John R. Cummins Farmhouse
Encyclopedia
The John R. Cummins House is a historic house in Eden Prairie
, Minnesota
, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis
.
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Cummins and his wife, Martha "Mattie" Cummins, established a farmstead on the property in 1856. They built the house in 1879-1880 and lived there until 1908. Cummins was a horticulturist who helped to establish the Minnesota Horticultural Society. During his horticultural experiments, Cummins corresponded with other horticulturalists in the area, including Peter Gideon
, Jonathan Taylor Grimes
, Henry Lyman
, William Macintosh, E.R. Pond, and others. Cummins primarily grew wheat as a farm crop.
In 1908, Edwin and Harriet Sprague Phipps bought the farm and lived there until 1934. The Phipps family raised grain, vegetables, and flowers, and Edwin earned the title "Asparagus
King of Hennepin County" for the vegetables he sold at a stand on nearby U.S. Route 212
(Flying Cloud Drive). Harriet Phipps planted a large bed of peonies
in about 1920. The peony bed exists to this day. Her daughter, Mildred Grill, remarked, "The peony bed has been there for over 60 years. Mother put in 500 plants. There wasn't another bed like it in the county. She sold flowers in season." Their son-in-law and daughter, Martin and Mildred Grill, owned the house from 1934 through 1976. Martin, nicknamed "Pappy", built an airplane landing strip on the property in 1937. In 1941, the United States Navy
arranged to use the landing strip for student pilots from Wold-Chamberlain Airport (now Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) to make practice approaches. After World War II
was over, Grill sold the landing strip and some additional land to American Aviation, Inc. The field is now known as Flying Cloud Airport
.
The Grill family sold the house and surrounding farmland to the city of Eden Prairie in 1976 for parkland. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The house itself has elements of the Greek Revival style, in the wide trim on the gable end, and elements of the Italianate style with the use of brick and the segmental arches over the windows. It has a gable
front with a wing on the west side, along with an L-shaped front porch. The main floor contains a parlor, a bedroom, a bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen. The second floor contains four bedrooms. In addition to the main house, there are four wooden outbuildings and a milk house on the property.
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
.
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Cummins and his wife, Martha "Mattie" Cummins, established a farmstead on the property in 1856. They built the house in 1879-1880 and lived there until 1908. Cummins was a horticulturist who helped to establish the Minnesota Horticultural Society. During his horticultural experiments, Cummins corresponded with other horticulturalists in the area, including Peter Gideon
Peter Gideon Farmhouse
Peter Gideon was a farmer near Excelsior, Minnesota who was responsible for breeding apples that could withstand Minnesota's climate. Gideon's farmhouse, now within the boundaries of Shorewood, Minnesota, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
, Jonathan Taylor Grimes
Jonathan Taylor Grimes House
The Jonathan Taylor Grimes House is the oldest standing house in Edina, Minnesota. It was built in 1869 and appears to have been influenced by Andrew Jackson Downing's book The Architecture of Country Houses. The house is a 1½ story frame cottage with intersecting gable roofs, dormers, a bay...
, Henry Lyman
Henry Lyman
Henry Lyman is an American poet, editor, translator, and former host and producer of WFCR's Poems to a Listener, a nationally distributed series of readings and conversations with poets which ran from 1976 to 1994....
, William Macintosh, E.R. Pond, and others. Cummins primarily grew wheat as a farm crop.
In 1908, Edwin and Harriet Sprague Phipps bought the farm and lived there until 1934. The Phipps family raised grain, vegetables, and flowers, and Edwin earned the title "Asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
King of Hennepin County" for the vegetables he sold at a stand on nearby U.S. Route 212
U.S. Route 212
U.S. Route 212 is a spur of U.S. Route 12. Though it currently never intersects U.S. 12, it once had an eastern terminus at U.S. 12 in St. Paul, Minnesota. It runs for 949 miles from Minnesota Highway 62 at Edina, Minnesota to Yellowstone National Park.U.S. 212 passes through the states of...
(Flying Cloud Drive). Harriet Phipps planted a large bed of peonies
Peony
Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America...
in about 1920. The peony bed exists to this day. Her daughter, Mildred Grill, remarked, "The peony bed has been there for over 60 years. Mother put in 500 plants. There wasn't another bed like it in the county. She sold flowers in season." Their son-in-law and daughter, Martin and Mildred Grill, owned the house from 1934 through 1976. Martin, nicknamed "Pappy", built an airplane landing strip on the property in 1937. In 1941, the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
arranged to use the landing strip for student pilots from Wold-Chamberlain Airport (now Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) to make practice approaches. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was over, Grill sold the landing strip and some additional land to American Aviation, Inc. The field is now known as Flying Cloud Airport
Flying Cloud Airport
Flying Cloud Airport is a public airport located in the city of Eden Prairie in Hennepin County, Minnesota, about 11 miles southwest of the central business district of Minneapolis. The airport covers and has three runways....
.
The Grill family sold the house and surrounding farmland to the city of Eden Prairie in 1976 for parkland. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The house itself has elements of the Greek Revival style, in the wide trim on the gable end, and elements of the Italianate style with the use of brick and the segmental arches over the windows. It has a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
front with a wing on the west side, along with an L-shaped front porch. The main floor contains a parlor, a bedroom, a bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen. The second floor contains four bedrooms. In addition to the main house, there are four wooden outbuildings and a milk house on the property.