ROSEKRANS HOUSE – 456 ARLINGTON CIRCLE – 1890

This house is 110 years old! As evidence of the date, during the present renovation when some electrical fixtures were removed, gas pipes for gas lighting fixtures were found. The house was brought across the ice from its original location somewhere across Wayzata Bay. The date is unclear. There is information which says 1914 but also dates as late as 1931 have been reported. In any case, the house was pulled across Wayzata Bay. Wells Eastman, Sr. recalled watching the house being towed by a team of horses. The front and back porches were added after the house had been brought to its current location.

The house was purchased by Frank and Alice Rosekrans in 1943 from a plumbing contractor named Hague. The Rosekrans family owned the house until last year when it was purchased by the Wayzata Sailing Foundation. It will be forever known by many Wayzatans as the “Rosekrans House.”

Frank was an avid gardener and President of the Minnetonka Men’s Garden Club. He competed in flower shows and won hundreds of ribbons for his flowers. A wide variety of hostas remain in the garden. Alice taught piano in the house for over 50 years. Many Wayzata citizens owe their musical education to her.

In 1948, Frank purchased items from the Decker House, designed by Elmslie, when that house was being razed. The Decker farm main house was located just East of Bushaway Road. Included in the purchase were three stained glass windows which were examples of the Prairie Style. The windows were loaned to museums for exhibits several times.

There was a garage midway between the house and (what is now) Eastman Lane. The family raised chickens in the garage until the weasel ended the enterprise. In the early 1950s Frank Rosekrans had a two car garage with deck on top built on the west side of the house. Unfortunately, the construction was poor and all that remains is a concrete slab.

The channel on the east side of the property was dug in 1910 for the Wise Boat Works. It was much deeper than it is now and full of fish. There were trees on the island and sometimes the Rosekrans boys camped out on it. The access road to the lake (Arlington Circle) had a clean, weed free, sandy beach with a gradual slope and no drop-off. It was used by the entire neighborhood because the children could play safely there. In 1950, a cable was buried on the shore and then under the lake. The beach was destroyed and never recovered. In the winter there is a steady flow of traffic onto the ice from the access road. Parts of the ice fishing scenes in the movie “Grumpy Old Men” were filmed from the access road.

There are numerous stories linked to the house. In 1988, the roof developed a leak. When the contractor went up to inspect it, the roof caved in and he fell, unhurt into the attic. The roof was found to have been built of scrap lumber and many layers of shingles. The entire roof was replaced.

Before the house was attached to the City sewer system, no one knew where the sewage went. In the late forties, Frank Rosekrans was having a load of dirt delivered. As the truck backed up to the house the rear end dropped into a cesspool. The mystery was solved and the cesspool filled in with a load of dirt.

Then there is the story of a neighbor from across the railroad tracks that was shooting at a calendar on his wall. The bullets were going through the neighbor’s wall, across the tracks and hitting the Rosekrans house.

The wonderful history and stories about this house are the work of Ernest Brody of the Wayzata Sailing School, who took the time to interview David and Fritz Rosekrans the sons of Frank and Alice, who have the wonderful memories of growing up in the house and shared them for all of us and for the archives in perpetuity. Until recently, David Rosekrans was the President of U.S. Sailing the governing body for sailboat racing in the United States.

Ernest Broady, Wayzata Sailing Foundation