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

banking system in St. Cloud. It is now operated by N. P. Clarke. The First National Bank was organized as a private bank in 1867, with a capital stock of $25,000; James A. Bell, president; Joseph G. Smith, cashier. It was reorganized as a state bank in 1879, with a capital stock of $50,000. In 1886 it was reorganized as a national bank. The first board of officers have served continuously to date. The business of the bank amounts to over $300,000. The German American National Bank was organized in 1883; Chas. A. Hull, president; Edgar Hull, cashier; capital stock $50,000. The business (in 1886) amounts to $250,000. The present board of officers are: F. E. Searle, president; John Cooper, vice president; F. M. Morgan, cashier. St. Cloud has many fine buildings. The court house cost $40,000, and four school buildings an aggregate of $75,000. The bishop's cathedral cost $40,000, and the Catholic church $30,000. The Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, and Lutherans have organizations and good church buildings. The normal school buildings located here cost $100,000. St. Cloud University is a flourishing institution. St. John's University, although located in the adjoining town of St. Joseph, has been identified more or less with the interests of St. Cloud, and deserves mention in its history. It was originally located two miles south of St. Cloud, but was subsequently removed to a point northwest, a mile distant from the thriving village of Collegeville. The university owes its existence to the zeal, energy and self devotion of the Benedictine Fathers, a colony of whom came to America in 1846. This colony settled first in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, but in 1856, at the invitation of Bishop Cretin, came to Minnesota, where, the year following, they commenced their educational work on the banks of the Mississippi near St. Cloud. The school was commenced as a seminary, but in 1869 the state legislature granted authority to confer degrees, and in 1883 formally changed the name from St. John's Seminary to St. John's University. The buildings are ample and commodious, and located pleasantly on the banks of a beautiful lake. The faculty consists of Rt. Rev. Alexius Edelbrock and twenty-two professors. In 1885 St. Benedict's Hospital was erected at a cost of about $15,000. It is under the supervision of the Benedictine Nuns. The state reformatory was located at East St. Cloud in 1887. LA SAUK, Formerly St. Joe, adjoining St. Cloud on the north, had a saw and flour mill erected in 1855. These mills were burned in 1886, and rebuilt in 1887. Amongst the early settlers were J. H. Lineman in 1854, J. A. Upham and George Rieder in 1855. PETER SCHAELER, a farmer, a native of Germany, came to America in 1850, and to St. Joseph in 1856. John, his only son, retains the old homestead, and was in 1883 engaged in the insurance business in St. Cloud. JOHN L. WILSON was born in Columbia, Washington county, Maine, in