603 Division Street East
Faribault, MN, USA

Thomas Bridget Shanahan McMahon House

The Thomas and Bridget Shanahan McMahon House, located at 603 Division St., E., in Faribault, Minnesota was built in 1870–1871, and was listed for its Faribault stone architecture on the National Register of Historic Places on July 19, 1990. It was built by Thomas McMahon, a local quarry owner.

Thomas McMahon married Bridget Shanahan in 1849, while they lived in Iowa. The McMahons had 12 children. Three died in infancy. They moved to Faribault in 1856, where Thomas became a quarry owner. He spent $1200 on their house in 1870, and $1000 more finishing it in 1871. The house has a great room and kitchen on floor one and two bedrooms and a bath on floor two. The house originally did not have dormers or an external chimney. It had two internal fireplaces at each east west side. The small porch by the back door is also not original. It originally had a magnificent wooden, hand painted porch on the front. Sometime after 1940, that was lost. Current owners are making an effort to replicate the porch and put it back on.

National Register of Historic Places - Thomas Bridget Shanahan McMahon House

Statement of Significance:

The Thomas and Bridget Shanahan McMahon House is significant within the context of the period of early settlement (ca. 1855-1875) in Faribault, this period encompasses roughly the first twenty years of settlement and corresponds to the Minnesota State Historical Society's Early Agriculture and River Settlement context. Within that broad context, the McMahon House is specifically significant as a particularly -well preserved example of the type of vernacular native stone housing built by Faribault's working class during the early settlement days.

Faribault's early settlement period was marked by the rapid influx of a variety of ethnic groups, both Yankee and European, and the establishment of the early local economy. That economy included a mix of local businesses including dry goods and hardware stores, clothing stores, meat and grocery markets, drug stores, boot and shoe shops, a wagon and sleigh building shop, furniture stores, restaurants and saloons, livery stables and blacksmith shops. This period also witnessed the development and the decline of the highly competitive milling (lumber, wool, and flour) industry along the Straight River Valley. Another of Faribault's earliest industries was the quarrying of stone. The variety of limestone that was quarried in this locale was eventually shipped throughout the region and was used for homes, churches and public buildings. The stone also comprises the building material of some of Faribault's earliest buildings. Faribault's later role in the regional economy was nurtured with the arrival of the first railroad in 1865 and the beginning expansion of trade outside the immediate vicinity of Faribault.

The rapid immigration to and formation of an economy in Faribault was owed to a location that initially brought settlers into Rice County via steam travel up the river valleys. As early as 1855, Faribault found itself at the intersection of an early network of roads including the Lake Pepin, Spirit Lake, Dodd (and St. Paul), and Hastings’ roads that brought immigrants from all directions. Faribault's strategic location on the Straight River and at the intersection of new roads, combined itself with an environment of bountiful waterways, hardwood forests, and farmland, and drew settlers who saw the potential for entrepreneurship and a better life.

The arrival of many ethnic laborers in Faribault, among them Irish and German stonemasons, influenced the design and material of many of Faribault's earliest buildings. Having come from areas in Europe with stone building traditions, these local builders continued to use their masonry skills and sense of design in many of Faribault's most handsome and well-built buildings.

The simple plan, modest size and minimal decoration of the McMahon House is typical of the type of early settlement housing built by early masons with their vernacular sensibilities. Because the house was built eleven years after McMahon settled in Faribault, the design, though simple, probably represents the kind of house McMahon aspired to. There are twelve other extant stone vernacular houses in Faribault, all built by working class families after an initial period of establishment within the Faribault economy. All exhibit simple plans, minimal stylistic embellishment, and labor-intensive building techniques, they are distinctive for their flush stone lintels, protruding door and windowsills, interior beveled window openings, and approximately twelve-inch-deep walls.

Little is known about Thomas McMahon except that he was an early settler in the city and was the owner of local stone quarries that yielded a blue limestone, McMahon immigrated to Iowa from County Clare, Ireland, with his parents in 1834. In 1852, at the age of 30, McMahon and his bride moved to Waseca County in Minnesota, and in 1859, moved to Faribault. He built the family residence on Division Street in 1870-71 at a cost of $2,200 and lived there until his death in 1900. The McMahons raised nine children while living in Faribault. No record of McMahon's other buildings has been found.