405 North Chestnut Street
Belle Plaine, MN, USA

Hooper–Bowler–Hillstrom House

The Hooper–Bowler–Hillstrom House was built in 1871 in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, United States, by Sandford A. Hooper, a local businessman and promoter of the town. In 1886 it conveyed to Samuel Bowler, a founder of the State Bank of Belle Plaine and lumber-yard owner. Bowler added a new kitchen, buttery, and a five-hole, two-story outhouse that is connected to the house via a skyway. He also added a copper-lined bathtub. When the Bowlers moved to Denver, Colorado in 1901, the clapboard frame house was sold to Alfred Hillstrom whose family lived in the house until it was purchased in 1975 by the town's Historical Society. It is now owned by the city of Belle Plaine and is open to the public. Current furnishings include three periods-1850s and 1860s, Victorian, and early 1900s.

Additional features include a well-pump in the kitchen, a wood stove, and a large carriage stone on the front lawn, which acted as a step for ascending into or descending from carriages. Surviving outbuildings include a wood shed used to store coal and wood to fuel the stoves in the house and a brick smoke house. Furnishing include a "courting chair" in which young couples would sit back-to-back.

The home has a low-pitched roof and central chimneys; it is adorned with a long, covered front porch and is specially decorated for Christmas. In addition to the winter holiday, the home is open to the public in the summer. Visitors may see the distinctive outhouse, but may not use it. Similar to other two-story outhouses, the waste from the upper level flows behind a false wall in the lower level.

National Register of Historic Places - Hooper–Bowler–Hillstrom House

Statement of Significance:

The Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom House is significant both for its representative vernacular design and construction and for its association with prominent early Belle Plaine families. Simple frame dwellings, once a common element on Scott County's landscape, are fast becoming a rare sight. The Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom House is perhaps Scott County's best preserved and least altered nineteenth century frame dwelling. Its vernacular design^ and construction are representative of the county's architecture in general and Belle Plaine in particular. The major characteristics of residential architecture in Belle Plaine are clearly demonstrated in its frame construction, modest proportions, and simplified version of a traditional style. Commodore S.A. Hooper built the house ca. 1871 and lived there until 1883. One of the town's early settlers and promoters and a very successful businessman, Hooper was one of the most talked-about men in early county newspapers. Samuel Bowler, another prominent local businessman 7 and large landholder, lived in the house from 1886 to 1904. The Hillstrom family were twentieth century occupants, living there between 1904 and 1975. With the nation's 1976 Bicentennial celebration, the house entered a new phase of its life as a house museum telling the story of the community's history and the families who lived there.