With all of the attention that Minnesota is getting, it’s a pity that Gov. Tim Walz and his family are currently living in Eastcliff, the University of Minnesota’s presidential house, not the official governor’s mansion.
You can’t blame them. The governor’s mansion is under repair.
But now that the national spotlight is on our state, it might be time to brush up on what we know about 1006 Summit Av. in St. Paul. Here are some things you should know:
1. It’s not, in fact, called a mansion.
That term gets tossed around whenever a governor lives in a slightly large or lavish house. In fact, 35 states call their gubernatorial digs a “mansion.” We call ours a “residence,” which sounds so much humbler. Our neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, uses the term mansion, even though theirs is roughly the same size (16,000 square feet) as ours. Just saying.
2. It has a secret tunnel.
Well, OK, it’s not that secret, because we all know about it now. But there is a passageway that connects the main building to the carriage house. Bonus fact: The carriage house had a large turntable on the floor, so residence residents could drive a car in, turn it around, and drive it out without backing up.
3. One Minnesota governor refused to live there.
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