John H. Stevens

John Harrington Stevens (June 13, 1820 – May 28, 1900) was a soldier, farmer, politician, editor, historian, and prominent citizen of Minnesota. Stevens was the first authorized colonial resident on the west bank of the Mississippi River in what would become Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stevens was granted permission to occupy the site, then part of the Fort Snelling military reservation, in exchange for providing ferry service to St. Anthony across the river. Stevens, along with Franklin Steele, is considered one of the first residents of Minneapolis and one of the earliest settlers of both Hennepin County and Ramsey County.

Early life John Harrington Stevens was born on June 13, 1820 in Brompton Falls, Quebec(now Brompton, Quebec), then part of Lower Canada to parents Gardner Stevens and Deborah Harrington. Stevens family were originally from the state of Vermont and had fought in the American Revolutionary War before moving to Canada.

Stevens enlisted into the United States Army during the Mexican–American War and served in Mexico from 1846 to 1849 as part of the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. Soon after his land claim Stevens built his house and occupied it with his family. Stevens house was the first house on the west bank of the Mississippi River at St. Anthony and the second oldest remaining wood-frame house in Minneapolis. Minneapolis and St. Anthony merged in 1872, so there are others who can claim to be earlier Minneapolis residents. The oldest existing house from that earlier settlement was built by Ard Godfrey in 1848, two years before Stevens' home; that house is now at the small Chute Square park in the city. Stevens at the time also served as the postmaster of the post office located at Fort Snelling.

Stevens eventually moved westward and on May 21, 1855 settled land in the modern-day city of Glencoe, Minnesota where he continued his occupation of farming. Stevens was eventually elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives and served in the 1st Minnesota Legislature from 1857–1858, and later the Minnesota Senate in 1859–1861. Besides his military service and role in state politics, Stevens was a heavy contributor towards newspaper editing. Among the newspapers edited by Stevens were the St. Anthony Express, Chronicle, The Glencoe Register, Tribune, the Cataract and Agriculturalist, the Farmer's Union, the Farmer's Tribune, and the Farmer's Stock and Home.

Later life

Following the American Civil War Stevens ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat-Anti-Monopoly candidate for the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State in the 1873 Minnesota Secretary of State election, he lost to the Republican incumbent Samuel P. Jennison who had a majority vote margin of 0.73%. Stevens ran again in 1875 unsuccessfully during the 1875 Minnesota Secretary of State election as a Prohibition Party candidate for the office of Minnesota Secretary of State only winning 1.89% of the vote. Stevens was later re-elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1876 during the 18th Minnesota Legislature representing Hennepin County and was on the Federal Relations committee and the Insurance committee.

Selected works

Personal Recollections of Minnesota and its People, and early History of Minneapolis (1890). Recollections of James M. Goodhue (1894). History of Minneapolis and Hennepin County Minnesota, Volume II (1895).