Historical Background
Alexander Ramsey, 1865
Alexander Ramsey
Alexander Ramsey, the only man to be both appointed as governor of the territory and then elected as governor of the state, was born September 8, 1815, at Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.
In 1845 Ramsey married Anna Earl Jenks. The couple had three children, two who died in childhood. The third, Marion, married Charles Eliot Furness in 1875.
In 1849, Ramsey was appointed Minnesota's Territorial Governor by President Zachary Taylor. While in Minnesota, Ramsey held numerous offices - territorial governor, mayor of St. Paul, second state governor, U.S. Senator, and secretary of war under President Hayes. He was also a shrewd businessman, and made a sizeable fortune in real estate.
St. Paul's fashionable Irvine Park neighborhood was selected for their new home, and construction began in 1868. The new home was equipped with the latest technology - hot and cold running water, gas lighting and hot water radiators. Anna Ramsey went on an extravagant shopping spree in 1872 to furnish the home. At a New York department store, she bought enough furnishings to fill two boxcars.
Ramsey died in 1903. His daughter, Marion Ramsey Furness, had come to live in St. Paul with her parents and continued to live in the house. Ramsey's grandaughters, Anita and Laura Furness, lived in the house until their deaths. They left the house to the Minnesota Historical Society, which has run it as a museum ever since.
Online Resources
- Alexander Ramsey in "Minnesota Governors"
- Anna Earl Jenks Ramsey
- Related Photos
- "The Alexander Ramsey House Furnishing a Victorian Home" by Barbara Ann Caron from Minnesota History
- Minnesota Constitution
Conservation Projects
Library Resources
Available at the Minnesota History Center Library
