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Calvin A. Tuttle

Calvin A. Tuttle (b.1810 - d.1900) was a Minnesota pioneer, millwright, and a Territorial Treasurer. He owned land in the Como neighborhood. Calvin is the namesake for Tuttle's Brook, which originated in the Como neighborhood near 16th & Brook Aves SE and spilled out at the Mississippi River. Tuttle School is also named after him, originally located on 14th Ave SE and rebuilt on 18th Ave SE in 1910.


Calvin A. Tuttle was a Minnesota pioneer, a millwright hired by Franklin Steele to build a mill on the St. Croix
River. Tuttle arrived at the Dalles of the St. Croix (Wisconsin Territory then) in July 1838. In the 1840s he
laid claim to huge tracts of land east of St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi river, purchasing them as soon
as Minnesota became a Territory in 1848. He had a home on the river bank where Tuttle’s Brook entered
the river, but moved to the west side of the river in 1840 to restore the government’s old grist mill. There he
and his family were neighbors of John Stevens—the only non-military white people permitted to reside on
the west bank at the time.

Calvin Tuttle was a farmer, miller, bridge company
partner and land speculator. He sold to the University
of Minnesota its original tract of land on the east bank
of the Minneapolis campus: the Knoll, where Old Main
was constructed in the 1850s. Tuttle School (in all
three of its buildings since 1883) was named after
Calvin Tuttle, who had bought nearly all the land that is
today’s Como neighborhood by 1851. Brook Ave. SE
is named after the area where Tuttle’s Brook began its
formation, and today’s 16th Ave. SE north of Como Ave.
was originally named Tuttle St.



1858 C.A. Tuttle ran for St. Anthony 4th Ward Alderman and lost.

1860 C.A. Tuttle ran for St. Anthony School Director and lost.

1883 "The first Minneapolis pioneer was honored with a school name, Calvin A. Tuttle"




Additional sources of information:

An excerpt from Lois Skinner at Tuttle School (date unknown): "Mr. Calvin Tuttle was born in Tolland County, Connecticut on December 31st 1811*. He received his education at the academy of Tolland and also learned the trade of millwright. He lived for years at Alton, Illinois and in July 1838 he came to Minnesota. He was employed for a few years by the St. Louis Company at the Falls of St. Croix, then moved to Iowa, and to Illinois, and finally back to Minnesota, locating at St. Anthony. He arrived on the first steamboat to travel the waters above the St. Croix River. He settled on 200 acres of land of which now is Minneapolis. Part of the U of M was original land of Mr. Tuttle's. He was employed by Franklin Steel and Co, in the erection of the first mill built at the Falls. He also built for himself a second mill at Minnetonka. During Mr. Tuttle's residence in Minneapolis, he was Territorial Treasurer for 6 years by appointment from Governor Ramsey. Mr. Tuttle was married in December 1840. They had 7 children. In 1867 Mr. Tuttle settled on a farm at Two Rivers. Mr. Tuttle died in Los Angeles in 1900."


      • * There are sources like this one that list Calvin's birth year as 1811,
      • but our research has convinced us that he was born on New Year's Eve in 1810.
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