Frank and Mary Joy House
904 S. Third St.
David Tozer, a lumberman and real estate speculator, built a number of houses in this neighborhood (and lived for many years at 704 South Third Street). He purchased Lots 1 & 2, Block 13 in August of 1873. Within a year, he had built a cubed Italianate house with its typical hip roof that was to take the number 904 South Third Street. The tax assessor, making his rounds in 1874, penciled in a note "$1000 added for house." But it appears the house was enlarged (or finished) shortly thereafter for in May of 1875, Tozer leased the property "together with the dwelling house thereon" to Frank and Mary Joy. Ultimately, the house became a pleasant three bay Italianate with a step down addition in the rear and an open front porch. In 1893, a tornado swept through Stillwater, and although the home did not sustain much damage, "a board fully sixteen feet in length was carried by the wind and deposited underneath the eaves of Frank Joy's home on South Third street." (St. Paul Globe, July 15, 1893).
Frank and Mary were both Yankees from Maine, then in their early 30’s. The rent on the house was $20.00 per month, however, the lease stipulated, Joy could purchase the house for $2,400 any time within two years, less the amount of rent already paid. Joy also got permission to build a stable on the two lots. But it was March of 1878 before Joy received the Warranty Deed on his purchase. By 1880, the couple had comfortably settled in with no children, but a 20-year-old Irish servant, Katie Moarity, looked after them as well as boarder A. Harper, a commission merchant.
In the late 1880’s, Frank Joy was president of the Stillwater Construction & Furnishing Company, which did a good deal of business in this immediate neighborhood. From 1883 to 1895, Frank was also chief of the Stillwater Fire department. By 1900, Frank also was an insurance agent, doing well enough to have servant Ida Lund and coachman Charles Danielson as live-in help. In 1910, Louis Hoppe provided household help.
Perhaps most notable about the Joys was the literal way in which they expressed their name. Local news accounts are full of recreational and social activities which the Joys organized or in which they participated. As early as 1878, the St. Paul Globe noted:
"Dudley Hersey and Will Capron are busily engaged making the arrangements for that big masquerade. It is intended to make this the grandest affair of its kind ever had in Minnesota, and the committee are the men to do it. Frank Joy has charge of the costume department, and is ready to accommodate everybody that wishes one." (Feb 19, 1878)
The following year, Frank coordinated a "social hop" to benefit the coronet band. In 1884, the newspaper recorded his attendance at the Universalist society supper, joking:
"The odd five cents were extorted from Chief Engineer Frank Joy, on account of the extra quantity of Boston baked beans that was required to appease the cravings of his ravenous appetite."
Frank was also involved in the organization of the Stillwater baseball club, the Stillwater Toboggan Club, and the library committee. He also owned a race horse named Adler. He and his wife gave frequent card parties in their home, including those for the No Name Whist club.
Frank died in 1913, and Mary remained in the home until her death in 1924. By the mid-1930s, the home was occupied by school superintendent Guy Smith and family, who previously had been renting a home on Oak Street. Some thirty years later, another educator, junior high coach and teacher Joseph Samuelson, moved into the home with his wife, Eleanor, and three children, and Mrs. Samuelson has celebrated fifty years in the home.
— Research by Carmen Tschofen for the City of Stillwater's Heirlooms Home and Landmark Sites Program