| Mary
Whipple In Her Tracks While there are many sites with the Whipple name in Faribault, some close examination will reveal those sites most reflecting Mary’s life. Site of Breck School
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Breck School, also initially called "Seabury University," first opened in the upper floor of a Faribault store near this spot. Mary Whipple came to Faribault to teach in the mission and divinity schools founded by her brother-in-law, James Lloyd Breck. The school soon moved across the river. |
On the Eastern Bluffs: The Breck home and school buildings.
These buildings no longer exist, but these pictures show where Mary worked and lived soon after her arrival in Faribault. They stood about where the Shattuck St. Mary's campus is today.
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Mary was familiar with this building. Photos of this building have been identified both as Andrews Hall, a dormitory for Indian students attending the Breck mission school, and an early Seabury University building. The overlap in both of these mission efforts could mean the building may have served both purposes as the schools evolved. In one of her letters, Mary mentions having to take refuge Andrews Hall in a snowstorm, thus exposing her children to an outbreak of smallpox. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. |
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Seabury Mission School. |
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The Breck Home. This photo is identified on the back as the "Breck home," which may refer to the building on the right. The building on the left appears to be a rear view of the photo above identified as the "Seabury School." Mary's description of these two places suggests they were almost touching each other. Note the dormer windows and bell tower in both photos. Photos courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. |
Site of St. Mary’s Hall: 6th Street and 2nd Avenue NW
Although Mary Whipple was involved with mission work in Hawaii during some of the first years of St. Mary’s School, there are also several references to her spending a year as acting principal during a year when Sarah Darlington was absent, and some references that she taught classes at the school as well. The first St. Mary’s School was conducted in Bishop Whipple’s home, which had been enlarged for that purpose. In 1872, the Bishop and his family moved into a new home, and St. Mary's continued. In 1888, a new St. Mary's Hall was built across the river on the bluff. Even in her later years, Mary Whipple's letters relate that she greatly enjoyed the company of St. Mary’s students, and often attended events at the school on the bluff in her later years.
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| St. Mary's of the past (above) and....today? The first St. Mary's Hall, a school fo girls and young women, was located adjacent to the Henry and Corneila Whipple home on the corner of 6th street and 2nd Avenue NW. At least a portion of the building complex burned after the school moved across the river, but some local historians have wondered if the extensively remodeled building found on the same corner today may still contain part of the original St. Mary's Hall. Top photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. | |
George and Mary Whipple Home
28 6th Street NW
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Was this Mary Whipple's "stone cottage?" This house may possibly date to 1862, and reportedly was first owned by Henry Rice, an early fur trader and Minnesota senator and governor. It was sold to Bishop Whipple in 1864, and apparently occupied primarily by Mary and George Whipple, and possibly other members of the Whipple family over time. It was similar in style to the Alexander Faribault home. One historian says Mary Whipple lived the rest of her life in her "stone cottage." This house is located near the Episcopal Guild House and Cathedral. |
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Mary Whipple in about 1905. Look carefully at the porch and compare it to the one on the house pictured above. What do you see? Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. |
Memorial Guild House
515 2nd Ave. NW
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The cornerstone of the Guild House was laid in memory of George Brayton Whipple in 1894. Mary’s husband had died in 1888, and the action commemorated George’s service in the church, including his work as rector at Shattuck School and chaplain at St. Mary’s School. The offices for the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd are located in the Guild House, and it is used for other meetings and gatherings. |
Learn more about Mary by reading Mary's Story. You can also read about her life Before and After the story.
