Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom

first house of worship was a small frame on Myrtle street, between Second and Third streets. It was enlarged and improved in 1862. The present edifice on Third street near Myrtle, with the parsonage adjoining, cost about $4,200. The church has a membership of two hundred. ST. MICHAEL'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH Was organized in 1853, the first services being held by Rev. Father Peyragrosse, a missionary. The first edifice was built on Fourth and Mulberry streets, and Rev. Father Fisher was the first clergyman in charge. The building was enlarged and improved in 1857. The present commodious edifice was commenced in 1872 and dedicated in 1875. The church property, including the school parish buildings and cemetery of twelve acres in South Stillwater, is worth $130,000. There are now two resident clergymen, Revs. Murphy and Gaughan. ST. MARY'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH, Rev. P. Alphonse Krusle, pastor, was organized in 1865, and owns a church building on Fifth street, near Pine, valued at $25,000. The total value of church and parish buildings, and of the six lots on which they are located, amounts to $55,000. THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH Society was incorporated June 6, 1868, and the first preaching was by Rev. E. A. Hodsdon, of St. Anthony. The edifice is on Third street South; cost about $15,000. SWEDISH LUTHERAN. The society was organized in 1871; the church building was erected in 1882-83, at a cost of $15,000. The pastor is Rev. A. F. Tornell. THE FIRST GERMAN LUTHERAN Church was organized in 1871. The church building and parsonage are on Third street, near Olive, and are valued at $4,500. The pastor is Rev. J. J. Weiss. THE NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN Society uses the German Lutheran church buildings, corner of Olive and Fourth streets. THE GERMAN METHODIST Congregation worships in a frame building, corner of Linden and Everett streets. THE SALEM GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH Was formed by the withdrawal of a part of the members of the First German Lutheran church for separate worship. The Swedish church and school, on the corner of Olive and Fourth streets, were purchased for $2,150. To this a parsonage was added at a cost of $2,150. Rev. L. F. Frey is the pastor. THE DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCH Has a cosy frame edifice on Laurel, between Williams and Owen, but is not holding services at present. The edifice cost $7,000 and the membership is one hundred and fifty. SWEDISH CONGREGATIONAL. The Swedish Congregational church occupies a frame building on Fourth street, between Hickory and Elm streets, which cost $2,000 and has sixty members. THE ST. JOSEPH'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH Was organized by the present pastor, Rev. Father E. Roe, in 1882, with seventeen members, which has since been increased to eighty families. A frame edifice was erected in 1884, with a seating capacity of four hundred, costing about $8,000, corner of Olive and Greely streets. The church property consists of the edifice and the priest's house, and cost $11,000. THE SWEDISH METHODIST CHURCH Was organized in 1880 by Rev. C. S. Carlander. The church building is located on Myrtle and Fourth streets, and cost $2,000. THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Has a membership of seventy-five and a frame building erected in 1872 at a cost of $1,200. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The court house and other public buildings of the city are creditable specimens of architecture, rooms convenient and well adapted to the purposes of their construction. The present court house building is the third erected. Its cost, including that of the jail buildings, the wall around them and other improvements, has been something over $75,000. The city hall, at the corner of Myrtle and Third streets, is a substantial and convenient building. It contains also room for the city officers. The public school buildings have kept pace with the growth of the city. In the summer of 1887 the city erected a high school building at a cost of $60,000. The engine house is a good building, centrally located. An elegant union depot was built in 1887, of brown stone from the Apostle islands, at a cost of $30,000. THE OPERA HOUSE.--The opera house occupies the site of the old Lake House, on Main street between Nelson and Chestnut streets. It was commenced in 1880 and finished in 1881, under the supervision of L. W. Eldred, architect. Its size is 90×120 feet, ground plan, and four stories in height, or seventy-one feet from lower floor to cornice. The style of architecture is a blending of the Queen Anne, Victoria and Gothic. The entrance to the upper part of the building is by a stairway twelve feet wide, in a lofty, ornamental turret. The auditorium is 64×120 feet, and beautifully and elaborately finished and furnished, and is capable of seating over 1,200 persons. It is well lighted, being supplied with 130 gas jets, warmed by steam, and well ventilated. The stage is 39×64 feet, complete in all its appointments, and supplied with all the necessary stage scenery, wings, border bridge, balcony, interior and other decorations. The ceiling of the auditorium is superbly frescoed and the cornice is adorned with medallions of Shakespeare, Haydn, Schiller, Goethe, Dickens, Handel, Scott, Longfellow, Mozart, Tennyson, and Beethoven. The parts of the building not occupied for stage purposes are appropriated to halls, offices and stores. SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS. I. O. O. F.--Lodge No. 1, organized June, 1849; Stillwater Lodge, No. 51, organized January, 1876. Masonic.--St. John's Lodge No. 1, organized 1849; Washington, Royal Arch Chapter, No. 17, organized March, 1868; Bayard Commandery, K. T., No. 11, organized March, 1878. Knights of Pythias.--Stillwater Lodge, No. 7, organized November, 1872. A. O. U. W.--St. Croix Lodge, No. 11, organized July, 1876. Sons of Herman.--Stillwater Lodge, No. 3, organized January, 1876; Concordia Lodge, No. 19, organized January, 1881. Temperance Societies.--I. O. G. T. Lodge of Stillwater, organized in 1859; L'Etoile du Nord Lodge, No. 57, organized May, 1866; Temple of Honor, No. 10, organized September, 1876; Father Matthew Temperance Society, organized November, 1872. Miscellaneous.--St. Ann's Society, organized November, 1866; St. Vincent de Paul Conference, organized October, 1870; St. Joseph Benevolent Society, organized November, 1879; Y. M. C. A., organized in 1878; Washington County Bible Society, organized in 1851; Northwestern Benefit Society, No. 1, organized in 1879; Subordinate Union Penn Equitable Association, No. 165, organized in 1880; Stillwater City Hospital, organized March, 1880; Stillwater Mannerchoir, organized in 1875; the Stillwater Turnverein, organized in 1859; G. A. R., Stillwater Post, No. 13, organized March, 1868. CEMETERIES. The first burial ground was selected in 1846. Ten years later, by a survey of the city, these grounds were included in what is now known as block 3. These grounds were used until the organization of the Fairview Cemetery Association in 1867, when the bodies were removed to the new cemetery in the burial ground in South Stillwater. Fairview cemetery is beautifully located on undulating or hilly ground and is adorned with shrubbery and made attractive by the hand of art. Its location is within the city limits, near the corner of Orleans and Fourth streets. WASHINGTON COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. An attempt was made at organization in 1856, but it proved premature. The present society was organized in February, 1871, at Cottage Grove, and incorporated the same year. The first board of officers consisted of J. W. Furber, president; J. S. Norris, vice president; T. Elwell, secretary, and James Middleton, treasurer. In 1873 the fair grounds were established near Stillwater, under the joint control of the Agricultural Society and the Driving Park Association. In 1875 the fair grounds were established at Lake Elmo. But one fair had been held there when a cyclone struck the grounds and swept away all the improvements. The society again effected an arrangement by which their fairs were held on the grounds near Stillwater. MINNESOTA STATE PRISON. At the organization of Minnesota Territory Congress appropriated $5,000 for a territorial prison. The legislature expended the money thus appropriated in building a prison at Stillwater. The site was located by a commission appointed by the legislature in 1849, consisting of John McKusick, E. A. C. Hatch and Lewis Robert. The commission was also authorized to locate the Territorial University and select a site in St. Paul for the capitol. Their task was not completed until the ensuing year. Their selection of a location for the university and of a site for the capitol were satisfactory, but it was generally conceded that the site for the prison was badly chosen. The ground, nine acres, was mostly quagmire, and was, moreover, crowded in a ravine between high bluffs. However, it was convenient to the lake and steamboat landing, and was well watered with pure spring water. In 1851 Jesse Taylor, F. R. Delano, Martin Mower, J. E. McKusick, and Jacob Fisher entered into contract with the commissioners, under the firm name of Jesse Taylor & Co., to build one stone wing of the prison building, to be inclosed with a stone wall. The dimensions of the wing were 30 × 40 feet and three stories high. In 1853 an addition was built, and Francis R. Delano was appointed warden. Until 1858 the expenditure of the public money used in building and other expenses was under the control of the warden. Under state rule the warden was relieved of this burden of responsibility. The legislature had provided that prisoners might be received in the penitentiary not yet convicted of crime, on condition that their board should be defrayed by the counties from which they were sent. When this expense was not promptly met by the counties the prisoners thus held were set at liberty. The Washington county grand jury investigated the matter and memorialized the ensuing legislature, which effected a change in the laws regarding such commitments. Wings were added to the prison, walls were built, shops and other accessories added from year to year, and appropriations were made from time to time. In 1870 an appropriation of $74,000 was made for extending the building. Outside companies were permitted to build shops and manufactories within the prison limits that they might avail themselves of convict labor. The following are the wardens who have served since the prison was built: Territorial, F. R. Delano; state government: Francis O. J. Smith, appointed March 4, 1858; Henry N. Setzer, Aug. 4, 1858; John S. Proctor, Jan. 1, 1860; Joshua L. Taylor, Feb. 16, 1868; A. C. Webber, March 16, 1870; Henry A. Jackman, Oct. 10, 1870; John A. Reid, Aug. 3, 1874; H. G. Stordock, 1887. The following table shows the number of convicts each year up to the present time: 1853 0 1854 2 1855 8 1856 1 1857 0 1858 2 1839 5 1860 16 1861 12 1862 7 1963 8 1864 7 1865 11 1866 29 1867 36 1868 31 1869 47 1870 39 1871 60 1872 59 1873 64 1875 93 1876 90 1877 145 1878 218 1879 254 1880 254 1881 247 1882 279 1883 301 1884 356 1885 395 1886, Mar. 31 416 The prison on the whole has been well and humanely managed. There have been occasional outbreaks, easily suppressed, or cases of individual insubordination, two or three with fatal results to the insubordinates. The prison buildings have been several times visited by damaging and disastrous fires. The most serious were in 1884. The first occurred January 8th, by which the large workshop and machinery owned by the State and the Northwestern Car Company were destroyed. The second occurred January 26th, and destroyed the main prison buildings, including the cells, from which the prisoners were rescued with the greatest difficulty. One perished of suffocation. On this occasion guards, prison officials and some of the convicts displayed heroism worthy of the highest commendation. The convicts on the whole behaved well. Mr. Reid, the warden of the prison, behaved with great coolness and decision, and so averted what might have been a fearful disaster. FIRES. Stillwater has suffered occasionally from fires. The first house burned was the McKusick boarding house, in 1846. The Northrup hotel was burned in 1847. In 1866 a fire occurred on the west side of Main street, between Myrtle and Chestnut, in which twelve buildings were burned, principally frame structures. In 1872 the Lake House and four adjacent buildings were burned. The Schulenburg mill was burned in