Historic house sparks a passion for the city’s past

Seated at the dining room table of the historic Cummins-Phipps-Grill House, Katie Qualey reflects on when her love for Eden Prairie’s history first took root.

“I have loved history, and I didn’t know about all our local history,” said Qualey, a freelance graphic artist who has lived in Eden Prairie for 35 years. “Once you’ve kind of learn about it all and share it with others, boy, it really just grows from there.”

The house, located across Pioneer Trail from Flying Cloud Airport, ignited Qualey’s interest in the history of Eden Prairie.

Constructed between 1879 and 1880, this brick farmhouse was originally built for John R. and Mattie Cummins. Named after the three families who resided there, the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is owned by the city and leased by the Eden Prairie Historical Society for meetings and other events.

“I always drove by it and thought, ‘Oh, I really want to go in there. I really want to see what it looks like,'” said Qualey, who grew up in Burnsville.

Into the house and beyond

Qualey not only journeyed the house but has spent the last decade immersing herself in the city’s history as a versatile volunteer with the non-profit Eden Prairie Historical Society. According to the society’s website, their goal is ‘to gather, preserve, and protect the history of Eden Prairie for future generations.”

In recognition of her contributions, Qualey was honored with the 2023 Heritage Preservation Award during the May 16 Eden Prairie City Council meeting.

Each year, the Heritage Preservation Award honors an individual, family or business who has made an impact on the preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and use of Eden Prairie’s heritage resources. It’s presented by the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission.

“I can’t speak highly enough about Katie,” said Kathie Case, the historical society’s president. “We’re so honored that she won the Heritage Preservation Award. We’re so honored by all of her work for all of these years. Katie will literally go down in history because of her work will. It will always be there.”

Qualey, who served on the historical society board for over 10 years as a member and later as the vice president until April, said the award came as a “total surprise.”

During her tenure, the city and Case said Qualey made significant contributions to the society’s photo collection and took charge of various tasks, such as preparing newsletters, assembling materials for annual meetings, and conducting guided tours of the Cummins-Phipps-Grill House.

Using her graphic artist skills, Qualey designed interpretive panels for various historic properties in the city, such as the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area and Staring Lake Park.

She also created visually compelling timelines that showcase the captivating narratives of locations like the Cummins-Phipps-Grill Homestead and Smith-Douglas-More House, as described by Case.

“Giving tours of this house is still my favorite thing to do,” Qualey said. “Then, after knowing all of that information in the history of this house, I developed this timeline (of the families who lived there).”

While many members of the historical society possess knowledge about the city’s history, Case emphasized that Qualey has a talent for organizing it in a way that captures a vivid snapshot of the past for that particular location.

“To be able to create that and make it visibly beautiful and for everyone to enjoy and learn and it’s perfect for what we do at the historical society,” Case said. “We’re trying to educate the community on our history. And the timelines and our kiosks are spot on because everyone loves to read them and look at the pictures and they learn.”

New beginnings

In April, Qualey stepped down from her position as the society’s vice president due to personal commitments. These commitments include helping to care for her elderly mother. Additionally, her daughters, Marina and Belle, are both getting married this year.

After Belle’s wedding this summer in Paris, Qualey and her husband Mark, a retired air traffic controller, have made plans to travel and explore several other countries.

“It just got to be a lot on my plate,” she said. “I just said, ‘I need to take a break for a while.’ So, I still love this group and Kathie is such a good friend, and I still want to stay involved. And I have more signs that I want to do for this house. I have a half a dozen of them mocked up on my computer.”

Qualey’s involvement with the historical society originally began when she volunteered her graphic design skills for a historical society tea party event at Bearpath. She deepened her commitment to the society by joining a committee focused on the care and promotion of the Cummins-Phipps-Grill house.

“She just loves the Cummins house,” Case said. “She walks in the room and she’s just a ray of sunshine. And she’s a hard worker and she’s always willing to help with whatever we’re wiling to help with. She will be sorely missed, and we will happily take her back whenever she wants to come back.”

When asked about her favorite aspects of the Cummins-Phipps-Grill house, Qualey found it challenging to single out just one.

“I love that the stenciling on the top up here (near the dining room table) is actually Mattie Cummins’ original design,” she said. “Upstairs, if you’ve been there, you can still see the pink and green stenciling. The peony garden out back (is also a favorite of hers) with the 500 plants. I’m a big gardener, so I absolutely love the fact that they are 150 years old and keep coming back.”

The peonies will be blooming there in June, she added.

In a suburb that has seen so much growth over the years, it is often difficult for many to see the deep historical roots of Eden Prairie.

“It goes back a long time,” she said of the city. “I don’t think people realize how old Eden Prairie really is.”

The presence of history is still evident, both within the Cummins-Phipps-Grill House and beyond, as Qualey discovered.

Qualey shared an anecdote about a conversation with a nurse who was caring for her mother. The nurse expressed curiosity about the history of Eden Prairie and asked what kind of history the city had.

She responded with a simple yet significant statement: “A lot.”

“I just told her, ‘Have you ever been to any of those historic houses? They’re really cool. You would really like them. They tell a lot of history right there,'” she recalled.