9033 Fairy Falls Road North
Stillwater, MN, USA

Pest House

The Pest House in Stillwater Township, Minnesota, United States, is a former quarantine facility used by the city of Stillwater circa 1872 to 1910. It is a rare surviving example of a pest house, a common public health strategy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where people with contagious diseases were isolated. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for having local significance in the theme of health/medicine. The original three-room Pest House has been converted into a private residence, with the addition of a porch on the southeast and a rear wing to the northwest.

History

In 1871 the Stillwater city council appointed a local board of health. One of its tasks was to prevent epidemics by isolating visitors or residents found to have contagious diseases. Thus the following year the city purchased a property on a hill outside town, on which was built the Pest House. It primarily served to isolate victims of smallpox, but also saw cases of scarlet fever, typhoid, and diphtheria. Stillwater ceased use of the Pest House in 1910, as hospitals were assuming the role of treating contagious diseases. The building was later converted into a private residence.

National Register of Historic Places - Pest House

Statement of Significance:

The Pest House is significant as a community institution used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to control the spread of communicable diseases. In 1871 a Board of Health was appointed by the city council of Stillwater. Among its duties was the taking of necessary measures to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious or contagious diseases and to provide for and enforce the removal of persons afflicted with any contagious disease to such place as they may think necessary and to establish at public expense a pest house. Every such case was to be reported to the city council at the next regular meeting with a statement of expenses.

The city of Stillwater bought property for the Pest House in 1872 outside the city limits on a hill which was later to be called Pest House Hill. The Pest House was used mostly to control smallpox but was also used for epidemics of scarlet fever, typhoid, and diphtheria.

The Pest House was owned and maintained by the city until 1910. At this time contagious diseases were generally treated in the hospital. The Pest House was sold and subsequently used as a residence with additions being made to the original rectangular plan. At present it is a private residence, having been purchased by its owners in 1967.