Property Record
237 RIVER HEIGHTS TR
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Eckert Cabin |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 239266 |
| Location (Address): | 237 RIVER HEIGHTS TR |
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| County: | St. Croix |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | St. Joseph |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1970 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2019 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Contemporary |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Wood |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | The c.1970 Eckert Cabin is located at 237 River Heights Trail on Parcel 6. The one-story, hexagon-shaped cabin rests on raised, wood beams set on concrete footings. It is clad in wood clapboard siding. The hip roof is covered in asphalt shingles and has a central brick chimney. A wood deck with a metal railing is located on the southwest corner and a three-season porch with a side entrance is on the northwest corner. Windows are wood casement, fixed, and sliding sash. The cabin was constructed by owners Ernst and Josefine (Josa) Eckert. Ernst was a prominent University of Minnesota Professor. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Eckert studied engineering at the German Institute of Technology and after graduating worked in Germany and Czechoslovakia. In 1945 Ernst and his family emigrated to the U.S. as part of Action Paperclip, a program that invited leading German scientists and engineers in aeronautics and related fields to work in the U.S. Upon coming to the U.S. Ernst first worked at the Power Plant Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He then served as a consultant at the Compressor and Turbine Division, Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (now the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field), and National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Cleveland in 1949. In 1951 he returned to academia as a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he founded the Heat Transfer Laboratory. He also served as director of the laboratory and Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Division from 1955 until his retirement in 1973. Ernst Eckert made significant contributions to the science of heat transfer and his research had several applications to the design of many mechanical products or systems, such as steam generators and turbines, amongst others. He received numerous awards and accolades for his work including the National Academy of Engineering Founders Award and University of Minnesota Institute of Technology Distinguished Teaching Award. In 1966 the University of Minnesota appointed him Regents Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He also published more than 500 scientific papers and two textbooks and served on several advisory boards. When the Eckert family moved to Minnesota in the early in 1950s they enjoyed spending weekends on the St. Croix River. As private land ownership along the river increased in the following years, Josa Eckert explored buying a property on the river. In 1957 she purchased a 140-acre farm along with the Harmann family, longtime friends who also emigrated as part of Action Paperclip. The land was subsequently divided into four parcels and shared between the two families. The Eckerts retained the existing house, barn, and silo on the property. The barn soon after burned down but the farmhouse was rented out. The farmhouse and silo are now nonextant. The Eckerts built the subject cabin on their property c.1970. The cabin’s design was based on a house located in Stanford, California, that was featured in House Beautiful magazine in 1970. While visiting one of his children, who was studying at Stanford at that time, he visited the house and acquired the plans for $75. The Eckerts used these plans to have a hexagonal-shaped cabin built on their St. Croix property. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Jim Draeger, Rustic Architecture: the Rustic Style, November, 1998, available at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wis. National Academy of Sciences. Memorial Tributes. Vol. 11. Washington D.C.: National Academies Press, 2007. https://www.nap.edu/read/11912/chapter/1#ii. “The Story of Ernst and Josefine Eckert and the St. Croix,” n.d. St. Croix County, WI. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |