USA > Minnesota > Olmsted County > History of Olmsted County, Minnesota > Part 28
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Edward H. Armstrong, a native of Ohio, was one of the earliest settlers in the village, but he removed in a few years to Dakota, and after living there a few years, returned to High Forest, and has been one of its most prominent citizens. He is now a merchant there. His son, Charles H. Armstrong, is county surveyor and city engineer of Rochester.
The first school in the township was taught in the village by J. C. Howard in the winter of 1857 and 1858.
A Baptist church was built in 1860 and a Methodist church in 1861. The Baptist church was later occupied by the Congregational- ists and, a few years ago, was torn down and the Methodist is now the only church in the village.
About 1880 an academy was established by E. W. Young, un- der the patronage of the Methodist church, after about two years it was removed to Rochester.
In its early history High Forest was one of the most prominent villages in the county. It had a most attractive location, an un- usually intelligent and enterprising population, with great local pride and faith in their home, but the failure to get a railroad, said to be because of engineering difficulties of getting into the village, and the development of Stewartville, only three miles away, put a stop to its progress, and it has since stood still.
The population of the village by the state census of 1905 was 106. .
Judge .- The Winona & Southwestern Railroad Company, in 1891, established a station on the farm of Edward Judge in the northeastern part of the town, and named it Judge station. It has an elevator and a store and the postoffice was kept, some years by Lucius B. Gaskill, but it is now merely a flag station and a con- venient shipping station for the neighborhood. Mr. Judge was a native of Ireland and settled on his claim in 1854. He died in September. 1904, aged about seventy years.
Stewartville .- In the spring of 1857 Charles Stewart came from
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the state of New York and acquired a water process on Root river about three miles below the village of High Forest, and in 1858 got control of the Russell mill at High Forest and moved it to his location. He developed a fine mill and a small village grew up un- der the name of Stewartville. There was but little of it till the railroad reached there in 1891. The original villagers were, besides Mr. Stewart, William R. Tubbs and David L. Bonner, who were pre-emptors and farmers. David Stewart, Hiram Sage, who kept hotel, Thomas Fairborn, a blacksmith, and J. S. E. Stevens, a car- penter. Job Collin, who afterwards moved to Rochester and is now in the insurance business. there, was the miller. A brick Presby- terian church was built and Rev. George Ainslie, of Rochester, preached there for years. There was the usual public school house.
In 1878 William Everett Smith came from Rochester, built a store and, till the railroad came, was the only merchant. He was born in the state of New York in 1851 and was brought with his father's family, to Pleasant Grove township in 1857. He at- tended Curtiss' Commercial College in Minneapolis, and was a clerk in the grocery store of Charles H. Morrill, at Rochester, a year before going to Stewartville. He is still doing business as the pioneer merchant.
In 1890 the Winona & Southwestern Company, in anticipation of building their railroad, bought a quarter section of land that had belonged to the Stewart estate for the site of their depot and ele- vators. It was their intention to build a new town around their depot and a few buildings were put up there, but the old settlers re- fused to move to the new location, and the village grew up on the old time site near the mill. William S. Davis, from Wisconsin, built a hardware store in 1889. John Prehoitz started a meat mar- ket. Tuttle & Stillwell, Burr W. Tuttle and H. Leslie Stillwell. built a store; John Owens built the Stewartville House hotel, and Roswell Sage, a son of Hiram Sage, built the Sage House. Later, the Robbins brothers, Frederick and Herbert, came from Fillmore county, built a store and did a large business in merchandising and banking.
Additions to the original plat of the town were platted by Eugene S. Wooldridge, Charles N. Stewart and others, and residences be- came numerous. In a few years several fine business blocks were erected. The first was built by Tuttle & Stillwell about 1895. The two-story brick Ginter block was built by William Keenan and bought by Mathew Ginter. The Opera House, built in 1895. is a very handsome two-story brick building with stores on the first floor and a very commodious and pretty amusement hall and convenient rooms of the Commercial Club in the second story. The Moore block, built by William Printz in 1896 is a large and attractive two- story brick building of two fronts. In 1897 William S. Davis built
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a very handsome two-story double front brick hardware store of beautiful style and finish; he also built other substantial buildings. John H. Twohey, an old settler, built a two-story brick glass front furniture store that is one of the largest and prettiest in the place. The First National Bank building is a two-story structure with a strikingly handsome stone and brick front. The village drew a large trade from the rich surrounding country and had a rapid and unusually substantial growth, both business and residential. The buildings erected about that period were nearly all very pretty and of a size and finish far ahead of the size of the town, and have given it an air of prosperity that would be creditable to a place several times larger.
The mill pond. which is wide and long and very picturesque, was named Lake Alice by Charles N. Stewart, in compliment to his wife, and has been improved by a park on its shore and a launch and other boats on its waters, and is very popular as a picnic resort for the surrounding country.
The Stewartville Star, a weekly newspaper, was first issued May 1, 1891, with L. K. Alden as publisher and Linus Blank editor: was transferred to W. S. Dyars that fall and resumed by Alden & Son in the spring of 1893. Linus Blank again became the owner in July, 1893, and H. L. Walker bought it in October, 1893. He was an energetic business man and built up a good paper and ran it successfully till November 1906, when he sold to the Olmsted County Publishing Company and moved to the state of Wash- ington.
The Stewartville Times was started in October, 1895, by Rev. M. H. Galer, who had been the Congregational minister. He sold in November, 1896, to Ben. Kamerer, and he, in October, 1898, to M. E. Sloan, who was appointed a clerk in a government office at Washington and sold, in August, 1899, to H. B. Foote. Edward . Fanning was a partner for six months. The paper was afterward consolidated with the Star.
The Star is now the only paper in the village, and is a creditable sheet, and one paper is enough for any moderate-sized community. It was published and edited by J. I. Wheeler from December, 1906, to July, 1907, when Ulick Madden conducted it till September. 1907, when Wallace V. Olin became editor and publisher, and is still conducting it.
Following the new growth of Stewartville, Dr. Edward Stod- dard, who had been practicing at High Forest, removed to Stewart- ville and became its pioneer physician. He is a son of Mr. Stod- dard. an early settler of Viola township, and afterward a merchant in Rochester. He, in partnership with Frederick L. Wood, a son of Milton R. Wood, deceased, of Eyota, established a drug store.
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Dr. Stoddard moved to California several years ago, and Mr. Wood has more recently moved to Oregon.
Dr. Frank W. Burns, a son of John Burns, formerly of High Forest township, now a resident of Rochester, came soon after and practiced in partnership with Dr. Stoddard. He is a graduate of the College of Physicians and surgeons of Chicago. He is still in practice. Dr. C. E. Fawcett, from Marion, and H. R. Russell, from Pleasant Grove, are also practicing physicians.
A Methodist Episcopal church was organized and built a pretty church building, but, the pioneer Presbyterian church having ceased to exist, the Methodists sold their frame building to the German Methodists, and bought the brick Presbyterian building. The Con- gregational church has a pretty building. The Second Adventists also have a neat building. St. Bernard's Catholic church was organ- ized by Rev. Stephen Condron and has a large place of worship. The first Methodist preacher was Rev. Royce; the present one is Rev. M. Meade. The first Congregational minister was Rev. E. C. Crane; the present one is Rev. J. L. Jones. The first Adventist preacher was Rev. John Hopkins; the present one is Rev. Comer. The present Catholic priest is Rev. Stephen Condron, who is also in charge of St. Bridget's church in Pleasant Grove township.
The mill, after the death of Charles Stewart, in 1866, was car- ried on by his son, Charles N. Stewart, who sold it to John N. Cus- sons, a native of England, who had for several years been a miller at Chatfield. He and his sons, Wauzee and Jackson Cussons, have made it a modern mill, unusually well equipped with the latest improvements, and doing a large business.
O. E. Hammer opened a law office in 1895, and is the only law- yer. He was born in Fillmore county in 1867, and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
A system of waterworks for fire protection was established in 1895, by a vote of eighty-six to eight. It consists of a tank, on top of an eighty-foot tower, holding 2,000 barrels, filled from a well in the central part of the village by steam pumps, with a capacity of 500 gallons per hour. This supplies 2,700 feet of mains in Main street, with six hydrants-a liberal provision for a community of the size. There are about twenty-five members of the fire com- pany, with a neat and convenient engine house, 2,000 feet of hose, hose carts and hook and ladder apparatus.
An electric lighting system was established in 1900 and is in gen- eral use. It was started by Mr. Johnson, who, for lack of capital, worked under much discouragement, and died about the time that he had got it fairly established. It is now managed by T. F. Alex- ander, from Rochester.
The Stewartville Creamery was organized about 1900, by Ed-
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ward J. Graham, and is now conducted by William H. Welch, from Rochester.
The People's Telephone Company of Chatfield established a branch at Stewartville about 1901.
The public school district including the village was changed to an independent district in 1898, and, after a very spirited contest, a vote for the issuance of $15,000 in bonds was carried by fifty-five majority. The old school house was sold for $1,000 and a new brick school house was built in 1899, at a cost of $16,000-a large and very handsome two-story brick edifice, centrally located and standing as a splendid memorial to the educational spirit of the builders of the village. The school ranks among the first of the county, including a high school, and having eight teachers.
There are two banks, the First National and the First State Bank.
The secret and beneficial societies are the Masonic Lodge and lodges of the Modern Woodmen, United Workmen and American Yeomen. There have been lodges of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, but they have been discontinued.
That almost mythical individual, the oldest person in the state, would seem to have been William Sargeant, who died at Stewart- ville in 1883, at what was believed to be the age of one hundred and fourteen years. He was a native of England and uneducated.
In November, 1893, a vote for the incorporation of the village was carried by fifty for to five against the proposition. The first officers elected were: President, John Preleitz; council. Herbert Robbins, Frank Andrews, Ralph Whitney; treasurer, W. E. Smith; recorder, A. C. Tichenor; justice, H. S. Walker; constable, Ed- ward Fanning. There was only one ticket voted for.
In June, 1903, after a freshet had washed out the dam of the Cussons Milling Company, the community showed its public spirit by voting 129 in favor to 32 against issuing $2,000 in bonds for the rebuilding the dam and improving the park-an action that, whether strictly legal or not, was highly necessary for the prosperity of the town.
Seventy of the young men of Stewartville and the vicinity enlisted in a company of Spanish war volunteers organized at Spring Valley in April, 1898. On their return, in September, 1898, they were given a cordial public reception at Stewartville. The opera house was crowded and speeches were made by Edward Buck, Editor Sloan and O. E. Hammer; a bountiful banquet was served at Mack's Hotel, and there was dancing till morning.
The population of the village by the state census of 1905 was 851.
KALMAR TOWNSHIP (Township 107 North, Range 15 WVest ) .- Why or how this township received the second-hand name
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of a small seaport city in Sweden, we cannot state. This is one of the timbered townships of the county, the northwest third, through which the Zumbro river pursues its crooked course, having orig- inally been a forest, but the saw mills that furnished the pioneers with their building material, and the wood haulers who in the early years furnished Rochester with most of its fuel, and the farmers who had their wood lots there have so denuded the forest as to have changed it into quite an open farming district.
John Soble, J. Lyman Wright and E. Sinclair Wright are said to have settled in this township in 1854. In 1855 settlements were made by David L. King, Francis C. and Ira S. Whitcomb, Marinus King, Almeron Randall, Israel Devine, John Colwell, Alpheus Mer- ritt, George W. and Ensign Chilson, Obediah Gilbert, Norman Haight, Frederick A. Olds, Joseph V. Matthews, Garlord Hurlbut, Benjamin and Samuel J. McDowell, Nathan Bowman, Isaac Dodd, John and Darius Ellison, Richard Middleton, Jerome Harrington, Joseph Edmiston, George and Dudley Sinclair, James A. Blair, Thomas S. Kesson, William, Henry and Frederick W. Postier. Michael H. Staats and others.
David Soble, Samuel G. Lewis, Joseph Graham, H. C. McManus, D. H. Roof, R. Telford, John and Isaac Johnston and others came in 1856.
The first death and marriage were in the family of James Can- field. An infant son died in August, 1855, and his wife died three days later; the following Christmas he was married to Mariva Bonner.
The first birth was of a daughter of D. L. King, in July, 1855.
A saw mill was built in 1855 by I. S. Whitcomb, James A. Blair and Michael H. Staats; two years later it was changed to a grist mill and swept away in a freshet in 1866, and not rebuilt. W. W. Doty built a saw mill in 1857, and Richard Middleton built a saw mill in 1858, and changed it to a grist mill. He also kept a store from 1856 to 1858, but it proved a losing venture.
Miss Ann Losinger taught the first school in a claim shanty in the summer of 1855, and the building was moved to New Haven township, and she continued teaching there, so becoming the first teacher in both townships.
The township was organized in May, 1858. At the meeting D. L. King was chairman; James Ford, moderator; John C. Simonton, clerk, and Hiram Fairbanks, assistant. The first township officers were: Supervisors, D. L. King, chairman; H. C. Sheldon, Moses Herrick; clerk, Samuel McDowell; assessor, Benjamin McDowell; collector, James Ellison ; overseer of poor, R. Middleton ; overseer of roads, John Kinsey; justices of the peace, J. H. Harding, Norman Haight; constables, James Ellison and Robert Canfield. A town hall was built near the center of the township in 1874.
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The population of the township was given by the state census of 1905 as 760.
The jackrabbit, the big white hare (Lepus compestris), native to the western plains, first made its appearance in the western part of the county about 1890. There is a tradition that a couple of men who went from Kalmar to Dakota and back by team had as part of their camping outfit a combined chicken coop and feed trough at the back of their wagon, and on their return brought a few jackrabbits in the coop and turned them loose after exhibiting them as curiosi- ties. They are no longer strangers, but permanent residents.
Byron .- When the Winona & St. Peter Railroad was built across the southern tier of sections in Kalmar township, in 1864, the com- pany established a station ten miles west of Rochester and named it Byron. It was located on the farm of Addison J. Dibell, who donated the depot site to the railroad company. The village is quite above the surrounding country, being 260 feet higher than Roch- ester, and is surrounded by rich grain farms. Mr. Dibell sold part of his farm to John W. Simonton and George W. Van Dusen, who platted the village, and Mr. Dibell platted an addition. An elevator and warehouse was built by G. W. Van Dusen and Thomas J. Tem- plar, of Rochester, in 1869. It had a capacity of 30,000 bushels, and while wheat was grown, Byron did a large business in buying grain. In December, 1869, there were 4,500 bushels taken in per week. Thomas J. Templar was the first grain buyer. He moved to Kansas. J. Frank Weed, from Rochester, was station agent and grain buyer twenty-four years.
John W. Simonton built and kept the first store, which he sold to Knud E. Mo, who, after carrying it on a number of years, sold it and moved to the northern part of the state. Mr. Simonton carried on a wagon shop till a few years ago, when he moved to Rochester, where he now lives. Hiram Fairbanks and Robert Simonton started a store in 1865 and were in business several years.
A Baptist church was organized soon after the village was started by Rev. E. W. Westcott, the pioneer Baptist minister of Rochester, and in 1866 a good-sized and pretty church building was erected. The present pastor is Rev. T. S. Rooks. A Methodist church, also a good-sized and pretty structure, was built in 1873, during the pas- torate of Rev. Robert Forbes, who is now secretary of the General Home Missionary Society of the Methodist church. The present minister at Byron is Rev. Arthur McCausland.
A Second Adventist church was organized in 1882. It ceased to exist several years ago.
Dr. Staunton B. Kendall, who had been for three years living on a farm in the township, built a hotel in the village in 1867, and also practiced his profession. He died in November, 1897, aged ninety years. In 1868 his son, Joseph B. Kendall, opened a large store and
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was also postmaster fifteen years, and kept the hotel several years. In 1892 he sold the store to John C. Crabb, now of Rochester, and Sam E. Tompkins, who is now keeping a grocery store and is postmaster.
William A. Rickert, who is a son of Nathan Rickert, deceased, who settled in the township in 1858, started a harness shop in the village in 1868 and continued the business till 1899, when he engaged in the restaurant business, which he is still conducting.
Byron was incorporated as a village in 1873. The limits were extended far beyond the village plat, to give the better control of the sale of liquor. It includes all of section 32, the west half of section 33, the south half of section 29, and southwest quarter of section 28, an area larger than that of many a city. Within those limits saloons are not allowed. The first village officers were: Councilmen, Dudley Sinclair, Francis C. Whitcomb and Thomas S. Kerson; recorder. Knud E. Mo; treasurer, Perry Newell; justice, George H. Stephens; assessor, George W. Gove; constable, W. L. Standish.
A cheese factory was organized in 1873 by sixteen persons mak- ing a promissory note for $1,000. The factory was a benefit to the community, but a loss to the organizers. It failed to pay the note or the interest on it, and the makers had ultimately to pay a penalty of $2,000 for their public spirit. After running ten years the fac- tory was sold to Marvin & Cammack, of Rochester, who ran it about eight years and changed it to a creamery. About 1896 a co-operative creamery company was organized and is still run suc- cessfully ; Fred C. Little is president. It uses the cream of 106 cows.
The leading business establishment is the brick yard. John Chris- tensen and the Whitcomb brothers started a brick yard about 1878 and did a local business for a few years. Crist Nelson started a yard about 1888 and in 1893 sold it to J. B. Kendall, who is con- ducting it on a large scale. He employs from twelve to twenty men. The first year he made about 800,000 brick and now turns out from 1,000,000 to 1,300,000 a year, shipping mostly to Rochester and Owatonna, along the railroad to South Dakota and to various towns in southern Minnesota.
Albert L. Cutting came to Byron from Rochester in 1880 and established a general store, which he is still carrying on. He was born in New York state in 1852 and came to Rochester with the family of his father, Lucius S. Cutting, in 1855. He clerked in the store of J. D. Blake and was a partner with Miss Mary Macom- ber in the ladies' furnishing store now conducted by Misses Scott & Everstine. His son, Fred E. Cutting, is the proprietor of a large nursery.
The village is an independent school district and about 1901 a large and handsome two-story frame school house was built. There
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are four teachers and the course of instruction includes eight lower grades and a two-year high school course.
The State Bank of Byron was started as a private bank, in 1902, by Williams & Williams, from Concord, Minnesota. It was incor- porated in 1905 as a state bank, with a capital of $10,000, and has deposits of about $50,000, most of it the money of farmers. J. B. Kendall is president and Frank E. Decker cashier. The bank build- ing, a pretty one-story brick structure, finished in thorough business style, is an architectural ornament to the town.
The Zumbro Valley Telephone Company has its headquarters at Byron and accommodates the village and neighboring country.
The secret societies are the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen, Yeomen of America and Beavers.
The population of the village, by the state census of 1905, was 315.
Douglass .- When the branch railroad was built from Rochester to Zumbrota, in 1878, it ran across section 1, the northeast corner of the township, and a station was established and called Douglass, for Harrison Douglass, the owner of the land on which it was located. Mr. Douglass built a grain elevator with a capacity of 18,000 bushels. He was a native of the state of New York, a blacksmith and a California pioneer, and came to Kalmar township in 1855, starting a blacksmith shop before there was any at either Rochester or Oronoco. He acquired a large amount of farming land and was influential in the community. He died in 1902. Hiram Miller put up and kept the first store and was postmaster for a number of years. Douglass is a village of but few houses. Its most prominent feature is a large and good-looking school house, which is also used as a church. There is a lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Olmsted .- An attempt was made to establish a village on the Winona & St. Peter Railroad, in 1870, four miles and a half west of Rochester, on the farm of J. V. Matthews, in Kalmar township, right on the boundary line between that township and Cascade. A side track was built, a small warehouse put up; William M. Leon- ard and Sterling Cross, of Rochester, started a store; a postoffice was installed, and a school was kept there, but the attempt to make a town failed, and after about five years the station was abandoned and nothing but the side track was left. It was too near Rochester.
MARION TOWNSHIP (Township 106 North, Range 13 West). -A colony consisting of Alfred Kinney, I.evi M. Phelps, Nathan S. Phelps, Eleazer Phelps, George Mills and a few others located, in April, 1854, in the neighborhood of what afterward became the vil- lage of Marion. They arrived on Saturday and on Sunday held an outdoor religious service (there was no indoors yet ), with a sermon
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by Rev. Predmore, from Iowa, which is claimed to have been the first sermon preached in the county. J. W. Predmore, William Marquardt, Jacob Bonham, Lewis W. Wright, Philip H. Kava- naugh, Timothy Twohey, George Allen, J. D. Campion and John Dooley settled the same year. Mr. Allen was town treasurer eleven years.
James W. Livingston and John and William Hyslop located in the neighborhood of the now village of Chester in 1855. The same year locations were made in the township by Thomas McCoy, James Campion, J. W. Fulkerson, George Herber, Domnick Kennedy and John O'Neil.
In 1856 there came Michael St. George, Fred Demmett, Robert B. Hotchkiss, Thomas J. Hudson, William Le Van, Legrand W. Lull, Roger Mulvihill, Thomas W. Phelps and Thomas N. Porter.
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