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Dayton house renovated
by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio
June 14, 2004

George Dayton built this house in Worthington in 1890. Dayton left the southwest Minnesota city in 1902 for Minneapolis. It's now is being renovated for public use. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil)

The legacy of George Dayton seems to transform itself on a regular basis. Witness last week's sale of the famous downtown Minneapolis store which gave birth to a retail empire. But when George Dayton rode a train into Minnesota more than a century ago, he wasn't bound for Minneapolis. He was headed to Worthington. From that base in southwest Minnesota he set in motion business dealings still felt today. The house he built in Worthington didn't fare as well. It was nearly torn down. Brighter days though lay ahead, and restoration of the landmark is almost complete.

	George Dayton

Worthington, Minn. — The large wood frame house stands on the edge of downtown Worthington. A porch wraps around most of the house and columns reach up to a copper roof. The old time beauty of the house was disguised for years by awkward additions and general decline.

Workers have stripped away years of neglect and found a mostly solid structure underneath. When it was built in 1890 the house had some things in common with the broad prairie that rolled to the very edge of town. Farmers had moved in, but there were still enough wild flowers left on the grasslands for a summertime burst of color.

Mike Woll says like the prairie, the Dayton house were built tough, able to survive baking heat and paralyzing cold.

	Ornate tiles

"It's not one of the painted ladies you'd see in San Francisco or that we've all seen pictures of," says Woll. "It'll have certain ornate features, it'll be five colors and there's some real beauty in it. But it was a simple elegance, perhaps?"

Woll leads the way through a house that is full of the sounds of construction. Workers are busy fixing windows, floors and walls. Some are painting a final coat on the bones of the old house.

Woll hopes the work can be done by late summer.

A major part of the funding for the project comes from the Dayton family. Mike Woll chairs the non-profit group which will manage the house. He says when everything's finished, the building will be available for meetings, dinners, anniversaries and weddings. It will have some overnight suites. He hopes business will take a special interest in the Dayton house.

	Mike Woll of Worthington.

"What better place to host a business meeting then the home of one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of the country?" says Woll.

There may be some home town boosterism in those words, but Woll makes a strong case for the Dayton legacy.

George Dayton was a banker, insurance agent, land dealer, lumber merchant, town leader and general business whirlwind during his 20 or so years in Worthington. Dayton's house made a statement. Here was the home of a leader. Woll says the restored house also says something.

"Educationally, it's great," says Woll. "It also gives us a source of pride about who came from here. And there's often great stories of people that left Worthington and went on to great things. And this is truly one of the most remarkable."

Overseeing the work this day at the Dayton house is Lyle Voss. He says many of the repair pieces for the house were special ordered. Like the copper weather stripping he's tacking onto an old window.

	Lyle Voss repairs a window

"When the weather-stripping is on, the windows are totally done and I can say 'I don't have to touch the windows again'. That's the point you're trying to reach with every part of it," says Voss.

Voss says he enjoys watching the transformation of a historic house that played a role in the formative years of the Dayton empire.

While still in Worthington, George Dayton began dabbling in real estate in the Twin Cities. Eventually he opened an office there. By 1902 a new business opportunity came along which took him from Worthington for good. He left the prairie town to open a modest department store on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.

The house and the store have gone through major transformations since then. Even though names and ownership have changed, both are linked forever with George Dayton.

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