First National Bank

In September, of this year, five energetic young men, then in St. Paul, moved by the spirit of the times and impelled much by the same motives which had actuated the founders of Blue Earth City, also conceived the idea of establishing a town somewhere in the great Territory of Minnesota. Their names were Andrew C. Dunn, Warren N. Dunham. Elijah H. Barritt, James Sherlock and Charles H. Parker. Having determined on this project, they at once purchased a team and outfit, and all except Mr. Parker, started out to find an eligible location. They laid their course for Lake Albert Lea, in Freeborn county, adjoining this county on the east, and ar- rived there about the first of October. But on reaching that point they found that tlie only suitable location for a town had already been taken up by George Ruble and others. They endeavored to get an interest in this location, but failed. The question then arose to what point should they now direct their course? Mr. Dunn remembered having met, during the summer of this year, at Mankato, Grover C. Burt and Hiram L. Young, who were at the time living on the Blue Earth river, in this county, and who had given him very glowing descriptions of the Blue Earth Valley and strongly invited him to visit this region. So they started for the Blue Earth, where they safely arrived and made inquiry for Mr. Young, whom they found living in a tent on the lands of Capt. H. H. Bigelow, adjoining what is now the site of Winnebago City. Mr. Young and one B. K. Burt were then "claiming" the two quarter sections on which the village of Winnebago City was afterwards located, but on learning that our company were desirous of founding a city, they surrendered their claims and took others. Our company camped with Mr. Young about six weeks, while making the claim and locating the town. The town was located upon the south-east quarter of section thirty-four and the south-west quarter of section thirty-five in town one hundred and four of Range twenty-eight west.

Passage source: The History of Faribault County, Minnesota : from Its First Settlement to the Close of the Year 1879 : the Story of the Pioneers, published 1896.

A hotel building next demanded attention. One Dr. W. N. Towndrow, assisted by the town proprietors, undertook this important work. This structure was twenty by thirty-six feet and one and one-half stories high. The boards for the floor and roof - green basswood and elm - were purchased at Mankato, at an expense of about seventy-five dollars per thousand feet. The building, however, was not finished until the next year, but served a good purpose as a fort, during the Indian excitement, in the spring of 1857. A steam saw mill was also purchased in Chicago, by the company during the year, but did not arrive until the following spring. The further history of this young city will be found in the historical sketch of Winnebago City township.

Passage source: The History of Faribault County, Minnesota : from Its First Settlement to the Close of the Year 1879 : the Story of the Pioneers, published 1896.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Winnebago City - 2,513 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.