Daniel & Margaret Fry House
222 Laurel St. W.
First Letter Delivered by Carrier
On September 1, 1887, the U.S. Postal Service initiated free home mail delivery in Stillwater. The very first letter to be delivered by a Stillwater mail carrier was addressed to Daniel Fry at 222 West Laurel Street. The letter was signed by John McCarthy, the Post Master, and read as follows:
"Dan Fry, Sir,
You have been identified with the growth and prosperity of Stillwater for nearly 40 years, and during that time your confidence in Stillwater as ultimately becoming one of the principal cities in the state of Minnesota has never been shaken. Accept my congratulations on receiving the first letter by carrier in the city of Stillwater."
Daniel Fry was born in Limerick, Maine on April 12, 1828. He came to Stillwater in 1852 at the age of 24 and took employment as a carpenter and millwright. In December of 1859, he married Margaret McGuire.
In April of 1871, Daniel Fry bought this lot from John McKusick, one of the original pioneers of Stillwater. Within a year, Fry had built the east one-and-one-half story of this house at 222 West Laurel Street. The assessed valuation was $300.
But even as Fry began building his house, tragedy struck. On June 29, 1871, while working at the McKusick, Anderson & Co. sawmill on the east bank of the St. Croix across from Stillwater, a big circular saw shattered, and one of the pieces severed Fry’s arm at the elbow. Unable to do manual labor, Fry opened the first of a series of cigar and confectionary stores in Stillwater.
Ten years later, in 1882, a second two-story addition on the west side of the house was added, which brought the total assessed value to $800.
Over the years, the Fry’s raised a family in their home. The 1880 Census lists Daniel, age 52, a retail grocer; Margaret, age 42; Charles, age 17, a clerk in the store; Elizabeth, age 14; Grace, age 12; and Albert, age 9. The three younger children were all attending school.
In 1892 Daniel built a small one-story building on the southwest corner of his lot where he and his family sold fruit and candy. Among his customers were passengers on the Stillwater street car line which ran by his house.
Daniel Fry died in his home, age 81, October 10, 1909, after a long illness, which rendered totally helpless for several months. His obituary recorded him as "an honest man, a good citizen, and esteemed by all who knew him."
His wife, Margaret continued to live in the house, along with her unmarried son, Charles until her death on March 2, 1923. After the estate was settled, Charles Fry sold the house to Annie and David Connors in December of 1924.
Annie worked as a bookkeeper for a Stillwater law firm; David was the Clerk of District Court.
In style, the house would be termed a vernacular dwelling, the kind of simple plain residence that people often identify as a "farmhouse" style. The house possesses much of its original integrity, and the color white with green trim was a common Nineteenth Century color scheme. The porch was most likely added around 1900. The closed shutters on the west side of the house indicate a window that has been covered over on the inside.
— Research by Donald Empson, Empson Archives for the City of Stillwater's Heirlooms Home and Landmark Sites Program