[Music] known as the Brunswick House. This Greek revival style home was constructed by William Penny around 1848, the same year in which the territorial convention took place. Penny had been born in Illinois and moved north sometime in the 1840s. He had recently married and a child was on the way, so he needed a home. A carpenter by trade, one might assume that he built this house. Still Water was a great place for a carpenter in 1848. As a reporter noted in the Minnesota Pioneer newspaper, "Besides boundless supplies of pine lumber, Still Water has ample quaries of rock, extremely convenient for use and of the choicest quality, also lime and sand, and what is more, Still Water can boast of as good builders as any other town, as they make abundantly evident by their works." The following year, 1849, five men organized the first lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows in Minnesota, right here in Stillwater. One story about the unusual name says that in 17th century England, it was odd to find people organized for the purpose of giving aid to those in need and of pursuing projects for the benefit of all mankind. Those who belonged to such an organization were called odd fellows. Before the lodge could hold an official meeting, however, they had to wait 8 months until John Pototts, the Midwest District Grand Sire, could travel up the Mississippi River from Galina, Illinois to present them with their charter. Finally, on August 15th, 1849, they gathered upstairs in William Penny's house for the first lodge meeting in all of Minnesota. A week later, local businessmen Socrates Nelson and Malon Black were initiated into the Fraternal Order. The Pennies sold the house in 1863 to Julius Brunswick and moved to Utah. Brunswick, an immigrant from Switzerland, worked in the merkantile trade and was a wellrespected citizen of the community. One biography says that he engaged in lumbering, farming, merchandising, and dealing in pine lands. He and his wife Margaret raised a family with seven children here. Following Julius's death in 1874, his wife took on the added weight of managing the family's financial affairs, only to see her home struck by fire a year after her husband's demise. But Margaret did well and in 1889 erected a business block on Main Street. After her death in 1923, the Brunswick daughters, Anna, Rose, Clara, Emily, and Molly, all five of whom remained unmarried, continued to occupy the home, supporting themselves by taking in needle work and selling art supplies, while Anna managed some of the family real estate. Molly, the last of the Brunswick girls, as they were known, died in 1968. Downtown Stillwater has changed greatly since 1848, but William Penny's home remains as an important reminder of the era when Stillwater was the birthplace of Minnesota. [Music]