Andrews, Frances (1884–1961)

Frances Andrews worked as an advocate for social justice, education, and conservation in the early twentieth century. She called for preservation of the forests and lakes that became the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and experimented with land restoration in northwestern Wisconsin. Her legacy includes an endowment that continues to support social and environmental causes in the 2010s.

The daughter of a wealthy grain merchant, Frances Elizabeth Andrews was raised in an expansive house in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. Hired staff cooked, cleaned, gardened, and provided chauffeur service for the household. Her parents, Arthur C. and Mary Hunt Andrews, gave generously of their time and fortune to improve the growing Twin Cities.

The Andrews family lived an upper-class lifestyle in one of the better parts of town. Each summer, however, they retreated to a rustic cottage on Isle Royale. There, Frances and her brother, William Hunt Andrews, hiked, fished, and gathered wild foods. By the time Frances was seventeen and William was fourteen, the two were spending time on their own at the island, and William was working as a hunting guide.

Following her mother’s death, when Frances was twenty-seven, she took over responsibility for the Andrews' household and social obligations. In that role, she developed her own portfolio of causes, mirroring her parents’ interests in the arts, social issues, and conservation.

Just a few years after Mary’s death, William died following a long illness. To honor both Mary’s and William’s love of the outdoors, Arthur purchased a large tract of farm and forest land near Sarona, Wisconsin, and named the property Hunt Hill in their memory. Frances assumed oversight of the property with a goal of restoring the farmland and returning the majority of the site to a natural state. For the next thirty-five years, she put her vision of conservation into practice, planting nut trees, establishing wildlife habitat, and managing the farm sustainably.

Starting in the 1920s, Andrews joined with other conservationists seeking to set aside Midwestern wilderness areas as sources of peace and tranquility for the common good. She was a contemporary and friend of the major players of the preservation project that eventually resulted in the designation of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, most notably Ernest Oberholtzer, Sewell Tyng, and Sigurd Olson.

While the public face of the movement was overwhelmingly male, Andrews and several other women—including Minnesota progressives Frances Densmore and Gratia Countryman—played a vital but uncelebrated role. They wrote letters, developed strategies, and connected wealthy donors to the cause. Andrews also worked to protect the way of life of American Indians, fishing families, and backwoods dwellers in northern Minnesota, in Wisconsin, and on Michigan’s Isle Royale.

In 1951, Arthur died, leaving his daughter as the last surviving member of the family. She took seriously her responsibility for determining the fate of the Andrews legacy with her inheritance of well over $1 million. To preserve her dreams for Hunt Hill, she deeded the property to the National Audubon Society. Her gift stipulated that it should be run as a nature camp for Minnesota and Wisconsin residents; that all flora and fauna should be left to live out their natural lives; and that year-round conservation research should be conducted in partnership with local organizations.

Andrews died in 1961. Her will gave generous gifts to her closest friends and the employees who had worked for the family. She donated a large sum to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in memory of her mother, and she gave to the Nature Conservancy in William’s name. She established the Minneapolis Foundation’s Andrews-Hunt Fund to support the Hunt Hill nature center. The fund also underwrites the Minnesota Orchestral Association, Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, Quetico Superior Foundation, and international exchange programs at Oberlin College and the University of Minnesota.

The National Audubon Society received $125,000 to be used for Hunt Hill. That endowment still supports the nature center in 2016, while the board of directors continues to guide its work by Andrews’ stipulations.