(Thursday, March 13, 2025) – Today, we drove to Saint Paul, Minnesota, for a couple of tours of famous landmarks: the historic James J. Hill mansion and the Cathedral of Saint Paul.
The James J. Hill house was first up, and it was very interesting to find out about James J. Hill, his wife Mary, their family – and the mansion that took three years to build and was completed in 1891. The mansion was built with all of the most recent technological advances of the time (electricity wired throughout the house, a central heating system, and a security system – to name a few). James J. Hill amassed most of his fortune when he and a few others acquired the almost bankrupt St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, which in 1890 was renamed the Great Northern RR.
The mansion’s dimensions are: 36,500 sq. ft. of living space on five floors, 13 bathrooms, 22 fireplaces, and an 88-foot reception hall. After he died in 1916, his wife Mary maintained the mansion until her death five years later. In 1925, it was presented to the St. Paul Catholic Archdiocese, which occupied the property until 1978 when it was acquired by the Minnesota Historical Society.
The next stop after the tour of the James J. Hill Mansion was a tour of the Cathedral of Saint Paul, another historic landmark. The best way to describe my reaction after walking into the Cathedral is “visually stunning”! The Cathedral is a masterpiece of architecture and art, and the guided tour was excellent and very educational regarding various aspects of the Catholic Church. The cornerstone for the Cathedral was laid in 1907 and it took about eight years to build – with the first mass held on Easter Sunday 1915. The Cathedral is included on the National Register of Historic Places and draws over 200,000 visitors each year. The Cathedral can accomodate up to 3,000 people for a service.
We enjoyed the historic tours and ended our day in Saint Paul with delicious smashburgers and milkshakes at Red Cow. What a fun day!
