Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
One of 16 National Register listings published here for Houston County · listed in 1982 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article
The chapter on Wilmington Township in History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919 names Eitzen. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
It is supposed that the first log house put up in the valley was by Joseph Tippery and his brother William, which was in 1853. It was placed near the upper mill on section 23, where the cemetery now is, and near where there was at the time a ford across the creek. It was sold, as above mentioned, to Mr. Coe. In the spring of 1858 Peter McDonald lived in the house. He had two children, a son and a daughter, and that season the little boy was drowned in the spring branch near the house. This house was a source of considerable trouble afterwards as it was sold to I. C. Calkins, who moved it to the prairie, a quarter of a mile east of Eitzen, and placed it across the road south of J. A. Melvin's. Of course it made Melvin indignant to have his communications thus cut off, and the vendetta began in a modified Corsican style. Calkins proceeded to build a barn, which was burned on May 9, 1864. Melvin was arrested as an incendiary and held to bail to answer before the grand jury, but this tribunal found no bill against him. Melvin then proceeded against Calkins in a legal way and secured the arrest of him and his family, and he, securing a postponement of the case, took himself beyond the jurisdiction of the court, in May, 1865, and this practically ended the local war.
Passage source: History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919.
The first blacksmith's shop in town was started by Thomas Biggs, a practical workman, who built shop on the farm of J. A. Melvin on section 32, in 1862, near Eitzen, and was carried on by him for several years. T. H. Templeton, in 1862 or 1863, built a shop on section 25, but his fire only continued to burn about a year. The next man to erect a forge was B. J. Smith, in 1867, near the upper mill, who after hammering away a while sold to Mr. Kemp. About the year 1870 Charles Vorpole started a shop at Eitzen.
Passage source: History of Houston County, Minnesota, published 1919.
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 Wilmington Township - 3,684 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Portland Prairie Methodist Episcopal Church between 1992 and 2017, burning about 29 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 June 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 May 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 May 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 April 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 April 1994 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 April 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Portland Prairie Methodist Episcopal Church: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thiele Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Eitzen, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1996 | Hail | Eitzen | 2 hurt, $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Heavy Rain | Eitzen | $45,000 | Rainfall totaled 5.66 inches during this time frame. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Eitzen | $10,000 | A barn was lifted off its foundation and landed on a house southwest of Eitzen while power poles and lines were blown down in Eitzen. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Eitzen | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EF0) | Eitzen | - | This weak tornado continued into Houston County from Allamakee County where it produced additional minor tree damage. Much of this tree damage occurred within the proximity of structures but no structural damage was observed. |
| August 2012 | Hail | Eitzen | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Eitzen | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Eitzen | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Christian Bunge Jr. Store | 1.9 miles | 1982 |
| Eitzen Stone Barn | 2.1 miles | ||
| Johnson Mill | 4.1 miles | 1982 | |
 | Houston County Courthouse and Jail | 7.4 miles | 1983 |
 | Spafford Williams Hotel | 7.5 miles | 1982 |
| David R. and Ellsworth A. Sprague Houses | 7.5 miles | 1982 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 82002967 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Houston County | All 16 listed properties in this county. |
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