Rock Dell Township
(Township 105 North, Range 15 West)
The appropriate name of this township, Rock Dell, is
taken from a rocky ravine, not far from its center,
which winds a crooked and picturesque course for about a
mile and a half, between banks that in places are ragged
cliffs of limestone, and at its bottom a small stream,
fed by a live spring of cold water. It is a little
stretch of rare beauty, and quite a picnic resort for
the surrounding country.
Several farmers of Norwegian birth or descent, living in
Dane County, Wisconsin, looking for new homes, located
with their families in the northwestern part of the
township in 1854. Among them were Nels Nelson, Tollef
Oleson, Ole Oleson, Ole Amundson, Guta Molson, I.
Goldberg, Ole Tollefson and Tollef Goldberg. In 1855
Halvor Halvorson Stensond, Asle Erickson, Halver Oleson
and Thomas Hennesy came, and in 1856 Amund Nelson Giere,
Bottol Magneson and David S. Larson. Others followed,
and most of the township was settled by Norwegians,
whose descendants are today among the most substantial
farmers of the county. There were but few of American
descent among the earliest settlers.
In 1856 Rev. Leonard H. Humason, from Ohio, located as a
farmer, near the center of the township, with his son,
John S. Humason, and family, and Mr. Fredenburg. Rev.
Humason was at that time more than sixty years old,
having been born in Cincinnati in 1794, an old man for a
new country, but not lacking in energy. He preached the
first sermons in High Forest and Rock Dell, married the
first couple, baptized the first person and preached the
first funeral sermon. On his eightieth birthday, in
November, 1874, he preached from the same text as that
of his first sermon, and was presented by his neighbors
with a library chair and cane, and his wife with a
photograph album. He was one of the first farmers of the
county to make a specialty of dairying. He died in
November, 1885, aged ninety-one years, and was buried at
the same time as his wife, who had died three days
previously. John S. Humason was a miller and a dealer in
agricultural machinery a number of years at Rochester.
The first birth was of Ole T. Oleson, son of Tollef
Oleson, in September, 1854; the first death, that of
Guta Molson. The first couple married were Lyman Connor
and Miss Sarah Gifford.
A meeting for the organization of the township was held
May 11, 1858. John A. Pierson was moderator and Jonas S.
Cornish, clerk. The officers elected were: Supervisors,
J. P. Powers, chairman: H. A. Fox and N. Nelson; clerk,
J. S. Cornish; assessor, Knudt S. Larson; overseer of
poor, Hill Gillett; justices, John S. Pierson, J. W.
Adkinson; constables, W. Croghan, Z. Shiper; collector,
W. Croghan.
East St. Olaf's Norwegian Lutheran church was organized
in 1855 by Rev. C. L. Clausen, who was succeeded in 1861
by Rev. L. Steen. Rev. J. A. Thorson became the pastor
in 1869, and is still filling that position. A large and
handsome stone edifice, with a seating capacity of 600,
was commenced in 1867, and finished in 1875. It was
destroyed by lightning in September, 1906. The
construction of a more modern church, built better than
the other, is finished and a cut of it is shown herein.
The Zion Lutheran church was built about 1894. Rev.
Karlson has been the pastor for the past five or six
years.
Antoine Johnson established a store near the church in
1876. It has been kept by Nels Magneson and Sander O.
Sanderson, part of the time in partnership. Mr.
Sanderson is the present proprietor. A cheese factory in
the same neighborhood was run successfully for a number
of years, but suspended about five years ago, as a
result of the greater convenience to farmers of dealing
with creameries. Frank Graham, son of Joseph Graham, an
early settler of Kalmar, and a graduate of the State
Agricultural College, was the cheesemaker, and is now an
inspector in the State Dairy and Food Department.
The Zumbro Creamery has been running successfully about
nine teen years. Ole Benson has been the butter maker
for the past seven years.
There is a cooper shop and a blacksmith shop and five
residences in the village.
The Interurban Telephone Company, with its center at
Rock Dell, is a co-operative company accommodating the
farmers of the vicinity.
The state census of 1905 gives the population of the
township as 825.
Olmsted County |Minnesota
AHGP
Source: History of Olmsted
County Minnesota, by Hon. Joseph A. Leonard, Chicago,
Goodspeed Historical Association, 1910.
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