# Warden's House *A territorial-era building in Minnesota and a county museum since 1941.* The **Warden's House** is a building in [[Minnesota]] that housed the wardens of a state prison. The project's at-issue item AI-Washington-095 records that it was built in 1853 and that it is the only building left from the state's territorial government period.[^1] According to the same item, thirteen wardens lived in it over sixty-one years, and it has operated as a county museum since 1941.[^1] The item sets the house beside the institution it served. It states that the prison will be gone in 2029, while the warden's front door will remain open to visitors.[^1] The item's primary anchor is the Minnesota Historical Society's research guide to the Stillwater prison.[^1] ## What The at-issue item describes the house as "the sole surviving building from Minnesota's territorial government era."[^1] It served as the wardens' residence for the prison it belonged to, and a county museum now operates in it.[^1] ## Where The item anchors the house to the Minnesota Historical Society research guide for the prison at Stillwater. The item gives no street address.[^1] ## When - 1853: the house is built, according to the at-issue item.[^1] - 1941: the house becomes a county museum.[^1] - 2029: the item states that the prison the house belonged to will be gone.[^1] ## How many According to the at-issue item, the house was home to thirteen wardens across a span of sixty-one years.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The item appears in the project block *The Referral Architecture & the County That Got the Prison Edition*. It pairs two facts: the house survives as a museum, and the prison it served is due to close.[^1] The item gives its reason for the pairing as "the archival record outlasts the institution." It lists two supporting source kinds, news and record, drawn from en.wikipedia.org and mprnews.org.[^1] The record does not establish on what terms the county took the house in 1941.[^1] The block sits in the same project record as the federal actions against the State. On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] announced its suit against Minnesota in release No. 26-21, titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*. In that release, Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Stillwater prison research guide* (undated) — primary anchor of at-issue item AI-Washington-095. The item cites it for the house's 1853 construction, its status as the sole surviving territorial-era building, thirteen wardens across sixty-one years, county-museum use since 1941, and the prison's end in 2029. https://libguides.mnhs.org/prison/stillwater [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — release title and the Attorney General's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime