Fitz, Rudolph H., ca. 1828-1868

Rudolph H. Fitz was born in Pennsylvania, but came to Minnesota from Washington, D.C., where he had been working for some years as a carpenter and shipbuilder. Fitz came to St. Paul in 1854 and started a construction business. He built the first bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Paul, the Wabasha Street Bridge. Fitz also served one term as a member of the Minnesota state legislature (1864), and served on the St. Paul City Council.

Fitz's wife, Elmina F. (Howard) Fitz (ca.1834-1877), was born in Indiana. Prior to marrying, she had taught at a girls' seminary in Kentucky. She was an active member of both the Jackson Street Methodist Church and the temperance movement.

Edgar Howard Fitz, the oldest of Rudolph and Elmina Fitz's three children, was born in St. Paul in 1858. He became a construction engineer and architect, and was also active in church and temperance work. Edgar Fitz lived in Fairmont, Minnesota for sixty years until his death in 1939.

The above information was taken from an obituary of E. H. Fitz in the Fairmont Daily Sentinel (Jan. 17, 1939), p. 1; and from the Minnesota Historical Society Scrapbooks, vol. 1, p. 52.

From the guide to the Rudolph H. Fitz and family papers., 1853-1881., (Minnesota Historical Society)