Carnithan-Squires House

Tour Site #9

3390 St. Croix Trail South | Google Maps
City of Afton Designated Historic Site

Built in 1876 by carpenter Samuel Carnithan and Emily Haughton Cushing (niece of Charles Cushing, builder of the Cushing Hotel, now the Afton House Inn), this home was sold to businessman Benjamin Squires in 1880. Squires operated stores in Afton selling dry goods, shoes and boots, and groceries until his early death in 1883. His wife, Susan Elizabeth Allen Squires, lived in the house and used it to board St. Croix Academy students. Her children attended both the village brick schoolhouse and the Academy. She died in 1901, and her son Frank (see 1960s news clipping) was also a storekeeper and postal carrier (Thomas R. Zahn & Associates, LLC, “City of Afton, MN, HPC, Local Property Designation, Carnithan-Squires House”). The house has had additions and been remodeled over the years.

Squires House
Document location: file “Squires,” 1988.29.01, Afton Historical Museum.

Children’s activities

Their ancestors detail the children and their friends’ stories of bicycling, skating on the frozen waters of the St. Croix River, and dancing until they wore out the soles of their shoes (“Mort’s Relations,” Vol. 3, No. 3, July 1, 1967, pp. 17-18, “Squires” file, Afton Historical Museum.)

Benjamin Squires Tragic Death on Railroad, 1883

Squires death
Document location: “Mort’s Relations,” Vol. 3, No. 3, July 1, 1967, p. 14, “Squires” file, Afton Historical Museum.

The newsletter “Mort’s Relations,” on file at the Afton Historical Museum, details various family members living in and nearby the large house through the 1950s. From 1991 to 2021, it was the popular Squires House Gardens, a gift shop, plant nursery, and display garden. Today, it is still a garden and gift shop, now called Horta Culture.

See the hand-loomed cotton rug from the Squires House hanging on the wall in the museum.

Frank Squires, 88, Recalls the Past (strawberries grew everywhere instead of trees)

Squires 88
Document location: undated news clipping, ca 1960s, “Squires” file, Afton Historical Museum.