Title

Minton Hotel, ca. 1910, Glenwood, Minnesota

Creation Date

1909 – 1911

Description

Minton Hotel, ca. 1910, Glenwood, Minnesota at the southwest corner of Minnesota Avenue and Franklin Street.
DATING: Penciled on the reverse side of this photo/postcard  is "February 1911." We can say for certain that at least the "February" is incorrect, because in the picture tall deciduous trees are shown surrounding the hotel in their full summer leaf. Earliest possible date for this photograph would be 1906, because the Pope County State Bank, built that year, is present at picture left.  A dating of 1911 would appear to be plausible, because a photo of the hotel dated after 1911 [see PCHS photo #2012 3720.09] shows the trees in the lot between the hotel and the bank to be at an almost identical height to those here. The latest possible date for the photo would be June 1911 because, according to the Glenwood Herald, in that month the eight large trees shown here lining the Minnesota Avenue face of the building were completely removed. OTHER DETAILS IN PHOTOGRAPH:  A wooden arcade surrounds the first floor of the hotel along the Franklin St. and Minnesota Ave. faces of the building. A single light globe is  suspended by wires high in the air over the Minnesota Ave./Franklin St intersection. All sidewalks around the building are of cement, and even the crosswalks over Franklin St. and Minnesota Ave. in the foreground appear to be of cement. One automobile of approximately 1910 vintage is parked (facing the "wrong" direction) along the hotel's Minnesota Ave. curb. Seven gentlemen in street dress of the period appear to be lounging on the Minnesota Ave. side of the building near the entrance door. One gentleman is seated on a bench on the Franklin side. Printed in white along the bottom right edge of the photo are the words "The Minton House".
BACK OF POSTCARD: The flip side of this picture in printed upside-down vis-a-vis the front. In large letters "POST CARD" is printed at its left top, with "Februrary 1911" penciled in above that. Writing space is divided in customary fashion with CORRESPONDENCE HERE printed in small capital letters over the left half and NAME AND ADDDRESS HERE printed in small capital letter over the right side.  Handwriting in pencil upside-down across the empty area of the card reads: "Minton Hotel File". Also in pencil but right-side-up at the top of the card is handwritten: February 1911. There is no stamp on this postcard, but small caps in the upper right corner read: PLACE/STAMP/HERE within a stamp-sized frame composed of the the word AZO in small caps.
NAME AND HISTORY: The Minton Hotel was first built in 1884 as the Minnewaska House. It was one of the earliest development projects of Glenwood attorney Mr. Thomas T. Ofsthun. An earlier hotel of wood construction called the Central House, had once stood on the site, at the southwest corner of the intersection of Minnesota Ave. and Franklin St.
In May 1884 Ofthun had moved this earlier structure a short distance west and adjoined it to the back of his new brick Minnewaska House as housing for all of the hostelry's culinary facilities. In 1889 the Minnewaska House was leased to Frank Minton, who changed its name to the Minton House. Although members of the Minton family continued to operate the hotel only until 1896, the name Minton was retained throughout all of its subsequent ownerships. After its purchase in 1896 by G.C. Gage, however, it was called simply "The Minton."
In 1911 another major renovation occurred after which the hotel was called "The New Minton." The hotel was razed in 1970.

Geographic Notes

Glenwood, Minnesota

Geographic Names

Glenwood, Pope, Minnesota, United States, NA [45.65024,-95.38976] [id:5028087]