Sabin S. Murdock House, Murdock Minnesota
Home of the Founder of the Town of Murdock MN to be Demolished
The Sabin S. and Mary A. Murdock House, built in 1878 on Clara Avenue, was the home of the proprietor of Murdock, Minnesota, and represents the efforts of a single individual to conceive, found, and promote a rural Minnesota community. The Murdock House is important as the oldest building standing in Murdock and as the largest and most architecturally significant Victorian house in the town.
Sabin S. Murdock, a man of Scottish and English descent who was the son of a physician, was born in New England in July of 1830. He married Mary Ann Peck in New York state in 1852. The couple had six children born between 1853 and 1876. Little is known about Murdock's early career, but in 1871, he and a partner, E. M. Deane, both "well known and enterprising businessmen", established the St. Paul Harvestor Works just east of the St. Paul city limits. The St. Paul Harvestor Works, a farm machinery manufacturing company, was operated by the partnership for two years and then assumed by a joint stock company with Deane as president, Murdock as vice president, and H. L. Pilkinson as secretary-treasurer. The company grew to become a leading St. Paul industry, and by 1881, the firm employed 300 men at facilities that were located on a 100-acre site. In 1892, the factory became the Walter A. Wood Harvestor Works. It is not known how long Murdock remained with the company, but he probably had left St. Paul by circa 1877.
In 1876 Murdock purchased about 3,000 acres of land from the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in Dublin Township, Swift County, apparently as a speculative venture. Convinced that the area could support another commercial and trade center along the St. Paul and Pacific line between DeGraff and Kerkhoven (about eight miles apart), Murdock and a partner, Joseph Schaaf of Carver, platted the town site of Murdock on their land in July of 1878. Although Schaaf is named as co-proprietor of the town on the official plat, he apparently did not live in Murdock and probably remained simply an investor.
The townsite, platted by Murdock and Schaaf consisted of twelve city blocks. Murdock's house, built in 1878, was the first building erected in the new town which was described in an August, 1879 edition of a local newspaper as containing " … an unfinished elevator and two yawning cellars in the center of a prairie, the only house then finished being that of S. S. Murdock, situated to the left of the railroad track and in rather a desolate looking field." Murdock's house was followed by a round elevator built by Murdock in 1878-79. The St. Paul and Pacific apparently opposed the platting of Murdock and refused initially to build a depot there. The company agreed to lay a railroad siding only on the condition that S. S. Murdock pay the agent's salary. A depot, presumably financed by S. S. Murdock, was built in 1879, and in 1880, the St. Paul and Pacific began to control operation of the depot and lengthened the side tracks.
By the late summer of 1879, Murdock boasted a depot, an elevator, several stores, a wagon shop, a school, and three hotels. By February of 1880, the village included 440 acres of platted land, including 240 from Murdock, 120 acres from Schaaf, and 80 acres in the form of two additions owned by other parties. Sabin S. Murdock was extremely influential in the early affairs of the community. In addition to initially owning most of the town site, he owned and operated his own farm, the elevator, and a large stable. Murdock officiated at the town's gala Independence Day celebration in 1880, and the community recognized Murdock's fiftieth birthday with a town celebration on July 12th, 1880. Murdock's children were also active in political and social affairs, and Murdock's son William served as fourth mayor of the village in 1887-88.
Sabin S. and his wife Mary probably moved into their newly completed house in 1878. The house may have been designed by Murdock, and, although simple in form, contained elements of high Victorian style popular at the time. The house was located on a farmstead at the east edge of the platted town with a barn, chicken house, corn crib, granary, and shed. Most of these buildings are still standing. The 1880 Federal Census reports that Murdock and his wife lived in the house in that year with four of their sons and one daughter and her husband, a clergyman. In addition, four male farm laborers and four young women listed as "servants" lived with the Murdocks. In 1885, the couple lived with three of their sons and four male and two female employees. It is not clear how long the Murdocks remained in the community. Sabin S. Murdock was appointed State Railroad Commissioner by Minnesota governor Lucius F. Hubbard in April of 1885, a position he held until January of 1887. S. S. and Mary Murdock apparently moved back to St. Paul sometime between 1885 and 1891, and in 1893, Murdock moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he died in May of 1900 at the age of 70.
Murdock proceeding with demolition of historic house
Building Description
The Sabin S. and Mary A. Murdock House, completed in 1878, is located on the NE side of Clara Avenue in Murdock, a small community in southeastern Swift County. The house predates nearly all buildings in Murdock and stands on a large lot on the edge of the town surrounded by modest houses built between circa 1890 and circa 1960. NE of the Murdock House is the home's original farmyard containing two wood frame outbuildings, six metal grain bins and corn cribs, and a windmill. The site probably once contained at least one large barn.
A horse barn stood in the farmyard until the summer of 1984, when it was destroyed by fire.
The Murdock House is a moderately sized, basically intact Victorian building with a symmetrical design. The house is sheathed with clapboard siding and rests on a fieldstone foundation. It has a hipped roof with overhanging eaves supported by ornate, widely spaced brackets, and a hipped roof front porch supported by slender square columns with chamfered corners, entablature-like capitals, and lacy brackets. The window openings on the main facade are widely and evenly spaced and consist of pairs of narrow 1/1 sashes set within pedimented, dog-eared frames. The side and rear walls contain 2/2 sash. The centrally located entrance has a pedimented, dog-eared frame with a transom and a circa 1878 front door with rounded arched panes. The house is further ornamented with corner pilasters with chamfered corners and has a one-story rear wing with a hipped roof. The Murdock House is basically intact and in good condition. Recent alterations have included replacing the original roof and partially enclosing the front porch. The house is presently vacant.
Standing NE of the Murdock House is the original farmyard, bounded on the east by tilled fields. At the northern corner of the yard is a circa 1890s 13-story wood frame granary with a shed addition, a second turn-of-the-century outbuilding that has been used as a corncrib, granary, and shed, and four steel grain bins. At the eastern corner of the site is a Harvester windmill and two wire corn cribs. All outbuildings are in fair condition and still in use.
Looking east (1984)
Looking west (1984)
