Historical Overview

1845-1900

History has shaped the lands physical form and the ideas and values through which people viewed, interpreted and interacted with this place.  Here some of the history of the Cannon River valley and specifically Northfield is overviewed before and throughout settlement.  This overview is also used to help reconstruct the place that early settlers lived, find some of the reasons they came here and to investigate what their place in this world was. 
 

Early Explorers and Native Americans

The French explorers and fur traders were some of the first white European men to visit the Cannon River valley.  Le Sueur a French explorer had visited the area in 1689.  His men were amazed at the beauty they saw around them, but like many explores compared it to their native France amid homesickness.  They traveled from the Mississippi were the French Prairie Island Fort was located to the Cannon River.  The Cannon later became a transportation route as the fur trade came to the area and one of the first permanent white settlements to appear was a fur trading post.  Le Sueur’s group was one of the first to have contact with the native tribe that inhabited the area.  Later other explores and fur traders would enter the area.  There time in the region declined as the fur trade slowed and hunting depleted the animals available to trade. (Munson, 2-7).

Another one of the first explores into the Cannon River valley was a scientist by the name of Joseph N. Nicollet.  He traveled near the area of what is now the town of Northfield on the Cannon River in 1838.  In his journal he described the land he found and mapped out his path (Nicollet, 121-134).   Nicollet published a report for the U.S. War Department on the Minnesota territory in 1845 after his trip through this part of the country, which helped inspire people to move into the Cannon River valley area (Northfield News, 7). 

In his journal he described one of the natural attractions north of Northfield that drew people to the area. “ [Castle Rock] is a natural obelisk composed of sandstone of the same formation as that of St. Peter’s [formation].  It is only about 40 feet high, as much base as column…remains like the pillars left by workers in an excavation as testimony of the once elevated level of the region” (Nicollet, 121). 
    

Used with permission - Shaw-Olson Center for College History, St. Olaf College
Castle Rock 1889
Some early immigrants of the Northfield area visit this unique rock formation on the Cannon River. 

As settlers increasingly moved into the area tension would increase over ownership of land between them and the native tribe already in the land.  Before the first explorers and settlers arrived the tribe by the name of Wahpekute of the Dakota nation occupied the land along the Cannon River.  They had a permanent village on the north side of Cannon Lake, but also had temporary hunting villages along the Cannon River (Munson, 4-6).  They were known as “leaf shooters” because their permanent village was located in the bigwoods (Northfield News, 7).  During this time buffalo and beaver roamed the area.  They disappeared in the mid-1880s (Carlson, et al., 5).  Their disappearance was probably due to over hunting during the fur trade. This was a concern that was shared by some of the fur traders who would come to the area such as Alexander Faribault (Munson,9).  He was the first white man to set up a permanent residence along the Cannon River in the area that would become the town of Faribault (Munson, 20-23).  But legal settlement in the area did not happen until the Wahpekute along with other Dakota tribes signed treaties in 1851 giving up their land under pressure from growing numbers of settlers heading west of the Mississippi.  They were moved to a reservation on the Minnesota River (Northfield News, 7).

Conflict would arise between some of the tribes that had moved to the reservation and the white settlers in the Sioux massacre of 1862.  Even though this uprising did not occur in Northfield it raised fears that something like it could happen.  Dakota tribes continued to travel through the Northfield area mainly to engage their enemies the Ojibwe.  They also were recorded stealing horses (Berg, 72-74).  For some tribes the stealing of horses was a rite of passage into adulthood, this might have been the case here, but there was no evidence found to support it.

White Settlement

Minnesota itself became a territory in 1845.  It lands once opened up to settlers were promoted by boosters as “superior to others in soil, climate, opportunity, and material resources,” (Larsen, 16).  In 1850 there was a policy aimed at purchasing Native American land in southern Minnesota.  Two treaties were signed by the Dakota nation in 1851 that affected the Cannon River valley region.  These were the treaty of Traverse des Sioux and the treaty of Mendota.  There were ratified in 1852.  To open up the land to settlement a road was approved from the foot of Lake Pepin to the Minnesota River.  Otherwise there had only been steamboat power that offered limited access to the area for new settlers (Larsen, 21).  Governor Alexander Ramsey approved the road in 1852 only after the ratification of the Dakota treaties (Larsen, 23). 

After this settler would begin to stream into the area, which encompassed the Cannon River Valley.  They were drawn by descriptions in newspaper articles, Nichollet’s report of the beauty of the area, and by reports by the surveyors of the road of the power potential of the Cannon River (Larsen, 17-20).  In 1853-54 there were squatters moving into the land.  This was before the land had been surveyed and put up for sale by land offices.  Some bills would help them to officially claim the land they had already settled.  One extended the right of preemption from only surveyed lands or land held for a certain amount of time to include the lands of Minnesota that had not been surveyed yet.  The land was surveyed, plotted and land offices were set up where people could make claims.  Rice County was then officially established in 1853 and named after Henry Mower Rice (Larsen, 36-40).

Used with permission - Shaw-Olson Center for College History, St. Olaf College

This postcard picture from the early 1900s shows some the idyllic scenes along the Cannon River.

In 1855 the town of Northfield was officially established.  But settlers had claimed land in the area before 1855 as squatters.  John W. North the founder of the town bought land from these early pioneers.  Some of these early pioneers included Daniel Kirkendahl (or Krykendal), Alexander Stewart family, Jonathan Alexander family, Daniel B. Turner, J.D. Hokins Henry Tralle, C.N. Stewart, Herman Jenkins, and Frank Frahnkoop.  They settled the northern part of where the town would be laid out by the winter of 1854-55 (Centennial, 9-10).   

Mr. North in 1855 bought land from Herman Jenkins, Daniel Krykendall, and Daniel Turner.  It made up about 320 acres.  This land was then platted and registered in Faribault in March of 1856 with the office of Deeds.  Northfield was the second town to be registered in what became Rice County (Curtiss-Wedge, 445-447).  The grid system would then divide the area of the town into 95 blocks each with lots to be sold.  Division street divided the town in half west and east (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee ed., 20-21).  The town by this year had 40 families residing it.  It would continue to grow.  Mr. North sold plots of land on the condition that no liquor could be sold on them (Swanberg, 179).  And Northfield was first described as a model “New England” village.  It would retain some this New England feel but the character would continued to be shaped by the different immigrant groups as they arrived (Northfield News, 9).

A letter that John W. North wrote to a newspaper was quoted in the History of Rice and Steele Counties.  It describes Mr. North's venture in Northfield, the development of the town and gives a glimpse of it through his eyes:

“I first came to the spot now known as Northfield about the first of January, 1855, or it may have been December, 1854.  I took measures to secure that location soon after I first saw it.  In the summer of 1855 I commenced work on the dam and mill, which was completed so as to commence sawing lumber about the first of December of that year.  During that month we sawed lumber and built with it the dwelling house we moved into on the third of January, 1856.  There were settlers around there before I made my claim.  The first time I saw that place I stopped at the house of Mr. Alexander....” (Curtiss-Wedge, 445)  To read the rest of the letter click here North Letter. 

In 1855 there was also a bridge built across the river.  Before this settlers often had to forge across the river.  The bridge connected the west and east sides of town making travel easier between settlements on both sides of the river (Larsen,47-51).

Used with permission - Rice County Historical Society
A view looking over the bridge at Northfield.

The town by 1856 was pretty well established.  The roads were of the dirt variety and there were no trees along them at this time.  Most of the town rested on the eastern side of the Cannon River originally a prairie covered area (Centennial, 11).  The present day Bridge square was then called Mill square because the mill on the east side was located next to it.  To learn about the mills and their importance in Northfield visit the Mill page. 

The Alexander hotel/inn and tavern was the first in the town.  But in 1856 Herman Jenkins also built a hotel.  If you were one of the early people who stayed in this hotel you would have soon realized it was not much protection against the elements.  Apparently the first roof was of cotton cloth, which was not much protection against rain.  Many of the settlers like Jenkins would experiment in building things with what they had on hand to see what they could get to work for their needs with their often limited means.  Jenkins later traveled to Hastings to get shingles that would better protect his customers from any sudden storms.   The first store was built by T. R. Coulson and located on his farm just outside of where Northfield would stand.  During this time all the early settlers would travel from their farms to his to purchase goods and it was a sort of community venture.  After the town was established he built a new store in town.  It was later bought by Mr. Scriver who moved it back a lot so that a square could be built by the river to encourage the gathering of community (Berg, 105).  The town continued to grow and expand adding new businesses and more people to the map.

In 1857 despite an economic depression the town and businesses would continue to grow.  This was also the case when the Civil War started in 1861 with the first battle occurring that year.  1861 would also see the Norths leave their town.  The 1857 depression had not been kind to them.  They sold their holding to a friend from New York, Charles Wheaton.  The 1857 depression also hit farmers especially hard probably because they in most cases were just starting to get a foothold in raising their crops (Larsen, 82).  This was also the case for farmers in the 1870s who struggle to keep their families afloat (Jarchow, 19).

In 1862 the Homestead Act was passed opening up land more readily in the area.  It gave settlers 160 acres of land if they were over 21 and lived and improved upon the land for five years (Northfield News, 11).

A railroad would come to Northfield in 1865.  There had been hope before this by J.W. North and other people of the town that a railroad would have been established before this, but that venture did not work out.  In 1882 a second railroad was built through Northfield by the Cannon Valley railroad company (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee ed, 22 & 48).  These two railroads opened the area more widely to the outside world and outside markets.

Used with permission - Shaw-Olson Center for College History, St. Olaf College
Soldiers headed for the Spanish War, 1898

The 1870s saw the flourishing and expansion of Northfield industries.  Top industries during this time included the Ames mill, Rawson and company barrel factory, Fox and company's Northfield foundry and machine shop, and the Dickson and Anderson's wagon and carriage shop.  The Lockwood Opera house was built in 1872 and became a focus point for entertainment and gatherings (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee, 8).  In the spring of 1875 the Northfield city government was established.  The year after the famous Jesse James back robbery took place in Northfield (Swanberg, 181).

1879 saw the establishment of the first creamery opened by the Whittier Hunt Company.  This also marked a growing shift in agriculture from the strong wheat production of the 1860s to dairy farming (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee, 10-11).  This shift would become more pronounced in the early 1880s.  In 1888 the Northfield Creamery was established, a sign of the changing tide in agriculture (Swanberg, 47-48).  This also meant that by 1880 the milling industry was on the decline.  Creameries opened and prospered from this period into the 1960s (Northfield News, 17). 

In 1880 the population was around 2,300 people in the town and it would continue to grow.  Plank sidewalks were laid and telephones installed (Swanberg, 182).  By 1889 the outline that now makes up the city was pretty well established and remained relatively unchanged.  The population at this time was over 2,600.  In 1889 there was one mill, two banks, one creamery, a telephone system, steam generated electricity, four hotels, two railroads, and eight churches (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee, 10)

In 1898 Lincoln Fey a local youth finished the building of the first horseless carriage in the area, which he tested with his brother at night so it would not bother horses in the street with its noise.  The first Fey brothers automobile sold for $170 (Swanberg, 48).  They only built three others and one included a gasoline engine which Lincoln had never seen before but still was able to build (Northfield New, 19).  If they had, had financial backing their experiment may have gone further beyond the limits of Northfield (Swanberg, 48). 

In the 1890s news of the death of John W. North reached the town. But even with his passing the town continued to change and grow on the foundations he had set.  During the 1890s and stretching into 1900 the streets were paved and a water distribution system was installed.  Town beautification was also going on.  This was especially promoted by the Northfield Rural Improvement Society founded in 1884.  Part of this beautification involved planting trees along the streets which are still a feature of the Northfield community (Northfield Heritage Preservation Committee, 10-11).