Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1854. Charles Hutchinson was the first postmaster, and the office was
2194 words | Chapter 91
held in this pioneer store. J. S. Rounce, in 1870, built the first
foundry in Pierce county.
The water powers of River Falls have been extensively utilized, many
saw and flouring mills having been erected at various times on the
Kinnikinic. Of these, in 1886, the more notable are, the Junction
mills, owned by Freeman, Rhyder & Co., with a capacity of 400 barrels
daily, and a barrel manufactory attached, which gives employment to 40
men and turns off from 300 to 400 barrels daily. The Greenwood mills,
owned by Geo. Fortune & Co., capacity 50 barrels; the Cascade mills,
owned by the Baker estate, capacity 50 barrels; the Prairie mill,
built by C. B. Cox in 1858, and now owned by J. D. Putnam, capacity
150 barrels.
In educational matters River Falls has taken and maintained an
advanced position. The first school house was built in 1854, by seven
men, at a cost of five hundred dollars. Helen Flint taught the first
school. In 1856 a joint stock association was incorporated as "The
River Falls Academy." A building was erected, 36 × 66 feet, ground
plan, and two stories in height. Prof. Wilcox was the first principal.
This school was maintained as an academy until 1860, at which time it
was superseded by the free schools. In the fall of 1879 the building
was destroyed by fire. Subsequently a commodious brick structure was
erected in its place at a cost of $15,000. Excellent private schools
were maintained by Hinckley, Cody and Baker, for five years during the
'60s. The State Normal School, of which a more extended account is
given elsewhere, was established here, and a building erected in 1874,
at a cost of about $65,000, the people of River Falls and other towns
contributing to this fund $25,000, with private subscriptions to the
amount of $12,000, and a donation of ten acres of land. Of the $25,000
River Falls gave $10,000, Troy $4,000, Clifton $3,000, while Pierce
county contributed $5,000, and Kinnikinic, St. Croix county, gave
$3,000. The building, a handsome brick, four stories high, including
the basement, stands on an elevated plat of ground in the southeastern
part of the city. The first board of instruction consisted of W. D.
Parker, president, with the following assistants: J. B. Thayer,
conductor of teachers' institute; A. Earthman, history, geography,
music; Lucy E. Foot, English literature, reading, spelling; Julia A.
McFarlan, mathematics; Margaret Hosford, Latin and English literature.
Model department, Ellen C. Jones, teacher, grammar grade; Mary A.
Kelley, teacher, intermediate grade; Lizzie J. Curtis, teacher,
primary grade.
The following are the churches of River Falls, with date of
establishment and name of first pastor when known: Congregational,
1855, Rev. James Stirratt; Baptist, 1857, Rev. A. Gibson; Methodist,
1858; Episcopal, 1871, Rev. Chas. Thorpe; Catholic, 1875, Rev. Father
Connelly; Seventh Day Adventist, 1881.
With the exception of the last named, these church organizations have
good buildings. The Congregational church building erected in 1857 was
superseded by a building in 1867 that cost $10,000. This was destroyed
by a tornado in 1868, but has since been rebuilt at the cost of the
building destroyed, and a parsonage has been added at a cost of
$2,000.
A Sunday-school was established in River Falls in 1853, and the first
sermon was preached, in 1850 or 1851, by Rev. Julius S. Webber, a
Baptist missionary. Rev. John Wilcoxson, an Episcopalian, held
occasional services as early as 1859.
ASSOCIATIONS.
The following are the social and benevolent associations of River
Falls, with dates of organization: Masonic Lodge, June, 1859; I. O. O.
F., 1872; I. O. G. T., March 15, 1877; Juvenile Temple of Honor, March
15, 1877; Temple of Honor, March 31, 1878; A. O. U. W., 1878. The
hall, fixtures and charter of the Odd Fellows Lodge was destroyed in
the fire of 1876, but the lodge was rechartered the same year.
THE BANK OF RIVER FALLS
Was organized Jan. 1, 1874. ---- Bartlett, president; Joseph M. Smith,
cashier. Capital, $15,000. It was reorganized in 1883, under state
law, R. S. Burhyte, president; W. D. Parker, vice president; J. M.
Smith, cashier. Capital stock, $35,000. Total business in 1885,
$5,770,733.98.
HUDSON & RIVER FALLS RAILROAD.
This road was built in 1878, the people of River Falls contributing
$60,000 to its construction. The road is ten miles in length. In 1885
it was extended to Ellsworth, a distance of twelve miles.
RIVER FALLS BOARD OF TRADE
Was established in 1884. A. D. Andrews, president; C. H. Keys,
secretary.
FIRES.
In 1875 the Metropolitan Hotel, costing $15,000, and other buildings
were burned; loss $30,000. The insurance was light. In 1876 a large
portion of the town was destroyed by fire.
RIVER FALLS CITY.
River Falls was incorporated as a city in 1885. At the first election
for city officers, held April 7th, three hundred and nineteen votes
were cast, and the following persons were declared duly elected to the
positions named: Mayor, A. A. Andrews; treasurer, G. E. Pratt;
assessor, E. H. Daniel; aldermen, First ward, W. W. Wadsworth; Second
ward, L. M. Rosenquist; Third ward, R. N. Jenson; Fourth ward, L.
Styles; marshal, R. N. Bevens; city clerk, Allen H. Weld. The license
for the sale of intoxicants was fixed at $200. The population of River
Falls in 1886 was 1,700. It is a lively, prosperous city, planned on a
liberal scale, with wide streets, well shaded with ornamental trees.
The mills have reservations by which they are separated from the
business part of the city. The beauty of the original waterfalls is
somewhat marred by the mills and their debris. Originally they were
very beautiful and picturesque, and were widely celebrated, and much
visited by the lovers of Nature. Of these falls there are four, two on
the south branch, one on the north branch, and one some rods below
the junction of the two streams. The falls were not noted for their
grandeur, but rather for their quiet beauty, the water falling over
ledges but a few feet in height, and so broken in two of them as to
present the general appearance of a succession of stairs, or steps, of
unequal elevation, over which the water falls. An interesting feature
at the junction of the two rivers is the cave in which the pioneer
settler, Judge Joel Foster, with his negro boy, spent the winter of
1848-49. From his cave cabin he had full view of the falls on the two
streams, no less beautiful in their winter dress of gleaming icicles,
with the frost-whitened boughs of the willow and alder drooping over
them, than in their summer brightness. The judge has told me that he
loved, almost worshiped, this spot. The cave cabin stood about one
hundred feet from the sparkling stream. There, in the early morning,
he could cast his line, and have for his regal breakfast the speckled
trout. Above him towered a precipice crowned with evergreen trees, and
around him, on the borders of the streams, were the elm and maple, and
an undergrowth of alder and birch. There certainly could have been no
fairer scene in the West. To-day no traces remain of the old cave
cabin. The Junction mills have effaced the more beautiful and poetic
features of the scene. The judge has passed away, and found a grave on
an elevation overlooking his old home and the scenes he loved so well.
The judge, although a friend to progress, and active in advancing the
material interests of the locality in which he lived, was unalterably
opposed to the movement to incorporate River Falls, and did all he
could to defeat the measure. When the incorporative act had been
passed, he moved outside of the city limits, declaring that he would
neither live nor die within them; but having been fatally injured by
an accident, he was brought back to his old home, and died within the
city.
THE FOURTH STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT RIVER FALLS--HISTORY.
The constitution of the State, adopted in 1848, provides "that the
revenue of the school fund shall be exclusively applied to the
following objects:
"_First_--To the support and maintenance of common schools
in each school district, and the purchase of suitable
libraries and appurtenances therefor.
"_Second_--That the residue of the income of the school fund
shall be appropriated to the support of academies and normal
schools, and suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor."
No effort was made to take advantage of this provision of the
constitution for the endowment of normal schools until 1857, when an
act was passed providing "that the income of twenty-five per cent of
the proceeds arising from the sale of swamp and overflowed lands
should be appropriated to normal institutes and academies, under the
supervision and direction of a 'board of regents of normal schools,'"
who were to be appointed in pursuance of the provisions of that act.
Under this law, the income placed at the disposal of the regents was
distributed for several years to such colleges, academies and high
schools as maintained a normal class, and in proportion to the number
of pupils in the class who passed satisfactory examinations, conducted
by an agent of the board.
The law under which these schools are organized provides that "the
exclusive purpose of each normal school shall be the instruction and
training of persons, both male and female, in the theory and art of
teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good
common school education, and in all subjects needful to qualify for
teaching in the public schools; also to give instruction in the
fundamental laws of the United States and of this State, and in what
regards the rights and duties of citizens."
REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Tuition is free to all students who are admitted to these normal
schools under the following regulations of the board of regents:
_First_--Each assembly district in the State shall be
entitled to eight representatives in the normal schools, and
in case vacancies exist in the representation to which any
assembly district is entitled, such vacancies may be filled
by the president and secretary of the board of regents.
_Second_--Candidates for admission shall be nominated by the
superintendent of the county (or if the county
superintendent has not jurisdiction, then the nomination
shall be made by the city superintendent) in which such
candidate may reside, and shall be at least sixteen years of
age, of sound bodily health and good moral character. Each
person so nominated shall receive a certificate setting
forth his name, age, health and character.
_Third_--Upon the presentation of such certificate to the
president of a normal school, the candidate shall be
examined, under the direction of said president, in the
branches required by law for a third grade certificate,
except history, theory and practice of teaching, and if
found qualified to enter the normal school in respect to
learning, he may be admitted after furnishing such evidence
as the president may require of good health and good moral
character, and after subscribing to the following
declaration:
I, ---- ----, do hereby declare that my purpose in entering
this State Normal School is to fit myself for the profession
of teaching, and that it is my intention to engage in
teaching in the schools of the State.
_Fourth_--No person shall be entitled to a diploma who has
not been a member of the school in which such diploma is
granted, at least one year, nor who is less than nineteen
years of age; a certificate of attendance may be granted by
the president of a normal school to any person who shall
have been a member of such school for one term; provided,
that in his judgment such certificate is deserved.
As an addition to the work of the normal schools, the board of regents
are authorized to expend a sum not exceeding $5,000 annually, to
sustain teachers' institutes, and may employ an agent for that
purpose. Institutes are regarded as important auxiliaries and feeders
to the normal schools. At present one professor from each normal
school is employed conducting institutes every spring and fall.
The normal school fund now amounts to over $1,250,000, and yields an
annual income of about $100,000. It will be increased by the further
sale of swamp lands, and will prove ample for the objects for which it
is set apart.
In 1865 the legislature divided the swamp lands and swamp land fund
into two equal parts, one for drainage purposes, the other to
constitute a normal school fund. The income of the latter was to be
applied to establishing, supporting and maintaining normal schools,
under the direction and management of the board of regents of normal
schools, with a proviso that one-fourth of such income should be
transferred to the common school fund, until the annual income of that
fund should reach $200,000. During the same year, proposals were
invited for extending aid in establishment of a normal school, and
propositions were received from various places.
In 1866 the board of regents was incorporated by the legislature.
JOEL FOSTER.--Judge Foster was born at Meriden, Connecticut, Dec. 15,
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