Did you hear?

A Brief History
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The Justus Ramsey House was built in 1852 and 1853 by the brother of Minnesota’s first territorial governor, Alexander Ramsey. The small stone cottage was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, highlighting the stories of Ramsey and other early white leaders who lived in the building like territorial librarian and future mayor Robert O. Smith.

Despite the National Register designation and an outpouring of community support to save the building, plans moved forward in early 2023 to demolish the structure. Following an injunction in the final days, preservationists, tradespeople, archeologists, and other volunteers were allowed to document, measure, and store the salvageable pieces to put in storage until a new home could be found.

FINDING NEW LIFE
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We are excited to announce that the Minnesota Transportation Museum was chosen as the new home of the Justus Ramsey House. As you can see from the construction zone at the northeast side of our parking lot, work has already begun to prepare the site next to the Rutledge Depot. Early in 2026 crews will begin to rebuild the historic limestone cottage piece by piece to its former glory, but with modern updates to support this new second life.

The stories we tell about the Justus Ramsey House will also be getting some much needed remodeling. Left out of the original NRHP listing were the African American residents who once called the building home. Much of the city’s very earliest Black community in the nineteenth century settled in what is now known as West 7th before expanding towards the capital and later Rondo neighborhoods. When the home was first built, many Black neighbors worked as porters, barbers, and stewards on steamboats. A generation later, while the modes of transportation changed, the work remained. Records indicate the Justus Ramsey House offered room and board for railroad porters working for the Pullman Company, Great Northern Railway, and elsewhere.

Our goal is to use the rebuilt stone cottage to tell the stories of these railroad porters who lived in the home and greater neighborhood, and their connection to larger moments in Black history and transportation history. New exhibits and curriculum under development will highlight everyday porters who lived in the home like Lee Barber and Charles Alexander, as well as other porters in the neighborhood like future ragtime composer Lucian P. Gibson. Interpretation will also examine the role of organizers like Rondo’s Frank Boyd, who was a key national figure with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.