The Historic Scott House and a Luke Marvin Story from Duluth's Early Days

Scott House in Winter. 

This past month I have been working on an article about the Historic Scott House on the outskirts of Carlton and Wrenshall. The challenge in any such writing endeavor is identifying the "story." Actually, a number of stories began to emerge. I decided to narrow it to two, the story of the house and an introduction to the man who now owns the house and has been sharing it with the community, James Sheetz.

The article appeared in this past week's Pine Knot News. (link at the end of this post)

As anyone who has ever done historical research will attest, it's simply fascinating to uncover details that connect with other details from previous projects you've worked on. In this case, I learned a new detail in the Luke Marvin story.

Who was Luke Marvin?

I first learned of the man while researching the history of the First Presbyterian Church on the occasion of its 125th Anniversary in 1994. (This year marks the 150th anniversary of the church's founding.)

Luke Marvin had been born in Leicestershire, England, coming to Duluth in 1861. He had been appointed by President Lincoln to serve as registrar for the United States Land Office. His responsibilities included deeding out 40 acre plots of land in St. Louis County to whoever would settle there and tame it. This "land rush" contributed to an influx of Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants, thereby helping to populate the new State of Minnesota.

Mr. Marvin was one of the 10 founders of the First Presbyterian Church, Duluth.

The intriguing story for me was how the church had come to be. There was a Reverend William R. Higgins who served as pastor across the bay in the fledgling town of Superior. After preaching on Sunday mornings, Rev. Higgins would walk across the frozen bay in the winter, or row across in summer, to preach in the Marvin's living room. Mrs. Marvin's sewing machine, which some believe was the first sewing machine in Duluth, would on Sunday afternoons become a pulpit.

Eventually these early Duluth Presbyterians met in a schoolhouse on the lower side of First Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues East.

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The House was featured in an 1870 story in The Atlantic

It's somewhat amazing how much we take our roads for granted. In 1851, three years after Wisconsin had become a state and while Minnesota was still a territory, a decision was made to create five roads in this wholly undeveloped region. The first of these roads to be carved through the wilderness was to run from the Twin Cities up to the St. Louis River. that flowed into Lake Superior. After the project was begun the powers that be decided it should run all the way to Superior, Wisconsin. It's name, which is used to this day, was "the Old Military Road."

This being before bulldozers and all the massive road building equipment we have today, it was no small undertaking and took a full seven years. By creating an actual road, stage coaches could carry passengers and cargo from St. Paul and Minneapolis to the settlements up north.

It was a five day journey with 14 places along the way where one could make an exchange for fresh horses. The Historic Scott House, on Twin Lakes, was the first stop on that five-day endeavor if you began in Superior going South.

"THROUGH THE WOODS TO LAKE SUPERIOR" (click to enlarge)

This past winter was a rough one here in the Twin Ports. Hard winters take their toll on the city roads and this year the potholes seem worse than ever, though I suspect this isn't the first time Duluthians have said such things. Even so, it's nothing like the story Luke Marvin wrote about this road, recounting a trip his parents made in 1861.

It was a tradition in those early days that no woman could stand the trials of a journey over the old government military road between Saint Paul and Superior, and as far as I know my mother was the first woman to adventure it, although on this point in time I am not certain.*

At any rate she insisted on coming along with my father saying that if he could stand the trip she guessed she could, too. We were a week making the 150 miles or so that the road extended, and it was certainly a terrible trip. The whole distance lay through dense forest and through this forest the trees had been felled on a space wide enough for a road on which teams could pass.

Stumps stuck up all over the road. In many places it was very marshy and trees had been cut down to make a corduroy. There were no springs to the coach and we would go bumping over stones, in momentary danger of upsetting at times; at others our wheels would be past the hubs in mud, out of which it would take the utmost power of the horses to pull us. Sent from my iPhone

*Actually a Mrs. Pete took the trip in 1856 six weeks before delivering a son in Superior. During the trip she almost lost her life when the wagon was upset and she was wedged between the wagon load and a tree.

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Scott House Parlor

When I think back on these early settlers, one wonders if any of us could do it today. The weather was as brutal then as now, and you can be sure they didn't have the amenities we've got. We complain about potholes, but there are no tree stumps sticking up in our roads any more.

The Luke Marvin account above was taken from a book called Scott House Souvenirs by James Sheetz and Marlene Wisuri. In it you'll see photos from some of Jim Sheetz's collections, old maps and plenty of stories.

Today the Historic Scott House is more than a relic of history. It is a community gathering place for events, weddings and is now an AirBnB. Visit their website to begin your own journey: https://historicscotthouse.com/

Related Links
Historic Scott House: Where history and imagination meet.
History of the First Presbyterian Church
Another historic house in the Carlton region: Oldenburg House