Princeton Past and Present. The Early Pioneers, and Growth of the Village.

A Brief History with Some Interesting Data.

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A history of Princeton from the time the first settler located here to the present time would fill a big book, and only a passing reference to the founding and growth of the village can be given here.  The village of Princeton was laid out and platted by Hon. Samuel Ross, James W. Gillam, Dorilius Morrison, John S. Prince and Richard Chute, and the plat was recorded on the 19th of April, 1856 at the office of the register of deeds in Benton county.  The plat consisted of 320 acres.  The village was organized by special act of the legislature in March, 1877, and E. C. Gile, H. B. Cowles, C. H. Rines, B. F. Whitney, and Chas. Keith were designated a commission to carry out the articles of incorporation.  The first village election was held the same month, at which the following officers were elected:  C. H. Rines, president; F. M. Campbell, I. S. Mudgett, and T. H. Caley, trustees; S. L. Staples, recorder; D. H. Murray, treasurer, Chas. Keith and S. M. Justice, justices of the peace; Wm. Martin, constable.  The town was named in honor of John S. Prince, one of its founders.

The first shanty built within the limits of Princeton was in 1849 and occupied by a mulatto known by the name of “Banjo Bill” who kept a “stopping place.”  This shanty stood near the old elm tree on the river bank, and the tree still stands to-day as a cherished land mark.  The river has been gradually undermining it and unless some measures are taken soon to preserve the tree the venerable elm will like all the other landmarks pass from view forever.  The next shanty and first real place of entertainment was kept by Chas. Whitcomb and Mr. Dunton in 1854, and the place afterwards passed into the hands of Mr. Damon, who had laid out part of his claim on the south of the village plat as an addition to the new town.  The next year Mr. Damon and Allen farmed the land within the limits of Princeton, which was the first land ever cultivated in the county.  In 1856 Samuel Ross completed his hotel which was then known as the Princeton House, and afterwards built the North Star hotel.  It was about this time that Thomas Goulding opened the American house which was then first-class hotel of the town for many years, and the Commercial hotel of today stands on the site of the old American.  Louis Young who is now with the Commercial hotel, is said to be all that is left of the old American house, which piece by piece was pulled down and made way for the present hotel.  The first frame building in Princeton was the Oxnord store which was occupied by H. B. Cowles & Co. as a storehouse for many years.  It was about this time that Princeton began to assume the proportions of a business place, and among the merchants of those days were H. B. Cowles, B. F. Whitney and John Rines.  The early pioneers of Princeton were made of the right kind of material to carve out a future for themselves and the little town, and they endured many hardships and privations that the people of Princeton to-day would think pretty tough living.  There was little money and very few luxuries of life.  The civil war came on and at this time there were not 300 people in the place.  There were plenty of loyal citizens and Princeton sent to the southern battlefields a lot of good fighters and friends of the union.  The records of the G. A. R. post to-day show chapters of sacrifice in this cause.  Then there were the Indians who it was feared would massacre the inhabitants and the early inhabitants organized and erected a stockade.  Several companies of infantry and cavalry were sent at different times to guard the town, but the Chippewas remained friendly and did not molest the people.

After the war when people settled down to peaceful pursuits again the town began to grow slowly.  It was the distributing point and depot for all the lumbering and logging supplies for the busy camps up the Rum and its tributaries.  The nearest point to a railroad was Elk River from which place everything was hauled and stored here, and Elk River was the outskirts of civilization for some time.

Princeton was favored with a commanding position for trade in the pioneer logging days as it is to-day for trade with the rich farming section that surrounds it.  There were busy and exciting times in the days of the drives and the lumber-jack who very often took possession of the town and run it with a high hand.  But he was one of the moving spirits of the time and in his passing he has left some thrilling reminiscences.  Like all the wild game he is rapidly becoming extinct and soon will be but a memory.

As the settlers gradually began to come into the surrounding country a few evidences of a newer civilization showed themselves and besides the big lumbering outfits that used to fill the streets the farmer with his oxen or team of horses could be seen in town selling a little farm produce and grain and doing some trading.  Along through the ‘70s this new growth went on slowly, but it was not until the railroad made its appearance in 1886 that a new epoch dawned that was destined to make the place such a thriving business center.  In those days the town was raw, but the opportunities were here and they were taken advantage of.

THE FIRE ERA.

It was not until the first fire which occurred in 1893 that Princeton began to modernized herself.  This fire in August burned out all the buildings on the east side of the street from where the Carew corner is now clear up to and including the North Star hotel.  In September of the same year Chas. Rines’ store which stood on the corner where the Evens Hardware store is now was burned out.  There had been a fire in the spring of the same year that had destroyed the store of Aug. Rines and I. C. Patterson on the corner where the Pioneer Drug Co. is at present.  These fires left opportunities for improvements and the improvements were made.  The east side of the street was rebuilt soon after the fire with brick buildings, and the debris of the first fire had hardly been cleared away when the fire of January, 1894, burned practically all the west side of the street.  It was rebuilt with brick, and the later improvements have made the main street almost one solid line of bricks.

THE POTATO ERA.

The nest egg of the potato trade at Princeton was the Princeton Potato Starch Co., which was incorporated in 1889, the incorporators being T. H. Caley, N. E. Jesmer, C. H. Rines, C. H. Pierce, Robt. C. Dunn and Frank Hense.  The object was to make potato starch and the farmers were induced to raise potatoes to supply the factory.  Before that time very few potatoes had been raised, but as the farmers commenced to supply the needs of the factory they soon discovered that the land was well adapted to the cultivation of the potato, and it was not long before potatoes were being raised on a very extensive scale, and there was enough potatoes to supply the starch factory as well as to warrant a big potato market at Princeton, and it was not long before Chas. Rines, seeing the manifest destiny of Princeton as a potato market, embarked in the business of buying and shipping potatoes, and foreseeing the profit there would be in the crop for the farmer, as well as the opportunities for dealers in a business way, he began to encourage the cultivation of the crop throughout the territory tributary to Princeton, and the result has been that to-day Princeton is the biggest potato market in the whole potato belt.  As reference has been made to Princeton as a potato market it is not necessary to further mention the industry here.

BRICK MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

Princeton is not only famous as a big potato market, but in the manufacture of fine cream brick it has become noted throughout the country, and Princeton brick are rated A1 by all builders and contractors.  For many years prior to the establishing of the brick making plant at Brickton, a short distance north of Princeton, the old fashioned red brick were burned at that point, and it was not until ten or twelve years ago when A. W. Woodcock and F. M. Campbell took hold of Nature’s storehouse of fine clay with improved machinery, that the brick industry of Princeton became as assured thing.  They might be said to be the fathers of the brick industry at this place.  The first yard established was that of Woodcock & Oakes, in 1889, which now has a capacity of 5,000,000 annually; Princeton Brick Co., capacity 4,000,000, established in 1892; Cream Brick Co. and Farnham Bros., established in 1900, each with a capacity of 4,000,000; and Kuhn Bros., established in 1896, capacity 2,000,000.  The plants now located there have a capacity of nearly 20,000,000 bricks each season.  To transport to market this enormous output requires 47 train loads of 40 cars each train.  There is enough clay in sight at these works to run at the present capacity 1,000 years.  There are also great quantities of wood in the near neighborhood, enough to last for years, much of which would be worth nothing to the farmers who are clearing their land, but which now brings a good price at the brick yards.  About 150 men are given employment during the brick making season, at good wages, and about 10,000 cords of wood are consumed.

SOCIAL AND BUSINESS CONDITIONS.

The business interests of Princeton are varied and cover most every business calling and profession.  No town of its size in the country has a better representation of business interests, and every firm in Princeton is in a prosperous condition.  The banking records show that the deposits of the business men are twenty-five per cent larger this year than the year previous, and it is a note-worthy feature also that there are not the calls for loans that there were last year and in the past.  Princeton enjoys a trade in a section of country within a radius of twenty miles around and the farming community is composed in the most part of well-to-do farmers who are thrifty and intelligent.

Princeton is made up of a good class of people, and according the State census of 1895 the village had 895 native born and 192 foreign born.  In the way of civic societies the town is well represented by the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Maccabees, Modern Woodmen, United Workmen, Catholic Order of Foresters, G. A. R., O. E. S., and other societies that contribute in many ways to the social life of the place.  Of churches the village has a good representation, there being the Congregational, Methodist, Catholic and German Lutheran.  The Congregational church was organized by the Rev. Royal Twitchell in August, 1856, with thirteen members.  The church was erected and dedicated on the 16th of March, 1873.  The Methodist church was organized in 1857 with seven members, by Rev. Mr. Hooper, and the church was built the same year.  The Catholic church which was erected in the winter and spring of ’98 and ’99, was dedicated July 9, 1899.  Father Levings, who has charge of the Princeton parish, came here from St. Cloud where he was ordained a short time before, and this is the first mission he has ever had charge of.  Besides the Princeton church, he has Mora, Foreston, Greenbush and Elk River.  The German Lutheran church was erected a few years ago and Rev. E. Schimpfsky is its pastor.

The postoffice was established in 1856 and Mr. Ross took the contract to carry the mail between Princeton and Anoka once a week.  The first postmaster was O. E. Garrison, and the subsequent postmasters have been J. L. Carter, John H. Allen, David E. Goulding, Mrs. L. J. Cunningham, Newell A. Ross, H. C. Head and Wm. Cordiner.

Mr. Cordiner took the office the first of January, 1895, and in October of the same year, the office was made a presidential office.  When Mr. Cordiner took possession of the office, there were not as many money orders issued in a month as there are in a week at the present time.  The office is equipped with 180 lock boxes and 163 call boxes.  Last year the gross business of the office amounted to a little over $4,000, and this year the total amount of business will exceed $5,000.

The fine three-story brick building which has just been finished and is the property of Princeton Lodge No. 208, I. O. O. F., was the result of some good hard and energetic work on the part of the Odd Fellows of Princeton to build for themselves a permanent lodge home where they might have in every sense of the word “all the comforts of home,” and to say that they have succeeded is simply the mere statement of the fact.  The Odd Fellows have really builded better than they knew, for as the handsome block now stands all finished and an ornament to the village, as well as a most serviceable business block, it certainly is a great credit to the enterprise and progressiveness of the Princeton Odd Fellows.

It was in the fall of 1900 that the lodge first began to discuss the proposition of building a block wherein they might make for themselves a comfortable home and contribute to Princeton a very substantial business block, and the matter soon took on tangible shape.  The lodge decided on the character of the building and duly empowered a building committee of seven members of the lodge to take the matter in hand and erect the building.  This building committee is composed of the following members of the lodge:  Judge Van Alstein, Geo. A. Eaton, J. W. Goulding, J. C. Herdiska, Jos. Craig, M. C. Sausser and N. E. Jesmer.  The committee was given full power and authority by the lodge to erect the building and act as trustees for the lodge in looking after it, and this committee will not be discharged until it formally turns over the building to the lodge.

This committee bought lot four, block three in Damon’s addition to Princeton, which lot is situated in the middle of the block just north of the Commercial hotel and the site is a very commanding one.  The lot is 66×148 1/2 feet.  Plans and specifications for a three-story brick were drawn and work was commenced on the building last May.  The contract for the stone and brick work was let to Jacnicke & Co., the plastering to Bert Nokes, while Contractor Will Hatch had the contract as supervising carpenter, and looked after all the woodwork and inside finish.  Underneath the whole building is a fine basement and on the ground floor are two store 27 1/2×80 feet, and leading up to the second floor is a wide stairway finished in oak.

Occupying the store on the north side of the building is B. D. Grant, the hardware merchant, and in the store on the south side is the retail store of the Princeton Roller Mill Co.

On the second floor there are offices and halls.  On the north side Dr. C. F. Walker has a fine suite of rooms, while occupying front offices on the south side will be located M. S. Rutherford’s land offices.  In the rear of these County Attorney Ross and C. A. Dickey will have law offices, and back of their office is a room 14×27 which E. M. Farnham has rented for a reading room for the young people.  In the rear of the north side of the second floor is a hall 27×40 which is designed for public gatherings of any nature.

Occupying the north side of the third floor will be the hall for the Odd Fellows.  The hall proper is 27 1/2×56 1/2 in the clear, and there are parlors and ante rooms adjoining.  The hall has a 14 foot ceiling and will be fitted up in a very handsome and homelike manner by the lodge which expects to move into its new quarters the second week in January, though it will not be dedicated until next April.

Across the hall from the lodge rooms and occupying the entire south half of the third floor is the kitchen, dining room and pantry, etc. of the lodge.  There is a large dining room 27 1/2×46 and a kitchen 12×16, with a pantry in connection.  The whole plan of the lodge rooms and auxiliary rooms of the third floor have been well arranged and the Princeton Odd Fellows will truly be “at home” when they get in their new building.

The building is heated with a fine steam heating plant put in by the Gillmore-Rawlins Co. of Minneapolis.  The building is the product of the famous brick industry of Princeton, whose cream brick are so popular all over the country.  The timbers are from the Washington forests and the inside finish is of Georgia pine, oiled and polished under the supervision of Contractor Hatch so that the effect is indeed beautiful.  The floors are of fine maple and the whole interior of the building is a great credit to Mr. Hatch and the inside finishers.  There was not a workman on the building from the time the first stone was laid until the doors were hung and the windows put in but what did his duty, and the building as it stands to-day shows thorough workmanship and the acme of the builders’ art.

The building and the lot represents an investment of $18,000, but the Odd Fellows have not planned to make a failure of the project, as they can meet all expenses and put into a sinking fund for the payment of the mortgage on the building $1,000 per year.

The Princeton lodge of Odd Fellows was instituted July 12th, 1893, and to-day it has 147 members in good standing and is taking in new members right along.

The first officers of the lodge were Geo. A. Eaton, noble grand; Gilbert Monette, vice grand; Guy Ewing, recording secretary; M. S. Rutherford, permanent secretary; B. M. Van Alstein, treasurer.

Electric Lights and Water Works.

Princeton has a good water works and electric light plant and a volunteer fire department.  Princeton Engine Co. No. 1 was organized on the 28th of May, 1881, with the following officers:  Henry Webster, foreman; T. H. Caley, first assistant; C. H. Rines, second assistant; J. L. Brady, secretary and Chas. Keith, treasurer.  The company started out with an engine and hose cart and equipment which cost $2,000.

The old company lost its identity in course of time and in January, 1895 another company was organized, but it too, fell by the wayside and in December, 1899, the present volunteer fire department was organized and is now in condition to fight fires.  The company has a hose cart, two chemicals, a hook and ladder wagon and about 1,400 feet of hose.  The fire department equipment is valued at $2,500.  D. W. Spaulding is chief, A. Holmes, assistant chief, D. C. Johnson, secretary and Peter Morneau, treasurer.

Princeton’s Militia Company.

Princeton has a company of militia that any village might well be proud of.  It is known as Co. G. of the National Guards of Minnesota, and was mustered in April 29th, 1901, the anniversary of the Spanish-American war.  The company has a membership of 63.  Claire Cailey is first lieutenant, Irvin Southard, second lieutenant, A. C. Howard, first sergeant, and Guy Cordiner, quartermaster sergeant.  Since the removal of Captain A. A. Caswell to Anoka the company has been without a regular captain, but his successor will be chosen this week.  The company is made up largely of volunteers of the Spanish-American war, and is well versed in the manual of arms.

Echoes of the Past.

In 1856 William F. Dunham and others built the first saw mill.  The mill burned four years later.  The next mill was built by Samuel Ross in 1858 and the third by Benjamin Soule in 1867.

The first flour mill was built in 1870 by Benjamin Soule.  It was a water mill with a capacity of twenty barrels a day.  In 1868 J. H. Allen built a twenty-barrel mill up the river where he had a homestead at that time.  To-day both mills are owned by J. T. D. Sadley.

In 1856 the first school house in Princeton was built by popular subscription.  Jas. M. Dayton taught the first term.  (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, December 19, 1901, Volume XXVI, Number 1, Page 1)

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