House History

Hello Ladies!

 

As always, it was wonderful spending time with you this past Saturday. As if I wasn't already excited about 3724 Park's future, now knowing the level of detail involved in your restoration plans...well...I'm literally GIDDY!

 

Speaking of 3724 Park's future...it's time to talk a bit about it's PAST! I did a little bit of research Saturday night and Sunday morning and was able to dig up some good, old-fashioned juicy history goodness.

 

So, before I talk about what I just found out this weekend about the original family who lived in 3724 Park for nearly 30 years, I'll re-fresh your memory (just for fun) about the architect and real estate developer (Samuel Glading) who are responsible for 3724 Park's existence in the first place (and who was the original owner-occupant of Tom and Gary's house). Here's what I wrote for the Minnesota Historical Society's Placeography website: http://www.placeography.org/index.php/Samuel_Glading_House%2C_3624_Park_Avenue%2C_Minneapolis%2C_Minnesota

 

In case you are curious after reading the MHS Placeography entry, I made a mistake in the entry when I said Glading developed only SIX houses...he actually developed SEVEN on the 3600 and 3700 blocks, which were (in no particular order, other than linear): 1) 3624 Park (Tom and Gary's), 2) 3744 Park (white Healy on the northwest corner of 37th & Park), 3) 3649 Park (Kim and John's), 4) 3724 Park, 5) 3732 Park, 6) 3744 Park, and 7) 3748 Park. He obviously did fairly well for himself.

 

As for James Record: as I am sure I probably told you, he designed at least SEVEN known homes along the stretch of Park Avenue from 28th St. to 38th St. Of those seven, THREE of them were for Samuel Glading.

 

OK...now, on to what I found out this weekend about the original owners of 3724 Park:

 

• 1900 Census shows George Alfred Parkhurst as living at 3724 Park. George was a conductor for the railroad. The census indicates that he rented the house in this particular year, which leads me strongly to believe that Samuel Glading, who was living in Tom and Gary's house at the time (just a half-block away) likely continued to own the house for a couple of years after he had it developed and probably rented it for the short time he lived on Park Avenue (see link above to find out why and when he moved out of Tom and Gary's) house. I suspect this to be the case because in the 1910 and 1920 census, the Parkhursts were still living at 3724 Park, but in both years it said that they owned it.

• Back to the 1900 Census: It showed that George Alfred Parkhurst (age 45) lived here with his wife Emma Jane (age 45) and their three children as folows:
• Howard ("Harry") Capron Parkhurst - 12 yrs old
• Chastina J. ("Chattie") - 10 yrs old
• Shirley - 1 yrs old
• The Parkhurst family continued to live in the house through the 1910 and 1920 censuses. It appears that, according to death records, George died in 1928 at age 73 (and is buried in the Mendota Heights Cemetary). It is my guess that at this time (1928) Emma Jane sold 3724 Park, because for the 1930 census (she would have been 75 by this time) she is listed as living in a retirement home in Bloomington. She died in 1936 and is buried in the same cemetery as George.
  
• Here is the breakdown of  George and Emma Parkhurst's decendents: 1) son Howard ("Harry") Capron Parkhurst had two children: Robert Capron Parkhurst and John Holand Parkhurst. They appear to have been twins: both born 1920 and, strangely, both died 1997. Robert had a daughter, Debbie, who would be George Parkhurst's great granddaughter. I was able to trace, through family trees on Ancestry.com that this great granddaughter, Debbie Parkhurst, appears to live in Homosassa, FL, and is approx. 55 yrs old.  2) daughter Chastina J. Parkhurst never had children.  3) daughter Shirley Parkhurst never had children.

 

OK...now, this is REALLY crazy...but it just so happens that George Parkhurst was born in BERLIN, WI, which is the tiny little town in the eastern portion of WI (in-between Green Bay and Milwaukee) that I'm from! Crazy, huh?

 

Anyway, since the Parkhursts clearly lived there for decades (at least 20+ years from what I can verify), the chances seem very good to me that if you are able to track down a descendant that someone, somewhere in that family has photos of the family and of the house. Clearly they loved their house to stay there that long, and they probably had money, too (so they likely had a camera or means to pay photographers), so it just seems like if you can track Debbie Parkhurst down that you may strike gold. And even if SHE doesn't have any photos, she certainly may be able to refer you to other family members who would. Almost every family has some family historian!

 

Exciting, huh????

 

Can't wait to keep hearing about and seeing the progress!

 

-Ryan