2051 Melody Hill Road
Excelsior, MN, USA

2051 Melody Hill Road, Excelsior, MN, USA

Aerial Map Viewer

Using Historic Aerials' Aerial Map Viewer, you can see the property decrease in size between 1979 and 1984, with a neighboring home appearing to the west of the house in the 1984 aerial photograph.

1926 Murray Hill Neighborhood Map

In this 1926 map of Murray Hill, we can see that the lot is still Lot 19 and the street name is still Vine St. It is unclear how long the street was Vine St before becoming Melody Hill Rd. The property's house number also remains unknown. The property was larger than today, taking up about half of the block.

Ad for Hire

In 1906, an ad was put out for a young girl or woman for light housework. The ad was created by Mrs. Dobbin of Murray Hill, Excelsior. Though it is unclear which house Mrs. Dobbin lived in, it is described as a cottage and would have been located in the Murray Hill neighborhood and subdivision.

"How I Grew Grapes" by J.W. Murray

In this newspaper clipping from 1903, J.W. Murray of Excelsior, for whom the Murray Hill neighborhood and subdivision was named, gave a presentation on grapes in Minneapolis. His presentation was titled, "How I Grew Grapes." The presentation occurred at the State Horticultural Society's Annual Meeting.

J.W. Murray Photograph

This image depicts the Grand Army of the Republican Civil War Veterans in 1892. They are standing on Water Street in Excelsior. The buildings behind them would burn three years later in 1895. John Weir Murray (J.W. Murray) is the 16th to the left.

Murray Hill Neighborhood Map

The first evidence of the house's property is in 1884. It is present on a map of the Murray Hill neighborhood and subdivision, labeled Lot 19. At this time, the street name was not Melody Hill Rd, but Vine St. The owners of the land at this time were Minor and Sarah Ball, Elizabeth W. Murray, Emma Murray, and James Murray. The text on this map shows that the plats were surveyed by Wesley Beach.

FamilySearch Census Records

This census record from 1880 shows J.W. Murray as a 49-year-old farmer from Pennsylvania. Listed below him is his 39-year-old wife, Mary, and his 12-year-old daughter, Laila. The Murray Neighborhood was named after the Murrays who owned the land prior to it becoming a subdivision.

1874 Carver County Map

This map from the David Rumsey Map Collection shows Carver County in 1874. If you zoom in on the location of the address, you can see that there was no neighborhood and only nearby farms belonging to individuals. We can assume the property was not yet being used or was used as farmland at this time. The map is available for free viewing on the website.