Denniston House

The first mention made of the present site of Cassville is by Mr. Shaw, a boatman on the Mississippi, who stopped at this point to bargain for a freight of lead ore on his trips down the river between 1816 and 1820. It would seem from this that there were habitations here at that time of French and Indians, but, as Shaw was obliged to go to Fever River for his lading, the probabilities are equally strong that no mining that could be dignified by the name was done here at that time. The next few years the place was undoubtedly deserted, as Mr. Thomas Hymer, as related by Mr. James Grushong, stopped at Cassville for some time in 1824, on his return from a trip to tho Selkirk Settlement, occupying a deserted cabin, there being no other occupants there at that time. The first signs of settlement came in 1827. Mr. Orris McCartney in his recollections, says : The first furnace was built at Cassville by Judge Sawyer ; Tom G. Hawley built the first house at the same time. The next link in the chain of evidence is furnished by Mr. Levi Gilbert, who came to Cassville in 1827, and states that Judge Sawyer erected his furnace that year, and " was to give a free Fourth of July dinner, but hearing of Indian troubles decamped July 3." These statements place the probable date of settlement in that year.

Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.

The following year quite a number of new ones came in, among them Orris McCartney and Alexander Ramsay ; Henry Hodges and Thomas Shanley are also reported as coming this year. Those who came, however, did not remain long at this time with the exception of Mr. Ramsey. Between this date and 1831, but very little is known of the young settlement. In the lastnamed year, Maj. Glendower M. Price arrived at the little settlement with his young bride, and bringing with him an extensive line of goods, with which he opened the first store in Cassville, in a building on the bank of the river standing on the present site of Grimm's warehouse. The log dwelling house of Maj. Price stood on the ground now occupied by Geyer's warehouse, while between them stood afterward the "block-house" that served as a place of refuge for so many early settlers during the troubles of 1832.

Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.

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 Cassville Town - 10,167 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.