Lake Henry City

Lake Henry City

Lake Henry lies in the southwest part of the county, and has an area of about 23.000 acres, embracing the whole of township 123 north, range 33 west. With the exception of some light timber along the banks of Lake Henry, the town was originally a smooth prairie, somewhat undulating. The soil is chiefly a rich black loam with a clay subsoil. The only lake of any importance is Lake Henry, lying on sections ten and fifteen. It is about one and a half miles long, with an average width of about one-quarter of a mile.

Prussia. He came to this then uninhabited region in 1855, and selected a home on sections ten and eleven. Mr. Popping died September 22, 1872. Michael Kraemer came in 1856, and settled near the south end of Lake Henry. These are undoubtedly the first two settlers. The population, for a number of years, increased very slowly, owing to the distance from market, and the open prairie country which was objected to by many on account of the frequent severe storms in winter. Later, however, the railroad extended west through the county, thus affording better facilities for the shipment of grain, and the winter storms have become less frequent and severe, and as a result, the town has grown.

This town was a part of Verdale, and afterwards, of several other towns, until 1869, when its own organization was completed. The first election was held at the residence of Xavier Popping, but the records are not to be found, and consequently a full list of the town officials elected at that meeting cannot be obtained. Xavier Popping was the first chairman of supervisors, and Mathias Gross was the first justice of the peace and town clerk.

The first school was kept by Frederick Rupp in 1869. He conducted the school about three years, and the scholars were gathered from every settled portion of the township. The second district was organized in 1880, and a good school building erected in section twenty-seven. The first organized district was number twentyfour. The school house was situated on section two.

The town of Lynden is situated in the southeast corner of Stearns county, and was originally covered with brush and timber. A large part of the town is undulating, with a rich and fertile soil. The Mississippi river forms its eastern boundary, while the Clearwater river fiows along its southern line.. A few settlers arrived in the town in 1853, but it was not until 1856 that any considerable settlement was made. The town is so situated that its history is very intimately connected with the towns of Clearwater and St. Cloud. The settlers of Lynden received their mail and attended church, bought their supplies and sold their produce at these points. For many years the settlers occupied only the eastern side of the town, and a large part of the western side of the town remained unsettled. The farmers were an intelligent, active and progressive class of citizens, and conducted their farming operations in an enlightened and business-like manner. During the early years of the town's existence, the settlers saw hard times, and scant fare, and suffered many privations.

T. C. Porter and John Townsend made the first claims in what is now the town of Lynden, in 1853. Their claims were made in sections twenty and twenty-one, on land later owned by W. T. Rigby and G. B. Benson. Mr. Porter sold his interest to Townsend, the following year, for ten dollars; it was subsequently preempted by Joseph and Peter Townsend, brothers of John, who had also arrived in 1853. William and John McDonald came the same year. Porter and the Townsends were natives of Pennsylvania, the former coming to Minnesota before the territorial organization. Jonathan and William Dallas, natives of Indiana, settled on section four, in 1854. In the same year, M. D. Cambell came from Ohio and James Cambell, his brother, from New York. They took claims in the fall. Abel Kent, wife, and four daughters, accompanied by J. W. Stevenson, came from Ohio, in 1855, and settled on sections nine and ten. Tradition says, T. C. Porter ferried the young ladies across the Clearwater river on his back, and escorted them to their new home. George T. Cambell also arrived and took a claim this year. However, he went back to Boston and did not return until 1860.

J. W. Stevenson married Emma Kent in the fall of that year. Simon Stevens, another pioneer, lashed two Indian canoes together and took the wedding party across the Mississippi river, and the ceremony was performed on the east bank of the stream, between sundown and dark, by John H. Stevenson, justice of the peace of Sherburne, then Benton, county. As soon as they were declared man and wife, a party of pioneers secreted in the timber near by fired a salute in honor of the event frightening many of the bridal party

Joseph Townsend and Harriet Ball were married in October of the same year by the same official and under similar circumstances there being no clergyman or justice of the peace in this town at that time. The first ceremony performed in the town was the marriage of A. B. Darby to Jerusha Ingalls on March 19, 1858.

In 1856 the population was increased by the arrival of S. A. Clifford, W. D. Davis, Truman Parcher, L. C. Johnson, Martin Johnson, Stephen Oyster, E. G. Mathews, George E. Warner, T. Heaton, A. G. Powers and B. T. Lyons. They took claims in the eastern part of the town. The same year,

The first child born was a son of Peter Townsend, named Byron, in August, 1856. The first death was J. W. Stevenson, to whom reference has just been made as the principal in the first marriage ceremony. He died on September 14, 1856.

The first school was taught by J. Kingsley, of Vermont, in the winter of 1858-69, in a shanty which had been erected for a groggery. The first school house was built in the summer following, the funds being raised by subscription, and Marietta Vorse taught the first school therein. The building was later used for a town hall.

The first election was held at the house of S. A. Clifford, in October, 1857, in what was then called Clearwater precinct. S. A. Clifford, Truman Parcher and Martin Johnson were judges of election, and A. C. Powers and W. D. Davis were clerks. The town was organized on January 15, 1859, and the first election held on that day at the house of John McDonald, later owned and occupied by Abijah Whitney. A preliminary meeting had been held in 1858, and the name of Corning chosen for the new town, but at the first annual meeting the name was changed to "Lyndon," though now written "Lynden."

The first township officers were: Supervisors, Seth Gibbs, chairman; Martin Johnson and Truman Parcher; clerk, W. A. Sumner; constables, T. Heaton and F H. Thompson; justices of the peace, W. T. Rigby and John McDonald; assessor, S. A. Clifford; overseer of the poor, N. W.

During the Rebellion, the town furnished its quota of volunteers for the army, and her sons did noble work on many southern battlefields. The following are among the names of those who enlisted during the war: Carroll H. Clifford, Prank W. Clifford, George C. Clifford, Frank W. Lyons, William H. Lyons, James M. Lyons, E. P. Parcher, Frank M. Parcher, Benjamin Rovinson, Adam Bunt, William Dallas, Wilber F. Fisk, James Langdon, C. H. Vorse and George T. Campbell. There was one lacking to fill the town's quota, and Levi Gleason was drafted and afterwards promoted to chaplain. All of the above named volunteers lived and returned to their homes, except E. P, Parcher, who was killed at the battle of The Cedars, December 7, 1864.

Clearwater Village

Clearwater village is situated partly in Stearns and partly in Wright counties, lying between Clearwater and Lynden townships. While its history properly belongs in that of Wright county, it is the trading center of Lynden, and many retired residents of Stearns county live there. A portion of the site was claimed in 1855 by Asa White, Alonzo T. Boynton, and others, and named El Dorado. During Mr. White's absence that season the land was claimed by Simon Stevens, Horace Webster, and John Farwell, and platted in the spring of 1856 as Clearwater by J. H. Talbott and Simon Stevens. This led to difficulties, but the matter was afterward adjusted in a friendly manner. The place soon became a popular center, and was thronged with pioneers looking for homes in Stearns and Wright counties.

to George Fuller. Dr. J. D. Wheeloch started the practice of his profession here in 1855, and continued to be the village physician for many years. The first white woman to arrive was Mrs. Abigail P. Camp, who afterward became Mrs. Thomas C. Porter. She reached here in August, 1855, as housekeeper for the townsite company. Mrs. J. D. Wheeloch, who came that fall, was the second white woman to reside in Clearwater. A postoffice was also established in 1855 and the first religious services held.

The first hotel was built in 1855 by Stevens, Webster & Farwell, Mrs. A. P. Camp being the landlady. In the spring of 1856 they sold the furniture and rented

In 1857, Frank Morrison built the Morrison House, which was open for several decades thereafter, and was at one time the largest and best hotel in the county. The religious services held in December, 1855, were conducted at the residence

Mr. Creighton, of Monticello. In 1857, Rev. Mr. Chamberlain, an Episcopal clergyman, conducted services in the first hotel erected. Later religious meetings were held in a two-story building, the lower story of which was used for a store, and the upper part for a school and public gatherings of various sorts. The ferry, so long in operation at this point, was first established in 1856 by Stevens, Talbott & Co..

The first store was opened in 1856 by Seth Gibbs and Newell Whiting in a building on the river bank near the ferry. The following spring W. T. Rigby opened another store. A third was opened in 1858 by S. A. Heard, and O. S. Lock soon followed with a fourth.

Samuel Whiting came to Clearwater in 1857 and started a general store in 1861. It lived to be for many years the oldest store in the county. In 1876 he put up what was then considered the best store building in the county. J. E. Fuller came to Clearwater in 1857 and started a general store in 1865. Major W. W. Webster came to Clearwater in May, 1857, and opened a general store in 1868. L. C. Johnson established a store of the same nature in 1875.

Philip Schwab, an early druggist of Rockford, went to Minneapolis in 1867 and in 1868 came to Clearwater and opened a drug and grocery store. In 1873 he eliminated the drugs. Mr. Schwab was a valuable citizen, loaned money extensively, and invested in many of the village enterprises. J. H. Davis was another early druggist. In 1871 he sold out to S. M. Philips, who, with a partner, E. P. Cross-

The first school was taught by A. C. Powers in the winter of 1856-57. The old building first used as a store served as the first school house. Miss Harvey, afterward the wife of Horatio Houlton, of Elk River, Sherburne county, was the second teacher. The first school building in the place was erected in 1860, It was afterward used as a Catholic church.

From 1866 to 1882, Clear Lake, across the river from Clearwater, was the only railroad egress from the village. But when the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba came through in January, 1882, a station was established here.

A stockade was built at Clearwater village during the Indian uprising, and the settlers from the timbered region found shelter therein. Squads of soldiers were located in the town at different times, and for the most part the prairie farms were cultivated. But from the southern part of the township many settlers departed never to return.

"In 1856, the Burbank stage company were running their stages from St. Paul to the Red River of the North by way of St. Cloud, as well as hauling supplies over this route. They found that by making a road from Clearwater to Cold Spring it would save twelve to fifteen miles of travel over the sandy road from Clearwater to St. Cloud. The saving of this distance was a big item to the company, with their heavy traflic. They made a proposition to the townsite owners of Clearwater, offering to make a good road from that place to Cold Spring, through the rich and fertile towns of Fair Haven, Maine Prairie and Luxemburg, providing that, in return, they were to have sufficient land for their barns, stables and warehouses. They intended to make this place a base of operations. The boats could bring up their supplies from St. Anthony during the whole season of navigation, whereas, it was only during the high water that the boats could reach St. Cloud. The road to Cold Spring would run through a very fertile country, now fast settling up, and soon immense quantities of wheat, corn and oats would be hauled to Clearwater and sold to be shipped by boat to St. Anthony, and the money for the grain would be spent in the town for supplies that would be brought up by water at a rate cheaper than it could be hauled by team, as the case was at St. Cloud. Consequently, the farmers could get better prices at Clearwater for their supplies. Then, again, the immense trains of Red River carts that made annual trips to St. Cloud and St. Paul would come by way of Cold Spring to Clearwater, and as they could send their goods down on the boat and get their supplies up from St. Paul cheaper than they could to go down with their trains, this town would become the terminal point of these trains. This alone would be a big item. This, together with the vast fertile country to the southwest with unlimited quantities of the various kinds of hardwood for lumber and manufacturing purposes, and together with a splendid water power, capable of running two flouring mills and a saw mill, would naturally point out this place as having all that was needed of natural advantages to make in the near future a large and flourishing city. But, the townsite owners, like many others in the early days, w^ere short sighted, and replied to the Burbank company's proposition, that their lots were for sale, but not to give away. The result was that the road to Cold Spring was never opened, and the company continued to go by way of St. Cloud.