Obit for Stena Severson Leads to Info on the Living Situation of Working Women in the 1910s-1930s
Christine “Stena” Severson: 1881-1931 (Paternal First Cousin 1x Removed)
I had very little information on my ancestor/cousin, Stena
Severson, beyond the bare facts of birth and death—nothing that really gave any
insight into her life. But as I read the brief obituary notice printed in the Minneapolis
Journal in 1931, a small piece of information caught my eye. After a little
online research, Stena’s life story had a little dash of color at long last.
Christine Severson was born in June 1881 in Brookings, South
Dakota to parents Julia Peterson Severson and Sever Severson. I have found no
actual birth record, and no other records provide the actual day of her birth. She
was the second of their seven children. Her father drank himself to death when she
was sixteen, and she was forced to grow up quickly and support herself. She
appears in the 1900 census still living at home. She was nineteen, but was
listed as “at school”. Since she became a stenographer, I believe she was probably
attending a trade school that prepared young women for office work.
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| Christine "Stena" is probably the seated woman at the left. |
I found no census records for Stena in either 1910 or 1920.
The 1930 census finds her living in Minneapolis and working as a stenographer
for a law firm.
Just a year later, on June 12, 1931, she suddenly died.
According to her obituary, she was only forty-nine years old, which means her
birth date must have been after the 12th in June 1881. I found no
news articles about her death, so it was apparently due to natural causes—perhaps
a stroke or heart attack, or an illness like pneumonia that led to death.
Her brief obituary lists only her mother and siblings as
survivors, and notes that interment will be in South Dakota. The only
information the obituary provided about her life was the brief notation “residence,
Belmont Hotel.”
A hotel? That piqued my curiosity. What would cause a woman
with an office job to live at a hotel? Research on the Belmont Hotel provided
some answers. The current owners of the building, the Honig Company, provide a
history of the building as follows:
“The Belmont, located in the historic Lowry Hill
neighborhood of Minneapolis near the Hornig Companies’ Home Office, sits on the
corner of West Franklin and Hennepin Ave South.
The “Belmont Inn,” as it was originally known, opened in 1920 and was
built as an “Apartment Hotel,” a style of living that was popular for a short
time in the early 1900’s. Residents
could rent an apartment for a day, a week or by the month and receive the
amenities of fully furnished units, housekeeping services as well as garage services. Built by the Fleischer Brothers, who also
built the Calhoun Beach Club, the building was a popular winter home for
families who owned summer cabins on Lake Minnetonka.
At its prime, the lower level boasted a dinner and dance
hall, a continental bath and beauty shop with mineral steam baths, a barber
shop and a billiard & club room…
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The Belmont Hotel, circa 1920s
I looked at the 1930 census record for Stena more closely,
and saw that her neighbors included several single, professional women, including
teachers and other stenographers. I can see the attraction of such a property,
with all the additional amenities available such as furnishings, housekeeping services
and the onsite beauty shop. The “rooms” were more like small apartments, which
would be perfect for a single woman. Perhaps Stena developed friendships with
her single female neighbors, which would have made the property even more
attractive.
Looking at Minneapolis City Directories for the period Stena
lived in Minneapolis, I was able to trace both her jobs and her residence locations.
In 1910, Stena was working for a company called the Mercantile Adjustment Co.,
and was living in a “flat” at 712 E. 14th Street. By 1915, Christine
found a stenographer position with a lawyer named Harry G. Amick. His company,
H.G.Amick Co., worked in “legal collections and adjustments”, and had offices
in the Palace Building, located near 315 S. 4th Street in
Minneapolis. In 1915, Stena had moved one block further to 22 E. 15th Street.
 |
| The Palace building in Minneapolis, circa 1930s |
The following year, Stena moved to one of the first “apartment
hotels”, the Ogden Hotel at 70 s. 12th Street. This was ideally
located, only one mile from her new office in the Baker Building at 7th Street
and 2nd Ave. H.G. Amick had merged his legal practice with another
firm, which became known as Deutsch, Loeffler & Amick. The firm seems to
have been a full-service legal firm.
 |
| The Baker Building in the 1930s, location of the offices of Deutsch, Loeffler & Amick. |
Stena’s boss, H.G. Amick, had kept an apartment at the Ogden
Hotel around 1912. He also had a home further out in the city, so probably kept
the apartment due to its proximity to his offices. Perhaps he suggested that Christine
move there in 1916. She lived in Apartment 4 at the Ogden for at least six
years, possibly more. The Ogden had much to offer. The location was near a
large library, Loring Park, and the Minneapolis Auditorium, a performing arts
location, so there was plenty for Ogden residents to do and enjoy.
The Ogden Hotel in the 1960s when it was renamed the Continental.
Christine received promotions during her years at the law
firm. By 1922, her city directory listing showed her as the firm’s “chief clerk”.
By 1928, the directory listed her as “department manager”. She had also moved
to yet another apartment hotel building, the Leamington. It was an elegant
building at 1014 3rd Avenue.
 |
| The Hotel Leamington, Minneapolis, circa 1940s |
The following year, 1929, Christine moved for the last time
to the Belmont. She obviously enjoyed the “apartment hotel” lifestyle, as she
lived in three different ones during the last fifteen years of her life.
I loved finding photos of the buildings where she lived and
where she worked. I could imagine her walking briskly to work on chill
mornings, or catching a street car or bus on wet winter days. She must have
felt very sophisticated, working in high-rises and living on her own in busy
city apartment hotels. Her life in Minneapolis was vastly different than life
in much smaller, quieter Brookings. I hope Stena loved her life and her career.
I am so glad I ran across that mention of the Belmont Hotel in her obituary. It
led me to dig more deeply and add some color and detail to the bare facts of Stena's life.
Sources:
Christine Severson obituary. Minneapolis Journal.
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jun 14, 1931. Newspapers.com.
https://www.hornigcompanies.com/2021/03/25/the-belmont-apartments
Belmont Inn and Hotel. 1940s Star and Tribune Company,
donors to Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
(1970https://hennepinco.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5vC8z9bbQSyJsuW
Hotel Leamington. Hennepin County Library Digital
Collections.https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/CPED/id/5220/
Historic Minneapolis Minnesota Facebook Group. Photos of
buildings. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1494515567441974/posts/1912207682339425/
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for
Ogden Hotel. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/1b2f1f60-072f-41f4-b942-3c39b2c82513
Census data and Minneapolis City Directory entries:
Ancestry.com.
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