James Mulvey Inn Bed and Breakfast

The James Mulvey Inn was established in 1991, and expertly run by Jill and Truett Lawson for 15 years. As innkeeper, I am committed to carrying on many of the traditions that are trademarks of this fine inn--including lovingly caring for my guests, the home and grounds, providing noteworthy culinary experiences, and creating a relaxing and elegant environment for the comfort and enjoyment of all who stay here.

I am a former art teacher, as well as an avid reader. So the inn is scattered with art I have collected, as well as my personal books that I love to share with guests. As a long-time Stillwater resident, I can help you plan an adventure on a nearby bicycling trail or state park, recommend one of the superior restaurants downtown, or give you information on any number of art, music or other activities our community has to offer. My family and I look forward to providing the environment that will help you to create lifelong memories with our beautiful inn serving as backdrop. Below is an excerpt from the history compiled by Truett Lawson of the origins of our inn. The home that now hosts so many exceptional people from around the world had its auspicious beginnings in the 1870's, and James Mulvey's story is an exceptional one as well!

The James Mulvey Inn was named after the builder of our home, James Mulvey. Mulvey was an English immigrant of Irish descent who came to this country in the decade of the 1850’s when the population of the state of Minnesota would go from 7,000 non-native people to 150,000 in population. Transportation in middle America in those days would have been mostly by riverway. Overland traffic would have been extremely difficult, so Mulvey joined a host of other immigrants in establishing a new life in Minnesota. Stillwater was strategically placed at the end of several riverways and became the capital of the Minnesota territory, and the Ellis Island of the Upper Midwest.

Mulvey got caught up in the Civil War mania that would grip the country. He joined the Minnesota infantry on the side of the Union forces and was first sent off to a Dakota/Sioux uprising in South Dakota, and later on to the Civil War fronts in Georgia. He was later decorated and recognized as a military hero, and his name is inscribed on the Civil War Infantryman Bronze, which is on the courthouse lawn just off of Third Street on your way downtown. Legends say that Mulvey brought black walnuts back with him from the war and planted them on his newly-acquired property in the Holcomb's Addition of Stillwater. Though we cannot verify the historicity of this story, there are still several black walnut trees on the property and perhaps the oldest of the trees expired and came to earth with a crash in 1999. The wedding conservatory in the center of the lawn is built on the pad where the old tree fell.

You might want to stroll around the property and look at some of the interesting trees that were planted on this property - a gingko tree that loses all of its leaves on the same night in the Fall - and a huge, massive oak tree on the east border of the property which has the original iron fence of Mr. Mulvey's property growing right through the center of it.

Mulvey would soon pursue the second great industry in Stillwater history (after immigration), the lumber industry. With all the expansion of immigration in Minnesota and the upper Midwest and the building of farms and farmsteads and homesteads and towns, lumber was a premium product and there was a tremendous amount of money to be made in this business. Stillwater was ideally located at the base of the largest white pine stand the world has ever seen, which extended on both sides of the St. Croix River north of Stillwater on up into upper Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Mulvey's business would become one of the seven most successful lumber brokering businesses in the Stillwater area. His crews would move out into the forests, cutting lumber in the winter and then hauling out logs in the spring, floating them down the St. Croix River as rafts, and cutting them in one of the many mills on the shores of the town. In an antique shop, we found an invoice signed by Mr. Mulvey for the 1883 purchase of a small lumber company from a Swede, listing the picks and rafts and other equipment of logging that were included in the sale for a total price of $550 - a fairly handsome sum in that day.

Mulvey began building his house in the 1870s, completing it in 1878. It was on a property of something over an acre and a quarter - five city lots - in the Holcomb's Addition. Holcomb was a landowner and the Holcomb's Addition was a new family-oriented community on the extremities of the city of Stillwater. You must remember that at this time, lumber brought in hundreds of single men who worked in the woods and came to town to patronize the boarding houses or the brothels or saloons, of which there were legion in Stillwater. So any conservative Presbyterian family man, like Mr. Mulvey was, would look for some area outside the busy central city, and Holcomb was one of those areas. You can actually drive down Churchill Street and see that every three or four houses is a large Victorian. Later landowners would sell off their large lots and in the '20s, '30s, and '40s small homes continued to be built along Churchill Street. The road was covered with ground limestone surface with wooden boardwalks on both sides. The picture above shows the Mulveys’ horse and buggy parked in front of the house, highlighting the vintage beauty of these housing sites in early Stillwater. It is also clear from the picture that the spectacular white pines that adorn our property are virgin pines, some of the oldest in Stillwater. They watched the Mulveys’ activities even as they watch ours.