South Shore Newspaper Article dated 11-26-1986VOL 31 NO. Zl — Mvemuer co, •avv
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Saving the
House of a
Pioneer Family
The Bost Family, show above
left, built the new house, be-
low, in 1863 on a piece of
land in Chanhassen Town-
ship. More than just a typical
frontier family, the Bost's
wrote hundreds of thoughtful
letters back to relatives in
Switzerland and France. The
Bost house still stands on
property owned by the Land-
scape Arboretum. A story on
the family and efforts to pre-
serve the house starts on Page
4.
OR
Bost House
From Page 4 -
and considerable zeal."
Members of area historical groups
are not necessarily anxious to see the
house immediately restored and open-
ed to visitors. They seem to be content
for the time being to get a committ-
ment from Arboretum officials that the
house will not be torn down, a fate
which it apparently faced before its
historical value became known. '
The house itself is of historical in-
terest not so much for its architecture,
but because it provides a tangible
setting for the Bost's thoughtful re-
cord of life 125 years ago in the Lake
Minnetonka area
Persons with an historical interest'
are noteworthy for their patience
sometimes. Local groups are confi-
dent the substantial funding neces-
sary to restore the house will be found
somewhere.
Some city, county or state funds may
be available. There is also a Swiss -
American organization in the Twin
Cities which has some interest in the
project.
Finally, wealthy descendants of the
Bost family still in Europe may con-
tribute the funding, helping re-create
the pioneer era their forebears des-
cribed so well in letters home.
Excerpts from A Frontier Family in Minnesota, Letters of Theodore and Sophie
To Page 19
Bost House
From Page 12
Bost, 1851-1920, university of Minnesota Press, 1981.
On Excelsior. Excelsipr is only a small village that I think must consist of only
twenty or thirty scattered houses. Each one is perched on top of a little hill...has a
vegetable garden and orchard, a few trees, a small field of potatoes or corn,
perhaps a few beehives, etc. (Excelsior has) a store, which is also the Post Office,
where in winter mail comes twice a week and often every day in the summer on
account of the vacationers who come to Excelsior from long distances away to
hunt, to fish in lovely Lake Minnetonka..and to enjoy country living. Besides,
you find a better class of people in Excelsior than in most small towns—they are
almost all Christians, no liquor is sold there, and no form of vice is tolerated
On Americans: They are inclined to leave the other fellow alone, and they want
other people to leave them alone too. They don't expect anyone to give them any
help and would take offense if you offered to help them. However difficult their
position may be, they always feel sure they will be able to deal with it as able as
anyone else. And at all times they will remain calm and unruffled You have to
annoy them a great deal before they fly into a rage, and even then they are calm,
though in a deadly sort of way, whereas we French or Swiss, and especially I, lose
all our self-possession when we get angry.
On the Lake Minnetonka area 'Chanhassen' means 'maple sugar' in Sioux
language, and the name was given to the township by the wife of a man who, just
this past week, went off in pursuit of a couple of Sioux who had stolen a raccoon's
skin from him; but the Indians, when they noticed his carbine and the size of his
arms and legs, gave up their skin—not their own, but the coon's—and returned to
the owner. Lake Minnewashta means'Good Water' and Lake Minnetonka'Big
Water.' These lakes are the most beautiful sight rve seen in America, the
prairies and the forests being less beautiful than I had expected
On building the new house: (Theodore) will have to bring most of the lumberfrom
Excelsior, the sand for mortar and bricks for the chimney from Chaska, the lime
from Shakopee, and then I suppose that if he can he will help the carpenter and
do the farm chores.
On moving into the new house from the log cables Our riroving day was Sunday,
and itwas raining. I didn't want to do it that day but, having boughtthe day before
two black mares that stood shivering outside in the cold, we hauled our stove
over here and made up our beds on the floor, then within an hour I had stabled
and bedded down my two horses and tied up my other animals in our former
parlous which we had been sitting in not two hours before.. - _