Longfellow House

Infobox building
building_name = Longfellow House
native_building_name=


caption = The Longfellow House from the Parkway.
former_names = Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House
building_type = House
architectural_style = Colonial
structural_system =
location = Minneapolis, Minnesota
owner = Minneapolis Park Board
current_tenants = Park Board Interpretive Center
landlord =
coordinates =
start_date = 1906
completion_date = 1907
demolition_date =
height =
diameter =
other_dimensions =
floor_count = 3
floor_area =
main_contractor =
architect = Robert "Fish" Jones
structural_engineer =
services_engineer =
civil_engineer =
other_designers =
quantity_surveyor =
awards =

The Longfellow House in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a 2/3 scale replica of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's actual home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.cite book|title=The Library Book: Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library|last=Benidt|first=Bruce Weir|date=1984|location=Minneapolis|publisher=Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center|isbn10=0-9613716-0-9] The house was never lived in—or even seen—by Longfellow (who died in 1882), but was the home of a Minneapolis businessman named Robert "Fish" Jones who admired him.cite web|title=Mississippi National River and Recreation Area - Longfellow House Hospitality Center (U.S. National Park Service)|url=http://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/longhous.htm|publisher=National Park Service|date=2006-07-27|accessdate=2008-04-17]

Early history

In 1885, Jones sold his downtown Minneapolis fish market and built a zoo on the site where the Basilica of St. Mary stands today. However, he eventually moved his zoo to a few miles south, to an area next to the Minnehaha Creek. He rebuilt his zoo, the Longfellow Zoological Gardens, and opened it in 1907. At the same time, he built himself a house styled after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's. It was a yellow frame house with porches at each end.cite book|last=Jones|first=Robert|date=1927|title=Longfellow Gardens|location=Minneapolis] There, Jones lived for the next 23 years peacefully until he closed his zoo, due to complaints from nearby residents. He agreed to give the house to the City of Minneapolis, but died in 1930 before the transaction was completed.

Longfellow Community Library

For four years, the house sat vacant. Then, the Park Board was deeded the house, and offered it to the Minneapolis Public Library. They bought it for $1,500, $500 of which was raised by neighborhood residents. The Works Progress Administration converted the house to a library, and in 1937 Longfellow Community Library opened.cite web|title=Architecture|url=http://lnhstest.brinkster.net/Level2/house/Ext-Garden/Ext-Architecture.htm|date=2004|accessdate=2008-04-17|publisher=Longfellow National Historic Site]

The library did well serving the southeasternmost portion of Minneapolis until the 1950s when the growing prevalence of television cut circulation numbers at the library in half. Surprisingly, the demographic that fell the most during that time was not children, but adults. However, the library overcame this circulation drop, so much so that in 1967, the Library Board authorized the construction of a new library in the nearby Wenonah neighborhood. In 1968, Longfellow closed and Nokomis Community Library opened, instantly doubling Longfellow's circulation numbers.

The House today

The House fell into disrepair. During the early 1980s, it was used by the Saint Paul Jaycees as "Ghost Manor," a haunted house attraction every year at Halloween. Then, in 1994 when Hiawatha Avenue's expansion was beginning, the House was moved to its current location and renovated. In 2001, it opened as an interpretive information center run by the Park Board.

References