Orion Township
(Township 105 North, Range 12 West)
The first settlements in this township were made in 1854
by George M. Gere, John Schermerhorn, Joel Ballard,
David Hazelton, James Edwards, C. J. Robinson, Henry
Goodman and Joseph Rose. Stephen and Cassius L. Case,
brothers, and Lowell B. Bliss made claims the same year
and settled with their families in 1855.
Francis H. Cummings, Thomas Harris, Franklin B. Burk,
Levi Lovejoy and Lemuel Denny came in 1855. Mr. Cummings
built a saw mill and platted a town that he called
Cummingsville. The mill ran only a few years and the
village failed to develop. The same year Thomas Harris
built a steam mill which had a short life. Mr. Harris
went into the army and ceased to be a resident of the
township. F. G. Tesca, Daniel Hisey, John H., Joseph and
Amos Plank, Monette and W. F. Seymour pre-empted in
1856.
The first birth in the township was of Edward, son of F.
H. Blodget, born in June. 1854. The first death was of
John Schermerhorn, in October 1855. The first marriage
was of O. H. Chapman to Miss Eliza Schermerhorn, in
November, 1854.
The first school was taught in 1856 by Andrew Beardsley,
at the home of Mahlon Clayton. A school house was built
the same year and the first to teach in it was Miss
Deming.
The first sermon was preached in the house of Stephen
Case, in the fall of 1855, by Rev. George Stevenson, a
Methodist. The township was organized in 1858. At the
first town meeting Thomas Harris was moderator, and
Richard S. Russell, Thomas Harris, B. F. McVey and L. B.
Bliss, judges of election. The first township officers
elected were: Supervisors, L. B. Bliss, chairman;
Stephen Case, Seth A. Cole; clerk, John T. Hancock;
collector, Henry Goodman; overseer of poor, F. H.
Cummings; justices, Thomas Harris and F. B. Burk;
constables, Henry Goodman and M. L. Scarbrough.
John T. Hancock held the offices of town clerk and
justice of the peace more than thirty years
continuously. He wrote a most beautiful, old style,
round hand.
Stephen Case was one of the committee that named the
township. It was first called Salem, which was changed
to Orion. The Orion flouring mill was built in 1866 by
Christopher Ecker, who sold it to William Hueston in
1874. It was burned down in 1879 and rebuilt by Mr.
Hueston, with three run of stones, run by water power.
There is a creamery, with M. B. Chapman as the butter
maker. A town hall was built in 1894 and dedicated by a
dance. The population of the township, as given in the
state census of 1905, was 669.
That mysterious place called "Devil's Den" is supposed
to be located in this township.
Olmsted County |Minnesota
AHGP
Source: History of Olmsted
County Minnesota, by Hon. Joseph A. Leonard, Chicago,
Goodspeed Historical Association, 1910.
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