The home for the orphans’ of soldiers, in this city, is doing a most beneficent work. Aside from an appropriation of $5,000 by the State, the Home is mostly managed and sustained by the Grand Army of the Republic. It is located in the upper part of the city, on what is known as the old Tucker property, and is under the immediate supervision of Mrs. C. P. Flower, Matron, who manages the thirty-five children – twenty girls and fifteen boys – with rare tact. They are well fed and clothed, two suits being provided for each child, and they all appear to be contented and happy. If the title to the property could be made perfect, the buildings would be enlarged so as to accommodate more, as a hundred applications have been refused for want of room. No length of time is specified for remaining in the institution. Those who wish to become teachers may continue along until they graduate in the Normal School. As showing their contentment it may be mentioned that only one boy has run away, and he was subsequently brought back and is now a steady member of the family. As the children grow up they will be allowed to leave the institution if it is found that they will be adopted into good homes. Fifteen of these orphans came from the Protestant Asylum at St. Paul. The Matron has a great charge, but she succeeds in having the most thorough system and discipline, a few instances of which will be of interest. Each one is required to take a bath once a week. They make their own beds and sweep their own rooms. They are not allowed to mingle or play with other children, but must confine their sports to their own yard. They rise at six and retire at nine o’clock, some of them earlier. The larger girls assist in setting the table and washing dishes; also wash and mend their own clothing. It takes pretty active work in the commissary department to provide for this little army. The cook bakes thirty loaves of bread a day every day except Sunday and Monday, using up a barrel of flour per week. Everything is neat and orderly about the house. The matron’s room is suitably carpeted; also the parlor. A girl commands the girls, and when the little troop goes to school one commander has the ordering of the company. From these hastily sketched details, it will be seen that the institution is doing a work worthy of the hearty support of all our citizens. (Winona Daily Republican, Friday, September 22, 1871, Page 3)
Mr. Conrad Bohn has submitted a plan to the Trustees of the Orphans’ Home for a building to be used for that institution, with sufficient capacity for one hundred children. It contemplates a brick building, to be erected on the site of Mr. Bohn’s mill, near the Normal School, the mill to be removed, and the grounds put in good order. (Winona Daily Republican, Saturday, April 13, 1872, Page 3)
The State Legislature has made provision for the “maintenance of seventy five soldiers’ orphans, and will no doubt extend the provision if a larger number of worthy applications are received. The Board has established a Soldiers’ Home, in the city of Winona, under the care of a local board composed of patriotic ladies and gentlemen of that place, where the orphans placed by the Board are comfortably clothed, supplied with wholesome food, surrounding with the discipline of a good home, and educated in the Model Department of the First State Normal School. A building is in process of erection, leased by the Board for a term of years, in pursuance of an act of the last Legislature, especially adapted for the purpose, which will be occupied during the Autumn, and remain the permanent home of the children so long as they shall need the fostering care of the State. The Board will spare no pains to make the institution in every respect adequate to the proper care of the wards committed to their charge, and worthy of the sympathy and support of the Legislature and the people. Here we propose as far as possible to discharge the duties which, the State, by robbing these children of their fathers, has incurred to them. here we intend to supply to them, not as a charity, but as a high and grateful duty, the home, the comforts, the education, which their patriotic sires were prevented from bestowing, by the cruel necessity which demanded the sacrifice of their lives on the altar of their country. After continuing this care for their physical wants during the period of their infancy and early youth, and in the meantime securing for them a thorough English education, we expect, by a study of their individual characteristics and inclinations, to prepare them for active life, in whatever sphere they may be best adapted for, either by a course of Normal School or University education, professional or business training, or apprenticeship as skilled artizans, mechanics or farmers, - only ceasing our supervision when they shall have arrived at a cultivated, self-reliant and self-supporting manhood or womanhood. …The following extract from the law, gives the requisites for admission to the Home: “All such orphans, over the age of four, and under the age of sixteen years, and bona fide residents of this State, whose fathers have either been killed or died while in the military or naval service of the United States, or who have since died of wounds received or disease contracted while in such service, and who have no adequate means of support, shall be entitled to the benefits of the Home.” (Winona Daily Republican, Monday, July 22, 1872, Page 2)
Propositions were received from several towns in the State inviting the location of the Home. That from Minneapolis was considered to be the best, but on other considerations, such as removing the orphans from Winona to Minneapolis, the Board decided to retain the Home where it now is. The Board closed a contract with Mr. Conrad Bohn, of Winona, for a six years lease of a building which he is to complete by December 1, 1872. It is to be built on a beautiful location a little East of the State Normal School. The size of the building to be erected is 40 by 72 feet, two stories high, with attic and basement, and will furnish ample accommodations for one hundred and twenty-five orphans, besides the necessary officers and instructors. (The Minneapolis Daily Tribune, Wednesday, July 24, 1872, Page 4)
The building will be situated on the corner of Sanborn and Center streets, one block south of the State Normal School building, where the orphans receive their education. As heretofore stated, the new edifice will cover an area of 40 by 72 feet; will have two stories, with a furnished basement and an attic, all of which are more particularly described below; the whole to be encased in brick, at a total cost of about $12,000. The plans were prepared by Messrs. C. G. Maybury & Co., of Winona, and are admirably designed to meet the wants of the institution. (Winona Daily Republican, Friday, July 26, 1872, Page 3)
The exterior of the new building for the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home is about completed. The structure presents a handsome appearance. (Winona Daily Republican, Monday, October 28, 1872, Page 3)
Appearance of the Home. The building occupies a good location on the corner of Sanborn and Center streets, facing eastwardly on the latter. It is built of brick, resting upon a high basement of stone, finished in range work. The window and door sills are of cut stone, the trimmings of Milwaukee brick, which give a very pleasing effect to the beauty of the edifice. Two large flights of steps ascend to the front halls. Blinds complete the exterior work. Above the basement there are two stories and an attic, so that the building has an imposing and stately appearance. The property is surrounded with a neat fence, giving to the premises an air of completeness and order. Inside. It is within the walls where the comforts and conveniences burst upon the view of the beholder, and if the reader will follow the reporter, he shall enjoy all the special attention which it is the privilege of the press to receive. The Basement. We start at the bottom round of the ladder, while Captain Gould, in the most obliging manner, patiently answers all questions and with commendable pride expatiates upon the beauties of the kitchen, the range and the laundry with a fluency that in ten minutes thoroughly convinces the reporter that the Captain “knows how to keep a hotel.” The Kitchen. This is the vital part of the whole concern. Health and happiness find their source in this life sustaining apartment of the institution, and, recognizing this fact, the officers have spared no pains to make it a model in its line. It may be well to state, in passing, that all the cooking, heating and ventilating apparatus, gas fixtures and furniture for the kitchen, laundry, dining room, etc., are furnished by the Orphans’ Home Association. And first among the important objects in their liberal outfit of the culinary department, is the mammoth Warren hotel range for preparing the hot dishes and savory meals of the juvenile army that assembles at meal time. This range is one of the best made, and, we understand, is the only one in Southern Minnesota aside from one in a hotel at Mankato. It is a model of scientific achievement in the art of cooking, and we can only commend it to the careful notice of our readers without describing it at length. It burns either wood or coal; heats the hot water for the various parts of the building, besides doing all kinds of cooking and baking. On the opposite side of the room, which, by the way, is of simple size, is an iron sink for washing dishes. A large dresser and cupboard are conveniently near at the left, while on the right is the force pump so constructed as to draw soft water from the cistern or hard water from the well, and force the same into the tank situated in the attic for use in the building. A large kneading table, at the side of the kitchen, supplied with flour bins underneath will excite the admiration and envy of the bakers. Two doors open from the kitchen to the dining room, and it also has connection with the wood room back and with the laundry at the south end of the building. The Dining Room. This is a large and well lighted apartment extending across the north end of the basement. At one end of the room is a cabinet or sideboard on a large scale, with glass doors, drawers and apartments for the table ware, napkins, cutlery, etc. Prominent also in the dining room furniture are six white oak extension tables, capable of being “long drawn out” to the distance of fifteen feet each. These tables were made in Mr. Bohn’s manufactory and will stand comparison by the side of any furniture of a similar kind in the country. The Wood Room. If thermometers didn’t have such a strong affinity for zero in this country, wood rooms would be second rate affairs, but as matters now exist they play no small part in the domestic drama. In fact they are absolutely essential to peace in the family. With pleasure, then, let it be recorded that the wood room of the Home has been well considered, and so impartially constructed as to permit all the occupants of the kitchen, dining room, laundry, and even the vegetable cellar, to “take a hand in.” The Laundry. Whist I shake the dust off thy feet, and allow the visions of festooned clothes lines and immaculate linen to please thy fancy as we approach this wonderful, watery spot, where garments, rusty and wrinkled, are transformed to their pristine loveliness. Behold the pleasant sunlight streaming in from South windows. Let thy orbs descend to practical things, and look upon the labor-saving arrangements of the room. Here is a long, low wooden rack, underneath which is a zinc-lined box or trough, all of which, we are informed, constitutes the wash tub sink from which the water is carried off in pipes to the general drain. All heavy lifting of tubs is avoided. Hot and cold water is supplied by the mere opening of faucets over the tubs. A large ironing table with eight large drawers for holding the clean clothes is also pronounced one of the convenient features of the laundry. Bath Rooms. Opening from the laundry are two bath rooms with two large tubs in each, supplied with hot and cold water, and lighted with gas. Vegetable Cellar. This is a well arranged adjunct of the institution, occupying the southeast corner of the basement. It has a good supply of bins for different kinds of vegetables, and is well fitted for being kept clean and pure. Drainage. Right here we may as well describe the drainage of the building, which is accomplished by means of tile pipes, underneath the basement, running back fifty feet from the building into a large cesspool sixteen feet in diameter and sunk into the ground twelve feet below the basement floor. Every room in the building where water is used, drains into this cesspool. All the waste water from the kitchen, laundry, bath rooms and wash rooms finds a common level in this general receptacle. Heating Apparatus. The whole building is heated by two of Lawson’s furnaces, one situated at each end of the basement. The Main Floor. Having completed a survey of the basement, the visitor will proceed to inspect the main floor, the ascent to which, from the basement, is either by a stairway from the dining room or from the laundry. At the south end of the building are a sick room, sewing room, servants’ room, and a bed room, all of which are of convenient size and well adapted for the purposes intended. Two main halls open from Center street. Between them are situated the matron’s room, or reception room, form which opens a pleasant bedroom and a large closet. There are two large play rooms on this floor, also a study, or library, which is located in the northeast corner. All rooms on the first and second floor have two ventilators each, and each room on the first floor is supplied with a heating register. The walls of the first floor are eleven feet high; on the second floor ten and a half feet. In the halls and on the stairways, as in the library also, the floors are covered with matting. In passing through these apartments the fine character of the carpenter work cannot fail to be noticed. The interior is finished with a graceful moulding, and all the wood work is oak grained, save the doors, which are of handsome white walnut, or butternut, oiled and varnished. The stair treads are of white maple, which is very durable. In the second story all the floors are oiled and present a well finished appearance. Dormitories. The whole of the second floor is devoted to sleeping rooms in which the great requisites of ample space, with plenty of light and air are all admirably combined. A hall runs lengthwise through the building and at each end are convenient wash rooms for the use of the children. A door in the middle of the hall separates the sexes, the boys occupying one end of the building and the girls the other. The bedrooms are furnished with iron bedsteads and an abundance of comfortable bedding, the large rooms having four beds each, the smaller ones a less number. The Attic. This is a commodious place five feet high at the eaves and ten feet in the middle. At present it has not been appreciated to any particular use, but is a convenient reserve for emergencies. The water tank, however, is in this part of the building, and can hold thirty-five barrels of the aqueous fluid with perfect ease. It is a hard drinker, but indulges chiefly in soft water, which latter, wrung from the clouds, is carefully husbanded in a three hundred barrel cistern at the rear of the building. This cistern has a brick filter and is “A. No. 1” in every respect. General Features. In the foregoing details we have not troubled the reader with the particular dimensions of the several apartments, for they are all sufficiently large to meet the demands of the institution. The building itself covers an area forty by seventy-two feet, and has a barn and out-buildings a short distance in the rear. The whole establishment is lighted with gas, heated by furnaces, and supplied with hot and cold water. The ventilation of a portion of the rooms is secured by shafts into the chimneys. The remainder discharge their foul air into ducts in the walls which open into the attic. Who Did The Work. The plans for the building were designed by Mr. C. G. Maybury, the well known architect of this city, and have been executed by the contractor and owner of the building, Mr. C. Bohn, under whom various portions of the work have been done as follows: Painting, Dierks & Hartman; plastering, Giese; stone and brick work, Monk & Goeckler. The plumbing and gas-fitting was done by Mr. Toye; heating, cooking and ventilating apparatus by Bennett & Co., of St. Paul. Cost of the Structure. Mr. Bohn in the outset contemplated putting up a building to cost about $10,000, but after commencing the work he decided to build with a view to greater permanency, and accordingly spent about $12,000 in the structure. By a well devised plan it is so arranged that with a very few changes it can be transformed into a citified tenement house with plenty of room for three families. (Winona Daily Republican, Saturday, December 14, 1872, Page 3)
Although the weather on Saturday evening was extremely cold, it did not prevent a large attendance of visitors at the opening of the new building designed for the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. …There are at present fifty-nine children under the care of the Home. The old building accommodated thirty-four of these and the remainder have been boarded out in private families. All will now be called into the new building. The State Board of Trustees have authorized the admission of enough more to make the number seventy-five, which is the limit allowed by law. …The Matron is Mrs. L. D. Kempton, who is assisted by her daughter, Miss Anna L. Kempton, both being ladies of excellent qualifications for the position, and under whose management the immense work of the institution is carried on with remarkable system and regularity. (Winona Daily Republican, Monday, December 16, 1872, Page 3)
When the appropriation bill for the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home at Winona was under consideration in the Senate, Mr. Graves explained that the orphans are under care of benevolent association of citizens of Winona, with which the State has contracted for their full support, at the rate of $4 each a week, the State having no other expense whatever. The association rents a building for the Home, built for the purpose, at the rate of $1,800 a year, provides the matron and other attendants, and for every expense of every kind. (Winona Daily Republican, Tuesday, February 24, 1874, Page 2)