Historical Markers and War Memorials in Washington County, Minnesota
Stillwater is the county seat for Washington County
Adjacent to Washington County, Minnesota
Anoka County(22) ► Blue Earth County(26) ► Brown County(87) ► Chisago County(10) ► Cottonwood County(8) ► Dakota County(52) ► Jackson County(5) ► Martin County(6) ► Ramsey County(125) ► Watonwan County(4) ► Pierce County, Wisconsin(6) ► Polk County, Wisconsin(18) ► St. Croix County, Wisconsin(27) ►
Touch name on this list to highlight map location. Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
About 1843, six years before Minnesota became a territory, Lemuel Bolles erected on this creek the first commercial flour mill in the Minnesota country. Bolles salvaged wood from the shore of Lake St. Croix and carried it on his back to the mill . . . — — Map (db m21729) HM
How do you move millions of logs harvested from the forests of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin? Rely on a river. From 1839 to 1914, the St. Croix was a crucial link between logging areas and markets.
Arcola witnessed this great movement of . . . — — Map (db m117734) HM
In the 1850s and 1860s, your view from here would have been of a small but busy village. Sawmill operations began at Arcola in 1847, signaling not only the start of a prosperous business but also the growth of a community.
Beyond the Mower . . . — — Map (db m131109) HM
1776 • 1976
In memory of the 200th
anniversary of the
American Revolution and
the freedoms for which
it was fought.
May they always be.
Sponsored by
Hesley Jensen Post 491
American Legion and friends
Beneath this . . . — — Map (db m44162) HM
Dedicated
by
The American Legion
and Auxiliary
to
Hesley Jensen
Neil Moen & Hans Nelson
Who Made the Supreme Sacrifice
in the World War
1914–1918 — — Map (db m72024) WM
Railroads were charted in Minnesota as early as 1853, but it was not until 1862 that Minnesota's first railroad began to operate on ten miles of track connecting St. Paul with St. Anthony (now part of Minneapolis). In 1870, the Northern Pacific . . . — — Map (db m5289) HM
The St. Croix River Valley Forming a long stretch of the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, the St. Croix is one of America's most scenic Wild Rivers. Its valley is sometimes referred to as the "New England of the West."
Along with the . . . — — Map (db m3093) HM
"From here, the first log in the race,
Went forth to seek a dwelling place."
Harriet Bishop, Minnesota, Then and Now, 1869
The St. Croix River ranked second only to the Mississippi as a carrier of logs and . . . — — Map (db m54391) HM
Swedish immigrant Sven Anderson built this early settler's cabin in 1852; some of the cabin logs still show the marks from the axe, which squared them. Sven and his wife Stava raised three children in this cabin, and it was their home until 1869. . . . — — Map (db m44601) HM
The St. Croix River Valley, with its towering white pines forests and navigable waters, was originally home to the Ojibwe and Dakota Peoples. In 1837, the tribes ceded their lands to the U.S. government, and by 1839, logs harvested in northern . . . — — Map (db m147264) HM
In 1857 these millstones were installed at Marine in one of the early flour and grist mills of Minnesota Territory. Water from a stream south of this site was conveyed by a race or flume to furnish power for the overshot mill wheel. Later, rollers . . . — — Map (db m28509) HM
The first commercial sawmill in Minnesota was erected 300 feet east of here in 1838. The lumbering industry, which monopolized the minds and talents of men in the St. Croix Valley for three-quarters of a century, was born with the erection of this . . . — — Map (db m28535) HM
One of Minnesota's first major industries was born here on August 24, 1839, when the slow, cumbersome up-and-down saw of the Marine Lumber Company cut the first commercial lumber in the state from trees felled in the rich white pine forests of the . . . — — Map (db m45392) HM
Sawmilling began here on August 24, 1839, when the Marine Lumber Company cut its first pine log.
In the autumn of 1838 two lumbermen from Marine,
Illinois, David Hone and Lewis Judd, arrived in the St. Croix River valley, attracted by it's . . . — — Map (db m51703) HM
Sawmills cut logs into rough boards. The boards were then planed and smoothed to emerge as finished lumber.
To your left are the remains of the planing-mill powerhouse. The square stone at the bottom of the ruin once supported a 50-horsepower . . . — — Map (db m54832) HM
“I hope we do everything we can to make certain that we handle this river with wisdom, with justice, with courage.”
Vice President Walter Mondale, co-sponsor of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
You are . . . — — Map (db m147366) HM
"... a lonely and forgotten reminder of the hopes of men and of the lusty lumber industry which did much to build an expanding America."
James Taylor Dunn, The St. Croix:
Midwest Border River, 1979
The stone ruins . . . — — Map (db m54137) HM
The Marine Township Hall was constructed in 1872 as a meeting hall and jail. The building was erected on property donated by Orange Walker. Its construction was financed by Morgan May who took the town's bonds for the necessary $2,000. Members of . . . — — Map (db m45939) HM
A Great Pine Forest
The St. Croix River valley's sandy loam soil is ideal for growing pine. In the 19th century its forests were filled with white pines. Many of them were two to three hundred years old, four to five feet in . . . — — Map (db m55015) HM
The wedge-shaped hill before you was once an island in the glacial St. Croix River and where you are now standing was over 40 feet underwater. Imagine the trillions of gallons of glacial meltwater smashing . . . — — Map (db m181643) HM
William O'Brien State Park was established in 1945 with a donation to the State of Minnesota of 180 acres by Alice O'Brien. This gift was given in memory of her father William O'Brien, who was a pioneer lumberman.
This marker is dedicated to . . . — — Map (db m52902) HM
A replacement bridge crossing between the Stillwater, Minnesota area and the Town of St. Joseph, Wisconsin had been discussed for many years to address traffic congestions, safety, pedestrian use, and maintenance issues on the aging lift bridge. . . . — — Map (db m148113) HM
Putting America to Work
In 1929, the Great Depression swept America and millions were left without work. To help the country through these tough times, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created several federal work programs lasting from 1933 to . . . — — Map (db m201260) HM
The St .Croix Crossing is an extradosed bridge design- described as a hybrid between a girder bridge and a cable- stayed bridge. The extra-dosed design was chosen because its signature qualities complement the natural attributes of the river valley. . . . — — Map (db m148109) HM
Both Native Americans and early pioneers used the St. Croix River and its tributaries as highways. Canoes were the prevalent mode of travel through the waterways. The Palmyra was the first steamboat to dip its paddles into the St. Croix River, . . . — — Map (db m148107) HM
All of the land seen from this bridge and beyond is part of millions of acres ceded under an 1837 treaty between Ojibwe and Dakota bands and the United States government. The acreage contained vast tracts of the prized white pine that grew north of . . . — — Map (db m148106) HM
[west face]
1850 1900
In memory of the First Swedish Settlers in Minnesota
[south face]
1850 – 1900
Oscar Roos, Carl Fernstrom och August Sansahl från Vestergötland, Sverige, bosatte sig å detta hemman omkring den 18 . . . — — Map (db m118710) HM
The first Swedes arrived in the territory of Minnesota in 1850, settling in Scandia. By 1920 nearly a quarter of Minnesota's foreign-born residents were from Sweden, making it the home of more Swedes than any other state. About half lived in . . . — — Map (db m207127) HM
On Easter Sunday April 18, 1965 floodwaters of the St. Croix River crested here at 694.07 ft. above sea level, highest stage ever recorded at this point, and 19 ft. above normal. A mile-long dike built by hundreds of volunteer workers, including . . . — — Map (db m78691) HM
On this site, in the frontier river settlement of Stillwater, sixty-one delegates from the vast unorganized wilderness west of the St. Croix assembled on August 26, 1848 to hold the Minnesota Territorial Convention. In this convention the name . . . — — Map (db m136724) HM
In honor and remembrance of all Washington County veterans.
This monument was made possible by the generous donation of the Margaret Rivers Fund and other contributors. — — Map (db m78708) WM
From 1856 to 1914, the St. Croix Boom was the logging industry center on the St. Croix River–the place where logs cut from northern forests entered the marketplace.
Each spring, loggers harnessed the river's powerful current to float . . . — — Map (db m131175) HM
The site of this tablet marks the northern limit of Lake St. Croix, impounded by the natural dam of sand and gravel, made by the Mississippi where it is joined by the St. Croix River, twenty miles below Stillwater. The . . . — — Map (db m43994) HM
In this ravine at daybreak July 3, 1839, a war party of Sioux overtook a body of Chippewa returning from Fort Snelling where a Sioux had been killed by another Chippewa. A bloody battle took place in which the Chippewa losses were about 50 killed . . . — — Map (db m207756) HM
Waters from merging glaciers several thousand years' ago carved deep valleys for the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. Deprived of the glacial waters the rivers were so reduced in volume and carrying power that they were unable to maintain clear . . . — — Map (db m16148) HM
As the St. Croix logging industry center, the Boom Site bustled with activity beginning in June and ending when all of the logs were sorted from the river, usually in August but sometimes as late as October. At the height of operations, around 600 . . . — — Map (db m131176) HM
Minnesota Territory 1849 – 1858
On March 3, 1849, during his last hours in office, President James K. Polk signed a bill adding a new name to the American political landscape – Minnesota Territory. A vast land, it stretched from . . . — — Map (db m43908) HM
Samuel Bloomer,
Married
Miss Nellie
Pressnell,
who was born in Shipton-
Under-Wychwood, England,
Aug. 10, 1845.
Children:
Chas. H. Bloomer,
Born Sept. 27, 1866,
Died Apr. 25, 1891.
Grace G Bloomer
Born Feb. 18, 1872, . . . — — Map (db m72008) HM WM
This was the site of the
Stillwater High School from 1887 - 1994.
The Stillwater Veterans Memorial was built on this historic site and dedicated on Memorial Day 2004. The plaques on the Wall of Honor spire list the names of veterans who . . . — — Map (db m72045) HM
Dedicated to the
Soldiers and Sailors of the
United States
Enlisting or Residing in
Washington County
———
Erected by the Citizens of
Washington County
1916
center panel
Minnesota
Alcorn James 2nd Cav. . . . — — Map (db m72153) WM
Center of log and lumbering activities in this region for over half a century prior to 1914.
Here millions of logs from the upper St. Croix and tributaries were halted, sorted, and rafted, later to be sawed into lumber and timber products. More . . . — — Map (db m44673) HM
The earliest mills depended on water to power their saws. But in 1855, the Hersey, Staples Company (later Hersey & Bean) built the first steam powered sawmill on the St. Croix on this location just south of Stillwater. Steam powered a mechanized . . . — — Map (db m148719) HM
Veterans Memorial
Dedicated 2004
These plaques form a Wall of Honor that bears the names of the more than 100 service personnel who attended Stillwater area schools and lost their lives in times of war.
Veterans, living or dead, . . . — — Map (db m72031) WM
Stillwater-Houlton Interstate Bridge Opened July 1, 1931 has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior — — Map (db m155496) HM
Here in 1839, in Crawford County, Wisconsin Territory, Joseph R. Brown, first settler of this valley, laid out the town of Dahcotah. The following year as a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, Brown secured passage of a bill setting up . . . — — Map (db m43754) HM
In 1849, the Governor of the new Territory of Minnesota, Alexander Ramsey, urged the Territorial Legislature to provide for a "proper and safe place of confinement" for prisoners of the territory. Because of Ramsey's request, the Legislature . . . — — Map (db m43747) HM
This flag, which once flew over the United States Capitol in Washington D.C., now flies proudly over Main Street, Stillwater, Minnesota.
It is placed as a memorial to all Veterans, who in times of wars and in times of peace, throughout the . . . — — Map (db m78689) WM
Minnesota's first courthouse, a three-room frame structure erected at the corner of 4th and Chestnut Street in Stillwater in 1849, had become inadequate by 1866. On November 6 of that year, Washington County voters approved funds for the . . . — — Map (db m171962) HM
