St. James Hotel

Built: 1875 (Addition in 1978)

National Register of Historic Places: 1977

Architecture Style: Italianate/Victorian

Architect/Builder: E.P. Bassford (Firm)

When the St. James opened, Red Wing had a few other hotels and multiple boarding houses, but none were considered as grand as the St. James.

The hotel’s opening night was described in spectacular terms by the Goodhue County Republican, who counted nearly two dozen elaborate meat dishes–including turkey stuffed with oysters–and nearly the same number of confections and desserts.

That menu, and the high-end lodging accommodations that accompanied it, were overseen by brothers Ed and Fred Blood, who were lauded around town. When President Rutherford B. Hayes spoke in Red Wing in 1878, he dined at the St. James and was served, according to The Republican, “Blood’s best.”

President Hayes was the most famous patron of the hotel, but visitors always streamed through the hotel bringing new opportunities and technology with them. Numerous advertisements of the time urged locals to book appointments with visiting doctors promising miracle medical techniques and cures. And for many years, the St. James had “sample rooms” where traveling merchants would set up shop for a couple weeks to sell their wares to local businesses.

The Bloods eventually moved to hotels outside of Red Wing, and management of the hotel passed through many hands before Charles Lillyblad purchased a share in the hotel in 1902.

Lillyblad would eventually marry Clara Nelson, an employee of the hotel, and their family would own the hotel until the Red Wing Shoe Company purchased it in 1977. Charles, according to his son Art, was more interested in poker and liquor, so leadership of the hotel fell to Clara.

Clara became the hotel’s defining character. “She was the queen bee,” Art Lillyblad recalled, “she didn’t have to answer to anybody.” Ardeth Anderson, a longtime night clerk, remembered her exacting expectations. “You had to produce, or you didn’t stay,” he said.

Even under her steady guidance, the hotel lost some of its luster, so the Shoe Company renovated it to its original splendor.

The number of rooms within the historic hotel structure went from 62 to 41, as each room was given its own bathroom, and some rooms were combined to make larger suites. But the renovation included a new addition on the north end of the building, which brought the room total to 64.

The interior of these remodeled rooms were furnished to resemble the Victorian style of the turn of the century, with some of the new restrooms including old-fashioned toilets and claw-foot bathtubs. The renovation also included new retail and restaurant spaces, which are still operational today.

The exterior of the hotel was improved too, bringing back the balconies above the doorways, and the white arches above the windows, both important features of its Italianate style.

After a century and a half, the St. James is still Red Wing’s grandest hotel.

More information on the history of the St. James and Red Wing is available at various displays inside the hotel.