Placeography:Featured place/2013-06

3001 East 24th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota

On August 28, 1889, a building permit 20103 was issued to E. Kneeland to erect a two story wood dwelling with six rooms at 3001 East 24th Street. The construction was completed by November 1, 1889, for $1200. In 1905 the City Directory shows two families at this address. A plumbing permit issued October 4, 1906, indicates the house is “duplex”. The story in the family is that it was a “shirttail” relative who did the work. Over the decades permits were issued for: Plumbing, electrical, new roof (twice), new furnace, new garage, and so on. Fences around the lot have gone up, come down, and gone back up again. Trees have been planted and replaced. As houses go, this one is nothing special. Nobody famous ever slept here, and it cannot be called ancient. Built in 1889 in a working-class neighborhood, it is not even particularly attractive. Despite its lack of singularity, the house at 3001 East 24th Street held a special place in our family for close to sixty-five years. From the time in around 1898 when Andrew G. and Albertina Ahlberg moved into the house as renters, until about 1962 when their youngest granddaughter, Marjorie (Hill) Rogers and her husband Russ and children moved out, this was our family home, our old homestead, our anchor