3012 Shoreline Dr
Wayzata, MN 55391, USA

The Thompson Summer House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

The Thompson Summer House is significant under Criterion A and Criterion C. Under Criterion A, the House reflects the broad patterns under National Register areas of significance, Entertainment and Recreation and Social History, as well as two inter-related Minnesota historic contexts: Minnesota Tourism and Recreation in the Lake Regions 1870-1945 and Urban Centers 1870-1940. The Tourism and Recreation context encompasses the development of tourism, tourist facilities and recreational developments in Minnesota. Within the larger context of Tourism and Recreation, this nomination explores the rise of Lake Minnetonka as a one of the premier resort and recreational areas in the state for upper- and middle-class tourists and for upper- and middle-class residents of the Twin Cities. The community of Lafayette Beach, in which the house is located, developed around the largest tourist facility on Lake Minnetonka (the Hotel Lafayette) and was made up primarily of the seasonal migration of prominent, upper middle-class Twin Cities families.

The Urban Centers context encompasses the development of economic and transportation systems that resulted in the state’s urban centers of population, commerce and culture. The elite Twin Cities group that built summer cottages in Minnetonka Beach, and elsewhere on Lake Minnetonka, represent the wealth generated by the great economic boom of the 1880s which transformed Minneapolis into a regional center of trade over the ensuing two decades. The residents of many of the early homes in Minnetonka Beach appear to have been upper and upper middle-class businessmen and legal professionals, all of whom made their fortunes (however modest) during the formative years of Minneapolis’ regional economy. They socialized in prominent social circles that included memberships in the Minneapolis Club, the Minnesota Club, and the University Club, all located in the city, and the nearby Lafayette Club, located on Crystal Bay northeast of the Thompson House. Several held government offices in addition to their other ventures.

Under Criterion C, the Thompson Summer House is significant in the National Register area of significance, architecture, as the type of summer home constructed in seasonal lake communities by the urban elite during the late 1800s. The Thompson Summer House construction of frame and finish without winter insulation, basement, or an enclosed foundation, and its open porches and multiple doors distinguish the building as a seasonal residence. Its substantial size reflects the social class who summered in Minnetonka Beach. Consistently used as a summer home since its construction in 1887, it is one of the oldest extant summer residences on one of Minnesota’s largest and most popular lakes. The village of Minnetonka Beach contains only a small number of homes from the same era, a few with good exterior material integrity, but only the Thompson Summer House has not been remodeled for year-round occupation and retains this level of interior integrity (M. Regner, personal communication via telephone, 9 April 1997). Most older homes in Minnetonka Beach, on Lake Minnetonka in general, and on White Bear Lake (the other most prominent tourist lake prior to the turn of the century in the immediate vicinity of the Twin Cities) have been either demolished and replaced or have poor material integrity due to extensive remodeling (M.J. Levine, personal communication via telephone, 21 March 1997; M. Regner, pers. comm.). The Thompson Summer House, in contrast, has excellent material integrity as a turn-of-the-century seasonal residence.

The period of significance for the Thompson Summer House begins with its construction in 1887 and continues through 1947. Th=>se dates reflect the full range of physical components presently found on the property, the period of use by the Thompson farr. / as a seasonal residence, and the Thompson’s participation in the summer social life of the community, including merr ership in the nearby Lafayette Club. Thompson descendants continue to commute from homes in the Twin Cities to the summer respite.

Historical Context for the Thompson Summer Cottage
Lake Resorts in Minnesota
Minnesota’s lakes became a tourist attraction from the time St. Paul and Minneapolis were first settled. By the early 1850s, the start of the major influx of European-American settlers and businessmen. White Bear Lake near St. Paul already had a hotel on its shore. Life on White Bear Lake was soon described as the epitome of “Camp life, with all the accessories of rowing, sailing, fishing, hunting, and out-door life generally...” (Ogden 1878). As the resorts on the lakeshore became more important, the description of White Bear Lake changed: it was noted as being “the oldest summer resort in the State, and, consequently, is far advanced in many of the conveniences required by fashionable people who do not care to indulge in the wild and sometimes inconvenient modes of life found at our less developed watering places” (Rand. McNally & Co. 1883:30).

By the late 1860s and 1870s, Minneapolis’ Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake, and Lakes Calhoun and Harriet were all tourist attractions, with elegant resort hotels nearby (Lonergan and Sanden 1979). Lake Minnetonka, frequently cited as the most glamorous of Minnesota’s lakes, with the most elegant assortment of hotels and resorts adorning its shores, became accessible by rail from the Twin Cities in 1867, a development that triggered a dramatic increase in the number of tourists or seasonal visitors coming to see the lake whose natural charms had been lauded since the 1850s. Other water-oriented resorts in the state in the mid- and late-1880s included Lake Elmo, the Dalles of the St. Croix, the Dalles of the St. Louis, Lake Superior (i.e., Duluth), St. Croix Lake, Frontenac and Albert Lea (Meir 1993; Ogden 1878; Rand, McNally & Co. 1883:15, 18).

The booming tourist and resort industry around Minnesota’s lakes came about at least in part because of health concerns. Before the Civil War, plantation owners and their families would flee the heat, humidity, and disease of Southern summers, escaping to Minnesota’s more salubrious climate and many lakeside resorts. Although their presence became less noticeable after the war’s end, some Southern families continued to spend their summers in Minnesota (Jones 1957).

Doctors also contributed to the industry. Before the Civil War, East Coast doctors would “...recommend a sojourn in Italy, the south of France, or at one of the popular resorts in the West lndies...[or, beginning in the 1840s,] Florida" for their patients suffering from tuberculosis (consumption) (Clapesattle 1957: 216-217). With the onset of the Civil War, Florida became virtually inaccessible and travel to and within the state dangerous. Minnesota’s many lakeside resorts remained accessible from the East Coast and quickly became the primary alternative to a stay in Florida. By the time the Civil War ended and Florida stabilized during the Reconstruction period, Minnesota was firmly established as the southern state’s primary rival for the patronage of consumptive patients (and their doctors) (Clapesattle 1957:217). One of the earliest results of this rivalry between the two states was a booming tourist and health resort industry (Clapesattle 1957:220).

Railroads also did their best to promote Minnesota’s attractions, particularly as health resorts. At least Lake Minnetonka and White Bear Lake were accessible by rail from the Twin Cities by the late 1860s, which only enhanced their popularity (Blegen 1975:462). As early as 1874, a railroad production extolled Lake Minnetonka’s sailing, rowing, fishing, and “the hotels”, and described several other Minnesota attractions among its jewels of the Northwest (Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad 1874). In 1878, another railroad-sponsored pamphlet described Lake Minnetonka’s “...cool, bracing, invigorating atmosphere, rich in ozone and oxygen, equaled nowhere else in the world...," and was equally enthusiastic about several other Minnesota resort areas (Ogden 1878). The railroads even went so far as to sponsor a special edition of the National Health Journal specifically to promote Lake Minnetonka {National Health Journal 1899).

Lake Minnetonka — Tourist Resorts
During the period of initial contact between Minnesota’s Native American inhabitants and European-American explorers, Lake Minnetonka was occupied by the Dakota, who exploited the abundant natural resources of the area. It is possible that the lake was first seen by European-Americans during the early 1820s, or perhaps even earlier (Jones 1957:27-36), but the first firm evidence of white exploration of the Lake Minnetonka area dates to 1851. Newspaper accounts from the Twin Cities and across the country rhapsodized about the beauty of the lake, drawing tourists and squatters from all over the nation (Jones 1957:21-22). Even before the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was ratified by the United States Congress in 1852, squatters were claiming land around the lake (Jones 1957:60). After the official government land survey in 1855, the land around the lake was quickly claimed by many farmers, millers, and other settlers.

Although most of the original claims were intended for farming, the Lake Minnetonka area became a popular resort destination. Upper-class Southern family’s intent on escaping the humid summers of the Lower Mississippi Valley arrived at the lake they had seen described in newspapers, seeking cooler, healthier climates. Upper- and middle-class visitors believing time at the lake would improve their poor health arrived, seeking facilities at which to recuperate or rest. And Twin Cities residents looking for a summer home or summer day’s escape arrived.

By 1867, J. J. Hill’s St. Paul and Pacific Railroad connected the Twin Cities with the village of Wayzata, at the northeast end of the lake, leading to the construction between 1867 and 1879 of no fewer than 12 tourist hotels around the shores of the lake (Lanegran and Sandeen 1979:25). The earliest hotels were only a premonition of the considerably larger, more lavish ones that were to come. One 1878 publication, sponsored by a railroad company, noted that “The lake is a constant pleasant surprise to the visitor, and when the time comes, as it will in the near future, when fine hotels and pavilions are built at the leading points along and around this vast body of water, they will be thronged with the elite and fashion [sic] drawn hither from many States” (Ogden 1878). As noted above, the railroad companies also proved invaluable in promoting Lake Minnetonka as a health resort, a tradition they pursued at least through the end of the nineteenth century (National Health Journal 1899). By 1881, Lake Minnetonka resort life, as depicted in the American Traveler’s Journal (1881), included considerable numbers of parties with fishing as a minor sideline for some visitors; the rounds of parties and gatherings appears from these gossipy pages to have been the primary attraction to the area.