7310 Lamar Avenue South
Cottage Grove, MN, USA

John P. Furber House

The John P. Furber House is a historic house in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, United States, built in 1871, the same year Furber officially platted the 20-year-old settlement. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for having local significance in the theme of community planning and development.
It was nominated for its association with the phenomenon in early Washington County towns of platting well after communities had already been established.

Description

The John P. Furber House is a two-story wood frame building. It is gabled on the front façade and on the two side bays, with round windows at the peaks. Elements of Italianate architecture are found in the low-pitched roof, wide eaves supported by scrolled brackets, and tall narrow windows.

The house originally had a full-width porch across the front façade. A lean-to was added to the rear sometime before 1940, replacing a small back porch.

History

John P. Furber and his four brothers originally hailed from New Hampshire, but between 1844 and 1860 they moved one-by-one to the Cottage Grove area, one of the first Euro-American farming regions in the future state of Minnesota. One of Washington County's first inland settlements emerged there as an informal village by 1851. The Furber brothers were notable early settlers, and John (or J.P.) was the village shopkeeper. In 1871 he conducted a survey of the townsite, formally platting the already-established community. This phenomenon of post-settlement platting also occurred in several other Washington County towns, such as Stillwater, Afton, and Point Douglas.

Some sources say Furber's house dates to the 1850s, making it the oldest standing building in the historic core of Cottage Grove. Official National Register documentation gives a construction date of 1871, the same year as Furber's survey.

The house remained in the Furber family for decades, only changing hands in 1940 with its acquisition by Jacob and Arlene Vandenberg. In 1947 Jacob Vandenberg built on the property a 130-foot-long (40 m) dairy barn with an arched Gothic Revival roof. The estate stayed in the Vandenberg family for 70 years, only passing to all-new owners in 2010. Now billed as the Historic John P. Furber Farm, the third family to own the property has renovated the barn to serve as a wedding venue.

National Register of Historic Places - John P. Furber House

Statement of Significance:

The J. P. Furber House represents a theme of settlement typical of several of Washington county's earliest towns: post-settlement formal town platting. J. P. Furber was proprietor of the Cottage Grove town site, established some 20 years after the village had its start. The Cottage Grove area was one of the first settled inland regions of the county. Some of the earliest agricultural development in the state centered on the township. By 1851 the village of Cottage Grove was the center of a thriving farming community and a wayside post office center. Among the early settlers were the Furber brothers, from New Hampshire. J. W., Samuel, Theodore, William, and J. P. Furber moved to Cottage Grove at different times between 1844 and 1860. In 1871 J. P. Furber formally platted the village of Cottage Grove on forty acres adjacent to the informally established town. J. W. Furber surveyed the town site. Several other communities in the county, including Stillwater, Afton, and Point Douglas, followed the same pattern of central place settlement prior to official town founding.