601 West Lyon Street
Marshall, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - William F. Gieske House

Statement of Significance:

The William F. Gieske House is significant for its association with William F.: Gieske, a developer and president of the Marshall Milling Co., one of €he region's most important milling complexes, and as one of the most visually distinctive residences in Marshall. William F. Gieske was born into a milling family in the early southern Minnesota community of New Ulm in 1869. After completing his education, he entered the office of the nearby Sleepy Eye Milling Company, which his father (William Gieske, Sr.) had founded in 1884. In May 1892, the Sleepy Eye Co. acquired a small mill in Marshall, located further west on the same rail line, and William F. Gieske assumed charge of operations. In 1893 the Mill was Incorporated and became the Marshall Milling Company. Business was conducted on a small scale until 1905 when, under Gieske's direction, a six-story brick mill (extant but severely modified) was constructed at a cost of $100,000, and Marshall became the major milling center for agricultural southwest Minnesota. Gieske served as an officer of the company until 1914 and took an active role in the commercial development of Marshall - until his death in 1931. The Gieske House, located two blocks from the mill, remains as a visible link to Marshall's early milling industry and as an architecturally distinctive residence.