New Ulm

New Ulm. . In 1851, leaders of the Dakota Nation signed the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux with the United States Government. This treaty opened new lands in Minnesota Territory for settlement. Two years later, German immigrants in Chicago, led by Frederick Beinhorn, formed the Chicago Land Society. They sent Athanasius Henle, Frank Massopust, Christian Ludwig Meyer, and Alois Palmer to search for a suitable site for a town. On Oct. 7, 1854, the scouting party selected an ideal location near the confluence of the Minnesota and Cottonwood rivers. The site was recommended by a French fur trader, Joseph La Framboise. , In May of 1855, members of the Chicago group reorganized as the "German Land Association of Minnesota." They named the site "New Ulm" because many original settlers came from the vicinity of Ulm in Württemberg, Germany. The following year they filed on 16 quarter-sections of land. At this time, members of the Turner Colonization Society of Cincinnati arrived in New Ulm seeking land for a German Colony. The two groups agreed to merge and incorporated the town of New Ulm on March 6, 1857. , The careful planning of the first settlers is evident in New Ulm today. Wide tree-lined streets, spacious boulevards, and numerous parks and public areas are part of their original plan. The town survived the catastrophes of the Dakota War (1862), a tornado (1881), grasshopper plaques and crop failures. The City of New Ulm, nestled in the Minnesota River Valley, remains full of old-world charm and tradition, a tribute to the pioneering vision of its founders. , Erected by the Brown County Historical Society , and City of New Ulm. 1994.