DETWEILER, Menno Schlicter (1868-1907), a prominent architect in Minneapolis, Minn. who began his career in Kitchener, Ontario. Born in Blair, Ont., just south of Berlin (now called Kitchener), he may have trained with the local architects from the area such as Jonas Knechtel (1842-1894), or his son Charles Knechtel (1869-1951). He moved to Chicago to study architecture at the Chicago Art Institute and later opened an office in Columbus, Ohio, then moved to Minneapolis before 1900. He then relocated to Austin, Minn. and formed a partnership with Frank Kinney (as Kinney & Detwiler, Architects 1901-04), and with Charles E. Bell (as Bell & Detwiler, Architects, 1904-07). His original name was Menno Detweiler, but he appears to have changed the spelling of his last name to Detwiler at some point after 1900. The most significant commission by Bell & Detwiler was the refined Beaux-Arts design for the monumental State Capitol Building in Pierre, South Dakota, built 1907, and still standing in 2023. Detwiler died at age 39 in Austin, Minnesota on 19 December 1907 (obituary Mower County Transcript, 25 Dec. 1907, 2; biog. Alan Lathrop, Minnesota Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 2010, 57).
M.S. DETWEILER (works in Canada)
KITCHENER, ONT., a mansion for Jacob Kaufman, 621 King Street West, near Wellington Street South, 1897; restored 2018; still standing in 2023 (News-Record (Berlin), 3 Feb. 1897, 1, descript.)
KINNEY & DETWEILER (works in the United States)
BROOKINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA, the South Dakota State School, 1901 (Minneapolis Journal, 6 July 1901, 11)
TWO HARBOURS, MINN. (near Duluth), a large public school building, 1901 (Minneapolis Times, 1 Aug. 1901, 8)
LE MARS, INDIANA, Plymouth County Court House, 1902; still standing in 2023 (list of works in Berlin News Record (Kitchener), 21 Aug. 1901, 1)
SPENCER, IOWA, Clay County Court House, 1901; still standing in 2023 (list of works in Berlin News Record (Kitchener), 21 Aug. 1901, 1)
CROOKSTON, MINN., Polk County Court House, 1901-02; demol. (list of works in Berlin News Record (Kitchener), 21 Aug. 1901, 1)
ESTELLINE, SOUTH DAKOTA, a large bank building, likely The Farmers State Bank, 1901 ((list of works in Berlin News Record (Kitchener), 21 Aug. 1901, 1)
BEMIDJI, MINN., Beltrami County Court House, Beltrami Avenue N.W. at 6th Street N.W., 1902; still standing in 2023
AUSTIN, MINN., Carnegie Library, 1903-04; demol. 1996 (Mower County Transcript (Austin), 13 April 1904, 1, illus. & descrip.)
BELL & DETWEILER (works in Minnesota & South Dakota)
FAIRMONT, MINN., Martin County Court House, Lake Avenue at West 2nd Street, 1906; still standing in 2023
PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA, The State Capitol Building, 1907, still standing in 2023 (Henry Russell-Hitchcock & William Seale, The State Capitols of the USA: Temples of Democracy, 1976, 230-32, illus. & descript.)