Throughout the nineteenth century, custom dressmaking was one of the

few socially acceptable professions for women of multiple ages and

classes, including immigrants, young farm girls, wives, and widows.
Dressmaking establishments—run and staffed primarily by women—
provided creative labor, living wages, and career advancement
opportunities for businesswomen and skilled workers alike.
In Minnesota, as in other states, the dressmaking industry grew in proportion to the local population
and economy. Minnesota Territory experienced rapid growth after it offered land to settler-colonists
in 1849, and many newcomers strove to create an urban environment that equaled the Eastern cities
they had left behind. Their wealth, leisure, and desire for culture eventually created the museums,
parkways, orchestras, and clothes that fashion demanded.

Of the 77,000 white women counted by the 1860 Minnesota census, 124 were employed as
seamstresses. By 1890, when the total population of Minnesota had reached 1,300,000, over 5,000
women in the Twin Cities alone identified themselves as seamstresses, dressmakers, or milliners.
Also by 1890, Minnesota led the nation in women working away from home; by 1895, the numbers of
dressmakers in the Twin Cities had reached an all-time high.