Longfellow House

The Longfellow House in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a 2/3 scale replica of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Built in 1907, the house was neither seen or lived in by Longfellow (who died in 1882), but was the home of an admiring Minneapolis businessman named Robert "Fish" Jones. Longfellow House stands within Minnehaha Park and is a contributing property to the Minnehaha Park Historic District.Early historyIn 1885, Robert "Fish" Jones sold his downtown Minneapolis fish market, and built a zoo on the site where the Basilica of St. Mary stands today. He eventually moved his zoo a few miles south into an area next to the Minnehaha Creek. He rebuilt his zoo, the Longfellow Zoological Gardens, and opened it in 1907. At the same time, he built a house for himself, styled after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home. A yellow frame house with porches at each end, he lived there for the next 23 years until he closed the zoo, due to complaints from nearby residents. He agreed to give the house to the City of Minneapolis, but died in 1930 before the transaction was completed.Longfellow Community LibraryFor four years after Jones' death, the house remained vacant, following which the Park Board was deeded the house, offering it to the Minneapolis Public Library. The library purchased it for $1,500, $500 of which was raised by neighbourhood residents. The Works Progress Administration converted the house into the Longfellow Community Library, which opened in 1937.