311 6th Street North
Cannon Falls, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Capt. Charles Gellette House

Statement of Significance:

The Captain Charles Gellett House is significant because of its association with both the pioneer origins of Cannon Falls and the beginning of the teacher training system in the state of Minnesota.

Cannon Falls was typical of many communities in southeastern Minnesota that grew up along the water-power potential of the many rivers and streams that flow through on their way to the Mississippi. Captain Charles Gellett was one of the men responsible for developing the falls of the Cannon and Little Cannon Rivers at Cannon Falls for manufacturing purposes. At the time that he built his house in 1860, he was a partner in the Cannon Falls Manufacturing Company, which operated one of the first sawmills in town.

Captain Gellett's brother>-in-law, Joseph Peckham, also occupied the house and gave it an additional measure of significance. As a member of the Minnesota Legislature in the 1850s, Peckham was responsible for introducing the bill that created the first State Normal School, at Winona. The house was thus the home of the founder of the teacher training system in the state of Minnesota.