406 Grant St
Crookston, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - E.C Davis House ( Keith Romberg House )

Statement of Significance:

The E.C. Davis House is significant for its architecture - it is a fine, early example of Italianate architecture in Crookston - and for its original owner. E.C. Davis came to Crookston as a contractor handling the building of a section of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad from Crookston north in 1871. He made Crookston his headquarters, operating out of a tent until he built the first frame building in town - a structure built of lumber from dismantled boats that had hauled railroad materials on the Red River. He operated a railroad supply store and general merchandise business from the building. Davis homesteaded a quarter-section of land and in 1879 carved sixty acres of that into lots and blocks. He was chosen to head the first Polk County board of commissioners in 1872, served as Crookston's first mayor from 1879 to 1881, and was again elected mayor in 1886. His house at 406 Grant Street, the first brick residence in the city, was constructed in 1879480 of brick manufactured on the Davis’s homestead. The distinctive yellow brick from Crookston became an important building material along the rail lines that led out of the city. The Italianate style house is unusual in the city. It retains its essential integrity.