The Early History of Lake Wilson, Minnesota

        In 1882, Jonathon E. Wilson, a member of the well known firm of Wilson Bros., manufacturers of men's furnishings of Chicago, decided to go west and start a ranch.

        He Sent J. W. Bragdon, one of his employees, to look for a suitable location. He travelled over the state for several months and decided on this section of the country.

        Chas. Norwood of Skandia twp. had homesteaded the parcel of land which is now Lake Wilson and had a little shack on the banks of the lake. After some dickering, Bragdon bought the land from Mr. Norwood, Alex Lowe being a witness on the contract. The railroad was here then, (1882) having been completed in 1880.

        In 1883, the building of the new town started in earnest. Magne Anderson, who was then in the employ of the Omaha railroad company at Heron Lake, was ordered to go to Lake Wilson and construct a side track so that cars could be unloaded. Work started feverishly on the new town which was named after its promoter. Lumber and goods poured in by the car load and every available carpenter was put to work. The men stayed at Woodstock at first and were driven back and forth.

        The big hotel and store building was built in 1883 and so was the Peavey elevator now owned by Hubbard & Palmer. Residences were started and a smaller building was built for a store north of where the schoolhouse now stands. The building is now used as a residence. It was the first building completed in Lake Wilson. Houses to care for the help, were erected, a blacksmith shop and other buildings.

        Mr. Wilson constructed a huge barn with sheds on the south side of the village. Another barn and many sheds were built at the south end of the lake. The barn near town was devoted to horse raising and was full of imported Percherons from France. At the lower end of the lake, the shed contained the finest herd of Hereford cattle in the county. For hogs he had Berkshires. Both the Herefords and Berkshires were imported from England. Wilson owned 17,000 acres of land in this vicinity at one time. No man ever lived in Murray County


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who did as much for it. Year after year, he had his own colt and horse shows from the get of his full blood sires. The father of the writer was awarded the first prize one year for a Hereford bull calf. It was $75.00, a good chunk of money in the earl y '80's. There was hardly a man in the township that had not been aided and helped by Wilson, but the inevitable came. Petty township politicians started the old cry "the rich should pay more taxes" and the board put in the cheap prairie land at the same assessment value as their improved farms. Mr. Wilson failed to see any justice in it so he sold most of his livestock and moved the balance to a small town near Chicago.

        In 1899 the land north of the track was platted by M. E. Lang. There was a steady stream, at that period, of German farmers from Nebraska and Iowa and a sprinkling of Swedes and Norwegians. These men were experienced farmers and did a lot in the development of the community. The building up of the north side was a duplicate of the starting of the town. People had money in those years and buildings went up almost over night.

        Strome, Bruner & Young put up a huge store building (for that time). It stood where the Johnson store does today. From Tyler came N. O. Jensen and Nels Christensen. Jensen was a harness maker and Nels a butcher. A bank was started by Iowa parties; H. Clasen built a fine hotel with steam heat, something unusual for a town of this size. He sold out to Chas. Winzer. In fact the north side of the track had all the elements and all the businesses of a western town. It had all the various stores and shops, even a blind pig which graduated into a saloon run by R. Trosin.

        Among the early merchants on the south side were the Engebretson Bros. Fine honest men they were. As was the custom, no goods were paid for except once a year when the crop was threshed. Traveling men came to the store. They carried as high as 20 big trunks, but only came twice a year. Summer goods were bought in the winter and the winter goods in the summer. Farmers would come in once a week and sometimes once in two weeks to do their trading. The sidewalks were wooden affairs and stood three feet off the street on the north side, which was a real mudhole after every rain. Gravel

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