Lewis Family
Claude B. Lewis
Interior of Lewis House, with Claude and family on the left, ca. 1930s
Architect's rendering of the Lewis House, 1925-1929
Lewis House, 1977
The Atwoods, the Halenbecks, and Grace Whittier at a party at the Lewis House, 1940-1949
Biography
Claude Bernard Lewis was born September 17, 1878 in Wisconsin. At a young age, he moved to Sauk Centre, MN, where he grew up and attended school and his father worked as a medical doctor. After high school, he taught school in Little Sauk Township, MN for one year. He then attended the University of Minnesota, where he graduated in 1900. In 1903, he graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago. In 1905, Lewis moved to St. Cloud, where he partnered with Dr. J.B. Dunn and also Dr. M.J. Kern. Lewis would eventually become the first chief of medicine at the St. Cloud Hospital.
In St. Cloud, Lewis married Mary (Whilmelmenia) Freeman in 1907 and had four children. These children were: Freeman (1908-1976), Phillip (1910-1911), Virginia (1912-1986), and Isabel (1916-2000). Claude's brother Sinclair Lewis was a prolific author and winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first American to be awarded that prestigious honor. Claude Lewis died on April 20, 1957, in St. Cloud and buried in the city's North Star Cemetery.
Lewis House (1973)
This Tudor home located at 724 4th Avenue South was completed in 1926.
Designed by local architect Louis C. Pinault (who also designed Kiehle Library and Stewart Hall), it was home to Claude Lewis and his family until 1964. Lewis' second wife, Helen, sold the home to L. Ferne Atwood, Allen Atwood's widow, in 1964. In 1972, the home was sold to the state of Minnesota to become part of the growing St. Cloud State campus.
Known first as the Alumni House since 1973, the home housed the St. Cloud State University Foundation and Alumni Affairs. In September 2011, the home was renamed Lewis House to honor the Claude Lewis family.
For more information, see the individual profiles for Lewis House on the University Archives’ website.