Minneopa State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic Resources

About 1860 South Bend had the distinetion of being the home of D. A. Allen (Tom Thumb ISTo. 2), who was then reported to be tlie smallest man in the United States. He was at that time twenty-two years old and only thirty-one inches in height, half an inch shorter than Barnum's famous Tom Thumb. His weight was only thirty-five pounds, much less than the great showman's prodigy-. Mr. Allen's parents lived in those days upon a farm, just west of Minneopa Creek on the Mankato and New Ulm road.

Passage source: History of Blue Earth County and Biographies of Its Leading Citizens, published 1901.

A number of stores and shops were built at South Bend village during 1856 and 1857. Pi'ominent among the stores in the fifties, were those owned by Eckstrom Bros, and Brown, Wm. Hewitt, McGibbon and Purnell, W. W. Davis and Lnrs Lee. During the same period A. K. Dahl had plow works; E. D. Price, D. D. Evans and E. K. Bangs had blacksmith shops; Peter Potts sold ready made clothing, Jonas Mohr (who in 1862 was killed by the Indians in Butternut Valley) had a hardware ; John D. Evans ran a =hoemakers shop ; Cake had a cooper shop ; Dr. Geo. W. Havens looked after the sick; Daniel Buck, the well known lawyer and jurist, and B. Parke Dewey, son of Judge Dewey, for many years on the Supreme bench of Indiana, assisted people in their legal quarrels; Geo. McGiviiey ]]ad a harness shop; And. Johnson conducted a tailor shop; Ever Severson had a cabinet shop; Joe -Barker, Hans Peter Olson, Joe Miller and Everett & Wright, (vi'ho were in the Lake Shetek massacre in 1862), helped to relieve the thirst of the pioneers; Horton W. Nelson, John IT. Goodsell, Wm. J. McCauley and J. T. Williams looked after the real estate booms of the growing metropolis; while Hon. D. C. Evans was General in Chief. In those early days. South Bend was a busy, bustling, trade center, full of hope and promise. It contained in its j)almy period nearly a hundred houses of all Irnds, and a population of 200 to 300. It continued to flourish until about 1868, when it was dealt a mortal blow by the St. Paul and Sioux City Railway Co. in its refusal to make it one of its stations. From that day forward it went down hill rapidly. W. W. Davis maintained a s-tore there off and on until May 1, 1896, when he sold, out to A. Lincoln, who was burned out in October, 1897. D. P. Davis and son conducted a store there continuously from the summer of 1867 until October, 1900, when he sold out to one Dethier and on the 11th of that month, this store and the old hotel building were burned to the ground. Since which time South Bend lias been a truly deserted village. The school house, the old Congregational church and the ancient stone building of Eckstrom Bros., which of late years has been transformed into a town hall, with a few scattered dwellings are all that remain of the town which once rivaled Mankato. South Bend postoffice was established in February, 1856, with Matthew Thompson as postmaster. He was succeeded by Daniel Buck, who lield the office until November, 1861, when Lars Ijce was appointed under the Eepublican administration. Paul P. Eckstrom in September, 1864, became his successor, and held the office until his departure from the village about 1870, when Wm. E. Price was appointed. March 19, 1878, David P. Davis, Jr., became postmaster, and was succeeded in 1885 by David P. Davis, Sr. W. W. Davis was appointed to the posifon in July, 1889, and in May, 1896, A. Lincoln succeeded him as postmaster and owner of the store. The store and postoffice were burned out in October,

Passage source: History of Blue Earth County and Biographies of Its Leading Citizens, published 1901.

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 South Bend Township - 2,306 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.