3409 West 102nd Street
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Viellieux Family

My grandmother grew-up in this house in the 1930's and shared a few fond memories. At the time, it was only a tar-paper shack with a dirt floor cellar. The family of eight slept in the attic. (I do have a photo of the house at this time, but did not upload it because my relatives are standing in front of the house in the photo.)

The property boundaries were much larger and it was used as an orchard. The crops included grapes and plums. The family also collected watercress near Nine Mile Creek. Abbot Avenue was the driveway. Great-grandfather would listen for the train to come, then run down to where it stopped at 102nd and Penn Ave to help unload it and earn some money.

Records of the family (and many others) having been quarantined during the Scarlet Fever epidemic can be found in the Bloomitarian at the Bloomington Historical Society.

A Native American fellow who lived further south near the river would sometimes follow Old Shakopee Trail to Fort Snelling (by foot) and stop to spend the night in the toolshed. My grandmother remembered that he was so kind to make salve to help her mother with her health issue.

At Christmas time, my great-grandfather would place bricks on the roof and tie them to ropes so that he could create the illusion of reindeer landing on the roof.