The meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. in the living room of Ricardo and Emma Lopez. President George Gunther[1] called the meeting to order and asked Father Michael Morrison[2] to give the invocation. The minutes of September 21 were approved as read, but George Gunther mentioned that he was embarrassed to see so many names used in the minutes, wondering if people would sometimes be reluctant to offer ideas if they were afraid that what they said might be spread about. Secretary Byron Heinemann[3] noted that the only person who sees the minutes are his secretary who types them up and the carbon copy is kept in his office, but added that he would try to be careful about overusing names. TREASURER'S REPORT. Treasurer Walter Wilson[4] reported that the no money had been received since the last meeting and that no money had been spent, so the balance was still $17.82, but he noted that the association owed Emma Lopez, thirty cents for stamps for the last mailing. OLD BUSINESS. Ricardo Lopez announced that he and Emma had gone downtown to talk to an aide to the Mayor about the two basement houses in the neighborhood who have many concerned. He said that the City is likely to give the owners another year or two to get houses erected on them, that people downtown don't seem to think that the matter is as important as the neighbors do. He said that Emma noted to the aide that the war was over eight years ago and the problems caused by the wartime housing shortage really should be over by now, but that the aide merely gave a patronizing answer. Gunther Hills noted that some of the emergency privileges given to landlords during the war really should not be allowed to continue and that landlords should have to make those two- and three-unit buildings back into single-family homes and sold back to owners. He also complained that some of the lawns at some of the rental properties went as long as two weeks between mowing this last summer and went on to note that the creepy old building on St. Christopher Street was looking awful and should be torn down since it was unlikely that anybody would wish to buy there place if they knew the history, adding that even the renters would not stay there.[5] Doug Winslow noted that we had decided last month to put off specific improvement projects until after we have adopted bylaws, but that he thought that getting rid of the monstrosity on St. Christopher and getting the basement houses finished or removed were very important things to do right afterward. Emma Lopez noted that if the organization did a few things or at least had a more realistic idea of what it would be doing, that the bylaws might be drawn more relevantly. Walter Wilson stated that it would be a more businesslike and orderly sequence to finish the bylaws before getting into a lot of specific projects. He expressed a fear that if the bylaws were not done first, that we might get too busy and would not get around to finishing them. After some discussion, the group agreed to move on to the By-laws committee report. BY-LAWS COMMITTEE REPORT. Doug Winslow reported on the latest draft the committee discussed. He noted that they had reached agreement on the titles, duties, and term lengths for officers. The committee is proposing that the president serve one year and be replaced by a President-elect chosen the previous year. This brought up quite a bit of controversy. Ricardo Lopez, Dave Dalecky, Gunther Hills, and several others thought that choosing a president a year in advance was not a good idea since that meant that the association might find itself getting a president they have since learned was not the best choice. Father Morrison wondered whether the organization would be well enough established that it could take time each year to break in a new leader who had not been preparing for the position. Walt Wilson, Don Johnson, Todd Miller, and a couple of others said they felt that it was just good business to prepare ahead of time. Before a vote could be taken, Emma Lopez challenged the proposed bylaw which limited membership to men. Don Johnson and Doug Winslow both commented that women are generally not members of this type of organization, that it is usually heads of household who participate, with women helping out as their husbands could convince them to do so. Dave Dalecky noted that his cousin was active in a similar organization in St. Anthony Park and that their organization had no female members and did not even allow them to attend meetings, which it is being proposed that JHIA do. Emma countered that this was ridiculous, that women were considered citizens and had all of the responsibilities of citizenship and had been given the vote in civic matters over thirty years ago. Ricardo Lopez said in the area of civic responsibility he would put many of the neighborhood's women such as Emma up against most of the men in the area and added that Emma has done most of the correspondence for the association. Tom Thorn added that the organization would be needing all the help and talent it can get and keeping membership away from somebody just because of their sex did not seem an efficient use of personnel. Todd Miller mentioned that typing and clerical work is work that women usually do. Dave Dalecky challenged the statement that women have full responsibilities of citizenship, noting that when he took his draft physical during the war and saw all of the draftees standing around in their underwear, that they seemed to be all male. There was more heated discussion and Don Johnson noted that out of courtesy to the hostess that maybe everybody should go home and think it over and the matter could be discussed next month. Next month's meeting will be at Dave Dalecky's house. The meeting will be at 7:00 instead of 6:30 because Mrs. Dalecky works and will need the extra time to prepare the premises. Father Morrison gave a benediction and the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted Byron Heinemann Secretary BH:dec 1. George Gunther [1907-1956] was a lifelong resident of the Hill and a leader in the pipe fitters' union who was active in many things. As a young man he had held minor positions in the administration of Floyd B. Olson. Like Olson, he died an early death of cancer, passing swiftly shortly before he was to go to Chicago as a Stevenson delegate to the Democratic National Convention. 2. Father Morrison [1929?-1977] was on the staff of St. Gertrude's church. He served there briefly in 1953 and 1954 and was reassigned. Although the reason for the transfer has never been made public, at the time it was generally thought that the reassignment was brought about because Father Karl Schultz, the long-time and legendary pastor of St.Gertrude's, thought that the younger Morrison was too involved in community matters and was too friendly with the Protestants in the neighborhood, specifically Pastor Newman at Trinity Lutheran. Father Morrison was known for his social activism and ended his career as a foreign missionary, killed in civil unrest in Nicaragua in 1977. 3. Byron Heinemann [1910-1997] was an insurance agent who had his office on the Hill from sometime in the 1940's until the mid-1960's when he moved it to the Hayden Heights area. During the 1950's and 1960's he was active in anything where it seemed he might find new contacts. He was known as being very thorough in everything; it is likely that the incompleteness of the JHIA archives was the fault of a later custodian. 4. Walter Wilson was an accountant for a downtown law firm. He was known for his precision in everything. He moved to the Hill shortly after the war and moved to Roseville in 1957. 5. Although the minutes do not show the specific building on St. Christopher Street being mentioned, it might be reasonable to assume that they were discussing the former Bohmeister house. Some of the tenants of the house, which was being used as a several-unit building in those days had, when they learned of the building's history, left the building during and after World WarII, despite the housing shortage affecting the city and the nation. |
| Editor's note: The original of these minutes is with the Jefferson Hill Improvement Association archives at the Minnesota History Center. This reproduction is a verbatim retyping. The editor has added footnotes to help establish some of the context for the reader. Some other people mentioned here are described at some length elsewhere. The Minnesota History Center has only limited material in its JHIA archives; for example, the minutes of the meetings before and after this one are missing, likely the result of sloppy maintenance by JHIA volunteers. Minutes of the Jefferson Hill Improvement Association Monday, October 19, 1953 |