Saint Anthony Park – KIIHN ART MAPS

The Victorian home at 1122 Raymond Avenue with its asymmetrical shoulder slopes didn’t catch my attention at first, since the Victorians decorated with towers and turrets across the street feature more prominently in information about the area. The story of one of its first residents, however, illustrates a Black community rallying to support civil rights laws.

This house was built in 1885. The Saint Paul City Directories of the time list William Augustus Hazel and his wife Rosa at this address from 1896 to 1899. They had been living on the east coast where William had apprenticed as a stained glass artist and as an architect. The couple moved to Saint Paul around 1890 so William could represent the Tiffany Glass Company in Minneapolis (See 1890 article in the Appeal). The couple lived on the east side and Rondo before settling at 1122 Raymond for the last half of the decade, before William went on to academia, notably establishing the school of architecture at Howard University.

William’s introduction to Saint Paul was not full of welcome. An 1887 article in the Appeal describes how he was refused accommodations at the Clarendon Hotel (corner of Wabasha and 6th) and Astoria Hotel (374 Wabasha) due to the color of his skin.

Astoria Hotel at 374 Wabasha (Photo credit https://dp.la/item/02e6a8fd172bbd6b62d7e76c5e2e85d7)

William sued the hotels for $2,000 and won the high profiled lawsuit for $25 and community recognition for taking a stand.

While his impact on civil rights in Minnesota and work in academia live on, I was unable to find any of his creative work. Local work included the now demolished St. Peter’s AME Church (downtown St. Paul, Minnesota) created in 1888 and the 1895 stained glass windows in the demolished Austin Catholic Church, Austin, Minnesota.

William Augustus Hazel
The Montgomery Advertiser, Sun, Oct 17, 1993 ·Page 91

See William Augustus Hazel at 1122 Raymond in the Saint Anthony Park map.

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.

Saint Anthony Park Library just after its construction in 1917 (Photo credit: Ramsey County Historical Society)

Newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s mention her leadership roles in the Minnesota Librarian Association. She is pictured on the right with other members of the Minnesota Librarian Association’s board at a convention held in Saint Cloud in 1941. (Photo credit: St Cloud Times, newspapers.com)

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.