A local historian is hosting a brief ceremony Saturday to pay respects to the true, first and lost Queen of the Snows of the St. Paul Winter Carnival.
The 15-minute event will start at noon at Nathan Hale Park at Summit and Portland avenues in St. Paul. The ceremony is being timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first queen’s death on Nov. 12, 1916. Reigning Winter Carnival Queen of the Snows Alyssa Sigafus is expected to attend, along with King Boreas Rex XLLL Jim Flaherty and Prime Minister Amy Mauzy.
During the ceremony, St. Paul historian Patrick Hill will speak about what he has learned about the life and death of the first Winter Carnival queen. Afterward, the memorial will shift across the street, where Sigafus will place a rose at the home where the late queen’s memorial service was held (it was the home of the queen’s neighbor, a prominent local furrier).
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
It was a few winters ago that Hill discovered the identity of the lost queen while researching another topic related to the Winter Carnival.
Until recently, “Mrs. Albert Scheffer” was thought to be the first Queen of the Snows, crowned in 1886. However, Hill learned from searching through newspaper archives that Mary Harbaugh Brooks (known as “Mrs. L.L.C. Brooks”) was actually the first woman crowned Winter Carnival queen.
Hill explained the mistaken identity in a Pioneer Press guest editorial, published in 2014: “The official Winter Carnival history, as it has been told for at least the past 75 years, relates that the first Borealis was William Hamm Sr., founder of the Hamm’s Brewery, but this is mistaken.
“Rather, Hamm portrayed the Prince (King) of the German festival of Karneval (Mardi Gras in France) a traditional pre-Lent celebration dating back hundreds of years in Germany and continuing even today. The sizeable German population of St. Paul moved their normal Karneval celebration up a few weeks to be included as part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival celebrations.
“Karneval included foolish costumes, a parade and a masquerade ball held on Feb. 9. At some point over the years, Hamm’s role as King of Karneval was confused with King of the Winter Carnival, and the error has been repeated since. The first Queen of the Snows, Mrs. L.L.C. Brooks, has also been overlooked since Hamm’s Queen of Karneval, Mrs. Albert Scheffer, has been historically misrepresented as the first Queen of the Snows.”
Brooks and the true first king, Civil War hero Gen. Richard W. Johnson, also are credited as the first king and queen in “Fire & Ice: The History of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival” by Moira F. Harris.
In an interview with the Pioneer Press in 2014, Hill said he hadn’t figured out when the Karneval king and queen started to be mistakenly identified as the Carnival king and queen. But he said the error was repeated for at least 75 years: “I can’t explain it,” he said, “other than we’re all fallible.”
We’re capable of righting our wrongs, too. This is one reason for Hill’s ceremony.
“I want to help bring her back to her rightful place,” Hill says.
Copyright 2016 Pioneer Press.
