USA > Minnesota > Cottonwood County > History of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 9
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Originally the county offices were kept at Great Bend, but in 1872, by vote, it was decided to remove them to Windom.
Cottonwood county was attached to Watonwan county for judicial pur- poses. June 15, 1871, but, by an act of the Legislature in 1873 it was de- tached from Watonwan county and Murray and Pipestone counties were attached for judicial purposes.
The first term of court was held in Windom, commencing November II. 1873, with Hon. Franklin H. White, judge; J. G. Redding. clerk ; Charles White, sheriff. Three criminal cases were docketed and there were twenty-four civil cases on the docket. The first legal clerk of the courts was H. M. McGaughey, though early in the organization of the county one was appointed, but without authority. Judge White appointed Mr. McGaughey in July, 1873, and he held the position until the fall election, that year, when he was succeeded by J. G. Redding.
The first representative from the county was Hon. Nelson II. Manning. who was seated in January, 1874.
The first Fourth of July celebration in Cottonwood county was held in 1869, in J. W. Benjamin's grove in Lakeside township. The orator on that occasion was George Gray.
The first birth in the county was probably a child born to E. B. Sheldon
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and wife, in an immigrant wagon, on the banks of Cottonwood lake, in either 1868 or 1869.
School district No. I was organized in 1870 in the southwest part of Big Bend township. The district was three miles square. A school house was erected in that district in 1871, the school being taught by Miss Nettie Sackett at Great Bend in 1871.
Th earliest marriage in the county was that of George B. Walker to Sarah J. Greenfield, February 18, 1871.
The first store in Cottonwood county was in Big Bend, John T. Smith being the proprietor, and he was also postmaster.
ASSESSED VALUATION.
In 1871 the assessed valuation of the county was $99,817; taxes assessed on the same that year amounted to $1.585.14. The number of acres of land assessed was $6,043 : value of real estate was about $24.000, and of personal property, $75.550. The first tax was paid by George F. Robison in January, 1872.
In 1895 the county's assessed valuation was $3.380,000 in realty and personal property. The total taxes that year amounted to $73,847.88.
In 1878 the assessed valuation of lands in Cottonwood county was as follows: Dale township, $3.50 per acre; Amboy township, $3.50 per acre; Southbrook township, $3.50 per acre: Ann township, $3.50 per acre; Spring- `field township, $4.00 per acre: Amo and Delton townships, $3.50 per acre : Highwater and Germantown townships, $3.75 per acre; Carson township, $4.00 per acre; Selma township. $3.50 per acre.
In 1905 the total assessed valuation of all real estate in Cottonwood county was $6.171,632 ; of personal property, $863.684.
By townships and villages, the assessed valuation of Cottonwood county in 1916 was as follows, this representing about one-third of the actual value of the realty named and about forty per cent. of the personal property held in the county :
Township or Village.
Realty.
Personal.
Amboy township
$
514.190 $ 55,190
Amo township
528.969
67,724
Ann township
549.286 61.452
Carson township
1
1
530.744 83.189
Dale township
534.420
68.257
L
E 1
1
1
FARM HOME NEAR WINDOM.
1.72 4:
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
Township or Village.
Realty.
Personal.
Delton township
530,379
52.914
Germantown township
534.967
65,858
Great Bend township
518.945
65,447
Lake side township
517.622
61,532
Midway township
551.850
60,264
Mountain Lake township
522,869
54,717
Highwater township
530.660
70.675
Rose Hill township
524,838
57,250
Selma township
522,043
57.677
Southbrook township
474,732
48,614
Springfield township
523.197
66,127
Storden township
567.507
105,616
Westbrook township
537.388
68,104
Bingham Lake village
33.954
18,701
Jeffers village
77.937
52,372
Mountain Lake village
248,189
119,47I
Westbrook village
112,710
78,189
Windom village
471,534
248,148
Totals
$10.498.597
$1,687.388
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' PROCEEDINGS.
The following is a transcript and general account of the more important and historic facts connected with Cottonwood county, as shown by the min- ute books kept by the commissioners in the county auditor's office at Win- dom :
The first meeting of the county commissioners was held on July 27, 1870, the commissioners being Allen Gardner, Jr., Joel W. Benjamin and Lewis C. Miner. Mr. Gardner was elected chairman of the board and Charles Chamberlin was appointed clerk.
The first regular act of this, the first law-making body of Cottonwood county, was to divide the county into commissioner districts as follow: Dis- trict No. I was made up of ranges 34 and 35; district No. 2 consisted of range No. 36; district No. 3 consisted of ranges 37 and 38.
On motion of Commissioner Allen Gardner, Charles Chamberlin was appointed county auditor; on motion of Joel W. Benjamin, H. M. Mc- (7)
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
Gaughey was appointed county treasurer : on motion of Allen Gardner, Ezra Winslow was appointed register of deeds; on motion of Joel W. Benjamin, Ezekeil B. Sheldon was appointed sheriff ; on motion of Lewis Miner, John WV. Shafer was appointed county attorney ; on motion of Joel W. Benjamin, Tabor Imus was appointed judge of probate; on motion of Allen Gardner, Lewis L. Miner was appointed court commissioner ; on motion of Allen Gard- ner, Orrin Nason was appointed county surveyor ; on motion of Joel W. Ben- jamin, John A. Harvey was appointed coroner; on motion of Allen Gardner, Charles Chamberlin was appointed clerk of the district court.
DISTRICT APPOINTMENTS.
David Mooers and S. P. Stedman were appointed justice of the peace for district No. 2; John Wilford and Rev. John Cropsey, for district No. 3; Charles Robison and Frank Pones for district No. I.
The first constables appointed by the county commissioners were P. Thomas and O B. Bryant, for district No. 2: R. A. Nichols and Mr. Oaks, for district No. 3; Kirk Sheldon and I. F. Grant, for district No. I.
David Mooers was appointed assessor for district No. 2; John Wil- ford. for district No. 3: Simeon Greenfield, for district No. I.
On motion of Allen Gardner, Hosea Eastgate was appointed overseer of the poor.
SECOND MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS.
The second session of the county commissioners was held at Great Bend, August 15, 1870. The object of this meeting was to organize civil townships in the county. A petition having been presented by the legal voters of township 105, range 35 west, asking that a township be organized, it was done. The board named the new township "Lakeside," and ordered that the first township meeting and election be held at the house of Joel W. Ben- jamin on Saturday, August 27, 1870. O. M. Benhaus, Tabor Imus and Simeon Greenfield were appointed judges of the election, and R. P. Mathews was appointed clerk. Several other townships were organized (see township histories ).
January 3. 1871, was the date for the next meeting of the county board, it also being hekl at the first county seat, Great Bend. The members present were S. B. Stedman and Hogan Anderson. H. M. McGaughey was ap- pointed county school superintendent. The board resolved to levy a tax of
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
three hundred dollars "for the purpose of defraying the expenses already in- curred and to be incurred during the present year."
At the April 22, 1871, meeting, the county officers were ordered to hold their respective offices at the building of the auditor, "who will furnish ample room for the keeping of all books belonging to the county. The clerk is instructed to notify each officer of this order."
At the January 2, 1872, commissioners' meeting, the first held at Win- dom, seventy-two men were drawn for grand jurymen and seventy-two for trial jurymen. The district court was held at Madelia, Watonwan county, as this county was then attached to that for judicial purposes.
At the last-named meeting, it was resolved to lease the offices then being occupied by the county auditor for the next year at one hundred dollars per year, payable quarterly, the owner to light and heat the building. Emory Clark was declared elected county attorney and gave his official bonds to the commissioners. The board at that session decided to grant licenses to sell intoxicating liquors to any who might make out the proper application papers and the amount to be charged was seventy-five dollars.
On March 4, 1872. the commissioners met again and at that time they declared the office of county treasurer vacant. the sureties to be discharged from further obligations. On motion of member Hogan Anderson, Eli A. Stedman was appointed county treasurer to fill the agency, and he forthwith furnished bonds in the sum of five thousand dollars. L. L. Miner, previous county treasurer, was requested to pay over all the county money and the papers and books belonging to Cottonwood county.
On January 7, 1873, the members present at the board meeting were George A. Purdy, George F. Robison and Hogan Anderson, Mr. Purdy being chairman. Official bonds were furnished as follow : Eli A. Stedman, treas- urer : J. G. Redding, court commissioner : S. M. Espey, county auditor ; Charles White, sheriff; A. D. Perkins, judge of probate.
At this session H. M. McGaughey was allowed fifty dollars for services as county superintendent of schools for that year. The liquor license was in- creased to ninety dollars per year.
On January 9, 1873, the county treasurer's bond for ten thousand dol- lars was furnished by the newly-elected county treasurer, M. E. Donohue. At this session of the board they accepted the donation from the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad Company for block No. 23, in the village of Windom, to be used to erect a court house and county buildings upon, and that S. M. Espey be requested to notify the company to send on the deed for the same.
On January 11, 1873, the commissioners first let a contract for publish-
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
ing the proceedings of the county board to the Windom Reporter at fifty cents a folio.
On February 4. 1873, the following resolution was passed: "Be it re- solved by the board of county commissioners of Cottonwood county that M. E. Donohue, of said county, having failed to furnish an additional bond as treasurer of said county and that the ten days having elapsed since he was notified ; therefore, be it resolved, that the said Donohue is hereby removed from said office of county treasurer. Members George A. Purdy and George F. Robison voted in the affirmative and Hogan Anderson in the negative. Another resolution the same day was as follows: "Be is resolved by the board of county commissioners of Cottonwood county that Eli B. Stedman be declared appointed to fill the vacancy in the office of county treasurer caused by the removal of M. E. Donohue."
It appears of record that Treasurer Donohue furnished bonds, but the list of bondsmen contained three who were not considered financially good, hence the commissioners demanded further security, which the treasurer failed to furnish and refused to do so.
The board of commissioners provided for the construction of the first wagon bridge over the Des Moines river at Windom during the year 1873; it was built by Contractor N. H. Manning and cost the county seven hundred dollars for the structure and about three hundred dollars for building ap- proaches to it.
Nothing special transpired, as shown by the records, until the meeting held on June 6, 1874, when County Treasurer Stedman resigned and the commissioners appointed C. H. Smith to fille the vacancy.
In January, 1875, the county attorney had his salary fixed at two hun- dred dollars per year.
On July 26, 1875. the county commissioners requested His Honor, Judge Dickinson, if it was consistent with good business policy, not to call a special term of the district court in this county that summer or fall, on account of the total destruction of the crops and the inability of the county to secure the necessary expenses for the same.
In 1876 the county issued its first bond. Bond No. I, for twelve hun- dred dollars, was issued to H. D. Winters, August 1, 1876, for five years at ten per cent. interest per annum. This bond was issued for the purpose of paying off the floating debt of the county.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
TREE PREMIUMS.
In 1876 the commissioners allowed George F. Robison nine dollars premium, or bounty, on the three and sixty-eight hundredths acres of timber he had growing and also the one hundred and eighty rods of hedge about his farm premises. Aaron Schofield was allowed two dollars premium on his one acre of planted timber; W. T. Richardson, on his three and thirty-six hundredths acres of timber, received a credit of six dollars and seventy-two cents.
GRASSHOPPER APPROPRIATIONS.
In 1877 the county commissioners had plenty of work trying to adjust the losses sustained by the farmers of Cottonwood county by reason of the seventeen-year locusts (commonly called grasshoppers). An agent was appointed in this county to measure and destroy all grasshoppers brought to his notice within the county. On motion, the commissioners ordered that the compensation for measuring and killing these pests and their eggs should be one and a half dollars a day for actual time employed in measuring, killing and making out proper reports and accounts of the same.
On March 28, 1877, S. B. Stedman was appointed superintendent of burning prairie grass for Cottonwood county for the year commencing April, 1877; his compensation was fixed at one dollar and fifty cents a day and ten cents a mile for use of team when necessary to use a team in his work.
TAXES IN 1877.
In 1877 the county revenue was $3.507, and the taxes levied were to cover the following items of county expenses: Officers' salaries, $2,320; interest, $270; court house expenses, $500; incidental expenses, $250, with five per cent. for losses. Ordered that $500 be raised for caring for the poor and $250 for bridge purposes.
In 1879 the commissioners offered a bounty on gophers to the amount of five cents for each head or pelt brought to the court house and vouched for as being killed within Cottonwood county.
In 1881 the commissioners ordered constructed a new combination bridge of two spans crossing the Des Moines river at Windom. The King Bridge Company obtained the contract at $2,090.
On January 2, 1883, the commissioners ordered a bridge in Springfield
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
township, over the waters of the Des Moines river in section 21, the same to cost not in excess of nine hundred dollars.
At the January, 1883, meeting of the board a committee was appointed to "arrange the office room now occupied by the register of deeds and audi- tor at an expense of not more than fifty dollars."
COURT HOUSE BUILDING.
The first mention made in the records of the county of providing a court house was made at the March meeting in 1883, in a motion made by M. T. DeWolf. H. M. Goss and Joel Clark were appointed a committee, to report at the next meeting with plans and specifications for a court house not to exceed in cost three thousand dollars, and said committee was to also report on the feasibility of building at once. On March 16, 1883, on motion, it was resolved to build a court house as soon "as it can be practically done at a cost not in excess of three thousand dollars."
On another motion, the plans and specifications by J. Clark for the court house, which was to be thirty-six by fifty feet, were adopted. The building was to be two stories high. John Clark was appointed building committee, with full power to act in every particular, as his judgment might dictate, and that it should be erected as soon as it could be. The commissioners were at that time John Clark, C. Mead, T. Ellison, M. T. DeWolf and H. M. Goss. This court house really cost $2,916.62. It had been opposed by the farmers. who felt too poor to think of paying for a court house The county had long been renting of Mr. Klock his building, which was also used for school room purposes, and when court time came school had to be dismissed, for the teach- ers had no other room; however, their pay as teacher went on just the same as thought they were teaching.
County Commissioner Clark was appointed a committee to lease or rent the hall or court room for dances, shows and was to get seven dollars a night and three dollars for free lectures. It was resolved to tender the use of the court house to the county agricultural society for fair purposes free of charge. The village of Windom was given free use of an extra room in the court house by furnishing the same. The court house was insured for $2,- 500 at a $2.25 per hundred rate for five years. On motion, Windom village was granted the right to put their calaboose on the southwest corner of the court house square, where the park and jail now stand. The old court house now serves as a barn in Lakeside township.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
OTHER LOCATIONS FOR COUNTY OFFICES.
The following is the chain of places at which the county seat of gov- ernment has been held at one time or another: First, the offices were held up the river at Big Bend, at private houses. Second, the offices, at least a part of them, were kept in the "Billy Wilson" small frame store building that stood on the east lot of the present Foss Mercantile building property. This had been erected by Mr. Wilson for a store, but finding it too small, he erected a second building, then leased the first one to the county for its offices. Third, the county commissioners leased of Harvey Klock a two- story frame building, about thirty by forty feet in size. It stood on lots 14 and 15, of block 19. original plat of the village of Windom, and was later used as a residence and then as a drug store by Nels Quevli. It then was occupied as a hardware store by George Miller and the present Earl Marshall & Son hardware store occupies the same lot. The railroad company sold this lot originally to David Patten and he, in turn, to Harvey Klock, who erected the building above referred to. The lot was purchased by Klock for one hundred dollars in 1872. At first the village school was kept on the first floor and the court house offices above.
The first court house built by the county-the one erected in 1883, above mentioned-served well its purpose until the present magnificent tem- ple of justice was provided in 1905.
In November, 1893, the county board ordered steel shelving for the old court house, the same to cost $267.
The question of a new court house was agitated and finally, on October 13. 1903, the county board of commissioners decided, by resolution, to con- struct a new building on block No. 13, and not on the oldl county grounds. where the jail now stands. The citizens of Windom were very anxious to have the new court house erected down in the business portion of the city. so. on January 5, 1904. the county authorities exchanged the old court house square in block No. 23, for the present court house square in block No. 13. The city of Windom owned the block and simply exchanged it for the grounds contained in block 23. except that the county reserved eighty feet, including the ground where the jail was built and where it still stands.
In 1904 the county sold bonds to the amount of fifty thousand dollars to the First National Bank of St. Paul, the bonds to draw four per cent. interest. Later, it was found necessary to float thirty-five thousand dollars more in bonds with which to finish paying for the court house, making the
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
cost of the structure about eighty-five thousand dollars, besides the grading and other exterior improvements about the public square.
A contract was awarded to J. B. Nelson & Company, of Mankato, to build the structure for $59.949.00, the contract being dated March 22. 1904. Thomas Walsh, of Albert Lea, was employed by the county as superintendent of construction. The record shows that August II. 1905, the building was completed and the last payment made to contractors Nelson & Company and to the architects, Omeyer & Thori.
On April 25, 1906, the commissioners let the contract for grading the grounds about the court house to J. G. Redding, at his bid price of $5,200. On October 29, 1907, the commissioners resolved to designate the east side of the court house as its front.
Concerning the material, the architecture and dedication of this, Cot- tonwood's present court house, it may be added that the building is one of the best planned and constructed in southern Minnesota. Its corner-stone was laid, with ceremonies, on July 12, 1901, at one o'clock in the afternoon. under direction of the Masonic fraternity. Senator Clapp made the ora- tion. Judge Brown, who had served as judge fourteen years, also spoke. There was a picnic dinner, a ball game and excellent music. The corner- stone bears the following inscription: "Commissioners, David Ewert, Daniel C. Davis, Whalon Seeley, Peter Wiens, Engbert Heggerstrom. John A. Brown, auditor; David A. Stewart, attorney." The box in the stone contained a copy of the Bible. Masonic papers, a copy of each local county newspaper, a history of the county by D. A. Stuart, lists of county and vil- lage officials.
On November 3. 1905, the new court house was dedicated, in the midst of a large assembly, Governor Johnson uttering the dedicatory words in a masterly manner. The entire structure cost one hundred thousand dollars, including all interior finishings, with the marble wainscoating, beautifully decorated dome and court room.
COUNTY JAIL.
In July, 1891, it was resolved at a meeting of the county commissioners to provide the county with a suitable jail and sheriff's house, but the matter dragged along until January 6, 1898, when it was again ordered that plans and specifications for a jail and sheriff's residence, said jail to have a separate cell for women prisoners, be procured. They were submitted to and accepted by the commissioners at a later date. The specifications called for Kasota
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
pink stone and Menominee sand-moulded brick as the material from which the main building should be constructed. Fred C. Molander was awarded the contract for doing the structural work for $5.875. The cell work was let to an Ohio firm at $2, 147; the heating plant cost $445 and was let to Pond & Hasey Company. H. M. Goss was appointed as superintendent of construction of this building, which is the one still standing at the south side of the park overlooking the Des Moines river, which flows just beneath the abrupt bluff at that point.
The county leased one cell in the new jail to the village of Windom at fifty dollars per year, and the village was to keep the bedding, etc., in a good and sanitary condition.
CARING FOR THE POOR.
Up to 1887 Cottonwood county owned no county farm or house at which the unfortunate poor might be cared for, but these people were cared for at county and township expense, in the various townships of the county, the county hiring some one to keep and look after them at a fixed price per week or month. But, on February 15, 1887, the county commissioners purchased of M. Milford, land in section 10, township 105, range 36 west, for the sum of $1.700. On April 24. 1887, a committee was appointed to secure plans and specifications for building a poor house on the land just mentioned. It was not to cost in excess of $1,800. On February 17, 1888. it was ordered to make an addition of a one-story wing, sixteen by twenty feet in size. After this, the county's poor were cared for on this farm, which is in Great Bend township. The auditor's record of the institution in December, 1890, gives the following items: Number of inmates in poor house January 1, 1890, six ; three were on hand the year before and three came that year ; loss of inmates in two years last past, two; number remain- ing in the institution, December 31, 1890, four. Acres of land in poor farm, one hundred and sixty; net expenses of poor farm, $1,080. It was not found a self-sustaining proposition and, as the number of paupers was very small in the county, it was decided by the county commissioners at their meeting held in February, 1891, to rent out the farm, which was done, and the county paid a stipulated price for keeping the paupers.
Under a recent law of the state of Minnesota, any county has the right to submit to a vote of the people whether or not the poor shall be kept by the county at large or on the township plan. This was left to the voters of Cottonwood county at the general election in the autumn of 1906, when the
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
vote stood, five hundred and thirty-eight in favor of changing to the "town- ship plan" and three hundred and forty-two votes in favor of continuing the old county plan. The petition which brought this matter before the people at that 1906 election was filed on September 25, 1906, and was largely circulated by Silas Reisdorph, of Springfield township. It works well in this county and the expense has not been over one-half the amount it was under the old county plan of caring for the paupers. There is also a wise provision in the statute by which the county at large pays all bills over three hundred dollars contracted in keeping the poor in any one township or village.
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