The Cox House was built in 1871 by Eugene St. Julien Cox and his wife Mariah (Mayhew) Cox. The couple and their six children were the first occupants of the house and it remained in the family for three generations. In 1968 the house was donated to Nicollet County Historical Society, restored, and re-opened to the public in 1971 as a historic house museum. 

What makes the house unique is its architectural style. The house is a prime example of a Carpenter Gothic-Italianate Cottage, a combination of styles that were all the rage in the latter half of the nineteenth century in the cities of the American East but would have stood out for its exuberance and style in 1870s pioneer Minnesota. The architecture shows vertical board & batten siding, pillars, long windows, and cathedral cupolas that lend an imposing look to the structure. 

• Eugene St. Julien Cox was the first mayor of St. Peter
• Lillien Cox Gault was Minnesota’s first female mayor
• Irene Cox Buell was one of the first women to argue a case before the Supreme Court in Minnesota
• Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
• One of the few fully restored Carpenter Gothic cottages in Minnesota.

The Sundial in the garden was given by Helen Churchill and the Minnehaha the Chapter 111 Questers in loving memory of departed members.

• Pauline (Polly) Meredith
• Doris Wetherill
• Ramona Kruse
• Natalie Nelson
• Dorothy Siebert
• Olive Strathern
• Patricia Poncin
• Lucille Engstrom
• Dr. Melva Lind
• Marjorie Halvorson
• Nina Miller Burgess
• Agnes Halvorson
• Aileen Peterson
• Helen Churchill
• Marion Lampert
• Carol Langsjoen
• Margaret Keller
• Nadine Stewart
• Theresa “T” Mollert
• Lois Pettis
• ReVae Nygard
• Beverly (Bev) Wetherill