531 Brainerd Ave
St Paul, MN 55130, USA

531 Brainerd Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, USA

531 Brainerd Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places

Excerpt from the Statement of Significance (see document for the full form):
The Hinkel-Sullivan House is a rare example of a wealthy man's country estate and Is the only wood-frame cupola house extant in the City of St Paul.

The popularity of the Italian Villa Style in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area came in the early period of the development of these communities. The houses of many of the early leaders of these cities were erected in this style. These early neighborhoods, with few exceptions, have been engulfed by the developing urban centers, leaving few isolated examples remaining.

With the money earned from railroad contracting and his St. Paul ice business. Jacob Hinkel, in 1871, purchased fifteen acres on the New Canada Road, about a mile north of the city limit. By the spring of 1872, he began construction of his country home choosing an appropriate Italian Villa style, which would cost $8,000; a very substantial sum in those days. The Hinkel's must have felt very content in their new home on April 6, 1873, when the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported "Jacob Hinkel has a monopoly on the ice business in St. Paul". Their happiness was short-lived though, interrupted by the sudden death of Mrs. Hinkel in March of 1874. Mr. Hinkel remained in the house only long enough to see his daughter married there in August 1875, he lost the house together with his many other holdings through default in 1876.

The house was leased or rented during the next decade. One tenant, a brass foundry owner, paid the extraordinary sum of $30 per month to live there. In 1883 the original fifteen-acre tract was platted to form the Clarke & Wilgus Addition.

The two largest lots of the plat, one on which the house stood, and the next lot west; together containing about five acres, were purchased in 1885 by William Dunlap. Probably the most prominent resident to ever live in the house, Dunlap had arrived in Minnesota about 1870, settled in Carlton County, and had amassed quite a fortune in real estate. Many additions and plats in Carlton County bear his name, along with "Dunlap Island" which he platted shortly before coming to St. Paul. He is credited with the founding of Scanlon, Minnesota in 1901. During his stay in St. Paul and residence on Brainerd Avenue Dunlap continued in the real estate business until ill health forced him to retire. After selling the house in 1898, Dunlap lived in Minneapolis and Carlton County, until moving to California in 1906. Dunlap Street in St. Paul was named in his honor.