3631 Bridge Street Northwest
St Francis, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Riverside Hotel (Rum River Inn)

Statement of Significance:

The Riverside Hotel, constructed ca. 1860, is the only extant commercial building directly associated with St. Francis' settlement and subsequent boom period as a lumbering town. Its association with Anoka and St. Francis' founding family, the Woodbury family, is of added significance.

The hotel was originally built as a residence for the Woodbury family, who platted the towns of Anoka and St. Francis, and constructed dams and sawmills at both locations. The residence was expanded into a hotel to house lumbermen and seasonal workers who were employed in the Woodbury mills. The hotel's use peaked at the turn of the century with the demand for seasonal industrial worker's housing. At the turn of the century St. Francis' industries included the Shaddick Creamery (1866), the St. Francis Mill (1888), the St. Francis Starch Factory (1895), and the St. Francis Canning Factory (1900).