A History Lesson about the Windom Neighborhood in Minneapolis: Prior to the final annexation of Richfield property by Minneapolis in 1927, what is now the Windom neighborhood was part of Richfield. Windom today is roughly bound by 35W on the east, Lyndale Avenue/121 spur on the west, Diamond Lake Road/54th Street on the north and 62nd Street/Mpls-Richfield city line on the south. The Windom neighborhood was named after the William Windom School which is located between 58th and 59th and between Blaisdell Avenue and Wentworth Avenue. The first school in the area was called School District 6, established in 1879, with a small 2 room frame building on 54th Street and Lyndale Avenue South. It had a student population of about 80 pupils with 2 teachers. A larger school, named Roosevelt School, was built in 1906 at what is now 58th and Bryant Avenue South. An area resident, Mr. W. F. Webster, was a great admirer of President Theodore Roosevelt and he informed the school board that if they would name the new school in honor of President Roosevelt, that he would purchase and donate a magnificent new school bell (it cost $100!) that could be heard over the entire community. The school board accepted the offer, Mr. Webster donated the bell and the school was named Richfield Roosevelt School. Due to a large increase in area population, the original Roosevelt School soon became too small. A new school was built on 5 acres of property purchased from the Kesler family farm. The property was south of 58th Street and between Blaisdell and Wentworth. On November 12, 1920, the students of the original Richfield Roosevelt School walked in procession from the old school to the new Richfield Roosevelt School building. At the time, it was the only school in the Twin Cities area used exclusively for grades K-8. In 1927, Minneapolis made the final annexation of property from Richfield, moving the city limit from 54th Street to its present city line location at 62nd Street. The Roosevelt School was the most modern school in the entire Minneapolis school system. Following the annexation, the school's name became an issue. Another school in the district was also named Roosevelt. Two schools in the same city/school district with the same name would be too confusing (and today, people are still getting Windom and Windom Park confused!). An attempt was made to get the other school which was located near Lake Nokomis to change its name to Nokomis High School (I wonder what Governor Ventura's football team would have been called if they weren't the 'Teddies'- maybe the 'Seals'?) Since the Richfield Roosevelt School was the new kid on the block, it was decided that it was the school that would have to change its name. An area resident, Fredrich H. Clarke, the grandson of Charles Hoag, (Mr. Hoag originally named Minneapolis and went on to be the first Superintendent of the Minneapolis schools), donated money when the second Richfield Roosevelt School was built and he was given the task of selecting a replacement name for the school. He named it after the famous Minnesotan, William Windom. William Windom was born in Ohio in 1827 and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1855 to pursue his legal practice. He served as a Minnesota Congressman from 1859 to 1869 (Minnesota became a state in 1858), in 1870 he was appointed to fill an unexpired term in the Senate, and then was re-elected for the next 2 terms, becoming the Chairman of the Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees. He served twice as the Secretary of the Treasury. His first term was from March 8, 1881 until November 13, 1881 under President James Garfield (33rd Secretary of the Treasury)[Garfield was assassinated by a disgruntled office-seeker in 1881 and Windom continued for a few months under Vice President Arthur who became the next president] and again from March 7,1889 until January 29, 1891 under President Benjamin Harrison (39th Secretary of the Treasury). Between terms as Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom served one more term in the senate and practiced law in New York City. During his second term as the Secretary of the Treasury, Windom was responsible for the Sherman Silver Act of 1890 which supported the purchase of domestic silver in the open market, the issuance of certificates redeemable in silver and the coinage of silver dollar coins (Las Vegas owes him a debt of gratitude also- hope they named a school after him!). He was also instrumental in the passage of the McKinley Tariff Law of 1890. It was noted that he served his second term as the Secretary of the Treasury until January 29, 1891- the reason that he quit serving as the Secretary on that day was because that was the day that he was delivering the last words of a patriotic address before the New York Board of Trade in New York City and he collapsed to the floor and died before anyone could reach his side. It was for this legacy left behind by William Windom that Fredrich Clarke decided to name the school in his honor. Prior to the construction of 35W through south Minneapolis, the original Windom neighborhood extended east in the vicinity of Portland Avenue. Diamond Lake was traditionally considered to be part of the Windom neighborhood. Today, the area of the original Windom neighborhood east of 35W is included in the Diamond Lake neighborhood. Students that attended the Windom school moved on to attend Ramsey Junior High School and Washburn High School. Now, aren't you glad someone asked about the names of neighborhoods in Minneapolis? Ron Lischeid First moved into Windom at 5817 Portland Ave So in December 1950 and am glad to be associated with Windom more than half a century later (Information for this post was taken from "Windom: Historical Perspectives", a copyrighted publication in 1995 by the Windom Community Council as one of Windom's Phase I NRP projects and from information gathered from the Department of the Treasury website on the internet. A picture of William Windom at age 40 appears on the cover of the Windom publication)
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