: Pre-1585
Civil War and Reconstruction: 1850-1877
Colonization: 1585-1763
Development of Industrial United States: 1870-1920
Expansion and Reform: 1792-1861
Great Depression and World War II: 1920-1945
Post-World War II United States: 1945-1989
Revolution and a New Nation: 1754-1800
United States in a New Global Age: 1980-Present
banner_logo
MNHS
MNopedia
Index

Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul

Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul

Creator:
Contributor: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Source: Minnesota History 60, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 3
Frederick Spangenberg, 375 Mount Curve, St. Paul
Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, c.1965.

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln was reelected president, General Sherman's army marched on Atlanta, and oxen began hauling yellow limestone over the snow to the site of the Frederick Spangenberg house, one of St. Paul's oldest extant stone farmhouses.

When the house was under construction, Spangenberg and his wife, Anna, lived in a log cabin on one end of the property, near where Jefferson and Cretin avenues intersect today. Spangenberg was a German immigrant who built a prosperous dairy farm and milk-distribution business. He also designed his house. When completed in 1867, it was surrounded by an eighty-acre dairy farm, well outside the St. Paul city limits.

Today, the house is surrounded not by fields and barns but by the paved streets and ample houses of the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. Sited on a wooded lot, the house at 375 Mount Curve Boulevard—a two-story Greek Revival with two-foot-thick, random coursed walls—is somewhat obscured from the street by tall hedges. A one-story appendage originally served as a kitchen but was converted into a sitting room in 1932 by two of the Spangenberg sons, who lived in the house after their parents' deaths. The sons also transformed the first-floor bedroom into a kitchen, the parlor into a dining room, and one of the four upstairs bedrooms into a bathroom.

In 1954 the Spangenbergs' youngest granddaughter, Mrs. Gertrude M. Yates, and her husband moved in and updated the interior while preserving its historic integrity. Then almost a century old, the house still contained a wine cellar complete with wooden casks and press, paddles and crocks for butter and cheese making, and a cabbage cutter used for large-scale production of sauerkraut—a source of vitamins in the winter. The Yates family lived in the house until 1972, marking the end of the Spangenberg era. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Cite
Weber, Laura. "Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/structure/frederick-spangenberg-house-st-paul
Correct
Print This Page
© Minnesota Historical Society  80x15  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
First Published: September 06, 2011
Last Modified: April 10, 2025

Bibliography

Boardman, Kathryn, "Farmhouse in a City Setting." St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 11, 1955, Roto Magazine.

Hiebert, Gareth, "Old Spangenberg Place." St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 15, 1974.

"Spangenberg, Frederick House." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, September 1975. State Historic Preservation Office, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Trout-Oertel, Diane. “Built to Last: The Historic Spangenberg Farmhouses.” Minnesota History 67, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 17–29.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/67/v67i01p17-29.pdf

Related Resources

Secondary

Hess, Jeffrey A., and Paul Clifford Larson. St. Paul's Architecture: A History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.

Koeper, H.F. Historic St. Paul Buildings. St. Paul: St. Paul City Planning Board, 1964.

Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Twin Cities. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

Nord, Mary Ann. The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota: A Guide. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003.

Weber, Laura. "Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, Ramsey County." Minnesota History 60, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 3.

Web

The Minnesota Historical Society's National Register Properties. Frederick Spangenberg House.
http://nrhp.mnhs.org/NRDetails.cfm?NPSNum=76001068

Related Images

Frederick Spangenberg, 375 Mount Curve, St. Paul
Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, c.1965.
Framed portrait of Spangenbergs
Portrait of Frederick Sr. and Anna Spangenberg in a frame, c.1868.
Spangenberg clock shelf
Clock shelf, Eastlake style, used by the Spangenberg family, 1890s.
Cows in farmyard at Spangenberg farm
Cows in farmyard at Frederick Spangenberg house, c.1895.
Frederick Spangenberg Sr.
Frederick Spangenberg Sr., c.1900.
Anna Sontag Spangenberg
Anna Sontag Spangenberg, wife of Frederick Sr., c.1900.
Frederick Spangenberg Sr. and family
Frederick Spangenberg Sr. and family, c.1900.
Family of Frederick Spangenberg Sr.
Family of Frederick Spangenberg Sr., c.1900.
William and Frederick Spangenberg Jr. with family and friends
William and Frederick Spangenberg Jr. with family and friends, c.1900.
William Spangenberg seated with friends in a hammock
William Spangenberg seated with friends in a hammock, with his parents Anna and Frederick in the doorway behind him, c.1900.
House at 375 Mount Curve, Frederick Spangenberg, St. Paul
Frederick Spangenberg House, 1929.
Noiseless Automatic Sewing Machine designed by by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company in London, England. The treadle and gears run smoothly on this chain stitch sewing machine. The machine is mounted on a wooden table with an iron base, a foot treadle, and three drawers.
Noiseless Automatic Sewing Machine designed by by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company in London, England in 1871. Used by the Frederick Spangenberg family.
Frederick Spangenberg, 375 Mount Curve, St. Paul

Frederick Spangenberg, 375 Mount Curve, St. Paul

Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, c.1965.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Framed portrait of Spangenbergs

Framed portrait of Spangenbergs

Portrait of Frederick Sr. and Anna Spangenberg in a frame, c.1868.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Spangenberg clock shelf

Spangenberg clock shelf

Clock shelf, Eastlake style, used by the Spangenberg family, 1890s.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

All rights reserved

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Cows in farmyard at Spangenberg farm

Cows in farmyard at Spangenberg farm

Cows in farmyard at Frederick Spangenberg house, c.1895.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Frederick Spangenberg Sr.

Frederick Spangenberg Sr.

Frederick Spangenberg Sr., c.1900.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Anna Sontag Spangenberg

Anna Sontag Spangenberg

Anna Sontag Spangenberg, wife of Frederick Sr., c.1900.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Frederick Spangenberg Sr. and family

Frederick Spangenberg Sr. and family

Frederick Spangenberg Sr. and family, c.1900.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Family of Frederick Spangenberg Sr.

Family of Frederick Spangenberg Sr.

Family of Frederick Spangenberg Sr., c.1900.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

William and Frederick Spangenberg Jr. with family and friends

William and Frederick Spangenberg Jr. with family and friends

William and Frederick Spangenberg Jr. with family and friends, c.1900.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

William Spangenberg seated with friends in a hammock

William Spangenberg seated with friends in a hammock

William Spangenberg seated with friends in a hammock, with his parents Anna and Frederick in the doorway behind him, c.1900.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

House at 375 Mount Curve, Frederick Spangenberg, St. Paul

House at 375 Mount Curve, Frederick Spangenberg, St. Paul

Frederick Spangenberg House, 1929.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Noiseless Automatic Sewing Machine designed by by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company in London, England. The treadle and gears run smoothly on this chain stitch sewing machine. The machine is mounted on a wooden table with an iron base, a foot treadle, and three drawers.

Wilcox and Gibbs Sewing Machine

Noiseless Automatic Sewing Machine designed by by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company in London, England in 1871. Used by the Frederick Spangenberg family.
© Minnesota Historical Society    

All rights reserved

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Articles

More Information

Related Articles

Three Thousand Years of Building in Minnesota

Turning Point

The Frederick Spangenberg house is added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 in recognition of its age and evolution from rural farmhouse to urban residence.

Chronology

1864
Oxen begin hauling yellow limestone to the site of the Frederick Spangenberg house in St. Paul.
1867
The Frederick Spangenberg house is complete for its owners, German dairy farmers.
1932
The house's one-story kitchen is converted into a sitting room by two of the Spangenberg sons.
1954
The Spangenbergs' youngest granddaughter, Mrs. Gertrude M. Yates, and her husband move in and update the interior.
1972
The Yates family moves out of the house, marking the end of the Spangenberg era.
1976
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bibliography

Boardman, Kathryn, "Farmhouse in a City Setting." St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 11, 1955, Roto Magazine.

Hiebert, Gareth, "Old Spangenberg Place." St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 15, 1974.

"Spangenberg, Frederick House." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, September 1975. State Historic Preservation Office, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Trout-Oertel, Diane. “Built to Last: The Historic Spangenberg Farmhouses.” Minnesota History 67, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 17–29.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/67/v67i01p17-29.pdf

Related Resources

Secondary

Hess, Jeffrey A., and Paul Clifford Larson. St. Paul's Architecture: A History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.

Koeper, H.F. Historic St. Paul Buildings. St. Paul: St. Paul City Planning Board, 1964.

Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Twin Cities. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

Nord, Mary Ann. The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota: A Guide. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003.

Weber, Laura. "Frederick Spangenberg House, St. Paul, Ramsey County." Minnesota History 60, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 3.

Web

The Minnesota Historical Society's National Register Properties. Frederick Spangenberg House.
http://nrhp.mnhs.org/NRDetails.cfm?NPSNum=76001068