Monday, November 13, 2006

Childhood Homes



For five years, Fitzgerald and his family lived in three different houses on this block on Holly Avenue, one of which has been torn down. When his father's financial problems began the family lived in an apartment pictured here as well as Grandmother McQuillan's large house, also shown here. Later he used material from these childhood years to write magazine stories.
(Reference: http://home.comcast.net/~caudle2/fscotwlk.htm)

Today in MN History: 1833-
Charles M. Loring is born in Portland, Maine. As Minneapolis park commissioner from 1883 to 1890, he would be a principal player in the development of the city's system of parks and public grounds. Central Park would be renamed Loring Park in his honor. (Historical information taken from the MN Historical Society's website: mnhs.org)



11 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:13 AM

    interesting facts Kate, and lovely houses, i wander who lives there now.

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  2. merci pour l'histoire de Fitzgerald. c'est vraiment tres interessant.

    thank you for the history for Fitzgerald. it is really very interesting.

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  3. As I indicated in previous comments, it interests me to analyze what drives people to live as they do. Now I read today that the family had to move frequently and even live with a relative - I'm back to my hypothesis that living the highlife might be tied some way to haveing earlier lived the insecure, poor life.

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  4. Annie, The well-accepted theory about F.Scott is that because he operated on the economic fringes of St. Paul society, while yet being an intrical part of it there was a fascination with the well-to-do and well-connected. Although the family depended upon the maternal grandmother, Scott was not poor. My personal focus has always been on the influence St.Paul and his childhood experiences had on his literature. I met a wonderful old man years ago who was a contemporary of Scott's and also met Scottie his daughter during one of the national conferences re. his literature that was held here in St. Paul. Return to the wiki article I mentioned earlier and check the quotations, esp the last one about Hemingway for more information to fuel your thinking!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald PS. Perhaps we should carry on this conversation offline?!

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  5. I appreciate your comments, Kate. You do me an honor to respond. And about Bradford Pear Trees, they are only ornamental, no fruit. The south is landscaped with these trees.

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  6. u write well. always learn somoething new from you :)

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  7. Thanks for telling us about Scott Fitzgerald's life and showing us the beautiful and elegant houses he lived in. I like the second one with its nice details on the third floor window.

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  8. Thanks Kate for sharing this interesting facts about Scott Fitzgerald life. I like very much the second house. It's lovely and elgeant wiht nice details on the third floor window.

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  9. A bench under a tree. I've never understood that. It's the worst place to sit. Birds have needs, you know.

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  10. Anonymous5:25 PM

    Love the house at the top, it seems to have so much charcter, and I'm sure inside would be full of interesting nooks and crannies.

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  11. Its wonderful that two of the buildings still stand. They are such a huge part of your history there.

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