The name of Loring is so well known in these parts. Hardly a day goes by that his name is not mentioned somewhere, whether it’s to do with a park, a school or something he accomplished. Rarely do we hear a word about how his life in Minneapolis began. We do know it was in 1860 that he left Chicago and came here, but what then? I will let him tell you in his own words the story of his beginnings in this city.
“On the 20th day of September, 1860, I reached Minneapolis with my wife and little son, and went to the Nicollet Hotel where I made arrangements for board for the winter. The hotel was kept by Eustis & Hill. They fixed the price at $6 a week, including fire and laundry for the family, i.e. $2 a week for each person. Mr. Lauren Fletcher occupied the rooms adjoining and paid the same price that I paid even though there were but two in his family, but his rooms were considered to be more favorably located being on the corner of Hennepin and Washington Ave.
The cook at the hotel was a Mrs. Tibbets from New England, who was an expert in preparing the famous dishes of that section of our country, and in the many years that have elapsed since that time, I have never been in a hotel where cooking was so appetizing.
Our first winter in Minnesota was passed in the most pleasant and delightful manner. The following spring I rented the house on the corner of what is now Third Ave. and Sixth St., for the sum of $6 a month. The house is still standing and is a comfortable two-story New England house.
There were few luxuries in the market, but everything that could be purchased was good and cheap. There was but one meatshop which was kept by a Mr. Hoblet. He kept his place open in the forenoon only, as his afternoons were spent in driving over the country in search of a “fat critter.” The best steaks and roasts were 8 cents a pound and chickens 4 to 6 cents a pound. Eggs we bought at 6 cents a dozen and butter at 8 to 10 cents a pound. In winter we purchased a hind quarter of beef at 3 to 4 cents a pound, chickens 3 cents and occasionally pork could be bought at 6 cents a pound, but this was rarely in market. Prairie chickens, partridges, ducks and venison were very plentiful in season and very cheap. We used to purchase those in quantity after cold weather came, freeze them and pack them in snow. This worked well providing we had no “January thaw” and then we lost our supplies.
The only fruit we had for winter was dried apples, wild plums, wild crabapples and cranberries. There was a cranberry marsh a half mile west of Lake Calhoun on what is now Lake St. One day we went there to gather berries and we saw a large buck had taken possession of our field. We did not dispute his claim, but silently stole away. That same autumn a bear entered the garden of W.D. Washburn, who lived on 5th St. and 8th Ave. and ate all his sweet corn. The winters were cold but clear and bright. The few neighbors were hospitable and kind and I doubt if there has been a time in the history of Minneapolis when its citizens were happier than they were in the pioneer days of the early 1860s.
There were few entertainments, but they enjoyed gathering at the houses of their neighbors for a game of euchre [a card game] and occasionally for a dance in Woodman’s Hall, which was situated on the corner of Helen Street, now Second Ave. and Washington Ave. One violinist furnished the music. Sleighing, horse racing on the river and skating were the out-of-doors amusements for the winter. A favorite place for skating was in a lot situated on Nicollet Ave. between Fourth and Fifth Sts. Nicollet Ave. had been raised above the grade of this lot, causing a depression which filled with water in the fall. There was a small white house in the center of the lot and the skaters went around and around it, and no skating park was more greatly enjoyed.
At the time the war broke out, the town began to show signs of recovering from the effects of the panic of 1857, and its wonderfully beautiful surroundings attracted new settlers and the foundation of the great commercial city was laid.” Charles M. Loring, 1860
Note: Taken from Old Rail Fence Corners, frontier tales told by Minnesota pioneers.