603 5th St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA

Horatio P. Van Cleve House

Statement of Significance:

The H.P, Van Cleve house is both an historically and architecturally significant building in the City of Minneapolis. Historically, it is significant because it was the home of General Horatio P and Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve, both important figures in Minneapolis during the late 1800s. Architecturally, it is a fine example of the Greek Revival which flourished in the mid-west from the 1850s through the Civil War.

Architecturally, its symmetrical design, classical portico, defined corner pilasters, and pedimented gable roof emphasize the arcadian simplicity of the Greek Revival style - the style that personified the idealism of the frontier in the pre-Civil War period. It is most fitting that the Van Cleves should have lived in a Greek Revival style house, for they worked in Minneapolis for many years of their lives to achieve the high ideals which this style s37mbolized - simplicity, confidence in man, his reason and his constitution.

Born in 1809 in Princeton, New Jersey, General Van Cleve was educated at Princeton and West Point. In 1836 he moved to Michigan and in 1856 he settled at Long Prairie, Minnesota where he engaged in raising stock. On March 22, 1836, General Van Cleve was married to Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark, daughter of Major Nathan Clark of the United States Army. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, General Van Cleve offered his services to his country and the governor of Minnesota gave him command of the Second Minnesota Regiment. He commanded the Regiment throughout the war, engaging them in many battles: Mill Spring, Corinth, Murfree borough. At Stone River he was wounded and had to leave the field, however, upon his recovery he resumed command of his division until the end of the war. In 1865 he was commissioned Major-General for "gallant and meritorious service" and upon his return to Minnesota in 1866, he was appointed Adjutant General. On March 3, 1871, he was commissioned Postmaster General of St. Anthony and he served in this capacity until St. Anthony was united with the city of Minneapolis in 1872. He was reappointed Adjutant General in 1876. Throughout his life General Van Cleve served Minnesota admirably, both as a military office and as a private citizen.

Like her husband, Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve, also served Minnesota admirably and her accomplishments as a woman living in the second half of the 19th century are indeed outstanding. Mrs. Van Cleve was born at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1819. She was the first white child born in the territory of Wisconsin, which then included Minnesota. She was raised at Fort Snelling, where her father was serving as a Major with the United States Army. After her marriage to Horatio P. Van Cleve, she and her husband remained at Fort Snelling, where she gave birth to twelve children, four of whom died in infancy.

Unlike many women of her time, Charlotte Van Cleve did not devote all of her energies to raising her family. Throughout her life she organized and supported various social activities and humanitarian causes. During the war she gathered women together at her home to scrape lint for bandages for poor soldiers. She canvassed the state lecturing to and organizing women's foreign societies and she founded the "Sisterhood of Bethany". The purpose of the "Sisterhood" was to save and reform "fallen women", a task that was frowned upon in Charlotte Van Cleve's time. However, the comments of her contemporaries did not dissuade her from her work. As president of the "Sisterhood", through lectures and familiar society talks, she enlisted the active sympathy of a large portion of the community. In addition to her social and humanitarian work, Charlotte Van Cleve was a prominent writer in Minneapolis during the late 1800s. Her numerous articles in the Minneapolis newspapers and her book Three Score Years and Ten, Life Long Memories of Fort Snelling Minnesota reflect not only her abilities as a writer, but also her interest in the welfare and history of early Minnesota. The accomplishments of Charlotte Van Cleve were many and remarkable and the impact of her work on Minneapolis is well summarized in The History of Hennepin County Minnesota published in 1881. It states: "There is probably no woman in the State who has done more to lighten the burdens on the shoulders of the poor, the sick, the aged, and the distressed than Mrs. Van Cleve.”

The H.P. Van Cleve house is thus an important building in Minneapolis architecturally as a well preserved example of the Greek Revival style and historically as the home of Charlotte Ouisconsin and General H.P Van Cleve, who worked throughout their lives in Minneapolis towards the classical goals visually evident in their home : simplicity, order, reason and confidence in man.