Around Swedish America in 548 Days - Day 74

Day 74 - Marine on St. Croix

Marine on St. Croix Historic District (www.marine.govoffice.com) was the home to many arriving Swedes. A steep dirt road behind the Marine General Store leads to the landing site on the St. Croix River where many disembarked. A scene from the film based on Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emigrants was shot at this site. Actors Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow starred in the Svensk Filmindustri production.

Christ Lutheran Church, 150 Fifth Street (651-433-3222), organized by Swedes in 1872, is a daughter church of the Elim Lutheran congregation in Scandia. The church building, constructed between 1872 and 1875 of rough lumber planed by hand, was originally located north of the present site. On the chancel wall above the 1890 altar painting of the Ascension by a German artist is Matthew 28:20 (“And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”), inscribed in Swedish.

In Township Hail, or the Stone House Museum, at Fifth Street between Oak and Pine Streets, is a building considered one of the best examples of early Swedish stonework in Minnesota. Constructed in 1872, the structure has sandstone walls made of hand-tooled ashlars with uniform height, depth, and course. Gustaf Carlson, a Swedish immigrant stonemason from Småland, built it of locally quarried sandstone. Originally the three rooms served as the township offices and jail After 1896, the building was used for a variety of purposes, including a church activity center. In 1963 it was converted into a museum with a wide assortment of memorabilia.

Marine on St. Croix Historic District includes nearly fifty significant structures and sites, a number of which are homes built by Swedish immigrants. Many Swedes were employed by local lumber companies, though some developed their own businesses as harness makers, boat builders, stonemasons, cabinet makers, wagon makers, saloon keepers, and blacksmiths. Generally the Swedish immigrants built their homes on top of the bluff and behind the homes of the New Englanders, who had arrived first and built closer to the river.

The most important historic commercial structure in town is the two-and- one-half-story Marine General Store at the corner of Maple and Judd Streets. The business played an important role in attracting Swedes because an early owner advertised widely that he would grant them liberal credit if they settled there. Marine Village Hall, south of the General Store, was built in 1888.