People of the Past Whom could you find in limestone buildings?
STONEMASONS
Photo courtesy of the Shattuck-St.
Mary's School Archives.
French-Canadian,
Irish and German stonemasons brought immigrant traditions and
refined quarrying and carving skills to Faribault. Cormack McCall
(above left) and his brother, Thomas, were master masons who built
not only their own homes of limestone, but also worked on the
Episcopal Cathedral, Johnston Hall, and Shattuck buildings, including
Shumway Hall (1887, above).
An editorial in a Faribault newspaper
ca. 1890 noted: “From almost the earliest days there has
been a group of workmen here...whole families working together
digging the stone from the rock-bound earth, hewing, cutting,
chiseling into shape, finally laying it in symmetrical course
on course until the building was completed.”
BISHOP WHIPPLE
In 1860, Bishop
Henry B. Whipple (pictured with wife Evangeline, ca. 1890)
settled in Faribault as the first bishop of Minnesota’s
newly created Episcopal diocese. Whipple established a network
of mission schools and and churches throughout the state,
and was closely involved in the events and outcomes of the
Dakotah War of 1862.
He solicited international support and
funding for the Episcopal schools in Faribault, including
the Seabury Divinity School (below), Shattuck School, St.
Mary’s Hall and the St. James School. The campuses
featured limestone buildings in formal architectural styles.
Whipple’s home church, the Cathedral of Our Merciful
Savior, was a seven-year project built of local stone.
Seabury Hall
BRIDGET SHANAHAN McMAHON
Bridget
Shanahan lived a life similar to many women of her era.
Daughter of Irish immigrants, she married Irish stone mason
Thomas McMahon in Iowa in 1849. They lived in Waseca County
before moving to Faribault in 1856. Thomas opened what was
later called the Mankato quarry, then became a quarry owner
and stonemason in Faribault. Thomas built the McMahon family
home of local limestone in 1870 and 1871, spending $1200
on construction in the first year, and $1000 on “finishing”
in the second. Bridget and Thomas had twelve children, three
of whom died in infancy. The McMahon home stands at 603
Division Street East.
Bridget
Shanahan lived a life similar to many women of her era.
Daughter of Irish immigrants, she married Irish stone mason
Thomas McMahon in Iowa in 1849. They lived in Waseca County
before moving to Faribault in 1856. Thomas opened what was
later called the Mankato quarry, then became a quarry owner
and stonemason in Faribault. Thomas built the McMahon family
home of local limestone in 1870 and 1871, spending $1200
on construction in the first year, and $1000 on “finishing”
in the second. Bridget and Thomas had twelve children, three
of whom died in infancy. The McMahon home stands at 603
Division Street East.