History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 76

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547

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TOWN ORGANIZATION.

On the 11th of May, 1858, the first town meet- ing was held to perfect the organization. On motion of J. A. Anderson, O. T. Gilman was called to the chair as temporary Chairman, and A. H. Brayton moved that J. C. Pennington be the Mod- erator, which prevailed. On motion of G. F. Pot- ter, O. T. Gilman was appointed Clerk.

At 10 o'clock the polls were opened and, with the exception of an hour at noon, kept open till 5 o'clock, with the following result:

Supervisors, D. Cameron, Chairman, S. Day and P. S. Taft; Clerk, M. W. Wilcox; Assessor, Wm. R. Mercer; Collector, C. F. Adams; Justices of the Peace, Geo. F. Potter and J. Stewart; Con- stables, S. K. Clow and John Anderson; Overseer of the Poor, Thomas Minshall; Road Overseers, D.

Cameron, Fred. Welch, and M. Van Sickle. About 140 votes were cast.

BOUNTIES.

At a town meeting at the Minnesota House, held on the 30th of March, 1864, the following resolution was presented by G. F. Potter:

"RESOLVED: That the Supervisors and the Town Clerk of La Crescent be, and they are hereby in- structed and required to issue township orders to the amount of $200 for each volunteer who shall be duly accredited to the township of La Crescent, to and for a sufficient number of volunteers to fill the quota of said town, on the present and all fu- ture calls that may be made by the President of the United States for volunteers."

On the motion being put it was declared carried, with fifty-nine in the affirmative and one in the negative.

On motion of George F. Potter, it was unani- mously resolved that a special tax be levied to meet the obligations just incurred.

Another special meeting of the board was called on the 20th of February, 1865, to confirm the ac- tion already taken, as a question had arisen as to whether the bounty would apply to subsequent calls. It was resolved to continue the bounty.

THE PRESENT TOWN OFFICERS.

Supervisors, A. H. Brayton, Chairman, Louis Lilly, and Aug. Rodke; Assessor, E. A. Wheeler; Clerk, P. Ferguson; Justices of the Peace, J. O. Sawyer and B. B. Groff; Constables, Geo. Donald and W. B. Potter.

LA CRESCENT VILLAGE.

The natural advantages of the location of this village are most admirable. The usual high bluffs near the river, leave it here, just north of the village, to run back into a sweeping curve, to again appear a mile or so below, and thus forming a crescentic basin or plateau, with a chain of hills on the convex side. At the foot of the bluff north and west of the village, there is a strip of table land, or the second bench, and below this is the first bench or plateau, and stretching away to the main channel of the Mississippi a mile distant, is the river bottom land.

This very spot must have been the site of a vil- lage of people that preceeded the Indians, who were not nomadic; as the relics they have left in the form of mounds, conclusively show that they

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had lived generation after generation on one spot, and the accumulation of ashes, husks, shells, bones and other material, insensibily built these mounds. As a confirmation of the correctness of this theory, it is stated that in Asia, every city of the plain, which was evidently started on a level with the surrounding country thousands of years ago, is now on a mound, and some of them with the ruins of three tiers of buildings, one above another. The indestructible material constantly coming into the city from the country to suppply the wants of the people, having created this vast accumulation.

Here,at La Crescent, was a chain of these mounds near the slope of the second table which have not yet been obliterated. Fragments of pottery are found here in great abundance. In the railroad excavations large amounts of clay pottery, that which had been moulded and burned, were thrown out.

The village, as it was originally surveyed, plat- ted, spread on parchment, and recorded, covers 280 acres on section eleven, about forty acres on section three, and all of section ten except about 120 acres. In this much laid out space can be found, water lots, always submerged, marshy ground frequently under water, bluff land with its jagged declivities, and the table land on the sec- ond elevation, where the buildings are actually located. Some of this is covered with a fine growth of scattering oak and other trees.

The first man to locate on this spot was Peter Cameron, who has been already mentioned, and who erected a comfortable log house here in the spring of 1851. The first steps taken toward the location and actual platting of a village here was by the Gillett Brothers, Harvey and William, who had taken the northeast quarter of section ten. The Gillett family consisted of these two young men and two still younger brothers, and a sister, with their mother who was a widow. They had come to La Crosse from Ohio, and having caught ths small pox and in some way lost their money, they found themselves in the pest house entirely destitute; but Peter Cameron became interested in the case, and through his influence they came over and took this claim. The young men were unmar- ried and the claim was entered in the mother's name. The first plat was about forty acres on the south- west of the northeast of section ten. They pro- cured some oxen, and during the following winter

got out logs and cordwood, and afterwards broke up some land. The place was called Manton, and this part of the village still bears the name on the records. They commenced selling lots from the first, as the prospect of having a large city grow up here, seemed most favorable.

In the fall of that year, 1855, Col. Wm. R. Mercer, of La Crosse, came over and erected a hotel on the site of the La Crescent Hotel, which is on the crest of the bench on Mississippi Avenue .- This was run by him for about two years. Soon after the Colonel came, John A. Anderson, from Springfield, Ohio, erected a building and put in & stock of general merchandise. The old building still stands, next to the store of Ferguson's, on the east side. Charles Sperry opened a blacksmith shop the same year. Up to the spring of 1856, the Gilletts did good business in disposing of house lots at a good round figure, and when they finally sold out, they were in good circumstances. They moved to La Crosse and thence to Hastings, where they still live.

THE LA CRESCENT TOWN SITE COMPANY.

This company, which bought the property of the Gilletts, and afterwards operated the ferry to La Crosse, was usually known as the "Kentucky Company." Its history is briefly as follows: In the spring of 1856, Jared Boyle, J. M. Bryant, Charles S. Waller, Thomas McRoberts, and E. Ran- dolph Smith, formed themselves into a company and purchased of Mrs. Mary Gillett 160 acres, with the exception of the lots already sold and a few reserved, and also the north half of section eleven running to the river, paying for the whole, as was reported, between $25,000 and $35,000. Very soon a stock company was organized and large numbers of shares sold, at a handsome profit on the original investment. The whole of this tract was put into lots, and on the market, and although the company did not sell corner lots, re- serving them for a rise, they made a corner on ev- ery lot, those under water as well as those setting up edgewise along the bluff. The stock rapidly rose and became very popular, particularly in Ken- tucky where the leading statesmen, generals, pro- fessional men, editors, and business men eagerly secured shares.

Stock in this company is to-day held in almost every State from the Atlantic to California. Among some of the noted men who were known to have stock in this affair were: George D. Pren-

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tiss, of the Louisville Courier; Will Bross, of the Chicago Tribune; General Breckinridge; Geo. B. McGoffin, war Governor of Kentucky; Henry Walter, Chicago; John G. Allen, St. Louis; Col. A. G. Hodges, Louisville, Kentucky; A. H. Bow- man, Lexington, Kentucky; G. A. Rockwell, and many others in different parts of the country. So that the company, although it failed to build a city, nevertheless sold the lots at a handsome profit.

THE NAME.

This was a matter of considerable anxiety and of quite as much importance. The momentous ques- tion was settled at the regular meeting of the pro- prietors at the Tremont House in La Crosse, soon after the purchase was made. The original name, Manton, was proposed and rejected, as not being sufficiently high toned. As a feeble rival to their proposed city they saw La Crosse over the river, and presumed on an easy conquest for the su- . premacy, and remembering the form of the hills around the new town, and also recalling the an- cient contests of the Crusaders against the Sara- cens and Turks in their efforts to recaptare the Holy Sepulchre, where the Cross and the Crescent were raised aloft in deadly strife, and being mind- ful of the fate that overtook those who struggled under the banner of La Crosse, they resolved to challenge their rival by raising the standard of La Crescent, and thus fight it out on that line.

THE PROGRESS OF THE VILLAGE.

In June, 1856, the company put up an office as headquarters for the business, and in 1857, a double and single store was erected and twelve dwelling houses. Thomas McRoberts was the agent of the company, and sold many lots to anxious buyers, but such was his confidence in the growth of the city that no corner lots were sold, and others real- ized from $250 to $600 each. Such was the char- acter of the fever that raged at that time, that for a corner lot where the Post-office now stands, and which was owned by an outsider, was offered $1,- 100 in gold, which was refused.

The company was short-sighted and illiberal in its policy, and while there were clearly elements of success in the enterprise, an opposition on both sides of the river was needlessly provoked, and the whole scheme proved a dismal failure.

A few of the causes leading to the final collapse will be alluded to. The company put on a ferry

boat, upon which it largely depended to coin money, and the prices were put up to the utmost limit of public endurance. No effort was made to have the steamboats on the river land here, as the company desired to secure the transfer across the river under an exacting toll. Few men who desired to locate for business, could afford the prices asked for building lots. The panic of the autumn of 1857 was depressingly felt here, but there was quite a prompt recovery, and in 1858 and 1859, when the Southern Minnesota railroad was grading, La Crescent was on the top wave of its prosperity. Professional men, newspaper men, business men, and working men were flocking hither like pil- grims to the stardard of Richard Couer de Lion, but Hokah, Houston and the other towns to the west, with La Crosse, had conspired to leave it stranded a mile from the river where it was origi- nally planted, and two miles from the railroad ter- minus, where trans-shipments were made across the river to La Crosse.

By the terms of the charter, the railroad was to have one terminus in La Crescent, but as no particular point was specified, the Kentucky com- pany was thus left to gnash its teeth with impo- tent rage. And thus it was that this precocious city has not yet fulfilled the promises of its early founders, or met the expectations of its confiding stockholders.

ADDITIONS.

There have been quite a number of additions to the town site, and some of them have not been re- corded.

Bryant & Watt's addition was platted in 1876 or '57, and must have been a purely speculating scheme, as it was on the marsh and lake, and some of it under water to the depth of six feet, the lots and blocks were sold, and the title deeds are still in the hands of the parties who, if they have ever cut their wisdom teeth, have done it since the pur- chase of the property.

Cameron's addition was laid out in 1857, it is on the second level, and although a desirable location, but four lots were ever disposed of.

William's addition was put in the market in 1857, but the most of it is now an improved farm.

Moore & Peterson's addition was put out into the cold world about the same time, and was on the hills and side of the bluff.

Martindale's addition was another extension to

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the prospective city, and there may have been still others.

THE WAR RECORD.

La Crescent, like her sister towns, was alive to the importance of responding to the call for so many hundred thousand more by Mr. Lincoln. And in 1863, an organization was effected called the "La Crescent Relief Club," to secure funds to pay enlisted men, that there might be no necessity for the dreaded draft. That the success was com- plete is shown by the books now in the hands of Mr. P. Ferguson, which indicate that the sum of $4,800 was raised and paid out in bounties at the rate of $200 each to enlisted men. The amount, however, was returned by the township, so as to make an equitable burden upon the property holders.

POST-OFFICE,

The Post-office was established in the winter or spring of 1856, with Mr. Harvey Gillett as Post- master, and was at first located in the store of John A. Anderson. The first quarter, the total re- ceipts of the office were sixty-five cents, which were duly forwarded to the department. Mr. Thomas Minshall was soon appointed Postmaster, and the office went to another store in the western part of the village. Mr. Minshall has held the key to the mail pouch ever since.

MANUFACTURING.

THE TOLEDO WOOLEN MILLS .- This prosperous and substantial establishment is located in the southeast quarter of section six, on Pine Creek. Its erection was commenced by Thomas Fletcher and J. & N. Webster in the spring of 1865. It is a fine stone structure, three stories high and a good basement, and was completed in the fall of that year. It has first-class machinery that cost about $8,000, consisting of one set of cards forty- eight inches in width, six looms, a jack with 264 spindles, with shearing, fulling, and other ma- chinery to finish good work. Special attention is given to the manufacture of yarn, flannels, blankets, and kerseymeres. The power is from the creek, and is transmitted, under a fourteen feet head, by a turbine wheel. In 1878, Mr. M. Webster bought out Mr. Fletcher and his brother, and has since managed it alone. The local trade is sup- plied in a retail way, and three men with teams are kept on the road to dispose of the goods man- ufactured. It is a most valuable industry, and

the county could endure any number of duplica- tions of this enterprise.

AN EARLY FLOURING MILL .- In 1860, Mr. O. J. Laugenbach put up a mill with two run of stones near where the woolen mill now is. It did good work until the fall of 1864, when it fell a vic- tim to the devouring element, and the woolen mill occupied the power.

SAW-MILL .- One of the earlier enterprises of the township was the erection of a saw-mill, which was commenced in 1856, by Groff & Co. Its loca- tion was on Pine Creek, in the extreme northwest- ern part of the town, on section three. A dam was thrown across the stream to secure power. The mill was 18x44 feet and two stories high, with a vertical saw propelled by a turbine wheel, and was completed and put in operation on the 13th of May, 1857; it developed a capacity of 1,000 feet of lumber a day. It was kept in operation more or less regularly up to about 1872, when it was sold to T. Casper; the building itself went to Hokah township, and the machinery beyond St. Cloud. The power is now used by Groff & Co. to drive their flouring mill.

LINGANORE FLOURING MILL .- This is situated not far from the old saw-mill. When first built, in 1859, it was 30x40 feet with an attic above the sec- ond story. It had at first a single run of stones turned by a reaction wheel made by the owners of the mill, Groff & Co. Since its erection it has from time to time received improvements. In 1873, an addition of 14x30 feet was made, and now the mill has three run of stones for wheat, and one for feed. A head of thirteen feet is available. The concern has cost about $6,000, and is good prop- erty.

THE BURTON SAW-MILL .- This was constructed in 1857, on the southwest quarter of section six, by Mr. D. Burton, and was considered a good mill in those days, as it had two sash saws and plenty of water from Pine Creek. It was kept in opera- tion a few years, but it had periodical seasons of distress on account of too much water, and it was finally nearly destroyed. With a hope of better- ing the condition of things, an attempt was made to locate the establishment about eighty rods down stream, but the reverses had so nearly broken up the proprietor that the project was abandoned.

THE MICHAEL SAW-MILL .- Another mill was put up about this time by Samuel Michael on a branch of the creek in section one. It had a sin-

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gle saw set in motion by an avershot wheel. This mill also, in its struggles with the freshets, got roughly handled. It frequently changed hands, with the hope that new backers might bring it safely through in its unequal contests, but in 1866, it went down and was not again resurrected.

LA CRESCENT FLOURING MILL .- This mill was built early in the seventies, by D. J. Cameron on his farm in section nine, on Pine Creek. It is a two story frame building and has four run of stones. A dam was constructed to secure a head of seven feet, but most unfortunately it was dis- covered that, to sustain that amount, the water was backed up to the race of the Toledo mill, and after a legal contest it was decided that the dam must be lowered two feet. Since that time the mill has been idle.

PRESENT BUSINESS OF LA CRESCENT.

There is one general store kept by P. Ferguson, and a small stock of drugs, confectionery, and the like by the Postmaster, Thomas Minshall. Two blacksmith and wagon shops, one shoe shop, and Mr. Sawyer keeps a hotel, and then there is the railroad station with its agent, express office, and telegraph.

If the empty stores were filled the place would be like Paddy's toast to the "Gallant 69th," "Aqual to none." If there is any redemption for this deserted village, it must come from the intro- duction of manufacturing.

FRATERNAL.

MASONIC .- In 1858, a petition duly signed was presented to the officers of the Grand Lodge, and on the 15th of November a dispensation was granted to Morning Star Lodge, No. 29. The fol- lowing masons were the charter members and offi- cers: E. H. Kennedy, W. M .; J. S. Pennington, S. W .; Elihu Hunt, J. W .; John A. Anderson, Treasurer; Charles H. Hudson, Secretary; M. W. Wilcox, S. D .; Corydon Looney, J. D .; W R. An- derson, Tyler; and Henry T. Fox, and Joseph Fowler.

The first mason made was Charles H. Hudson, who was appointed Secretary. He is now the gen- eral manager of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway. The books show that a grand total of ninety-eight members have

"Received its truthful teachings, Its principles of virtue, Its mystic traditions,"

in this lodge, and that there are now thirty-five members.

The present officers are: W. R. Anderson, W. M .; Daniel Webster, S. W .; Alfred Purdy, J. W .; J. Tuininga, Sr., Treasurer; H. D. Gurley, Secre- tary; J. J. Blue, S. D .; J. O. Hill, J. D .; Thomas Minshall, Tyler.

The first communications were in the Waller building, and then they were held in a hall owned by J. A. Anderson. For many years past the lodge has occupied rooms in the old double store of the Town Site company, now owned by J. G. Allen.

There have been other fraternal organizations of a reformatory character, but sic transit gloria mundi must be written on whatever monuments they have left, as a reminder that they were once here.

SCHOOLS.

A select school was opened by Elder Spencer Carr, a Baptist minister, in 1857. A building was erected with a view of enlarging it if necessary. The higher branches were taught, and some pupils from abroad were secured, which, with others in town, made up the number to about eighteen. The school was not an overwhelming success, and it soon received a sine die vacation, when the gentle- man put in a stock of drugs in the same building. He afterwards went to Wisconsin and finally to Kansas, where he paid the debt of mortality.

LA CRESCENT FEMALE SEMINARY .- This educa- tional institute was opened in 1861, Mrs. Rice and Mrs. Anderson being the teachers, assisted by Edwin, a son of Mrs. Rice. They first occupied a building put up by Charles Waller, of Chicago, which has since been used as a storeroom, and there was an attendance of from twenty to thirty pupils, the old La Crescent Hotel being used as a boarding house. After the first year the whole establishment was removed to the Hotel, using the whole building, and from thirty to forty boarders were secured, with several day scholars from the village. At the end of two years they removed to Rochester, and after awhile the family went to California.

DISTRICT No. 1 .- This is in the village. A school was held in the spring of 1856, in a build- ing now used by W. R. Anderson as a carpenter shop. It was erected by John A. Anderson as a territorial schoolhouse, and is a small frame affair. The first term was one of three months, and the presiding authority was Miss Nancy Ambler.

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After working for about three months to get the keys of knowledge in their hands, the fever and ague came along and shook the school up so lively that it was, for the time, discontinued. There were.but six or eight scholars all told.

In 1857, a one-story brick house was laid up, 20x30 feet, and this served for educational pur- poses up to 1868, when their present large stone building was constructed. It is of two stories, 26x42 feet, and cost abont $2,800. It has usually ten months of school each year, is divided into two departments with an attendance of about eighty. The house is furnished with modern ap- pliances.

DISTRICT No. 2 .- The first school here was held in a log house rolled together for that pur- pose, in section six, on the land of the present B. A. Jenkins estate, in 1855, and Miss Jane Burton wielded the ferule. This house served the district until 1864, when a frame house went up 16x24 feet, at a cost of $300, and was put on the land of J. Tuininga on section six. The infantile popula- tion gathered in this house till the formation of District No. 84, when it was sold at auction, real- izing fifteen dollars. A new house was built early in the seventies, on section eight, on the farm now owned by W. McArthur.

DISTRICT NO. 84 .- In 1870 or '71, this was set off from number two, and a frame house put up on section six soon after. Mr. M. Emery was the first teacher. There are now twenty-five pupils in attendance.

DISTRICT NO 4 .- A school was taught here in 1860 by Miss Abbie Taft in Groff & Co's mill for a single term. In 1861, a school was started in a small frame house just east of Groff's mill on sec- tion three. Then it went into a log house, and finally their present building was put up at a cost of about $400.

DISTRICT No. 75 .- This district was organized about 1870. The school was usually held only during the winter. The first school was instructed by Miss Ella Richardson. The building is of hewn logs and a school is now taught in the summer.

RELIGIOUS.

CHURCH OF THE CRUCIFIXION, ROMAN CATHOLIC. -The earliest mass in town was in a little log schoolhouse on section six, in 1856, by Father Tappard, of La Crosse. In 1858, Rev. Father Pendergast, who then resided in Winona, raised a

little frame church 20x40 feet, for the few Irish Catholics located on Pine Creek. It was on a lot back of a tavern kept by James Keen, near the place where the station house now is. Since that time the Catholic congregation continned to be attended occasionally, either from Hokah convent, Caledonia, Winona, or La Crosse. This was the condition of affairs when Rev. Father P. Pernin was called from Wisconsin to be the first resident priest of La Crescent. He at once removed the old church to a more central location, and enlarged it to meet the requirements of the increasing con- gregation which now embraces seventy families.

METHODIST .- This is a village society. The first meeting was held in a building that is now known as the Brown office, in June, 1856; this was before the structure was completed. The Rev. John Hooper was the officiating mis- sionary. The next week a class was organized with Ralph Garrell as leader, and W. R. Anderson as steward. This point was associated with Hokah circuit, and services were kept up every two or three weeks at different places; when the brick schoolhouse went up, that was occupied by this denomination. In 1867, the society was en- abled to build a church 28x40 feet at a cost of $1,600. Services are now held on alternate Sun- days by Rev. G. W. Barrett. The membership is about twenty-five.

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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 76

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 547

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547