John and Mary Minea House

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There are two Brueggeman residences in Prospect Terrace within a block and a half from one another.

The first is located at 382 Winslow. Martin Brueggeman made a fortune in brewing and spent a lot of it on the bluff. He built this house, with its off-center front gable, for his daughter Mary after her marriage to grocer (and, later, Brueggeman employee) John Minea.

John Minea came to St. Paul as a boy of seven, from St. Joseph, Indiana, in 1856 (thus making him a very near contemporary of John Ireland’s, who was born in 1838 and came to St. Paul in 1852.) His grocery, Minea Brothers, was the second opened on the West Side, around 1875.

Like James Melady (see James Melady House) he made his money on the low ground, first on Isabel Street, later on Dakota (now South Wabasha.) He made business and social contact with another West Side pioneer, Martin Bruggeman, who had a grocery and brewing business on the flats. He was the second brewer on the West Side, after Anthony Yoerg, Sr. (see Yoerg's Heritage tour); he did well with the beer that bore his name, though Bruggeman’s was in time outpaced by both Yoerg and Schmidt.

John Minea married Bruggeman’s daughter Mary, and Martin built the house for the two of them. He also hired Minea as a brewery manager. The Mineas stayed only about ten years in the Winslow house.