On St. Patrick's Day this year, we toured the James J. Hill House at 240 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota. Hill (the "Empire Builder") was a pivotal force in the transformation of the Northwest as his railroad provided the backbone for American settlement, agricultural development, and commercial expansion. His secret to success -- "Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work." But, it was his wife that I found intriguing ...
Born on July 1, 1846 in New York City, Mary Teresa Mehegan was a child of Irish immigrants who settled in the frontier town of St. Paul in 1850. She married Hill on August 19, 1867. Legend has it that Hill met and fell in love with Mary when she was a waitress working at the Merchants Hotel in St. Paul. They had 10 children. She died on November 22, 1921. This photograph was taken in 1888.
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