Cascade Township
(Township 107 North, Range 14 West)
Cascade creek, a beautiful little stream running across
the southeast portion, has given this township its name.
The city of Rochester being in its southeast corner, the
township has had but little history aside from that of
the city.
The first settlements in the township were made in 1854
by Robert McReady, Thomas C. and Samuel G. Cummings,
James Bucklin, John Hendricks, Henry and Jacob Schmelzer
and a few others.
There was quite a number of settlers in 1855, among them
Ephraim and Noble Cobb, George W. Huyler, Edward
Proudfoot, Lyman L. Eaton, Abel Moulton, Elvin Clason,
Charles Horton, Barney Hackett, John Hendricks. Joseph
Fogarty, and John Newell, Charles H. Crane came to
Rochester in 1855 and settled in Cascade in 1856, living
there several years and later returning to Rochester,
where he is now living.
Robert Waldron, Rozell Freeman, Lucius S. Cutting,
William R. Rice, George F. Seiler, Alanson Joslyn and
John Klee came in 1856.
The first birth in the township was in the family of
Joseph Horton in 1855, and the first death the same
year, that of Adelaide, a daughter of James Bucklin,
aged about sixteen years.
The township was organized in 1859, the first officers
being: Supervisors, James Bucklin, chairman; Alvah
Southworth, Philo Boardman; clerk, George Carpenter;
treasurer, Sylvester Conklin; assessor, Hibbard Smith;
constables, Joseph Chambers and Lewis Rice. Miss Lucy
Cobb, who came to the township in 1856, was one of the
earliest teachers and taught several years in Cascade
and ad joining townships.
In 1858 the county commissioners declared that portion
of the township of Cascade east of the Zumbro River a
part of the township of Haverhill. In 1870 a petition
was presented from the people of Cascade asking that the
strip be detached from Haverhill and reattached to
Cascade. The matter was referred to County Attorney
Start, who gave the opinion that the action in 1858 was
illegal and void, and the commissioners passed a
resolution declaring the territory a part of Cascade,
and it has since been so considered. Cascade post office
was established in 1868 and E. Clason, an early settler,
was appointed postmaster. The office has given way to
the rural free delivery.
A very pretty little Methodist church was built at Five
Corners in 1901. A frame structure on a sight elevation,
with stained windows and handsomely finished interior.
Instead of following the old custom of naming it after a
dead saint, it was called after a live preacher, being
dedicated Doran Chapel, in recognition of the zeal of
Rev. Frank Doran, then of Rochester, in building up the
congregation.
The state census of 1905 gives the population of the
township as 773
Cascade post office was established in April 1868. E.
Clason was the first postmaster.
Olmsted station was established in 1870, on line between
Cascade and Kalman on farm of J. V. Matthews, four and
one-half miles west of Rochester.
Cascade census, 1860, 427; 1870, 812.
Olmsted County |Minnesota
AHGP
Source: History of Olmsted
County Minnesota, by Hon. Joseph A. Leonard, Chicago,
Goodspeed Historical Association, 1910.
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