Field Trips: James J. Hill House

Thank you for your interest. In response to ongoing concerns over health and safety practices, MNHS museums and historic sites will not host any field trips during the 2020-2021 school year.

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Explore upstairs-downstairs life at this grand 42-room mansion, built for the Hill family in 1891.

Watch video James J. Hill House Field Trips on Vimeo

Field trip options

Hill House Tour

Grades K–12
Students discover life in a Gilded Age mansion on these lively guided tours. Tailor the tour to suit your class. Content, length, and level can be adjusted to include family and servant life, architecture, interior design, and James J. Hill and railroad development.

$6 per person
75 minutes

Children's Workshop

Grades 3–6
Students engage in hands-on activities including etiquette lessons, Victorian family pastimes, and a riddle tour. The 2.5 hour workshop includes a slide show on the Hill family.

Available Mondays and Tuesdays.
$9 per person
2.5 hours

Summit Avenue Walking Tour

Grades 4–12 *April-Oct
Explore the historic neighborhood surrounding the Hill House on these 90-minute tours. Students learn about the leaders who built St. Paul and transformed the Northwest, Gilded Age architectural styles, and ongoing preservation work. The tour covers 1.5 miles on Summit Avenue and side streets, ending at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

$8 per person
90 minutes

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Walking Tour

Grades 7-12 *April-Oct
Explore the childhood haunts of F. Scott Fitzgerald with a 90-minute walking tour of the St. Paul neighborhood where he spent much of his youth. Students will learn about Fitzgerald's early years, the impact of St. Paul on his writing, and his connections to the Hill family and other prominent neighbors. The tour includes stops at the Summit Ave. home where Fitzgerald wrote his first novel, and his birthplace on Laurel Ave. The tour does not include interiors.