It's 1892. Reportedly, the "American frontier" no longer exists, the so-called Guilded Age is waning, and Queen Victoria's reign is near its end. The robber barons - American capitalism personified - are asserting power and prestige throughout the U.S. as the Morgans, Rockefellers, and Carnegie's accumulate wealth and capital. How better to show off their wealth but to build a home with all the trappings - high ceilings, running water, quaint parlors, and even electricity.

There on the edge of the Big Woods in Minnesota, the town of Faribault has already tapped into the abundance of lumber and farmland that keeps its mills turning out a seemingly endless stream of lumber and flour. As in the East, the power and wealth in Faribault has settled with a relatively few influential business men - the town's "Captains of Industry" as dubbed later by the Faribault Journal in 1903. One man in particular, John Hutchinson, Jr., a Civil War veteran and partner in both the Faribault Furniture Company and the Faribault Roller Mills, has the "strong business sense and untiring industry" to leave his father's farm near Dundas, MN. Like his peers throughout the U.S., his financial success and acumen provide the means to have a grand Queen Anne Victorian home built for his growing family on the corner of 2nd and Maple, a mere three blocks west of bustling downtown Faribault.

And what a home! Situated on a high lot among many of Faribault's oldest and most prestigious homes, the three-story octagonal turret is impossible to miss as guests approach. The day's news or perhaps a little gossip is exchanged between friends and neighbors on the huge wrap-around front porch. Or, in the parlor and living room, with the wood-burning fireplace and ornate trimwork, visitors enjoy the Victorian furnishings and displays. Are those the "Captains" in the spacious dining room sipping brandy and debating politics? Upstairs, guests relax in the five spacious guestrooms - one room even has its own sitting porch to sit and watch the local traffic below.

In 1916, twenty-four years later, a successful local doctor and inventor Dr. Stephen B. Haessly and his wife, Effie, would purchase the home from the estate of John Hutchinson Jr. after his death in 1914. The Haessly family would own the home for the next fifty three years until 1969.

We invite you to come and enjoy this treasure of Faribault - the Historic Hutchinson House. There's more history to be told and many memories to be created.

Historic Hutchinson House
305 Second Street NW
Faribault, MN 55021
507.384.3291