Rice Lake and its surrounding area were popular among early Indians for the abundance of good hunting and the wild rice that grew in the shallow lake waters. Women of the Winnebago tribe harvested the rice even after the first white settlers . . . — — Map (db m196833) HM
The First National Soil Conservation District Field Day and Plow Matches were held here on September 6, 1952. Over 125,000 spectators saw demonstrations of new methods and new techniques for soil conservation during the event. The presidential . . . — — Map (db m114960) HM
Dedicated to all Veterans who have honorably served past present and future Dear Veterans, Those of us who have not served will never fully understand the sacrifices youve made both in times of peace and of war. We will never fully . . . — — Map (db m306818) WM
Recognized as a local landmark since its construction, the Kasson Water Tower looks over the community. In 1895, 25 residents petitioned the Village of Kasson to erect a waterworks system inside the village limits. In June of that year, the council . . . — — Map (db m235300) HM
The 1st Freedom Rockฎ in Minnesota rolled into Kasson on July 4th, 2018. The 17 ton rock, donated by Brooks Excavating, found a home next to the Kasson American Legion Post #333. With artwork created by 'Ray Bubba' Sorensen II, this is the 5th Rock . . . — — Map (db m232540) HM
Dedicated to those who served
This memorial presented by the Dodge County Council of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliaries
Dedicated November 11, 1992 — — Map (db m289493) WM
A tribute to Gold Star Families and Relatives who sacrificed a Loved One for our Freedom.
This monument honors, recognizes, and serves Gold Star Families and the legacy of their Loved Ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving . . . — — Map (db m289141) WM
This building was built in 1856 as a hotel by John B. Hubbell who was one of the founders of Mantorville.
It replaced the original log Hubbell House built in 1854, the year Mantorville was incorporated.
Erected 1998 by the Hubbell . . . — — Map (db m295143) HM
Cabin or House? In the frontier of the mid-1800s, a three-story log structure like this would have been considered quite luxurious. To our twenty-first century eyes, it is a cramped and uncomfortable little cabin. Given the size of the . . . — — Map (db m293002) HM
John Hischi founded the Dodge County Brewery in May of 1857. This establishment was located on Fifth Street West near the 1918 Opera House, making this business the oldest microbrewery in Minnesota. One year later, Hirschi sold the business to . . . — — Map (db m297579) HM
Mantorville schools began teacher training or normal training in 1913. Young women, having completed at least three years of high school, could prepare for teaching in rural schools through this type of program. Often Normal Schools evolved into . . . — — Map (db m288211) HM
The Restoration House was purchased by the Mantorville Restoration Association (MRA) in 1963 from the Wytaske Estate for $1700.00. It was in serious need of restoration and repair. MRA members volunteered their time and talent to restore it in . . . — — Map (db m294160) HM
Changing the Land Changes the River
Over the past 150 years we have changed the landscape to create cities and farms. These changes increased how much water runs off the land. More runoff means more erosion, pollution, . . . — — Map (db m299879) HM
Bill Patterson sitting on the porch. He owned the Doig House from 1963 to 1986.
In the early days of building Wasioja, town founder Curtis Moses recruited Andrew and Alexander Doig, Scottish immigrant brothers and . . . — — Map (db m285951) HM
This small limestone building was built in 1855. It is most well known as the last remaining Civil War recruiting station in Minnesota. The Wasioja Grange and Old Settlers Society were instrumental in its preservation in the 1960s. A . . . — — Map (db m287744) HM
The Wasioja Baptist Church, erected in 1858, was built by pledges and barters during a nationwide economic recession.
In Wasioja's earliest days, its first ten families organized a congregation for themselves. In the summer . . . — — Map (db m286434) HM
When the Civil War began in 1861, Minnesota was the first state to offer and send troops to aid the Union cause. In April 1861, this building was converted to use as a recruiting station. Recruits from the Wasioja station, numbering over 200, . . . — — Map (db m114961) HM
First, second and third grades, 1896
Wasioja's ambitious pioneer citizens established its first school in 1856 in a small wood frame building. But within two years, town leaders recognized the need for a permanent school. . . . — — Map (db m287263) HM
The role of buildings in the development of a community and their significance in history is amply pointed out by the history of this structure. Anxious to promote the growth of the newly formed town, the citizens agreed to provide the Free Will . . . — — Map (db m115028) HM
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
Years ago, bison, Native Americans, and European settlers wore trails into the prairie grasses. By the 1880's many trails had become steel rails. Some trails became dirt roads, traveled by wagons, sleighs, and horse-drawn coaches, moving people and . . . — — Map (db m179008) HM
Minnesota's doctors and the institutions they built have played a distinguished role in the medical revolution of the past 150 years. Both the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota Medical School have pioneered treatment techniques that have . . . — — Map (db m178478) HM
During the summer of 1858 gold was discovered in the bed of the Zumbro River at Rochester and near Oronoco. The news created a local sensation. On July 1, 1858, the Rochester Democrat reported: "The excitement in reference to the gold . . . — — Map (db m178512) HM
August 27, 1961, marked the centennial observance of the founding of the M E A. This organization, with its more than 28,000 classroom teachers and administrators and with its headquarters in St. Paul, was formed at Rochester during the early days . . . — — Map (db m196352) HM
Built in 1862, during the Civil War, eight years after the founding of
Rochester (1854), the primitive "chapel" measured only 27 by 55 feet.
It was built on the original plat of bricks made in Rochester. Two lots
were given by George Head, . . . — — Map (db m147342) HM
In 1856, W. D. Lowery donated his cow pasture to establish Rochester's first park, Central Park. In the 1800s Central Park was the gathering place for picnics, band concerts and ice cream socials with a majestic fountain as the centerpiece.
In . . . — — Map (db m196421) HM
Conley Maass Downs Bldg. built 1900 has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior — — Map (db m146895) HM
On this site in 1865 Dr. William Worrall Mayo constructed his first (and only) dedicated medical office building in Rochester. Later destroyed by fire, it was described as a neat and pleasant office (Rochester City Post, June 10, 1865). . . . — — Map (db m306900) HM
Hadley Valley School was built in Olmsted County in approximately 1885 and is preserved here as a symbol of the pioneer's desire that his children have an education.
Moving of the school has been made possible by Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Lowry in . . . — — Map (db m179019) HM
Rochester was built on a floodplain created by the South Fork of the Zumbro River and its tributaries. The first recorded flood in Rochester was in 1855 and historic floods occurred in 1866, 1882, and 1908. Rochester's worst flood happened in 1978. . . . — — Map (db m178691) HM
The diversified scenery of Minnesota - of which the Rochester area is one phase - is due to the location of the state in the approximate center of the continent. Situated midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of . . . — — Map (db m178698) HM
Silver Lake is a reservoir that was created in the 1930s by hand-digging a basin to hold water and then constructing a dam to back-up river water. It was built as a work relief project, providing work for over 400 unemployed men.
The land on . . . — — Map (db m178778) HM
Captain Peter S. Mackey
Station 1 July 23, 1942
Firefighter Stanley J. O'Brien
Squad 1 Silver Lake December 24, 1953
Motor Operator Ambrose J. Riley
Ladder 1 Silver Lake December 24, 1953
Motor Operator Otis D. Ondler . . . — — Map (db m196425) HM
The land on which this monument stands, consisting of a tract shown in the plat hereon, was presented to the city of Rochester, for use as a public park by Drs. William J and Charles H Mayo on June 15, 1907. — — Map (db m203229) HM
A great love of nature led Dr. Charles Horace Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, and his wife Edith (Graham) Mayo to purchase a small red brick house and 340 acres in 1907. Their growing family and desire to preserve the natural beauty of the . . . — — Map (db m196339) HM
Near this marker on August 8 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated a bronze plaque in behalf of the American Legion to Doctors William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo. Speaking before 75,000 people, the President of the United . . . — — Map (db m179021) HM
In 1889 the Sisters of Saint Francis, under the leadership of
Mother Alfred, opened Saint Marys Hospital, the first hospital in
southern Minnesota, to meet the health needs of Rochester, needs
brought into sharp focus by the destructive tornado . . . — — Map (db m203231) HM
Twenty-five years after the deaths of the Doctors William James and Charles Horace Mayo the citizens of Rochester fittingly observed the Mayo Centennial Year - 1964 - to commemorate the approximate 100th anniversary of the birth dates of the Doctors . . . — — Map (db m196356) HM
The Olmsted County Historical Society
was organized in Rochester on January 25, 1926. The first officers were: Burt W. Eaton, President; Mrs. Jay E. Benedict, Vice-president; Lester J. Fiegel, Treasurer; Henry O. Christiansen, Secretary. For . . . — — Map (db m178785) HM
This humble little cabin was constructed in the summer of 1862 by Irish immigrant William Dee and a group of neighbors. The cabin was built on lot six of block four of the Head and McMahon's Addition, now West 6th Street. William's wife, Bridget, . . . — — Map (db m178996) HM
Richard Warren Sears (1863-1914), cofounder of Sears Roebuck and Company, was born in Stewartville and lived in this house from 1863 to 1869. Richard Sears was the son of James Sears a pioneer Stewartville blacksmith. In 1869 Sears began his . . . — — Map (db m235257) HM
