Settled in 1863 and platted in 1854, this town from June, 1856 to November, 1861, was the Government Land Office for the southern area. The St. Paul-Dubuque stage route, opened in 1854, following the Territorial Road from Hastings, roughly the . . . — — Map (db m207537) HM
It took almost 100 years and even more musicians for Chatfield to become known as Bandtown USA. In 1882, the little town formed its first brass band. The group was greeted with such approval that just three years later, the town instituted a tax . . . — — Map (db m288726) HM
The building before you represented the state of the art in progressive school building design when it opened in 1916 as the Chatfield High School. It exhibits a number of important design features that show the influence of the evolving . . . — — Map (db m289510) HM
Chatfield's founders intended the town to be the seat of government for the newly created Fillmore County, established by act of the Territorial Legislature on March 5, 1853. At the time it was created, Fillmore County encompassed all of the . . . — — Map (db m289170) HM
In 1854, the site of the future town of Chatfield was surveyed and platted by Thomas B. Twiford, acting as the agent for a group of real estate speculators organized in 1853 as the Chatfield Land Company. The town plat covered 195.6 acres and . . . — — Map (db m286448) HM
The roots of Chatfield's library were planted during the 1850s when a small group of book lovers purchased a collection of works for private circulation under the auspices of the "Washington Irving Literary Society," an off-shoot of the . . . — — Map (db m287293) HM
"CHATFIELD BRASS BANDThe instruments for the organization have been ordered, and are daily expected to arrive. There will doubtless be a good deal of 'tooting' for a while, as all things have a beginning, but in due course of time we shall have . . . — — Map (db m287753) HM
The Chatfield Academy was a non-governmental institution of secondary education, what we would now call a preparatory school. The academy movement had its origins in New England (Boston Latin was the prototype) and migrated west into Minnesota . . . — — Map (db m293055) HM
"The Territory of Minnesota opened a road from Winona to Chatfield and further west and the stage line followed the road. A stagecoach business flourished for many years and Chatfield was the crossing of two major lines, the stage . . . — — Map (db m288213) HM
The auditorium-gymnasium addition to Chatfield High School was built in 1935-1936. It was one of many PWA public school building projects in Minnesota. The building was designed by Toltz, King & Day, Inc., a well-known Saint Paul architectural . . . — — Map (db m294205) HM
History of the Harmony McMichael Grain Elevator
Built (circa 1879) for the A. & T. McMichael Grain Co. of McGregor, Iowa
The company owned and operated several grain elevators and warehouses in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and . . . — — Map (db m287316) HM
Water Tower on Historic Ground
An interesting fact connected with the history of Harmony was brought to light when the Village Council was required by the P.W.A. to procure all necessary titles and transfers to the plot of ground on which . . . — — Map (db m297728) HM
Before Our Time
The original hotel was the Harmony House (later Pulver Hotel), as it appeared in 1885, when it was owned by Charles A. Thompson. To the left is Mr. Thompson's Boot, Shoe and Harness Shop; the Pool Hall building before it . . . — — Map (db m300440) HM
Original Johnson Store
Sam and Peter Nelson, Lanesboro merchants and Samuel B. Johnson (S.B.), a clerk in the store, started a general store in the summer of 1889. Ben Larson was a partner in the store of Nelson Bros.
In 1889, Hans S. . . . — — Map (db m303116) HM
Bert Yates Hardware
Bert Yates had a hardware store located on north Main from 1938-1953.
The sign on the building just to the south indicates the Vadheim-Landry Drug Store.
Tallak Brokken Building
The south side of the . . . — — Map (db m304864) HM
Corner Store, Barber Shop, Clover Farm Store Wiped out by Early Morning Blaze
Four fire companies fight flames for more than two hours. Volunteers helped immenselysparks blown for blocks by northwest wind.
A devastating fire, . . . — — Map (db m307560) HM
July 4th Celebration
At the July 4th celebration, you can see the cars beautifully decorated. Tollef Sanderson's car (center) was decorated, and his three daughters and son were in the car.
The roof line at the far right is as it . . . — — Map (db m309033) HM
Like immigrants from many European nations in the mid-19th century, Norwegians left their homeland to escape overpopulation, food shortages, and farm foreclosures. They began arriving in Minnesota in the 1850s, drawn by rich farmland and job . . . — — Map (db m31323) HM
Growing for the Mills
The historic grain elevator reminds us of Preston's early agricultural years
Settled in 1853, Preston is named for Luther Preston, the town's millwright and first postmaster. Located on the . . . — — Map (db m289517) HM
"In memory of
Jesse Potter Nehring M. D.
who practiced medicine in this area from August 10, 1930, to January 25, 1967. His devoted service to his patients and his notable contributions to the care of the sick and to this . . . — — Map (db m303266) HM
In 1937-1928, during America's Great Depression, the Preston Overlook was built as a project of the federal National Reemployment Service (NRS). The NRS operated an employment office in each county to certify manpower for the many . . . — — Map (db m286102) HM
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert." Andrew Carnegie
No well-regulated, progressive town can afford to be without . . . — — Map (db m300553) HM
The Start of the Historic Walking Tour of Preston
1.🙠Historic Elevator. You are at Preston's railroad center (see adjacent The Milwaukee Road in Preston exhibit dedicated in 2019)all that is left is the 1902 . . . — — Map (db m295762) HM
Returning from Caledonia, train #641 is steaming westward at Mabel toward its home terminal in Preston with Class 8 G engine #1022 (last steam engine scrapped by Milwaukee Road in 1956).
August, 1953
Photo by Cecil Cook . . . — — Map (db m298381) HM
Grain Elevators
As the Blufflands were settled in the mid-1800s, harvests from local farms were brought to the grain mills and elevators in nearby townssuch as the Milwaukee Co. Grain Elevator in Preston. Grain was stored in . . . — — Map (db m293222) HM
Consider this your personal invitation to visit Preston, Minnesota, located along the Root River in scenic Historic Bluff Country!
Preston, also known as "Minnesota's Trout Capital," is a welcoming, family-fun destination offering a wide . . . — — Map (db m294348) HM
The second schoolhouse for children from Forestville and Carimona was built in 1857 out of locally made bricks.
The brick schoolhouse cost $500 ($18,000 today) to build. It replaced a log building located in south Forestville. Milton . . . — — Map (db m288800) HM
Local bridges helped tie the Forestville community together. Early Forestville roads crossed the rivers at shallow fords. However, these crossing points were somtimes [sic] impassable due to dangerous flash flooding, thin ice or deep . . . — — Map (db m298885) HM
Because Forestville spanned both sides of the Root River, reliable bridges were essential.
The first bridge was a wooden one built in 1856. It washed away in a flood. So did its replacement.
In 1899, the Gillette-Herzog . . . — — Map (db m289628) HM
One hundred years ago, people escaped to these cool, wooded valleys to picnic, fish and relax. For centuries, the rugged blufflands landscape has been home to a remarkable variety of plant and animal life. Forestville/Mystery Cave State park was . . . — — Map (db m307716) HM
Forestville, 18531868
Growing Town and Trade Center
Native people lived in this area for hundreds of years, attracted by its ample fresh water, rich black soil, plentiful wildlife, and hardwood forests. When . . . — — Map (db m300716) HM
Forestville's brickyard was in this area. The clay for the bricks was mined from the hillside directly behind you. The streambed in front of you once supplied water for the brickyard.
In 1855, John Gill moved to Forestville from Ohio. . . . — — Map (db m287844) HM
Soon after Forestville was incorporated in 1855, the distillery opened.
Felix Meighen and Ruben Odell established Forestville's distillery. Their main product was rye whiskey, which sold for 40 cents a gallon. The distillery . . . — — Map (db m304972) HM
Wheat was king in southeastern Minnesota in the 1850s. Most towns had active gristmills.
Forestville's gristmill ground wheat into flour. It operated from 1857 until the 1880s. When competition from Minneapolis mills . . . — — Map (db m303351) HM
In the early 1850s, demand for new houses in southeastern Minnesota created a need for sawmills.
Thomas Meighen and Herman Luedtke built a steam-powered sawmill near this spot in 1892. To run their mill, they bought a . . . — — Map (db m295865) HM
The Forestville Graded School (as it was called locally) was built in 1879. It drew children from Forestville and the neighboring town of Carimona.
The first class was held here on January 14, 1880. The school stayed in use until the . . . — — Map (db m287325) HM
Step into the story of a 19th-century farming town.
Two 1851 treaties ceded Dakota lands to the United States, opening southern Minnesota to settlement. European American immigrants rushed into the territory.
In the early 1850s, . . . — — Map (db m289209) HM
During warm seasons, icehouses kept fresh food cold.
In the winter, ice was harvested from a nearby stream. To keep ice blocks from melting, they were packed in sawdust and stored in the icehouse. In the warm months, people used giant . . . — — Map (db m293279) HM
Horse medicine, school slates, eyeglasses, flour - all might have been for sale or trade in the log cabin store opened in 1853 by Felix Meighen and Robert Foster, boyhood friends from Pennsylvania. As the only store in Fillmore County, it did a . . . — — Map (db m205151) HM
Robert Foster, the general store's cofounder, built a house atop this hill around 1861.
Robert Foster and his family lived in the house until 1876, when he gave up his share of the store. Farmhands and their families lived in the house . . . — — Map (db m288264) HM
The south branch of the Root River is one of the largest trout streams in SE Minnesota. Its upper branch begins just south of Grand Meadow and Spring Valley, where it is fed by additional spring water and cuts through bedrock on the way to . . . — — Map (db m294390) HM
From 1855 to 1899, more than 30 burials were performed at Zumbro Hill Cemetery
The cemetery, accessible by a nearby wagon road, was built on land donated by Major Foster. Of the original headstones, 19 are still legible.
The cemetery . . . — — Map (db m286480) HM
Placed on National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior
Built-1872
Rushford Wagon and Carriage Co., started in 1860 by John Albertson, built wagons, carriages and sleighs until 1939. Other . . . — — Map (db m288766) HM
The Wilder family, of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, moved to Spring Valley in the 1870's: James and Angeline, children Laura, Royal, Eliza, Alice, Almanzo and Perley.
Construction of this Methodist Church began in 1876. The . . . — — Map (db m286449) HM
