Pioneer and Soldiers Cemetery Fence Update: Bills on Capitol docket: Call Representative and Senator

BY SUE HUNTER WEIR

Representative Karen Clark has introduced bonding bill (HR 1073) to secure the funds necessary to complete work on the Pioneer and Soldiers Cemetery fence along Cedar Ave and Lake Street. The money would cover the cost of disassembling the limestone pillars, reassembling them using the correct adhesive, and capping them with a protective cover that will prevent erosion by keeping water from seeping into the limestone. The funds will also cover the cost of replacing a section of “historic” chain link along the 21^st Avenue side of the cemetery with a section of decorative fencing.

Senator Jeff Hayden has introduced an identical bill in the State Senate (SF 1355). Please consider contacting your Representative and Senator to encourage them to support these bills. If you are represented by one of the bill”'s sponsors, please send an email or phone call thanking them for helping us finish this project.

Related Images:

David Buel Knickerbacker, 1833-1894 1871: Cottage Hospital began near Mills David started it! “Goliaths” own it now!

It was originally printed in the St. Barnabas Annual Report from 1884. The original Cottage hospital is the smaller wing on the right-hand side of the building. The larger portion is what turned the Cottage Hospital into St. Barnabas.

By Sue Hunter Weir

Before health care was big business and before it became a political hot button, it was a charity. The first hospital in Minneapolis, the Cottage Hospital, opened its doors in March 1871. Eight of the hospital”'s beds and most of its furnishings were donated by such diverse groups as the Masons, workers in the machine shop at the Milwaukee Railroad, St. Mark”'s Parish, the Ladies”' Aid and the Brotherhood of Gethsemane Church.

The hospital was only one of many charitable causes that can be attributed to the Reverend David Buel Knickerbacker, the rector of Gethsemane Church, who saw a need to build the “Cottage Hospital and Home for the Sick and Friendless.” The population of Minneapolis was 13,000 when the hospital opened but many of the town”'s people were single immigrant men who worked for the railroads and the mills in jobs that were extremely dangerous. The hospital was located downtown close to the mills for precisely that reason””to be near to the places were accidents were most likely to occur.… Read the rest “David Buel Knickerbacker, 1833-1894 1871: Cottage Hospital began near Mills David started it! “Goliaths” own it now!”