The Scriver Building Through the Years

This is a great time for Northfield. There are many great new projects being undertaken, one of which is Northfield Patch. The Northfield Historical Society is very excited to be partnering with Northfield Patch and we hope you are excited about seeing the content we will be providing. 

On a weekly basis NHS will be submitting photos to Northfield Patch. Some of them will be very well identified and described. Others, though, will need your help in identifying and describing them. In addition, once a month, I will provide a more in-depth article on some aspect of Northfield history. With all that is going on at NHS, I thought it would be timely to write this article on our home, the Scriver Building.

Before I go too much into the building project, we should give you a little background on Hiram Scriver. He came to Northfield in 1856. Scriver said this in his first mayoral address in 1876:

In June 1856, I came to Minnesota, riding in a stage from Hastings. As the prairies spread out before us in their living green, dotted with the wild rose and other flowers, was it any wonder that the heart of the traveler from the barren hills of East or the wilds of Canada should leap for joy within him, and that he should feel that this is indeed a goodly land? And as we came over the hill east of the village, and the noble forest with that then magnificent grove of elms near the mill broke upon our view as the stage drove into the embryo city of Northfield, need you be surprised that I ordered my trunk taken off, and left at last I had reached my journey's end, and in old settler's parlance "struck my stake."

Scriver married his first wife, Clara Olin, in 1860, but she died after a run-away buggy accident in 1884. They had one child, a son, who died in 1863. In 1875, Scriver was elected Northfield's first mayor. Scriver married again in 1886 to Delia Vanderbilt. Scriver died in 1890, working until a month before he passed away.

The Scriver Building was built in 1868 by Scriver. It was built after Northfield's founder, John W. North, asked Scriver to move the wood framed building he was occupying. It was located in the center of Bridge Square. 

The new building was constructed in 1868 for $15,000 in the "Italianate" style with arched windows and a flat roof. The first tenants of the building were Scriver's Dry Goods, Lee and Hitchcock Dry Goods and the First National Bank. In 1875, Scriver added the exterior staircase to gain access to D.J. Whitings dental office. An interior staircase serviced the rest of the upper floor offices.

In 1888 a sloped roof was added to the building and, in 1895, two dormers were added as well.  1893 saw the next change to the building when the original wood staircase was removed and replaced with a metal one.

The next major renovation to the building came in 1929 when D.J. Haagsman purchased the building. He added two residential apartments on the upper floor and the stair tower addition on the west side of the building. Over the next few years Haagsman proceeded to "modernize" the building by covering up the original limestone with brick and stucco, removing the arched windows, and one of the store fronts that faced Bridge Square.

In 1975, the Northfield Historical Society was formed and purchased the building for $125,000. The building was dedicated into museum service on July 4, 1976.  Since 1975, NHS has been committed to returning the building to its original appearance. 

Also in 1975, NHS started restoration work on the bank front on Division Street and by 1977 the bank site had been fully restored. In the following years, NHS was able to restore the Division Street storefronts to their original stone appearance. 

The next major renovation to the building came in 2005 when NHS removed the 1888 pitched roof. This brought the building back to its original flat roof appearance.

The current Capital Campaign, Taking Northfield History to the Next Level, focuses on improving the usability and accessibility to the Scriver building. This campaign will install an elevator and six American Disability Act-compliant restrooms. It is the next step in the long history of renovations to one of Northfield's oldest and most well-know buildings.