Willard Bunnell House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Willard Bunnell House
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The Willard Bunnell House from the west
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 Location in Minnesota
Location in the United States
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| Location | 36106 Old Homer Road, Homer, Minnesota |
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| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | c. 1850s |
| Architect | Willard Bunnell |
| Architectural style | Carpenter Gothic |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000998 |
| Added to NRHP | April 23, 1973 |
The Willard Bunnell House is a special old house in Homer, Minnesota. It's now a historic house museum, which means you can visit it to learn about the past!
This house is important because it was one of the first permanent homes built south of Saint Paul. It also has a unique style called Gothic Revival architecture. The house is connected to two brothers, Willard and Lafayette Bunnell, who helped settle this area long ago. Today, the Winona County Historical Society takes care of it.
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What Does the Bunnell House Look Like?
The Willard Bunnell House is about three miles (4.8 km) east of Winona, Minnesota. It sits on a hill, looking over U.S. Route 61 and the big Mississippi River.
The house is built from unpainted white pine wood. It has a special style called Carpenter Gothic. This means it has cool features like triangle-shaped windows and decorative wood carvings called bargeboards. It also has a two-story porch, which is called a veranda. This type of porch was more common in places like the Ohio and Lower Mississippi River Valleys.
Who Was Willard Bunnell?
Willard Bunnell was born in 1814. He started working on steamboats as a young cabin boy and eventually became a captain! In 1837, he married Matilda Desnoyer in Detroit.
Willard was very interested in exploring and settling new parts of America. He helped map out a military road from Detroit to Mackinaw. Then, he started trading with the Ojibwe people near the Escanaba River.
Moving West and Building Towns
In 1841, Willard, Matilda, and Willard's younger brother Lafayette traveled to the Upper Mississippi River. They settled in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Lafayette later worked in logging and helped build the first sawmill on the Eau Claire River. This sawmill helped start the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In the late 1840s, Lafayette joined the military. Willard stayed on the Upper Mississippi. At that time, the land across the river belonged to the Dakota people. White settlers were not allowed there. But Willard thought things would change. He got permission from Chief Wabasha III to build a log cabin on the west bank of the Mississippi.
Settling Minnesota and Building a Home
In 1852, a special agreement called the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux opened up much of Minnesota Territory for white settlement. Over the next few years, Willard Bunnell helped start three new towns: Minneowah, Chatfield, and Homer. He thought the nearby town of Winona would flood, so he tried to create other options. However, Winona did well, and Willard's towns stayed small.
Around this time, Willard built a new, bigger home next to his first log cabin. This is the house you can still see today! Willard passed away in 1861.
His brother Lafayette, who had been a surgeon in several wars and explored the Yosemite Valley, moved into the house in 1865. Lafayette lived there until he died in 1903.
See also
