This website became a set of static pages in 2025. We have endeavored to edit some of the language and most of the links before the transition, but some of the information - especially about the amazing people who worked on this site and their positions/places of work - will be outdated. Some of the links on this site may no longer work because the external web pages have changed or been deleted since this website was created and updated. Apologies! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

On July 27, 1898, marching bands led thousands of people to the highest point in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Columns of veterans, stonecutters and other workers marched to the ribbon-draped speakers’ stand.  Here, the new capitol was rising from the ground.  Onlookers leaned over the partially finished first floor walls.  Among the throng of dignitaries was Minnesota’s first territorial governor, Alexander Ramsey, to officially lay the cornerstone for the people’s house - the grandest building in the state and one of the finest statehouse buildings in the country. 

The cornerstone was five feet long with a hollow core to hold a copper box.   Into the box were placed more than 45 books, newspapers, photos and documents - including histories of legislators and soldiers since the founding of the state. The names of the Capitol Commissioners and architect Cass Gilbert, as well as his associates, were etched on a bronze plate. But the box contained not a single name of a worker or contractor who erected this structure.  Since construction began in 1896, hundreds of workers were drawn to this spot – they dug and laid the foundation and built the lower walls. Hundreds more came to work there through the building’s completion in 1907.

For some, it would be the spark for a long, successful career and the beginning of generations in Minnesota; for others, it was one stop of many in a wandering artisan’s life; and for still others it marked the end of their lives.  These people all came together to create this Minnesota icon, but they have remained nameless - until now.

This is their story.