225 Washington Avenue West
Hutchinson, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Harrington Merrill House

Statement of Significance:

The Merrill House was completed in 1858 by one of Hutchinson’s founders, Lewis Harrington, and survived an attack on the town during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The Minneapolis Tribune called it “perhaps the most famous house in western Minnesota.

Lewis Harrington (1830-1884) was born in Ohio. After graduating with a civil engineering degree from Ohio University, he surveyed for railroads in Ohio and Pennsylvania until a visit to his brother, who lived along Lake Minnetonka, prompted him to move to Minnesota in 1855.

Uncertain about where he would settle, he attended a meeting at the home of John Stevens. There, he met the Hutchinson brothers —Asa, John, and Judson— for the first time. The Hutchinson Family Singers were a family singing group, and, in 1855, stood near the peak of their fame, among the most popular American entertainers of the era. They also had a reputation as reformers and advocates of antislavery, temperance, and gender equality. Although New Englanders, they were looking to the Midwest for a new home. In September 1855, while on a concert tour aimed to raise funds for anti-slavery settlers in Kansas, they were introduced to W. W. Pendergast, who convinced them to come to Minnesota.

With Harrington and other interested investors, they formed the Hutchinson Company. Several members of this company traveled to the vicinity of the South Fork of the Crow River and selected a townsite in November 1855. With the site selected, the singers gathered in a “delightful grove” along the river and led the party in “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A few days later, the Hutchinson Townsite Company adopted a constitution and bylaws for the new town. It declared, “No lot shall ever be occupied by any building used as a saloon, bowling alley, or billiard room.” Furthermore, “in the future of Hutchinson, woman shall enjoy equal rights with man.” Lots were reserved for public parks and schools. As the St. Anthony Express stated, “The town is to be on the liberal order.

Lewis Harrington played a central role in the company and the new town. In the bylaws, he was hired to survey the town and manage the sale of lots to settlers. In May 1856, he helped survey and build a road, with bridges, from Watertown. He also served as the city’s first postmaster. Harrington erected his first home in 1855, constructing a cabin in five days.'' He married Ellen Pendergast—daughter of another of the city’s founders —two days after Christmas 1857. With a child soon on the way, Harrington built this house “in the grove” in 1858. Active in politics, during the 1860 presidential election, Harrington hosted Senator Carl Schurz and Congressman Galusha Grow, author of the Homestead Act, at his home as they stumped for Abraham Lincoln.

Only a few years later, the future of the town was threatened during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. In early September 1862, forces under Little Crow attacked Hutchinson. Citizens hastily erected a stockade around the center of town and chose Lewis Harrington as captain of the local militia. His house was located outside the stockade but managed to survive while many other structures were burned to the ground. The home served as temporary barracks for soldiers through the following winter.

Harrington continued to work as a surveyor and engineer, and later served in the state legislature. According to his son-in-law, Harry Merrill, he was the first surveyor of Hermepin County and “must have surveyed every road leading west of Minneapolis to Glencoe through Eden Prairie [and] the Old Territorial Road to Fort Ridgley.” He worked for several early settlers, including the Pond brothers (influential Presbyterian missionaries to Minnesota), Col. John Stevens (owner of Minnesota’s first house west of the Mississippi), and Pierre Bottineau (an important early surveyor in Minnesota). He was elected McLeod County Commissioner in 1857 and served as Justice of the Peace, 1858-1860.’

He died in 1884 while on a surveying project in Washington State. A local historian wrote of Harrington: “As one of the founders of Hutchinson it may be said that in all the enterprises for the right building of the community, he was a central figure. A bom leader, men naturally appealed to his clear judgment and good will. His influence is stamped on the community he helped to found.” Liberty Hall, the editor of the Glencoe Registerj oined the chorus ofpraise, stating: “For nearly thirty years Mr. Harrington has stood in the very front rank of the more prominent men of McLeod county, and his name is written on every page of its history.