Building history

On Saturday, a plaque recalling the historical and architectural significance of the Melges Bakery building will be unveiled in a ceremony

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- It's a quaint building with a story that intriguingly intertwines with that of the city -- and, thanks to its current owners, its past will sparkle back to life on Saturday, June 21.

The building at 213 S. Minnesota St. known as the Melges Bakery to the historically-minded -- and as Cornerstone Coffee to the espresso lovers of today -- will be celebrated in its own right -- both as one of the few Civil War-era buildings in New Ulm that survive virtually unchanged, and as a reminder of the people whose lives it reflects.

Dr. Charles and Roberta Hintz, who bought the property in the mid-1990s drawn by its attractive appearance and unusual history, are sponsoring the placement of a plaque that recalls the bakery's architectural and historical significance. At a reception that will accompany the unveiling ceremony, they expect to welcome members of the Melges family -- as well as anyone with a taste for history. Historian Dan Hoisington, known for his studies of local historical contexts and their reflection on architecture, has been invited to speak at the June 21, 3:30 p.m., marker dedication.

The soon-to-be Melges Bakery was built in 1865 by John Spenner and Henry Spoerhase as a meat market business. This business, however, was shortlived.

In 1866, John Spenner was murdered; that incident has become known as the "New Ulm Christmas Day murders." On Christmas Day, 1866, at a New Ulm saloon, Spenner got into a fight with two fur trappers from Mankato; liquor appears to have been a culprit. Spenner died from a knife wound, and the two Mankato trappers, George Liscom and Alexander Campbell, were lynched by a mob of New Ulmites. The bodies of the two Mankato men were placed in the frozen Minnesota River.

(A Jan. 4, 1867, account of the tragedy in the Mankato Union offers an interesting perspective, referring to the two sides to the fight as "the Germans" and "the Americans," resenting "the savagery" of "the Sodomites at New Ulm" and, behind a veneer of objectivity, crying for revenge.)

After Spenner's unexpected demise, Spoerhase briefly became partners with Frank Erd, who shortly thereafter opened his own store. Spoerhase then sold the building to Frederick Gottlieb Melges, who converted it to a bakery.

Melges, New Ulm' first baker, was born in Horesta, Germany, in 1830; he came to America when he was 20 years old. He lived in the eastern states, becoming an American citizen in 1858. In 1865, he returned to Germany to marry the sweetheart of his youth. The same year, they came to New Ulm.

The Melges family added the north portion of the building in 1871; the only section of the original building to be replaced later was some bricks on the upper wall facing Minnesota Street, which suffered damage in an 1881 cyclone.

The Melgeses had seven children; their descendants spread out to parts of Minnesota, Illinois and California, in professions as different as medicine and the poultry business, each with their personal story, serious, funny or in-between, as evidenced in family histories.

Frederick's son, Julius, began operating the bakery in 1891. He was replaced by William Eibner, and Isadore and Heinen, in 1894. F.G. Heinze bought the bakery in 1903.

From 1917 to 1970, the building was home of the August Puhfahl family. In 1973, to ward off its demolition, the Brown County Historical Society bought it, using gifts from two major donors, Dr. Frederick J. Melges and Hellen Melges Doehring, grandchildren of the first Mr. and Mrs. Melges.

The BCHS's plans to breathe new life into the building with events like sales of period-accurate baked goods, never materialized. But, during the BCHS tenure, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Weaving a story of his own into the texture of the building's history, Al Tietel, retired employee of Heymann Construction Company of New Ulm, worked inside on and off, building an exact replica of the original oven used in the bakery.

The application for the old bakery's historic designation, written by historian Leota Kellett in 1974, describes the building as "a hand molded brick structure, with three identical curved brick arch designs over the center doorway and the windows to either side."

"I have found only two other buildings with this detail, one in Ely, Minn., and the other in Lincoln, Ill.," Kellett wrote. "The walls, woodwork and flooring are original ... Essentially, it is an original building in all details, a simple, pleasingly designed building of great significance because it represents such structures in communities across the land. The brickwork details are offset in design, and the cut sections of brick are of varied shape, [creating] a very harmonious, simple, pleasing appearance ...

"This early building represents a pioneer business, family life and enterprise -- all so significant on the frontier of Minnesota," continues Kellett. "It is an outstanding example of the courageous spirit, an excellent example of the decorative yet simple ways of earlier life. And it is the very last original remaining business on Minnesota Street, the principal business street, that remains exactly as it was when built -- the others are all gone..."

In the early 1990s, the BCHS, unable the sustain the building, sold it. Then it passed among several owners before being bought by the Hintzes.

The Hintzes completed extensive reconstruction work, fixing everything from a leaky roof to plumbing and fixtures. Currently, they are renting the building out to Lori Furth, who, in a curious reminder of its early days, is running one of the city's quaintest, antique-decorated coffee shops, with gourmet coffees, sandwiches, and, yes, baked goods.

During Saturday's celebration, the Hintzes may, perhaps unconsciously, host a rerun of an earlier situation. When the BCHS turned to the Melges family for funds to buy the building in the early 1970s, it invited the donors to see what they were helping preserve. For Melges family descendants who came, it was the first trip back to their roots. This might turn out to be the case again, for other Melgeses -- a nostalgic peek into the past, a reminder that, thanks to another donor family's efforts, their family's contribution to building this community has not been forgotten.

Special thanks to Dr. Charles and Roberta Hintz, Lori Furth and Brown County Historical Society Research Librarian Darla Gebhard for providing family histories, building records, newspaper clippings and other materials related to the Melges building.