404 S 5th Ave
Virginia, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Virginia–Rainy Lake Lumber Company Manager's Residence

Statement of Significance:

The mill manager's house is significant in that its lavishness reflects the social distance between the managerial class and the great mass of workers who resided in relatively crowded boardinghouses: and small cottages. The provision of such quarters "by the larger companies and later the corporations helped maintain the social distance thought necessary to maintain proper workforce discipline during the early twentieth century. Built By the Virginia-Rainy Lake Lumber Company, the largest in the Virginia area, the residence reflected the value of the products of the company to a large segment of the city's elite if not to a great mass of the mining population.

Virginia–Rainy Lake Lumber Company Manager's Residence

The Virginia–Rainy Lake Lumber Company Manager's Residence is a historic house in Virginia, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1910 to provide upscale quarters for the manager of the Virginia–Rainy Lake Lumber Company, the largest lumber company in the area. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for its local significance in the themes of industry and social history. It was nominated for reflecting the social distance enforced between industry elites and laborers in the early 20th century. The city's working class population at the time was crowded into boarding houses and small cottages, and it was common for large companies to erect lavish residences for their managerial class in the belief that telegraphing class distinctions was essential for maintaining workforce discipline.

The house has since been converted into a funeral home, with a one-story chapel wing built on to the north. The nearby Virginia–Rainy Lake Lumber Company Office is also on the National Register of Historic Places.