1263 Cosgrove Street
Falcon Heights, MN, USA

J.V. Bailey House

This residence was home to greenhouse superintendents and groundskeepers from the 1920s to 2004. It was also the fair-time home for State Agricultural Society board members from the 1920s through 1969. On Aug. 27, 2006, the property was named in honor of J.V. Bailey, founder of Bailey Nurseries. Mr. Bailey served the Minnesota State Fair as superintendent of horticulture (1912 -1932), member of the Agricultural Society board and President of the board (1933 -1934). Restored with gifts to the Minnesota State Fair Foundation from Bailey Nursery Foundation and the Gordon and Margaret Bailey Foundation, the property now provides community meeting space and offices for the Minnesota State Fair Foundation.

Housing the Past

Housing the Past
By John Brewer | Pioneer Press
Published: August 22, 2007 at 11:01 p.m.
Photos by:

Some call it the “gardener’s house” or “the yellow house on the corner.”

It should be known as the “calm house in the State Fair storm.”

The J.V. Bailey House, which was home to the Fair’s head gardeners and their families until 2004, sits near the Space Tower, the Agriculture-Horticulture Building and the International Bazaar. Nevertheless, it feels a million miles away from the usual Fair-time bustle.

“We are the peace and respite,” said Kay Cady, executive director of the Minnesota State Fair Foundation. Her offices are on the upper floor of the Cosgrove Street home.

A 2006 renovation restored the old charm of the 1911 home, which touts wavy-glass windows, hardwood floors and period furniture. The foundation, which raises money for Fairgrounds preservation and beautification, hopes it will serve as a place “where people can come and help develop the future of the Fair,” Cady said.

It’s proved quite a draw.

The home opened to the public during last year’s Fair and was overwhelmed with visitors.

“We had 20,000 people come through,” Cady said. “Who knew it would be such a big curiosity?”

It was so big – and her group was so unprepared – that the original maple hardwood floors had to be refinished after the Fair.

This year, the building will have runners down for foot traffic and volunteers directing visitors past the panels on the walls detailing the home’s history – including how the place got its name.

The house honors J.V. Bailey, the State Fair superintendent of horticulture from 1912 to 1923 and member of the State Agricultural Society board – the group that has run the Fair for more than 150 years – from 1924 to 1934.

He also founded Newport’s Bailey Nurseries, which is still run by the Bailey family.

The Baileys funded the renovation of the home but don’t want to disclose the cost of the project, Cady said. She would say only that it was a six-figure job.

The exact pedigree of the home is a bit of a mystery, too, said James Hamilton of the State Fair Foundation.

One theory goes that it was a hospital for the Ramsey County Poor Farm, which originally occupied the 320-acre Fairgrounds site. Another says it was a residence moved from the west end of the Fairgrounds to the current location in the early 1900s.

What is known for sure is that the house was home to five of the Fair’s greenhouse superintendents and their families between the 1920s and 2004.

The greenhouse off the back of the building is accessible through a basement-level corridor and is where all the Fair’s flowers – including the signature canna lilies – are still grown.

The families left their mark on the home, Cady said, including shag carpeting “of every color.”

Last year’s renovation revealed the wood floors, restored the front entry by removing some late-addition walls and covered the exterior stucco with clapboard.

Cady said the year-round space can be used for Fair-related gatherings and is home to the State Fair reference library.

“We want it to be accessible,” she said.