“One of my favorite places on the tour was the Hubbard house.  I think it’s great that they have restored this beautiful house and are now using it for tours.  After seeing the Hubbard house, I decided that I wanted to do some research on it to find out why they restored it.  After some research I learned all about the family and all of the rooms in the house.

            The Hubbard house was built in 1871 for Rensselaer D. Hubbard.  Hubbard was the founder of the Hubbard Milling Company.  The style of the house is a French Empire; it is made out of brick and wood, with a basement of cut stone.  The base of the house is two stories.  The roof of the house is Mansard of colored slate; this makes up the third story.

   In 1888, the Hubbard House was remodeled.  They replaced all of the woodwork.  They also added servant’s quarters, fireplaces, a large bay window, and an office was also added.  These used a wide variety of wood when the put in the addition, such as oak, cherry, maple, and pine.  In 1894 electrified, and in 1905 Bradstreet located in Minneapolis redecorated the house.  They fixed the ceilings and light fixtures in many of the rooms.  They also added a lot of new art at this time.

            There are a lot of rooms in the house that you could talk about but I’m only going to mention a few of them that sounded interesting to me.  The parlor has a mirrored Italian black marble fireplace with white Brazilian onyx.  It also has a bay window that is worth noting.  It also has upholstered wall coverings that were restored in 1994-5, which hadn’t been changed since 1905.

            There is also a library in the Hubbard house that has cotton damask wall coverings from 1905, which have been well maintained well over the years.  The table in the library is an original Hubbard piece.  The library is connected to the dining room by pocket doors.

            The ceiling in the dining room has wainscot beams, there is also stained glass, and Tiffany light fixtures, which were all added in 1905.  Although the wood on the floor may look like cherry, it was simply stained to look like cherry wood, it’s actually birch.  The chairs and tables in the dining room are all Hubbard home originals.  These are just a few of the rooms on the first floor, not to mention the butler’s pantry, the kitchen, Mr. Hubbard’s office, the master chamber, and the master bedroom.

            When R.D. Hubbard died in 1905 his room turned into Mrs. Hubbard’s bedroom. Her room has its own dressing room and has Renaissance Revival furniture.  This is the first room on the second floor.

            The second floor has Jay Hubbard’s chamber.  Outside of his chamber is a staircase that leads to the third floor of the house, underneath the Mansard roof.  The second floor also has a bathroom. In 1924 the family restored the bathroom.

            The last room on the second floor was the servant’s quarters.  If you go into this room, you would be able to notice some differences.  Unlike the rest of the Hubbard house, the floors in the servant’s quarters are pine and they are painted, not stained.  This room was constructed out of all of the leftovers, mainly from furniture.  There is another small room within the servant’s quarters, it is the maid’s toilet room.  The staircase in the room leads to the kitchen, how convenient!

Outside of the house is a carriage house.  This shows you how much the city of Mankato has changed; I don’t see too many horses around the town.  The house is made of brick; it was made to hold seven horses, and carriages.  The house now features a collection of vehicles on the ground floor.  Across the street, now Warren, there was a coachman’s quarter.

            Currently the Hubbard house is owned by the city of Mankato.  It is being operated by the Blue Earth County Historical society, and has been since 1938.  They’re working on projects still, to restore the house.  It is listed in the National Register of Historic places.

            After my research on the Hubbard house, and the actual walking tour itself, I have decided that Mankato should be considered a Funky Place.  It has a lot of the characteristics that Marc Cramer uses, and would rack up quite a few points on his scale.  The Hubbard house is an excellent example of why Mankato should be a Funky Place.”

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