1899-1901 St. Paul City Directories. Coy Johnson was one of a number of African-American stone workers who moved from Georgia to St. Paul to work on the Capitol construction. He worked as a laborer on the building from 1899 to 1905. He was born in Georgia in 1870 and apparently left St. Paul shortly after the completion of the Capitol.

Most of the workers who constructed the Minnesota Capitol belonged to unions. However, it is not clear whether St. Paul laborers were organized during the period when the Capitol was built nor how many laborers or which jobs were represented by a union between 1896 and 1907. However, Johnson also worked in stone and most other Capitol workers in the stone trades were organized in St. Paul at the time the Capitol was built. Coy may well have belonged to one of the stone workers' unions or, like Casiville Bullard, to the Bricklayers union. So, Johnson's union status is currently unknown.