History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 93

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1110

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The original townsite was laid out and platted by Rachel Moore in 1863, and Alex Moore, as her agent, built that year a small grist mill containing two sets of burrs.

The first German settler in Sauk Centre was Anthony Miller, who came in 1863. There came also in the two following years Joseph Capser, Fred Borgmann, Joseph Ebensteiner, Henry Kalkmann and George Gruber. That there was good physical stock in these early Germans is demonstrated by the fact that of that num- ber there is still living Joseph Capser at the age of 82, Anthony Miller, aged 79, and Fred Borgmann, aged 90 years. These men are all in full possession of their fac- ulties and present a vigorous protest to the years which have passed over their heads. In 1864 Mark Bedell opened a blacksmith shop.

This sums up the only improvements worthy of note until 1865-66. The immi- gration to the frontier had been very small since 1861, owing to the Civil and Indian wars during this period.

In the old stockade, December 14, 1861, there was born unto Mr. and Mrs. Solo- mon Pendergast a girl baby, who was named Nellie. This was the first white

child born in the settlement. The first male child was Henry Capser, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Capser.

The real growth of the town may be dated from 1865. Settlers of different na- tionalities now rapidly located upon the vacant lands in the neighborhood, and the little village, by the erection of shops and stores, began to expand. In July, 1867, however, its second catastrophe occurred, in which the dam and mills were swept away and entirely destroyed by a great freshet. But nothing could subdue the unconquerable spirit of these men. A new dam was constructed, which has remained through all the years since, and a new flouring mill was erected. In March, 1870, disaster again visited the village by fire, but by the energy of the leading citizens the buildings destroyed were speedily re- placed by others more valuable and sub- stantial.

As in all other American communities, the cause of education was strictly in the minds of the people in the settlement. The first school meeting was held on April 28, 1861. S. Ramsdell was moderator and S. M. Bruce was chosen clerk. The whole of the present township of Sauk Centre was embraced in the district. The first teacher was Nellie Harmon, a member of the Harmon family, which was among the earliest families in the city of Minneapolis. The high cost of living could not have been a burning question with these first settlers of Sauk Centre, since it is noted that Miss Harmon was boarded by the lowest bidder at 90 cents per week. How- ever, it was not until 1869 that the inde- pendent school district was organized, embracing the territory containing the village, and a charter granted by the Leg- islature was approved in March of that year. The first election of officers was held March 27, at which six directors were chosen. The first school building under the new charter was erected in 1870. Amelia Wright was the first principal and S. J. Robbins was teacher in the interme- diate department. This is the humble be- ginning of an institution which has since developed to be one of the best of its kind in the state of Minnesota. As a relic of the old days, the first school building is still in existence in the community, where it at one time furnished the triple purpose

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of a seat of learning, a temporary home for the Episcopal church organization, and a place for the gathering of the Sons of Malta-a local burlesque lodge whose fa- mous hoaxes are frequently called to mind by the old settlers.

In 1866 Moore & McClure erected at the waterpower a flouring mill of 75-barrel capacity. This property passed into the exclusive possession of the latter gentle- man in 1869, was subsequently enlarged to 200 barrels, and remained in the owner- ship of the McClure family until 1889, when it was transferred to J. A. DuBois & Co., who in 1892 sold it to T. D. David- son of Milwaukee. In 1872 the Kellog Mill Company built the Lakota Roller Flouring Mills, which met destruction by fire early in the 80's.

These early years saw several small manufacturing enterprises begun, but they were short lived, and it was not until Henry Keller set himself to the building of fanning mills that the first successful venture in the manufacturing line became established. This proved to be the founda- tion of the Keller Manufacturing Company, so well known in the Northwest, whose principal productions were wagons, sleighs and harrows. This remained a very suc- cessful institution until Mr .. Keller's death, when, a little later, it was destroyed by fire and was then relocated at Minne- apolis. Henry Keller was a soldier in the United States army, whom the close of the Civil War had dropped out at Sauk Centre, and he proved a most valuable addition to the little community. He was a public-spirited man, with a keen busi- ness instinct, and possessing an energy that was simply irrepressible. He served twelve years in the state senate.

Another soldier whom the close of the war dropped out at Sauk Centre was Albert Dahlem. Beginning with a little stock of sundries, his business developed into a mercantile establishment whose pride it is to be the oldest in that line of any in the city, it having occupied its present site for half a century.

The religious life found its expression very early at Sauk Centre. As early as 1860 a Congregational minister was sent to this locality by the American Home Missionary Society. This evangelical worker was the Rev. C. S. Harrison, still

living in Nebraska, who conducted serv- ices in the school-house in what is known as the Irish district, two and one-half miles from the city. He remained there for nearly two years, making it his head- quarters from which he extended his la- bors to what is now Alexandria, Osakis and Paynesville. But it is to the Methodist denomination that the credit must be given of the first church organization. This was effected in November, 1865, by the Rev. B. A. Kemp. The class consisted of ten members, and two years later they re- ceived from the Conference their regular appointed pastor in the person of the Rev. J. H. Macomber. A parsonage was erected, but services were held in an old school- house until 1875, when a church, which was afterward virtually rebuilt into its present form, was erected upon the pres- ent site.

The Congregational society was organ- ized January 20, 1867, with thirteen mem- bers, of which original number Mrs. Julia Tubbs, of Los Angeles, California, is still living at the advanced age of 80 years. The organization was the work of the Rev. A. K. Fox, who was compelled to leave the new field the following year owing to failing health. He was succeeded by the Rev. A. J. Pike, who was destined to prove one of the forceful factors in the growing community. Almost simultane- ously with these first efforts of the Con- gregationalists, a small gathering of people of the Presbyterian faith was brought about. Their pastor was the Rev. D. W. Evans. These two religious bodies at once proceeded to the construction of their re- spective houses of worship upon opposite sides of Main street. In 1872, however, their pastor having removed to Moorhead, the Presbyterians came to an understand- ing with their neighbor in which the for- mer abandoned the field, transferring their church building to the Congregationalists, by whom it was moved to the site then occupied by them. This was the church home until the society, in 1904, took pos- session of their present handsome and commodious edifice at the corner of Fifth and Oak streets.

In 1867 the Rev. George Stewart organ- ized the Church of the Good Samaritan in the interests of the Episcopalians. The following year saw the erection of the

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church and rectory. Mr. Stewart pos- sessed an architectual talent of high order, and he left a monument to his memory at Sauk Centre in the church edifice which he constructed, which in its attractive simplicity, its graceful lines and fine pro- portions, stands now after nearly half a century unsurpassed by any structure of a similar character in the entire North- west.

In 1878 the Rev. E. B. Haskell gathered the people of the Baptist faith together, holding at first their services at the resi- dence of Deacon West. In 1879 the church building was erected.

The Lutheran denomination organized in 1881 under the name of The First Scandi- naviske Evangelisk Luthers Kirke, and proceeded at once to put up their church building. The Rev. O. P. Ojen was the first pastor. The original membership comprised the following names: John Johnson, T. Fladeland, Andrew Brink, E. E. Knuteson, John Myhre, Gustaf Jacob- son, Marcus Madland. Jenny Johnson, Anton Larson.

The Seventh Day Adventists also estab- lished a church at Sauk Centre about 1890.

The religious society having the greatest number in Sauk Centre is the St. Paul's Catholic Church. The site, which has always been retained, was purchased in 1870 for $475, by the Hon. Joseph Capser, Ferdinand Borgmann, Joseph Ebensteiner, Henry Kalkman, George Gruber and An- thony Miller, of which amount Mr. Capser contributed $300. As early as 1864, serv- ices were conducted at the home of Mr. Capser, the Rev. Father Mathias officiating. In 1871 their church building was erected. This building, although before many years overcrowded, was made to serve its purpose until April 25, 1906, when under the leadership of the Rev. Father A. Artz the energetic and indomitable parishioners completed and dedicated their present im- posing church edifice, the most costly of its kind of any in the city. This ministers to the needs of the German-speaking population.

Another large congregation is that of the Irish Catholics and is known as the Church of Our Lady of the Angels. Their church structure was raised in 1883. Their

first regularly appointed priest was the Rev. Father C. Gamaiche.

Fraternal associations have found a nourishing soil in Sauk Centre. The earliest one was that of the Masonic order, when Star in the West Lodge No. 60, A. F. and A. M., held under dispensation its first meeting on December 15, 1866. The offi- cers were: W. H. Smith, W. M .; N. S. Parker, S. W .; Lucas Kells, J. W. The membership was nine. The charter is dated October 23, 1867.

Sauk Centre Lodge No. 34, I. O. O. F., was instituted March 1, 1872, with five members. The first officers were: A. M. Stiles, N. G .; S. Beidlemann, V. G .; J. M. Gilman, Secy .; S. A. Irish, Treas. As the years sped by, other fraternals were added to the list. The Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Knights of Pythias, the Yeomen, are all repre- sented at Sauk Centre.

In 1872 Andrew J. Smith established the first bank in Sauk Centre. This was known as the Citizens Bank, and went out of existence in 1896. In the year 1880 Solomon Pendergast and Lucas Kells founded the Bank of Sauk Centre, which afterwards merged into the First State Bank of Sauk Centre now forms one of the strong triumvirate that supplies the financial necessities of this locality. The other two are the First National and Mer- chants National. The former of these was founded in 1884 with Henry Keller presi- dent, and C. M. Sprague cashier. The Merchants National was organized in 1902, with Henry Keller president, and A. W. Austin cashier. In the construction of this bank there was an eye to the future, and the result is that a bank building was erected which will remain unsurpassed un- til the city is several times its present size. James A. Caughren is now its president, and A. W. Strebel its cashier.

Directly after the close of the Indian outbreak there located at Sauk Centre a gentleman whose lot henceforth was so enwrapped in the affections and interests of the people of the entire region that he left behind him a monument more durable than bronze or marble. Although now for thirty-three years his labors on earth have ceased, and many of the old settlers to whose needs he so faithfully ministered

T W. WOOD. Aug 1860.

To-ojate duta Little Crow-

LITTLE CROW

SAUK CENTRE STOCKADE

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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY

have gone into the silence with him, such was the reputation he established that their children still mention his name with a peculiar fondness and reverence. This man was Dr. Benjamin R. Palmer, the first regularly qualified physician in Sauk Centre. Dr. Palmer was cultured and pos- sessed a fine medical education, a portion of which he had received in Paris. He was a native of Pennsylvania. A victim of pulmonary hemorrhages and forced to leave his home climate, he came to Minne- sota and its invigorating atmosphere. Nor did he seek what in his day would corre- spond to the idle isolation of the modern sanitorium, incapable as it is of being separated from a morbid tendency to self- inspection which itself is unhealthful. He went directly to the frontier and plunged into the arduous duties, hardships and even perils that characterize the labor of one of his profession in a pioneer civiliza- tion, prolonging his life twenty years by devoting it exclusively to the service of others. Stationed at the old stockade as military surgeon during the trouble with the Indians, at its cessation he erected a home in the village and continuously until bis death in 1882 devoted himself to the demands of the extended and thinly set- tled region which was tributary to Sauk Centre. In this life there was tragedy, there was pathos, there was sacrifice, which in other stations of society would have called forth the loftiest tribute of the panegyrist. Many of the homely incidents connected with his career have made an indelible impression upon the minds of the people of this locality. His horse, Wilder, and his dog, Don, the faithful at- tendants upon his long and weary trips over poor and dangerous roads, retain almost a human place in the memory of the pioneer families. He was a man in- herently resourceful and with the most meagre of means at his disposal, met the emergencies often thrust upon him with an ingenuity that was indeed wonderful. Of a type of character modest and unas- suming, he faced the difficulties of his sit- uation with a courage that was not less than heroic. In the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic the B. R. Palmer Post was so named as a token of honor and respect for him on the part of the old veterans.

The village of Sauk Centre was incorpo- rated by an act of the legislature approved February 12, 1876, and on March 28 fol- lowing, at the office of L. L. West, there was held the first election. H. L. Sage and P. M. Meigs were appointed judges of the election and E. P. Barnum clerk. The first officers chosen were: President, E. P. Barnum; trustees, L. E. Coe, T. Fladeland and Samuel Beidleman; recorder, E. P. Barnum; treasurer, E. Oakford; justices of the peace, J. D. Carr and L. L. West; constables, H. A. Boobar and John H. Den- nis. The village organization was retained until 1889, when under a special charter and an approving act of the legislature dated March 5 of that year, Sauk Centre assumed the city form of government. The first mayor elected was W. S. Dean. The aldermen chosen from the two wards es- tablished were as follows: First ward, A. O. Hubbard, C. A. Morse, C. M. Coates; second ward, Samuel Beidleman, W. D. Townsend, Charles Fish; the treasurer elected was L. Kells. By an act of the legislature approved March 28, 1889, a municipal court was established. Lyman Barto was the first judge, and the office is now honored by the incumbency of Judge Carey Diehl. The present mayor of Sauk Centre is John W. McGibbon, who on the grounds of sheer efficiency is now completing his fourth term in this office. Another appreciation on the part of the citizens of faithful public service is evi- denced by the retention of J. F. Cooper as city clerk, he having for twenty-two years served continuously in that capacity.

Sauk Centre was without railroad ac- commodations until August, 1878. James J. Hill had but lately begun his marvelous career as a railroad builder, and in that month an extension of the St. Paul, Minne- apolis & Manitoba road passed through Sauk Centre. The first station agent in charge was Mr. Ulmer. He was super- seded in November of the same year by James A. Norris, who has held that posi- tion during all the years since. This enterprise of Mr. Hill's changed greatly the conditions of life for the pioneers of the Northwest. At Sauk Centre the only means of communication with outside civ- ilization had been the stage routes run- ning first to St. Cloud and later to Melrose. These, together with the long line of Red

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River carts slowly creaking their way from the north to procure food supplies from the mills at Sauk Centre and St. Cloud, were henceforth to be relegated to the picturesque incidents of the past. In - 1882 the Little Falls & Dakota, a branch of the Northern Pacific, running from Lit- tle Falls to Morris, and passing through Sauk Centre, was constructed. The same year saw the building also of the Sauk Centre Northern road running northward to Eagle Bend and afterwards to Bemidji. Thus in comparatively a few years, and upon the merging of the different Hill lines into the Great Northern and its ex- tension to the Pacific coast, Sauk Centre found itself an important town upon one of the great transcontinental highways, and by reason of its junction facilities, un- usually easy of access from all parts of the state of Minnesota.

The cities which have sprung up in such a wonderful manner all over our western country in the last fifty years have been, generally speaking, what their citizens have made them. And in this matter of public spirit Sauk Centre has not been wanting .. She quickly turned her attention to civic improvements. As early as 1884 a system of waterworks was established. The power was furnished by the mill dam. Thus a source of ample fire protection was secured, and the process of beautifying the city by the planting and preservation of trees and lawns was begun. As a result, there was organized a fire department which has proved its efficiency upon so many occasions that it is doubtful if there is a volunteer organization anywhere in the state with a better record. Then, in 1889, under the mayorship of M. Hogan, a system of public sewerage was inaugu- rated. This at first was limited principally to the business portion of the community, but in 1903, during the term of office of J. A. DuBois, it was extended to all parts of the city.

The women of Sauk Centre have not awaited the privilege of the franchise to take a hand in the city's affairs. Through their various societies, such as the Gradatim Club, the Art Circle, the Musical, the Sans Souci, they have ever been an active force in civic betterment. By their efforts, and due to their keener eye for the beautiful, many an unsightly corner,

the catch-all for tin cans and other rub- bish, has been made attractive and resplendent by the substitution of the graceful shrub and delicate flower. To some of their energetic workers is due the credit of the establishment of the rest- room at Sauk Centre, complete in all its appointments and supervised by a matron to whose care is committed the baby of the farmer's wife while she is attending to her shopping. This seems to have been an initiative movement, since a noted sociologist of Chicago, in writing lately upon this subject, divided the honor equally between Sauk Centre and a small city in Illinois.

To the glory of Sauk Centre is the fact that she had a public library of five thou- sand volumes before she had a permanent home for the books. Henry Ward Beecher once said that a house without books is like a house without windows, and the early settlers evidently believed that a public collection of books, letting in as it does the light of past ages, was not so much a luxury as a necessity to any in- spiring community. So, even before there was a village organization, the Palmer, Oakford, Barto, Barnum, Howard and other families formed what they named the Bryant Library association. This was the humble beginning of the Sauk Centre Public Library. The book which stood as No. 1 upon their shelves was an autograph copy of the poems of William Cullen Bry- ant, in whose honor the library had been named. Unfortunately, this volume was later stolen from its place, and thus the public was deprived of what would now be a notable relic. The growth of this library is instructive. Its size in 1883 can be esti- mated when it is cited that upon a day late in November of that year a committee composed of ex-Lieut .- Gov. Barto, E. P. Barnum, J. F. Cooper and J. A. DuBois conveyed the books in an ordinary dry- goods box from the high school building to a temporary home that had been se- cured for them. In 1903, principally through the efforts of Michael Hogan, the interest of Mr. Carnegie was elicited in Sauk Centre, and the result was the beau- tiful and commodious Carnegie building at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, where the public library found at last its permanent abode. Exery benefit seems

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to be accompanied by its disadvantages, and in this instance the cost of house- keeping diminishes the power of purchas- ing books. Still, there are now nine thousand volumes upon the shelves, and the library is in a condition of healthy growth.

The conversion of a most desolate and unattractive strip of ground, lying at the foot of Sauk Lake and just off of Main street, into a beautiful public park, is a fine example of what can be accomplished when the right public spirit is back of the enterprise. Upon this spot in the early days George Gruber had erected a brewery that was afterwards destroyed by fire, leaving nothing but a hideous ruin and a collection of unproductive sand dunes cov- ered with thistles and burrs. In the re- markable transformation that was brought about, the initiative in the movement was furnished by B. Willis How, then a resi- dent of Sauk Centre, now of the Kelly- How-Thomson Company of Duluth. In 1897 the property in question was in the possession of the Bohmer estate in Mel- rose. Through the generosity of Solomon Pendergast it was secured and held in trust for the city. In the following year, under the mayorship of Mr. How, it be- came a part of the public domain, and the services of a landscape artist were pro- cured, by whom it was platted. In a low- lying, marshy district, adjacent to the lake, a lagoon was formed, from the bottom of which the rich sedimentary deposit was transferred to the fruitless sand. By the application of intelligent human effort the barren waste was made glad, and today on this spot luxuriant elms are growing as if in their native loam. The foliage, the fountain, the flowers and the beautiful body of water stretching out before it make it a public resting-place in which the citizens of Sauk Centre can be allowed to have a justifiable pride, since it is the work greatly of their own hands and not a free gift to them on the part of a bounti- ful nature.

Quite early in the history and when certain localities were being designated as the sites for state institutions, Sauk Cen- tre had endeavored to secure for herself such a favorable selection, but she had been unsuccessful, other communities, either by reason of superior advantages or

more powerful political influence, bearing away the prize. In 1910, however, much to the surprise of most of her people, the coveted boon was attained, by the action of the State Board of Control in choosing Sauk Centre as the site of the proposed State Home School for Girls. Thus she suddenly, as it were, found in her midst not only one of the most prominent of our state institutions, but one whose salient features have already carried its name far beyond the confines of Minnesota.

There had been passed in the session of the legislature of 1907, after a bitter struggle and greatly through the influence of the State Federation of Women's Clubs under the leadership of Mrs. C. G. Higbee of St. Paul, a bill authorizing the separa- tion and removal of the girls' department of the State Training School which was located at Red Wing.

In the building up of this institution at Sauk Centre, Minnesota, always progress- ive, realized that something besides the material element, the brick and mortar entering into the construction of buildings, was supremely essential to the solution of the problems attending the attempt to transform into serviceable social factors those whom pernicious environments and other causes had rendered socially unfit. Services of the expert in this type of human character were imperatively de- manded. As a consequence, Mrs. Fannie French Morse of Massachusetts, who had made a similar institution in that state well known wherever sociological ques- tions are studied, was induced to come to Minnesota as superintendent of the new school. To her was entrusted its concep- tion, a conception which should cover not only the organization of its policies, but a supervision of its buildings, an attempt which in the space of scarcely five years has wrought from a barren timber-covered tract, a little community the worth of which in the shaping of the womanhood of Minnesota can not be overestimated. June, 1910, under her personal supervision, the first work, the clearing of the timber for sites, began. The following month the first sod was broken for building. A year later, on June 22, 1911, these initial build- ings, four in number, were ready for occu- pancy. To them was transferred from the Red Wing school 61 girls. So began the

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History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 93

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper Number of Pages: 1110

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1110