As I research Saint Anthony Park in preparation for its map (see Carter Avenue Frame Shop‘s recent announcement), I ran across Elsie Louise Baker in the digital archives of the Ramsey County Historical Society. My search was general: library. There was little information related to the photo other than it was taken in 1915 and Ms. Baker was associated with the Saint Paul Library system. I took note of the name, thinking she may be part of a map one day, not expecting she would have anything to do with Saint Anthony Park. Little did I know, she was exactly what I was looking for.

Elsie Louise Baker was a librarian at the Saint Anthony Park Library for many decades. The 1920, 1930 and 1940 census lists her occupation as first Library Assistant and then Librarian.

Ms. Baker was born in 1897 in Illinois. Per the 1910 census, she was the adopted daughter of Edwin Rice Baker (Cook County Auditor) and his wife Ada Louise Lewis Baker. They had been married in Milwaukee in 1892, and the couple moved to Chicago when Mr. Baker was hired as County Auditor in 1903. By 1916, Edwin returned to Minnesota and lived with his father, Oliver Baker, at 2210 Langford Street (now known as Hillside Street). At the age of 19, Ms. Baker was a student and a member of the Theta Sigma Phi sorority affiliated with the University of Minnesota. Her mother was not listed with the family in the census after 1910; Mrs. Baker’s 1941 death certificate lists a 12-year stay at the Anoka State Hospital for patients considered incurably insane. Edwin and Elsie Baker lived at 2210 Hillside for many years.